I'm getting the following message when i try and start my pc. Searching for Boot Record from cdrom - not found Searching for Boot Record from floppy - not found Drive Not Ready - Insert Boot Diskette in A: Press any key when ready I'm not worried about losing my files, but is my hard disk corrupt. I have a system restore disk, which returns it to its original state? I use the pc for video editing. If I need a new hard drive, will it re-install all the correct programs, and settings, with the disk? Please Please help?

angeloromano, you can lose your boot sector for several reasons. There's a virus about which specifically targets it in order to damage your machine. It's possible your HDD has turned up it's toes and another HDD is the only option. I'd keep that for a final option after ALL else fails. The simple answer to your question about replacing your programs is probably not. Most recovery disks are only designed to operate on system files and as such, they don't put back your stuff. On the other hand, they don't remove it either so it may still be there. You can download a boot disk to let you get into your machine and perhaps rescue what's there. First thing I'd do is scan for a virus and be sure my machine's clean. If you need a bootdisk, find a free one @: http://www.startdisk.com/Web2/ubd/ubd.htm - ultimate boot disk d/l HTH. Ed in Texas.

"Most recovery disks are only designed to operate on system files and as such, they don't put back your stuff. On the other hand, they don't remove it either so it may still be there." The disk i have is from the vendor. The machine is custom built for editing. I think it is more a snapshot of the original settings. Would this restore everything as was on a new hard drive.

Being custom built what the restore CD has on it is any ones guess. If you do a "dir" of the cd it might give you an idea what is on it. Is it one CD or more? If doing the post you do not see "searching for boot record from hdd" , go into bios setup and see if the hdd is listed. If not open case (with comp power plug removed) and reset both the IDE and power connecter to hdd and try again. Be sure the hdd is listed in the boot options.

I used the boot disk, then the original settings disk. and it wortked it detected the hard drive. However i re-installed my previous applications, and it's now crashed again and won't detect the hard drive on start up. Is there some sort of virus going round at the moment

I do not think a virus can be the problem. It might be the hdd is takeing to long to get up to speed for the bios it see it. There might be a setting in bios (IDE delay inital) that can be changed to give a longer delay for hdd to get up to speed befor bios test for it. for more info on delay see http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?location=8&var1=0&var2=56