I've had a boot fail on my pc,when trying to use the restore disk,a message comes up saying "appears to be FAT or FAT32 file missing from C drive,use FDISK to set up partition"but when I try and use FDISK,another message appears stating "no fixed disks found" I have been advised that this probably means my hard drive is knackered and needs replacing,can anyone confirm whether this is true.

Can you hear the hard drive running? If so does it sound unusual? If not, it is probably ok. can you get to A:\ prompt? (I guess so if you can run fdisk el Dummo) sorry. Here ya go: Error Message When You Run ScanDisk or Fdisk: No Fixed Disks Present (Q309459) The information in this article applies to: * Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition * Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition * Microsoft Windows 98 * Microsoft Windows 95 SYMPTOMS When you attempt to run the MS-DOS command-line utility fdisk.exe , or when you run ScanDisk from within Windows, you may receive an error message similar to the following: No fixed disks present. NOTE : This error message may occur intermittently, and you may receive this error message even though your computer's hard disk is detected in the computer Power On Self Test (POST). CAUSE This behavior can occur because of any of the following hardware issues: * The hard disk is defective or too hot. * The jumper settings on the hard disk are incorrectly configured. * The hard disk data cable is defective or too long. * The hard disk controller is defective or incorrectly configured in the computer BIOS. RESOLUTION To resolve this issue, contact your computer manufacturer to obtain a computer diagnostic program or further troubleshooting information. For information about how to contact computer hardware manufacturers, click the appropriate article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Q65416 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, A-K Q60781 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, L-P Q60782 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, Q-Z

Thanks Brant, yes can hear the hard drive running and get to the A prompt.The pc is a Tiny make,and even though they have just been taken over by time,they say to continue to contact their service dept for the next couple of months,but have so far been unable to get a response.

Can you get into the BIOS as the computer is booting up ? Once in BIOS, look for AUTO Detect Hard Drive or something similar, and see if the hard drive is recognised. If you cannot get it detected in the BIOS, then things don't look good. You could also go to HD manufacturer's site, eg WD or Maxtor, and download a diagnostics disk that might help out.

Thanks Krystyna, sorry if this sounds a silly question,but how would I get into bios normally. Neil

Hi Neil Read the screen as it is booting. Just after the RAM post, you might see a message similar to "Press DEL to enter setup" or it might be F1 or F2 or a combination of keys. Be quick to press, you only get a limited amount of time. If you miss it, reboot again.

Use DOS 622