non-system disk or disk error replace and strike any key when ready

[GabOr]

I have a pentium 1 compaq armada laptop, the "non-system disk or disk error replace and strike any key when ready" i dont know what to do, ive read all the possible explinations for this error and it appears it is one of the more complicated ones. The laptop has a cd drive and i tried booting it with a boot disc but the same message would appear can someone help me out?

Thanks,
GabOr

 

[joshd]

do you have a floppy in the drive?

 

[Apokalipse]

if there is no floppy, try going into the BIOS and changing the boot order

 

[GabOr]

The laptop does not have a floppy only a cd drive I changed the boot order to preety much every possible combination but the results were the same it still doesnt recognize the windows 98 cd I put in it does anyone else have any other ideas that can help me?

Thanks,
GabOr

 

[Nitestick]

this error can occur from a corrupted FAT on a windows volume as well i think. or at least thats what i gather from a similar experience. my solution was a clean install of windows using third-party software to format.

 

[HDR]

Are you after the data at all? If so, do not format the drive.

 

[GabOr]

I dont care about the data I was initially trying to format it anyway, but how do I format it from its current state if it doesnt read any of my discs?