When I restart my computer, sometimes it will boot with an "Invalid Disk" error. I check the BIOS and the hard drive size is double of what I actually have. This means that it can't load obviously.  I end up fixing it but don't know how or why it happens.
216531
You can always set the bios to the actual settings instead of using the auto detect feature.
510518
Try getting into your bios (hold F1 during boot ... sometimes it's DEL ... a message should pop up on your screen as the computer is booting to tell you how to enter set-up)\n\nWhen you get into BIOS select BOOT ORDER and make sure your CD is booted prior to your HD
459344
You can try to go to your computers BIOS setup and check to see if your hard drive is set properly, it should be set on "Auto" and it should be set to be the boot drive....This should have been the first thing the people that tried to fix it checked...
643031
incase this might cause you problems later....goto start>>programs>>accessories>>system tools>>backup...click on emergency repair disk (this will make a backup disk with boot files).\ncons: must have floppy disk, furthermore most pcs dont come with floppy drives no more.\nalternative: use windows xp cd and run repair program.
342976
The Blue Screen of Death..... try to start in safe mode. if that will not work,  your HD might be Dead....
241420
Sometimes you can get your windows to restart by re-installing windows again. I've seen this kind of freeze up before and by re-installing windows I managed to get the computer to fully load so I could back up my information before formatting and re-installing windows from the beginning. You could try continuing after getting it to fully load but if there's a virus or something your AV can't find it will just happen again.
87310
reboot in safe mode and rollback to a previous installation.\n\nedit:\nif you can get to safe mode, then you can safely backup your pictures before you try other options. the "repair" option below is super risky. i tried it recently and it reformatted the hd (not on MY computer, ha ha ha.)\n\nhowever, it is not a disk problem. more likely a program that is running is corrupted (probably an install wizard or install shield.) if you can get into safe mode, answer back and we can help you try to locate the problem.
556376
what's happening is that the OS on the HD is setup for the hardware configuration of the OLD computer (the cpu, mobo, ram etc etc) when you put it in the new computer it cant recognize all the new components and therefore cannot boot up. your going to have to back up all your files and reformat the HD so the OS will be setup for the new computer.
664887
check your bios to see if the drive is being properly recognized. You may need to properly partition the hard drive, but that would be unusual if you are installing windows from this century.
327905
If it doesn't start, the boot sector could be bad.  It is better to ask someone to try to install another copy of the OS in a temparary directory to fix the boot sector, then point the OS back to your existing OS directory to use your existing applications.
5161
You probably need to update your BIOS, check with the manufacturer to see if an update is available.  Some older motherboards don't like seeing a 160GB hard drive and will limit your storage no matter what you do in Windows.
60112
make sure you have all the drivers.... you probably have a driver cd from dell. just put a windows cd in the drive and when the pc boots hit f2 for bios, and go to boot order, make the cd rom first in the list. then the cd will boot before the HD, and it will give you the option to reformat
465577
THE MOTHER BOARD IS FINE  THE PROBLEM WAS THE BIOS IS NOT SET UP CORRECLTY AND SINCE U DID A RESET ON IT ,NOW U HAVE TO FIGURE OUT HOW IT WAS SET UP, OPEN UP THE COMPUTER TAKE OUT THE CABLES WHERE UR CD AND HARD DRIVE IS, NOW START THE COMPUTER IS GOING TO SAY IN YOUR SCREEN HARDISK NOT FOUND AFTER IT SAYS THAT CONNECT THE HARDDRIVE TO THE COMPUTER TO SEE IF IT RECONIZE IT \nIF DOESNT RECONG IT  THEN GO TO BIO WITH THE COMPUTER OPEN AND THE HARDRIVE STILL IN THERE AND COM STILL ON IN THE BIO SET UP GO TO HARDWARE AND THERE GOING TO BE A OPTIONS WHERE II SAY DISABLE OR ENABLE ,ENABLE THE THE HARDRIVE AND THEN SAVE WHERE IT SAYS SECURITY AND THAT IT
392481
When the computer is booting up press delete until you go into a blue screen with writings. Thats your BIOS. In the second option look for boot sequence. Have your computer boot from cdrom as the first device. Then you should be able to boot from the cd. I dont know exactly what you are trying to do but thats how you do it. Maybe you trying to re-install windows? Well, anyways thats how you do it.\n\nGood Luck
133474
Your Disk won't crash, go ahead and switch it. I was working on a Dell the other day and was playing with those settings. It should not do damage to your hard drives at all.\n\nYou can always go back in to bios if you want to change it.
180557
Boot in dos type CHKDSK or SCANDISK there might be bad sectors on your hard disk.
36291
It's sounding like it. If you know the manufacturer of the HD you can go to their web site and download testing tools which will give you a result code if it fails. You can then get it returned if under warranty. You can find who mad eht edirve sometimes in the BIOS by looking at the drive model, taking the drive out of the notebook or asking the vendor sometimes. \n\nEven if your system won't run Windows most of these guys have a boot disk version to test your drive with.