Invalid system disk

[siddjazz]

When i boot my pc i get a message saying "invalid system disk, replace disk and press any key" it starts normally if i press any key.
Also one of my two hdd's makes a weird noise all the time. Its sounds as if its switching off and coming on. Checked all the cables, everything seems alright. I haven't been experiencing any problems as such, except that a few applications take a while to startup.
Any recommended hard disk diagnostic tools??

[mobo57]

Back up your drives immediately. The drive making the noise is probably your system drive, and if it's making an abnormal noise, chances are it will soon be completely dead as it's probably a hardware failure. Run chkdsk on each drive. Depending on the maker, most of the majors have programs for their disks.

[siddjazz]

i ran a chkdsk, no errors. i also downloaded the seatools from the seagate site. The system drive din't pass the tests i ran. It doesn't really give any details about the faults. Can the errors be repaired or will i have to go in for a new hard disk?

[Midknyte]

get a new drive

[BipolarBill]

..and FAST.

[Gokudan]

i ran a chkdsk, no errors.

Maybe it's a mechanical problem rather than a plate surface error, get a new hdd a.s.a.p.

Att.
Gokudan

[siddjazz]

unanimous suggestion :) thanks guys

[G]

"NO ROM BASIC - SYSTEM HALTED" or "No boot device available, strike F1 to retry, F2 for setup utility" or "No boot sector on fixed disk, strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility" or "Non-System disk or disk error, replace and strike any key when ready" or "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER". (Solution: Set a primary partition to "active", partition the hard disk drive and then set the primary partition to "active". Each partition table entry is 16-bytes long, with a maximum of four entries, each with a Boot Indicator byte: these bytes are at offset 446 (partition table entry #1 (0x1BE or 1BEh)), at offset 462 (partition table entry #2 (0x1CE or 1CEh)), at offset 478 (partition table entry #3 (0x1DE or 1DEh)), and finally at offset 494 (partition table entry #4 (0x1EE or 1EEh)). These Boot Indicators are used to determine whether the partition is active (bootable) by checking for the value 0x80 or 80h. The remaining Boot Indicators will have a value of 0x00 or 00h. Consequently, whether all four table entries have 00h then the MBR returns control to the motherboard ROM, putting into effect interrupt 18 (INT 18) and the boot process stops). This is a non-fatal POST error message.

Carry out a HDD diagnostics test but back up first as it sounds as if it may not take the testing routine for to long.

[bruceb]

Run a Backup of your Hard drive with either Ghost or Acronis Tru Image
asap ... if it is the main HDD that is failing & if you have enough space
on your second drive, you can make a Partition on that drive to put your
image on .. after the new hdd is installed, boot from either a Ghost CD
or from the Acronis CD & tell it to Restore your image from where you
saved it, back to the primary "C" drive .. that should do it