invalid boot device- Presario 5220

I'm helping recover a previously working 5229, circa 1999, with the 5-1/4" 8 gig
drive.
On POST it now gives an error of Invalid boot device, please replace with valid
system disk, press any key to continue.

The drive will work fine as a slave on another PC, and all data is intact. The
PC will recognise other drives. It just stopped recognising this drive as being
a valid device.
I would much prefer to get this drive back, than to replace it. Fdisk /mbr was
no help.

Anybody have any experience with this problem? Any suggestions for recovering
from it?

If need be, I can Ghost the drive onto a new HD, but I figured would give a
shout here, first.

Thanks,
Me

Have you tried "Sysing" the HD? Do you have a boot floppy with the file
SYS.COM on t?
If so, boot frpom the floppy, then, at the A prompt, type
SYS C: then hit enter
HH


"AlienZen" wrote in message
news
I'm helping recover a previously working 5229, circa 1999, with the 5-1/4"
8 gig
drive.
On POST it now gives an error of Invalid boot device, please replace with
valid
system disk, press any key to continue.

The drive will work fine as a slave on another PC, and all data is intact.
The
PC will recognise other drives. It just stopped recognising this drive as
being
a valid device.
I would much prefer to get this drive back, than to replace it. Fdisk /mbr
was
no help.

Anybody have any experience with this problem? Any suggestions for
recovering
from it?

If need be, I can Ghost the drive onto a new HD, but I figured would give
a
shout here, first.

Thanks,
Me

JUST MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE USING THE ORIGINAL COMPAQ DATA CABLES AND THAT ALL
DRIVES ARE CONFIGURED TO "CABLE SELECT" INSTAEAD OF THE "MASTER/SLAVE"
CONFIGURATION. IN THE CABLE SELECT CONFIG. THE ONE THAT WILL BE THE MASTER AND
SLAVE ARE SELECTED DEPENDING ON WHICH CONNECTOR ON THE CABLE YOU ARE USING.
NORMALLY THE CABLE HAS PRINTED HICH WILL BE USED FOR "DRIVE 0" AND "DRIVE 1"
(DRIVE 0=MASTER, DRIVE1 = SLAVE") IF PROPERLY CONNECTED, THE MASTE HARD DRIVE
WILL APPEAR AS DRIVE 1 WHEN YOU TURN THE PC ON (AFTER THE COMPAQ LOGO". IF YOU
WISH TO CHANGE TO THE MOST COMMON "MASTER/SLAVE" CONFIGURATION, YOU WILL ALSO
HAVE TO CHANGE THE DATA RIBBON CABLE.