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Question about my comp floppy disk error and hard drive

So my big comp.(the old version desktop with like the big boy screen and a huge main engine thingy.)
so i bought a new hard drive...
I decided to take it out from my garage and attempt to fix it.
so long time ago, i heard noises making from the hard drive. then it breaks. like everytime i start up the comp, it just like makes a creaking noise and it restarts the comp. But on the main screen, it says" floppy disk fail." I mean, i dont have any floppy disk drive in my comp. like the component. The floppy disk part is empty, it's not even connected, but i know it's the hard drive problem. so i bought a new hard drive and plug it in, it's still the same problem. it still displays the error., please help.

November 5, 2013

9 Comments • Newest first

siyuan

@BobR: Thank you so much for ur explanation. iw ill try it asap.

Reply November 5, 2013
BobR

[quote=siyuan] please help.[/quote]

To sum up what everyone has been saying:

The reason it says "Floppy Disk Fail" is because it's trying to load Windows and can't find anywhere to load it from.
The new hard drive doesn't have Windows on it yet, and there's no floppy disk drive, so it gives you that error.
After you load Windows on the hard drive, it shouldn't give you that error message any more.

The reason the computer isn't working with the new hard drive is that when you buy a new hard drive the drive is completely blank.
It doesn't have anything on it, most importantly it doesn't have Windows on it.

You'll have to load Windows from a CD, either the CD that came with the computer originally or a new one you'll have to buy.
If you buy a new Windows disc that will let you choose a newer version of Windows than whatever was on the old computer originally, but the old version should still work OK if you have the disc for it.

Loading Windows is fairly simple, but you'll have to make sure the computer will try to load from the CD drive first.
To do that you have to enter the "BIOS settings" and set the "Boot Device" to the CD drive.

Then put the Windows disc in the CD drive and restart the computer.
It should read Windows from the CD and start installing Windows on the new hard drive.
It will ask some questions as you go along, but most of it is pretty easy to figure out.

After Windows is finished installing (it will take some time to finish, and it will restart the computer by itself 2 or 3 times before it's done), you'll have to go back into the BIOS settings and change the "Boot Device" to the hard drive so it will load Windows from the hard drive when the computer starts.

Because it's a new hard drive, you'll have to find and load new drivers for any devices on the computer, such as video cards, sound cards, special keyboards or mice.
Windows comes with basic drivers for most things so the computer should operate well enough for you to find and load any special drivers that are needed for anything.
Windows will come with Internet Explorer on it so you should be able to get to the Internet and download new drivers for everything that needs it.

Then the computer will be ready to use, and to load any programs you want to use.

Reply November 5, 2013
siyuan

thanks so much for yall replies. im gonna try it someday once i got some time.

Reply November 5, 2013
romperz

You need to enter the BIOS and boot from your windows OS disk. This will start the windows installation onto the hard drive. Then once the installation is done, you need to go back into the BIOS and change it to boot from the hard drive.

Reply November 5, 2013
Burning

There will be a directory at the bottom of the POST screen, the black screen with white words and numbers when you first turn on the computer. It may have something like <DEL>=Enter BIOS Setup, <F12>=Enter BIOS Setup...I can't know for sure what yours will look like because different computers can have different BIOS and POST screens.

As for the hard drive, you will have to put it in and plug it if possible - the types of hard drive cables used during most of the floppy era have changed. There will be no data on the hard drive and so you will have to install an operating system, preferably the same one used on the old hard drive. Once you get that running, you will have to install drivers and later, your programs and games.

Reply November 5, 2013
siyuan

[quote=Burning]My best guess is your computer is attempting to boot off or read a floppy drive that obviously isn't there. Disable the floppy drive in the BIOS.[/quote]

how can i do that. and btw, if i put it in a new hard drive, do i need to do anything to it? or it wil jsut start off

Reply November 5, 2013
Burning

My best guess is your computer is attempting to boot off or read a floppy drive that obviously isn't there. Disable the floppy drive in the BIOS.

Reply November 5, 2013 - edited
siyuan

[quote=xdwow]What is this "floppy disk" you speak of?[/quote]

i think the computer is referring to the floppy disk drive

Reply November 5, 2013 - edited
xdwow

What is this "floppy disk" you speak of?

Reply November 5, 2013 - edited