I installed 32 bit windows 7 and it was working well. I started defragging the drive and then went for holiday. The screen on return showed "disk boot failure, insert system disc and press enter" This does not work. Windows 7 will reload to a no drivers error and stop. I noticed that the bios does not recognize my hard drive any longer too. I can attempt to restore the drive look at files on the hard drive but no recovery point is available.I had xp with this hp pavilion but had a hard drive crash and I had not made a recovery disc so i could not use the xp code stamped on the side of the machine on my new harddrive. I used Windows 7 trial instead as I am upgradeing soon anyway and it was a good stopgap and I wanted to see the product, which was fine til now (about 1-2 weeks). I have duo core 64 atleron 2 ram good videocard in this machine.The computers runs a 24 inch screen flawlessly when working sigh.Hope you can help me

HiI can't imagine a defrag having any effect on the BIOS in the computer. The defrag component only affects files on the hard drive?This sounds more like the result of a power interruption issue. Try booting from the Windows 7 installation disk and access the Repair options to run the Startup Repair utility.Hope this helps.Thank You for testing Windows 7 Ronnie Vernon MVP

I installed 32 bit windows 7 and it was working well. I started defragging the drive and then went for holiday. The screen on return showed "disk boot failure, insert system disc and press enter" This does not work. Windows 7 will reload to a no drivers error and stop. I noticed that the bios does not recognize my hard drive any longer too. I can attempt to restore the drive look at files on the hard drive but no recovery point is available.I had xp with this hp pavilion but had a hard drive crash and I had not made a recovery disc so i could not use the xp code stamped on the side of the machine on my new harddrive. I used Windows 7 trial instead as I am upgradeing soon anyway and it was a good stopgap and I wanted to see the product, which was fine til now (about 1-2 weeks). I have duo core 64 atleron 2 ram good videocard in this machine.The computers runs a 24 inch screen flawlessly when working sigh.Hope you can help me Flytier - I'll have to agree with Ronnie - Defrag isn't going to do anything to any BIOS setting(s). If a hard drive no longer shows up in BIOS settings, there are a few things that could have happened to it. 1.) The drive somehow got disconnected or has a loose connection.2.) The drive is dead or dying.3.) Thedrive controller on the motherboardis shot.The first thing I would do is pop the cover off and make sure that the power supply cable as well as the data cable is firmly plugged into their respective ports. If you have a spare hard drive of the same type (IDE or SATA), try plugging it in and seeing if the BIOS will see it. Alternatively, try plugging the existing hard drive into another port and try another lead from the power supply. If it's IDE, try swapping the cable around. If they're SATA, plug the hard driveinto a different SATA port on the motherboard (if available).

Thanks I'll try that.Andrew

Thanks for the answer, those repair options seem not to work as I can only look at the drive, no restore points available etc. Is it possible that the whatever will stop the harddrives from working next year with not buying windows 7 cut in early? Other than that or a bad drive after only 2 weeks I don't know. The bios will recognise my broken hard drive (that I replaced when putting in this new one) when I do put it back. Anyway thanks for the advice. I've started shopping for a new computer too of course, I've thrown more than I meant to in energy into this one :).Andrew

flytier -Well.. If it sees the broken hard drive, but not the "new" one... hmmm.. Doesn't sound good for the system overall. I could go the route of suggesting looking for a BIOS update, but that would be kind of moot if you're getting a new system. On the bright side, if you buy now, you should get a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it's released in October.

Mr Seven - Yep... Either way - he did say he was going to get himself a new system so I don't suppose it matters at this point.

Thanks for your input thoughAndrew

Mr Seven - Yep... Either way - he did say he was going to get himself a new system so I don't suppose it matters at this point. I know what he said.I said it was probably that hisscsi controller was out of commision and that's what matters.

Is that easy to check? An easy fix would be helpful to me. I'd rather buy a new machine with windows 7 fresh rather than upgrade and I'd like to see how solid state drives come in in the next few months before I buy. I've already spent hours and hours on this, would be too bad if I was close to a fix.Andrew

Is that easy to check? An easy fix would be helpful to me. I'd rather buy a new machine with windows 7 fresh rather than upgrade and I'd like to see how solid state drives come in in the next few months before I buy. I've already spent hours and hours on this, would be too bad if I was close to a fix.Andrew flytier - Actually... It's not so hard. In addition to what I've already suggested and that which subesquently got marked as the answer above and for some unknown reason got reported as abuse (WTF?), you could try any or all of the following:1.) pop the drives into another computer and see if they read them properly. 2.) pop them in an external USB adapter/case and see if they work properly then.If the drives work properly in another computer or can be read by way of being plugged into a USB case then it can possibly be reasoned that the drives aren't the problem. That would leave either the cable plugging the drive into the motherboard, or the motherboard - specifically the controller on it OR maybe the power supply. If the drives in question are still broken (in the original drive's case) or unrecognized by the BIOS in another system then there's your problem. It's a process of ellimination.

There's alwaysthe computer repair shopwith test equipmentto diagnose what if any hardware should be replaced. It might be sompthing simple like a chipset.

Is that easy to check? An easy fix would be helpful to me. Iusually resent the suggestion I'm about to make, since it is most often just a Tech Support shrug-off. In this case, maybe there's some value to it:(1) Have you tried updating your system BIOS ?(2) You might also find a firmware upgrade for your hard-drive on HP's site or elsewhere. Here's an example for Hitachi.I don't know if it's done like this anymore, but in the past, some drives actually stored their firmware on the disk platter itself. So sometimes a format procedure that went awry (or other disk related system crash) would render it inoperable until the firmware was restored.

Thanks for all the suggestions. The bios "look" has changed so that may be possible,and it's an old 2006 version. I'll try the hard drive in another computer then a fixit shop if it's not the hard drive.You have given me hope.ThanksAndrew

Andrew - You're welcome - and good luck..!

...I've noticed some PROBABLE similarly related problems using VMware Fusion 2. I also use TrendMicro Pro Security -- maybe a few cliches here. But if the 3rd party providers got serious about Vista (?), they should be in pretty good shape for Windows 7. Regards