help please

[ez0k]

ok i just got an old micros millennia pentium II 128 mb of ram computer at an action for 10 dollars. i planed to use it only to type up word documents and excel. but when i bought it i was told it had an os on it and was set up with word and everything but when i brought it home and pluged it in i got this message:

verifying dmi pool data... disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter

i dont have much experience with computers but i want windows 2000 on this one. can someone please tell me what that message means and maybe a website that tells me how to fix it?

 

[Blind_Arrow]

your hard ddrive is empty (completely).

now tell me does it shows that hard drive is attached? in the beginning black screen on start up?

Windows 2000 comes with bootable CD< all u have to do is (assuming the BIOS is set to Boot-up priority looking for CD- ROM)

just put in CD (a message will appear, press any key to boot up with CD)

that it, after that its click through wizard

 

[ez0k]

ok i just found out that they compleatly erased the hard drive on the computer. in the start up screen it does say that the hard drive is attached (ram also). just putting in the windows 98 cd did not work. im not sure why but when i put a floppy in the message changes to: not a system disk

so i think the computer is looking for some sort of floppy but i really dont know.

i also found my old windows 95 disk so i also have that to work with. does anyone know what to do? my friend says i need to reformat the harddrive, is that right?

 

[ez0k]

alright thx but i already figured that out by reading a tutorial in the tutorial section

so now i got windows 98 installed correctly on the computer and it is running well

thx

 

[ShoobieRat]

"not a system disk" means the floppy you put in is not a boot disk. If you pop-in just any ol' floppy into the drive before booting, you'll get that message (unless your BIOS/MB is smart enough [new enough] to "think" around that).

Also, since the auction vendor obviously screwed you, think of it as a lesson to watch out for in the future. Second, if you have any details on this vendor, be sure to let people know. One good thing to do when running into crud like that is to tell others so they don't fall into the same trap.

 

[ez0k]

oh the action was bye as is i knew the risk but for 10 dollars it was worth it besides it works well now