Reference number: CH000185
No ROM basic system halted error
Issue:No ROM basic system halted error.
Cause:No active partition has been defined in fdisk, hard disk drive not setup properly, or hard disk drive is bad.
Solution:Create active partition
After setting up your hard disk drive through fdisk you may receive the error message "No ROM basic system halted." This error is an indication that you have not set the hard disk drive's active partition. To resolve the issue, boot from a bootable diskette and enter fdisk. Within fdisk, choose option 2 to set active partition and set the drive you wish to be bootable as the active partition.
Additional information about fdisk can be found on our fdisk help page.
Invalid boot media in disk drive
If you are attempting to boot from the hard disk drive, ensure that no floppy diskettes or CDs are in the computer. It is possible the computer may be attempting to boot from either of these causing this error to occur.
Verify hard disk drive properly setup in CMOS
Verify that the hard disk drive is properly setup in CMOS.
Check cables
If creating an active partition does not resolve your issue and/or fdisk does not detect a hard disk drive, verify that the hard disk drive cables are properly connected.
Replace drive
Finally, if none of the above solutions resolve this error, unfortunately, it is possible that the hard disk drive is bad. We recommend that you either contact the manufacturer of the hard disk drive to have it replaced and/or purchase a new hard disk drive.
Additional information:
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