I was given a laptop that was being used as a file server. I was told that everything was running fine early on yesterday afternoon, but we had a power outage and the system was shut down, and when brought back up it was giving a Load Error, Press A Key To Reboot message. When you press a key, it prompts again to make sure a boot drive is selected, or to insert the proper boot media. I've been working on the machine since about 2 this morning, and the problem is driving me crazy now. I've managed to get into windows to start backing up files and things of that nature already, but I'd like to be able to get this fixed, and not have to have the system sent out to the manufacturer. I've been doing some research, and this was a problem with the 2000, and ME operating systems. The cause of those problems both seemed to be the Symantec GoBack software. This software was present on this computer. The only solution I found to fix this was to run fdisk /mbr, but the disclaimer states that by doing this, it'll format the drive, and all data stored on all partitions will be lost. Is there anything else that can be done before this is a lost cause? Any info would be GREATLY appreciated, and some +rep would be in order. I know, brides usually work

Thanks in advance,
- atr3yu

Since its a laptop, I think it's be a safe bet to assume nothing was physically changed between the time of power outage and the proceeding reboot... unless something was fried. I'd suggest backing up the important data to another computer and reinstalling windows. If that doesn't work, something is broken.

What make of machine is it?

Using fdisk /mbr will NOT format the drive, it just clears the boot record, nothing else. Unless GoBack does some unnatural freakiness with the MBR, it shouldn't hurt anything. First thing you should do is REMOVE GoBack! It's crappy software to begin with, I've only seen users have problems with it.

Giving a boot failure error however is a more intersting problem. I'm sure you checked that there's no floppy/CD in any drives. It could point to a BIOS problem, if it farts and forgets there's a hard drive there. I've seen that happen a few times.

Let us know how it goes.

Yes, get into the BIOS and make sure the HD is showing(correctly). If not, see if you can auto detect it.

Ok, just wanted to post a quick update. Thanks to funkystickman for letting me know that the fdisk /mbr wasn't going to do any damage to the HD Partitions when I ran it, and when I did, it fixed the problem. Upon successfully running and starting windows, Norton GoBack was deleted and a new save point was set. Thanks again to everyone who helped. +rep has been left for all.

Thanks again,
- atr3yu