If Your MS-DOS or Windows NT Operating System Does Not Boot (135461)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.5
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.5
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51
  • Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 2.11
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.1
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 4.0
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.0
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.2
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.21
  • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.22
This article was previously published under Q135461

SYMPTOMS

When you try to boot your computer running Windows NT or MS-DOS, the operating system does not boot and you receive one of the following messages:
NO ROM BASIC : SYSTEM HALTED

-or-

Press a key to reboot
If you press a key to reboot, the message appears again.

NOTE: Depending on the manufacturer of the CMOS or BIOS the message text may vary.

CAUSE

The CMOS or BIOS of your computer displays this message on your screen if drive C, the primary partition on the first physical hard disk, is no longer marked as the active boot partition.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, mark the primary partition active.

Your Computer Runs Windows NT

To mark the primary partition active, boot your computer with a Windows NT boot disk and run Disk Administrator. You cannot use the Emergency Repair Disk (ERD), because it does not mark the partition active.

If you do not have a Windows NT boot disk, you need another computer on which you can create a Windows NT boot disk:
  • If you run Windows NT 3.1 on your computer and you have another computer available that runs Windows NT 3.1, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

    101668 How To Guard Against Boot Failure with a Windows NT Boot Disk

  • If you run Windows NT 3.5 on your computer, and you have another computer available that runs Windows NT 3.5, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

    119467 Creating a Boot Disk for an NTFS Partition

  • If you only have another computer available that runs MS-DOS, follow the instructions under Your Computer Runs MS-DOS below.

Your Computer Runs MS-DOS

To mark the primary partition active:
  1. On a computer running MS-DOS, create a bootable floppy disk.
  2. Copy the file FDISK.EXE from that computer's DOS directory to the floppy disk.
  3. On your problem computer, boot from the floppy disk.
  4. Run FDISK.EXE to mark the primary partition active.
  5. Remove the floppy disk from the drive.
  6. Reboot your computer to boot the operating system on drive C.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:12/5/2003
Keywords:KB135461
©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.