Hi,

Please excuse noobishness and lack of real knowledge... I have a problem with my computer not booting at all. As my EZ Armor antivirus has now expired on my 3 year old Fujitsu-Seimens (3.6ghz, 1GB RAM, xp - latest updates and service packs etc) I decided I would remove it and replace it with something a little more, well, free. My plan was to download Avira AV as this works fine on my old laptop. So I first removed EZ Armor using the add and remove programmes list on the Control Panel as I know that having two different AV programs can cause PROBLEMS by them conflicting with one another. A message came up saying I needed to restart the machine for the changes to take effect. When I did this the machine shut down and when it came to boot up again the following message came up:

REBOOT and Select proper Boot device
Or insert Boot Media in selected boot device and press a key_

Since then every time I try to boot it up I get the same message appearing – its after the first system screen (the one which says hit Del to run setup) but before Windows makes an appearance. This means I can get in to play with the Bios settings (not that I would really know what I was doing). I didn't do anything or go online between removing EZ Armor and re-starting - I restarted immediately. Does anyone know what the problem is?

Is it likely to have been caused by removing EZ Armor?
Do I just need to stick in the system recovery CD and will this sort me out or do I need to something in the Bios settings?
If I do manage to USE the system recovery CD, will it mean I lose files on the computer?

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.
Dload the Recovery Console .ISO Here

Use your burning program to create a bootable CD.
Insert the CD power down and re-boot.
Hit R at the first prompt.
This will load the RC and take you to a DOS-looking command prompt screen.
When it finishes loading at the prompt type in fixboot and hit Enter.
Remove the CD and re-boot.

If the above doesn't do the trick repeat the instructions except this time type in fixmbr and hit Enter.
Remove the CD and re-boot.

You can't always use a laptop Restore CD to do this as you risk wiping your drive and taking the machine back to Day One status...that's why this method is being suggested.
Good LuckThanks - in the end it turned out to be the simplest solution (the first one which I tried last night having done some RESEARCH and was trying more in hope than expectation). I just went into the Bios and changed the boot disk order and it started fine. Don't know what caused the boot disk order to change, assume it must have been something to do with removing EZ Armor, or may just have been coincidence. Anyway, chuffed that for once in my life the first fix I tried was a successful one...