Message on startup

[ty40]

Hi,

Last night, I took an old computer that had XP Pro. on it and downloaded a ton of updates for the OS. Today, it started up fine, but when I tried to uninstall something (Picasa) it froze. I restarted and got the message: Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key. This was someone else's computer and I don't have the XP SP3 disc. I also noticed the drive was not showing up in the BIOS.

Thanks

[DaveLembke]

Check to make sure cables are connected and not loose. Seen a bad cable as well as improperly seated HD cable cause this before.

But it sounds like the hard drive may have died if it is not seen by bios. Before swapping drive out, I'd swap the IDE or SATA cable. But if no extra cable is available try a spare hard drive if you have one to see if the system will see it.

[ty40]

Thanks for the reply. I changed the cable, and while I had the cover off, I could hear the hard drive clicking and making other noises. It sounded pretty bad.

[patio]

"Click of Death"...the drive is getting ready to faik...