Posting for a PC friend - can't start up

[dakota]

A friend of mine has a son who thought he knew what he was doing when he took a drive out of an old computer and added it to another.  Now, when she starts up, she gets a screen which looks like the system is starting, and then it dies.  Without having to take it to someone, is there a way to start up a PC which is obviously having a problem finding the correct system startup software??

[kbeartx]

My first idea is to re-check the master/slave jumpers on the two drives.

If they are the same, it could mightily confuse the CPU and cause the symptoms you report.

After that, go into the BIOS and set startup disk to the floppy drive [if y'all have a Utility floppy, to do some diagnostics] or to the CD drive, [to boot to an install CD and use the 'repair failed install' option].

[kelly]

Try getting into BIOS and selecting the proper Drive.

http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/ar...6.asp&guid=