whe i usually start up my computer it does its thing and then im on, but today i opened it up to check something out on the inside and then when i plugged it back in and turned it on i got a message that said, insert boot diskette into drive A, press any key when ready.  i went to microsoft.com and downloaded a start up disk for xp home service pack 2 and when i put the disk in it did nothing, so i found another way by formating the FLOPPY as a start-up disk but dont know ehat to put when i am asked to type something in.  please help methe keyis what did you check on the inside, how did you check it, were you GROUNDED and did you loosen a data cable to the hard drive?

The start up disks are a set of 6 for XP.  What were you going to do once you got to an a:> anyway?

Check all the cables for snufness and restart the machine. You didn't monkey around with your BIOS SETTINGS did you?i connected a zip drive, well tryied to.  and it DIDNT work so i didconnected it and then the message showed up when i rebooted.  i got the set of 6 disc's and when i load the first one it turns the screen black and nothing happens.cant anyone help me? there is a brand new hard drive in it and it just wont start. come on help me outDoes the BIOS see the hard drive? If not, you've unseated a cable somewhere.Please don't PM me over these matters, keep your questions in public forum.

Can you explain exactly what it was you PM'd me about? I'm a little lost here.