"Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?
 

LOL. Except not really. Am I totally screwed or is there some
little-known method for kick-starting an apparently dead HD?
Everything was fine until it was rebooted. Multiple reboots always
come back to:

Invalid Boot diskette- Enter BOOT diskette into A:

Cracks about how if the system is old enough to have a floppy drive
then it's overdue for a dead HD are appropriate.

- Grant

"Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?
 

On 17 February 2012 20:47, Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:
> LOL. *Except not really. *Am I totally screwed or is there some
> little-known method for kick-starting an apparently dead HD?
> Everything was fine until it was rebooted. *Multiple reboots always
> come back to:
>
> Invalid Boot diskette- Enter BOOT diskette into A:
>
> Cracks about how if the system is old enough to have a floppy drive
> then it's overdue for a dead HD are appropriate.

This worked for me moderately well recently:
http://superuser.com/questions/1078/harddrive-in-the-freezer-ever-work-for-you

... in that I was able to get enough files off it to putter along
until I could restore from backups.

"Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?
 

On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 12:47:36PM -0800, Grant wrote:
> LOL. Except not really. Am I totally screwed or is there some
> little-known method for kick-starting an apparently dead HD?
> Everything was fine until it was rebooted. Multiple reboots always
> come back to:
>
> Invalid Boot diskette- Enter BOOT diskette into A:
>
> Cracks about how if the system is old enough to have a floppy drive
> then it's overdue for a dead HD are appropriate.

Diskette is not HDD

A: looks too much windows-like. old system you said.. so OK.

"Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?
 

>> LOL. *Except not really. *Am I totally screwed or is there some
>> little-known method for kick-starting an apparently dead HD?
>> Everything was fine until it was rebooted. *Multiple reboots always
>> come back to:
>>
>> Invalid Boot diskette- Enter BOOT diskette into A:
>>
>> Cracks about how if the system is old enough to have a floppy drive
>> then it's overdue for a dead HD are appropriate.
>
> Diskette is not HDD
>
> A: looks too much windows-like. old system you said.. so OK.

I think the BIOS can't find a HD at all so it's trying to boot from
the floppy drive which does not contain a floppy disk.

- Grant

"Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?
 

On Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:47:36 -0800
Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:

> LOL. Except not really. Am I totally screwed or is there some
> little-known method for kick-starting an apparently dead HD?
> Everything was fine until it was rebooted. Multiple reboots always
> come back to:
>
> Invalid Boot diskette- Enter BOOT diskette into A:
>
> Cracks about how if the system is old enough to have a floppy drive
> then it's overdue for a dead HD are appropriate.
>
> - Grant
>

It could be the boot sector of the drive that is bad. You should boot
off a live CD and see how far you can get with the drive. If you can
read it with no problem reinstall grub and see how it does with the
boot afterwards.

--

Willie Matthews
matthews.willie@gmail.com

"Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?
 

On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 2:47 PM, Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:
> LOL. *Except not really. *Am I totally screwed or is there some
> little-known method for kick-starting an apparently dead HD?
> Everything was fine until it was rebooted. *Multiple reboots always
> come back to:
>
> Invalid Boot diskette- Enter BOOT diskette into A:
>
> Cracks about how if the system is old enough to have a floppy drive
> then it's overdue for a dead HD are appropriate.

Things I would try:

Go into BIOS and make sure settings are still proper (sometimes it can
get wiped out and set to bad values)

Make sure BIOS can see the HDD manufacturer and model number etc.

If not, power off, re-seat the HDD cables and try again

If yes, boot from liveCD and use your favorite tools to examine the drive

If the drive is visible, partition table in-tact, then I would try to
chroot into your gentoo and reinstall your boot loader like in the
installation handbook

If drive is not visible, take it out and hook it up to another computer

If other computer can read it, maybe your motherboard/controller got
fried somehow

If other computer can't read it either... buy a new HDD and restore
from your most recent backup ;)

"Invalid boot diskette" what do I do?
 

>> LOL. *Except not really. *Am I totally screwed or is there some
>> little-known method for kick-starting an apparently dead HD?
>> Everything was fine until it was rebooted. *Multiple reboots always
>> come back to:
>>
>> Invalid Boot diskette- Enter BOOT diskette into A:
>>
>> Cracks about how if the system is old enough to have a floppy drive
>> then it's overdue for a dead HD are appropriate.
>
> Things I would try:
>
> Go into BIOS and make sure settings are still proper (sometimes it can
> get wiped out and set to bad values)
>
> Make sure BIOS can see the HDD manufacturer and model number etc.
>
> If not, power off, re-seat the HDD cables and try again
>
> If yes, boot from liveCD and use your favorite tools to examine the drive
>
> If the drive is visible, partition table in-tact, then I would try to
> chroot into your gentoo and reinstall your boot loader like in the
> installation handbook
>
> If drive is not visible, take it out and hook it up to another computer
>
> If other computer can read it, maybe your motherboard/controller got
> fried somehow
>
> If other computer can't read it either... buy a new HDD and restore
> from your most recent backup ;)

Thank you everyone. The system is remote so I will give this a try
ASAP. BTW, this happened due to someone pushing the power button
during an eclean operation.

- Grant