If you turned your system on and come to screen that says “Boot Disk Failure”, you may have problem, or maybe not.  When you computer powers up it goes through a process called POST (Power-On Self Test).  During this time there a many things happening, to keep it simple, your hardware is being recognized at a basic level of the computer’s functionality.  If there is a problem with the operating system loading you get the infamous error:

 “Boot Disk Failure” operating system not found (or similar)

 There are few things to consider before you think all is lost and it is the end of the world as you know it.

 •  Check and make sure you do not have any removable disk inserted into your computer.  These devices include, but are not limited to:  floppies, flash cards, usb storage, external hard drives, iPods,  etc.  It is possible that your computer is searching for an operating system on one of these drives before it proceeds to the primary hard drive and is stuck on it.

 •  Be sure all cables from the hard drive and to the motherboard are snug and in known to be working.  Sometimes trying a new cable does the trick.

 •  There may be a recognition problem within your BIOS (Basic Input-Output System).  This is all the gibberish that flies across and down your screen as the computer first boots (during POST). Consult your user manual to check to see if the hard drive is registering with your BIOS.  If it is not this can mean there is a mechanical failure with the hard drive and you will need to consult a professional such a Drive Savers Data Recovery to recover your data files.  If the drive is posting, the drive may just have corrupted files and data may be recoverable by conventional means.

In past experiences, we have had old and new hard drives come up as “unknown device” in the BIOS.  If you getting this message check out the suggestions below.

 •  Could be a motherboard failure

 •  Drive capacity is too large for BIOS to recognize it.  See if there is a new BIOS release for the motherboard and flash it (refer to manufacturer on how to perform this procedure.)

 •  Board on hard drive may be electronically bad, return the hard drive if it is new or under warranty.  Otherwise you will need a new hard drive.