Several instances of the disk boot failure problem occur on this site. Mine fairs a bit different though. I had my computer running perfectly fine for a while, then internet explorer became corrupted. I decided to do a XP repair install. I restarted the computer and went into xp setup and went to where i would select the xp partition and choose repair. However, setup couldnt find any partitions except the unpartitioned space. It should have found 2 others. Seeing how I couldnt proceed with setup, i restarted the computer and took out the CD. Thats when i began getting DISK BOOT FAILURE message. The hard drive is a maxtor, purchased about 6 months ago. No more than a year, so im guessing im still under warranty. i think. items to note: the BIOS doesnt let you actually choose startup order, just put which devices fall into each category. Its set up for hard disk boot.

"the BIOS doesnt let you actually choose startup order, just put which devices fall into each category" By default, whatever drive is cabled as the "Master" is given priority over everything else. And if you've got a single drive with multiple partitions, the BIOS is unable to do anything about prioritizing the boot order, that becomes the job of the Boot.ini in Windows. Maxtors are drives that I never recommend ;-(

So, that means theres a boot.ini problem? I dont know, im thinking maybe a drive corruption. The xp recovery console could not locate any windows installations, nothing can. all that can be found is the unpartitioned space on the drive. There are 2 partitions, well, there should be.

Try this and let us know. I have not had occasion to use it. http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Test...

yes, you can try Partition Table Doctor also.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, per. Your advice was exactly what I needed. The partitions are found again and its working.