Hi everyone, hope all is well. When I boot up my computer the boot will stall and the screen will read, “Strike F1 to retry or Strike F2 to enter Setup”. If I press F1 to retry, it just beeps and displays the same prompt (i.e. Strike F1 to …). If I press F2, it takes me into Setup. I have just been turning the power off to try to reboot again. Usually after four or five times of doing this hard-reboot, (and receiving the ‘Strike F1 to retry or Strike F2 to enter Setup’ prompt) Windows 98 will load properly. While in Windows, I do not experience any problems. If that weren’t strange enough … Whenever I am in Windows and restart the machine (WITHOUT turning the power off), the boot takes place normally. After I turn off the power, however, the next boot fails. It’s almost as if turning off the power on the machine causes some lapse in the boot sequence; and it takes a little ‘warming up’ for Windows 98 to start. I would really appreciate any help ya’ll could give me on this. Thank ya! -Becca

once windows starts up perform a through scandisk and post the results. as an after thought, do you hear an scraping noise or any unusual noise from the hard disk while it is being read using boot ? The red LED on the cabinet will glow during hard disk access, do you hear any noise when the light is on? Post back and am sure someone will be able to help you out, am off for a couple of hours (have to study for exams :( ) -Kailas Shastry.

Hello Kailas, thank you for your response. I will complete the scan disk ASAP; alas, I too have exams. You may want to know, however, that I performed a complete scan disk yesterday and the drive reported no errors. There is a strange scraping noise that has occasionally occured. Interesting that you should mention that ... It was very loud a few days ago and use to happen at each boot. Now it happens once every 10-12 boots but it still as loud. When this lound sound occurred, I would get the message, “Strike F1 to retry or Strike F2 to enter Setup”. If the scraping noise was not present, the machine would boot with no problems. It's all very odd to me ... I am not totally sure if this sound is being made while the LED is lit; however, odds are that it was made while the light was on. Thank ya! -Becca

Hello Becca, Unfortunately my hunch seems to be right. I think your hard drive is saying good bye and is having last few breaths left. The scraping sound you hear is a clear indication of that. Back up ur data ASAP. look at the brighter side, you are getting yourself a new hard disk :) (ok, sorry, sad joke, am just too bored) However all may not be lost, as there is a chance that only the MBR portion of the hard disk is bad while the rest of it may still be good. You MAY be able to use this as a spare hard disk. Sometimes slightly tilting (yes, physically moving) the hard disk may make for smoother running of the disk, but then its only a stop gap arrangement. Try to fix this hard disk into another computer and see if the problem persists. OR get another hard disk and fix it to this comp, just to rule out other possibilities thought the symptoms are very much like those of a dying disk. Pls post back and let me know, Wishing you <tt>Good Luck<tt> for your exams -Kailas Shastry.

it almost sounds like it is possibly could be trying to boot off the floppy drive but the floppy drive is going bad so sometimes it halfway tries the floppy and dies and other times makes it past it..... but the other theory is certainly plausible as well.... but might try disabling the floppy in the bios and try again before putting any money into it, or just make sure the boot sequence doesnt include the floppy....... just a thought

exams??? just starting back to spring semester here.... North Carolina here! and COLD!!!!

Hello Becca and jillpickels and all, jill's theory can also be true, the possibility never occured to me. Becca, do observe if the floppy drive light (usually a small green LED on the floppy drive, sometimes amber/orange also) or the hard disk access light (usually red, sometimes orange also on the cabinet itelf) glow when the scrapping sound is heard. Post back. and jillpickles, pls see response #2 - Becca has exams (I dont know what), and I here halfway across the world in India have semester exams too. :(( Regards, -Kailas Shastry.