Help please...cannot boot to windows

Hi. Strange problem I'd appreciate help with. I have an Asus eee 1005HA netbook. I upgraded the memory to 2 GBs and upgraded the hard drive to a 7200 scorpio black over a year ago when I bought this.

The machine worked like a charm until today. I could not boot into Windows XP. When trying to boot, I get the following messages:

"Remove disks or other media.
Press any key to restart.
Reboot and select proper boot device
or insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key"

It seems ALL boot devices in BIOS are DISABLED, including the hard drive. There does not seem to be an option to ENable them either. I tried resetting to default values in BIOS, and resetting BIOS/CMOS by removing battery and unplugging and holding the power button for 30 seconds. Neither worked. F9 recovery does not work either. I can't even boot from the recovery dvd/cd because the cd/dvd boot drive is also disabled in BIOS.

I did not do anything to the unit that would cause this. (Some routine maintenance yesterday, ie. virus scans, cleaning and defrag...all seemed fine.)

Any advice please??

 

Hello,
If you tap the esc key during boot, does it give you a boot device option?

 

Yes, it gives the option for the hard drive, but when I select it, I get the same error message, and the hard drive still appears "disabled'.

 

In BIOS under the boot menu do you have Boot Booster enabled? Try disabling it and see if there is any change. Maybe try esc again after disabling Boost Booster.

 

Thanks Sach2, but still no change. All boot options still show as disabled.

 

Yes, I realized after I posted that Esc probably wouldn't work with Boot Booster enabled. So there is no way to enable a particular boot device in the boot priority menu--selecting the disabled item and using Enter or Space bar does not enable it?

Same boot problems with no USB or Media cards attached?

 

Nope. Pressing enter in boot priority opens a dialog box which shows the hard drive, but neither 'enter' nor 'space' affects it. This is confounding me.

 

Is there anything like boot settings configuration under the Boot tab? What is listed under that option when you press enter?

 

thanks tgell. The only item under 'Boot Configuration' is 'Quiet Boot'. I can either Enable or Disable it. I tried both to no avail. That is the only item under Boot Config.

 

If you disable quiet boot, I believe it will note the key combo for flashing a bios at bootup. I would try flashing the BIOS only if all other options including contacting ASUS support failed as a bad flash could brick the computer.

http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_PC/Eee_PC_1005HA_Seashell/#download
Latest BIOS version is 1061

Here is a very nice video about flashing the bios of the Eee PC 1005HA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czlqt__srV4

 

Tgell...thanks for your continued help. I tried booting from an Ubunto USB. The usb device shows in boot priority (I moved it to 1st), but it is disabled (in brackets) so the comp wont boot from it. Same for trying to boot a Windows recovery disk in a usb cd drive (usb drive shows, but is in brackets as disabled).

Before I attempt a risky BIOS flash, I think I am going to open the machine and remove the hard drive and test it externally. If the hard drive is ok, and while I have the unit disassembled, do you think disconnecting and reconnecting the CMOS battery will help?

 

It could not hurt if you can do it. There are quite a few videos on youtube on how to remove the hard drive. Not an easy task. Not sure where the CMOS battery is located or if it is soldiered in.

Edit: CMOS battery is a plugin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6NO...otation_548347&src_vid=yehHh0GmnU0&feature=iv

 

CMOS battery replacement.

 

Sorry for the delay. Updated BIOS, no change. Opened machine, tested hard drive externally...no issues found. Disconnected/reconnected CMOS battery...no change. On a whim, I changed out the hard drive, and voila!...boot options re-enabled and i could use the recovery disc to reinstall windows. The old hard drive still checks out ok though. Not sure I understand, but we are finally back to normal.

Thanks to all of you, for all your suggestions.