Need help . Bootup failure. Please some help TY

Hello, I am having a problem with bootup.
When turn on my comp, i get an error message stating "bootup failure" Insert diskette into A:"
I can't touch anything onthe keyboard cause it just scrolls that text over, so i cant get into any of the keyboard options.
I have tried ms startupdisk but i cant go into any other drive after i get into dos.

My computer has not been connected to the internet for the past month. I have only used it to listen to music or watch gaming vid files. Prior to my disconnection from interent i did have some messages pop up but i think it was spyware type.
I have not had any problems when my comp these past weeks.
I turned my comp off as usual. A few days later i turned it back on but it showed that message. I did nothing unusual before i turned it off.

Before the bootupfailure came up. I do remember that the screen to press f11 setup f12 f10 etc option popped up.But i just pressed a key on the keyboard and it went directly to the bootup failure. Boot up failure occurs as soon as i turn on my comp. Sometimes for a split second the normal icon that appears durring booting will come up but it goes directly to the failure screen.

If anyone can point me in the right direction on what i could do . That would be appreciated

Thanks in advance.

Some questions on my mind are.
Could dust affect it? A bump to the hardrive caused something to disconnect?
Is my C drive totally gone? How do i load up to windows in c: if my comp cant find the drive?

 

FEw options, HDD is bad, IDE cable is bad, IDE controller is bad, CMOS battery is old and getting weak. Open the case and make sure everything is connected properly. At boot enter the BIOS by pressing the F1 key as soon as you see the Boot Screen. Keep presing it until you Bios screen loads, make sure your HDD is seen in BIOS, and that your boot sequence is configured correctly.

 

i checked all the lines and everything seems to be in place. I tried pressing f1 as soon as it loads but there doesn't seem to work. Theres only a split second or it just goes right to the boot up failure. I guess i will go have to go to a comp repair shop. Could the comp being dusty affect the hardware??

Thanks for the help.

 

Hardware simply fails after awhile. Dust can contribute to hardware failure. Change out your CMOS battery for a new one, a few bucks vs a couple hundred, worth the expense if it's the battery.

 

Well im not a computer expert so im going to go to a computer repair shop.
Going to cost 30 bucks just to inspect it.. Hopefully after i know what the problem is, one of you guys can let me know how much doing on my own vs the repair will be.
Thanks shadow