Hi there!Yseterday my 4 year old computer running on WinME crashed. When I tried to re-boot I got the message 'Invalid system disc - remove and hit any key to continue' I get this from time to time when I've left a diskette in the machine and forgot to remove it. But this time there wasn't a diskette there :-( And hitting any key just brings up the same message.Hopefully on Mon or Tue I'll be able to take it into the service guys, but before I do, does anyone have any ideas what could be up. I fear the worst :-(Regards!Gavin

The error is occurring because the boot process can't find the system files on the HDD and it could be caused by several things. There is a pretty good explaination of the possibilities here: http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000229.htm .Doug

Oh dear,it looks like the HD.Anyone know how easy/difficult it is to recover data from a HD?

Hi Gavin, copying data from a win95-me/FAT partition to another is pretty easy with a tool called XXcopy by Pixelab. It's downloadable at http://www.xxcopy.com/index.htm. Briefly explained, if the old HD has one partition © and the new primary partition is D, the instruction would be 'xxcopy C: D: /clone' (without the quotes). This page contains instructions: http://www.xxcopy.com/index.htm#tbulParticularly bulletin #10 here: http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy10.htmI would recommend to use the affected harddrive as little as possible if you're facing mechanical failure. Hope this helps and that you're still acquainted with the DOS-window :-), good luck and kind regards Jaap

'the DOS-window'Gulp!Thanks for your advice guys!Gavin

:-) Although I don't know ME, once XXcopy is installed into the C:windowscommand directory, on win98 it went more or less like this: Open 'MS DOS prompt' The DOS window will probably show 'C:windows' --> type 'cd C:windowscommand' --> Enter --> type 'xxcopy C: D: /clone' --> Enter and confirm the 'Are you sures?' A few minutes later (depending on the amount of data) you'll have a perfect copy of your old sys. Good luck Jaap PS, if you're facing mechanical failure and can't afford risking data loss, I'ld advise to no longer use the drive until the replacement is ready to be filled with data. Sorry for being repetetive :-)

Sometimes it's easy, Gavin, and sometimes difficult-to-impossible. It all depends on the condition of the drive. If it's just a missing or damaged master boot record it's usually easy to get the drive to come alive again by a simple fdisk/mbr repair. But if the drive has died a mechanical death it's a bit harder, or even impossible to get it back 100%. There are three ways to go about the data recovery on a dead drive: do-it-yourself, do-it-yourself-with-some-help, and get it done professionally by a data recovery service. From a cost standpoint, doing it yourself will cost about US$70 for software and US$75-250 depending on the size of the new HDD. Getting it done professionally can cost many hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars per drive depending on the amount of data to be recovered and the condition of the drive. Therefore, I like the do-it-yourself method, or the do-it-yourself-with-some-help for a little more cost. Data recovery software I've used and can recommend is described here: http://www.runtime.org/ (the GetDataBack software has a preview feature that will let you know whether or not the drive can be recovered before you pay anything). And there is good article on recovering a dead drive here: http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=363735&rl=1. All this is a fairly simple job if your familiar enough with the computer to install the new drive, load the operating system, drivers, recovery software, and hook up the drive to be recovered. If not, I'm sure a local shop can do it all for you (that's the do-it-yourself-with-help option). It's really tough to work someone through this on the forum or e-mail but I'll be glad to help in any way I can. And I'm sure there are other folks here who've been through it also that will have some good ideas. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it turns out to be a simple recovery. I've been there and know the feeling.Doug

I'm going to take it to the service guys on Tuesday to find out exactly what the problem is and what they recommend. This outfit is ok and have a good reputation here in Warsaw. Then I'll take it from there. I don't know enough to do this sort of thing myself and would rather pay a few Zlotys to have someone do a proper job. As it's also my company computer, I'll be able to deduct some of the costs from my taxes, so all is not so bad.It's just part of the PC Flight Sim experience isn't it?Once again, thanks for your help and advice - much appreciated.Keep your fingers crossed for me!Best regards!Gavin

Yes, unfortunately, that's just part of the experience. Sooner or later everyone is going to encounter a "dead" machine with one type of problem or another. It's good that you have someone you can trust to take a look at it for you. I just went through a similar thing this past week. While performing my "every-once-in-a-while" system cleanup I found I could no longer install Windows. The error was something no one had ever heard of. After two days of pulling my hair out and swapping parts from my other machine (RAM, video card, cables, and HDD)I finally let the guys at the local shop look at it. By replacing virtually everything in the box they finally found the problem - a bad CPU. My trusty 3.0 Northwood has now gone to the final resting place of all old CPU's :-( . Good luck and my fingers are crossed.Doug

Good news!!! It wasn't anything serious - somehow or other DOS boot-up instructions had become corrupted telling it to boot-up from another disc. Or something like that. They showed me how to fix it and everythings fine, no data lost!What a relief.The only downer is that I was thinking that this was just the excuse I needed to get the cash together for a new machine and move to FS9, ASV, DF727, etc, etc. I think I'll hang on for a bit now.Thanks for the help again gents!http://online.vatsimindicators.net/916312/3.png