invalid system disk

[savjusmommy]

ok my sister reformatted her computer....turned it back on...said invalid system disk...she tried booting from a floppy...but did not work...anyway she wanted to borrow my computer to download some files to fix hers...she brought it back a few days later...now my computer does not work...come to find out...she unhooked my hard drive and hooked hers up to my computer...she still got the same error message.....well my hard drive is hooked back up....windows does not load...i get invalid system disk message i tried booting from a 98 floppy...get the same message......help

[tetonbob]

Is your BIOS set to boot from A drive first? Check the HD connections to ensure they are tight and proper. Is the ribbon cable oriented properly? Is your startup disk a good one? Go to http://ouraynet.com/files/windows/utilities/boot%20disks/boot98.exe or www.bootdisk.com to download a new one. When you can boot from your floppy, DIR your C drive to see if your data is still there. Then from the A prompt, type SYS C: to rebuild your boot files.

Your sister may have given you a virus somehow, but this would be difficult after a reformat.

[Pancake]

Ten to One she swaped drives on you.... :)

[savjusmommy]

Is your BIOS set to boot from A drive first? Check the HD connections to ensure they are tight and proper. Is the ribbon cable oriented properly? Is your startup disk a good one? Go to http://ouraynet.com/files/windows/utilities/boot%20disks/boot98.exe or www.bootdisk.com (http://www.bootdisk.com/) to download a new one. When you can boot from your floppy, DIR your C drive to see if your data is still there. Then from the A prompt, type SYS C: to rebuild your boot files.

Your sister may have given you a virus somehow, but this would be difficult after a reformat. ok got my system up and running...now want to get hers back up...a is in boot first...then cd rom then hard drive....still get same message....tried everything...allkinds of boot disks...even tried changing order of boot in bios...still same thing...think the hd is just bad?

[tetonbob]

What got your system running again?

As to your sister's PC- Is the HD seen during POST? Is the HD BIOS setting on AUTO? Was the HD working normally before her reformat?