Hi ther I recently installed a g force 8600 gts to replace my beamish style graphics card. After instaling this card i get an error when i boot up saying boot disk failure. Now if i hold or press f1 during startup my computer seems to boot also if i load the defaults or reset my cmos my pc boots but when ever the pc is powered off for more then a minute or so the problem just comes back any ideas What is my computer doing when i press f1 to make it boot ??? Any help apreciated
Welcome to HWF What kind of Power Supply do you have (brand and power)? I think that the graphics card uses so much power, that the PSU doesn't have enough output to power the hard drive(s).
That sounds to be the most likely answer. Boot disk failure means that you hdd is not being recognized in one way or another. rhoch's idea sounds about right, so you may want to give that a try although the 8600 series is pretty easy on power (I believe it even getes its power from the PCI-ex slot..)
If you have an additional power supply, then connect the power connectors of that PSU to your hard drive(s). Connect that power supply to an AC outlet, and then turn the pc on. See if the harddisk is then recognised.
If you were having this problem without having added the new graphics card, it sounds like the CMOS battery is dead because its not retaining your settings. Maybe try replacing the CMOS battery as well since it works if you go into the BIOS and reset things but then you have to do it again if the computer stays off too long?
