After about a month of not using my P.C. I one day turned it on but would not boot up. At first it looks as though nothing is wrong by displaying the computer business logo, and after that a dim blue screen appears and says (In DOS mode) replace disc. Then hit any button to resume. I hit a button on keyboard but nothing. After about 45 seconds it displays the same message every 45 seconds or so. What do I do to get the thing started? The hard drive is about 6 months old. The bios battery seems as though it is keeping fairly good time. And the thing always booted before. Any ideas on what to do?

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Boot into the BIOS and see if the HDD is identified.  Might also need to reload BIOS 
default setup values and make sure the HDD is identified or the channel that the 
HDD is installed on, is set to "auto"..  If the HDD developed a problem for some 
odd reason, or there is a BIOS config/hardware problem of some kind, you will get 
that message.







On Monday, September 3, 2007 at 12:18 pm, Gary wrote:

>After about a month of not using my P.C. I one day turned it on but would not boot 

>up. At first it looks as though nothing is wrong by displaying the computer business 

>logo, and after that a dim blue screen appears and says (In DOS mode) replace disc. 

>Then hit any button to resume. I hit a button on keyboard but nothing. After about 

>45 seconds it displays the same message every 45 seconds or so. What do I do to 
get 

>the thing started? The hard drive is about 6 months old. The bios battery seems 
as 

>though it is keeping fairly good time. And the thing always booted before. Any ideas 

>on what to do? 

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|After about a month of not using my P.C.
|I one day turned it on but would not boot up.
|[...]displaying the computer business logo,
|and after that a dim blue screen appears and says (In DOS mode) replace disc.
| Gary

EXACT error messages are useful.

{semantics}
If you're not getting a DOS prompt, that is a BIOS error message (NOT DOS).
OTOH, your "Will not boot" Subject line appears to be correct
--unlike so many which should say "Won't load Windoze".{/semantics}

Have you removed the non-bootable diskette from the floppy drive? [1]
Have you tried booting to your Startup Disk?
Have you then tried a   DIR C:  from that A:\ prompt?
Made backups?  A HDD does not have an infinate lifespan.


|The bios battery seems as though it is keeping fairly good time.
|
{semantics}The Real-Time Clock keeps the time.[2]
In addition, BIOS is non-volatile Read-Only Memory; it doesn't require a  battery.
It is CMOS that is volatile Random Access Memory;
*it* does require a backup battery.{/semantics}


[1] There is no logic in having A: in your Boot Precedence if you don't routinely 
use that.
It just slows down the boot process.

[2] The RTC circuitry *does* use the CMOS battery.

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