my son is running windows xp which asks for a boot disc everytime on start up. I have made one on floppy from my computer. This demonstrates my ignorance but what do you do after the A:\ prompt to get into windows again and is there a better WAY to boot the computer other than from a floppy. Thankshmm.. maybe it's a bios setting.. Try setting the bios to run from the Hardrive first?Thanks for your reply. Think i know what you mean, have to keep it simple for me but could you still advise what response i should put after the A:\ prompt and whether there is a better way to upload windows again or are you saying to boot from xp disc!He's saying you need to enter Setup - it usually tells you what key to press, it can be F1, Delete or some other key, but when it says to, find the options that show Boot order and make sure the Hard DRIVE is first on the list. Thanks Dilbert, however, moved ide hard drive to top of list in boot MENU in BIOS but on pressing ENTER it says, NONE or DISABLED. On EXITING the BIOS and restarting computer it still says boot failure and asks for a boot disc which as i first MENTIONED leads to an A:\ prompt. So i am stuck