# PXE-E61 media test failure, check cable



## smile003 (Aug 31, 2007)

hi all..

so here i come to you with my prob..
i have a HP laptop and when i run it it gaves me an error of

*Argon PXE Boot Agent v2.01 (BIOS Integrated) 
(C) Copyright 2002 Argon Technology Corporation 
(C) Copyright 2000 3Com Corporation 
All right reserved

Pre-boot eXecution Environment (PXE) 
(C) Copyright 1999 Intel Corporation 
All right reserved

PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable *

and next message is 
*system not found*

even i decided to format it by windows xp he can't boot by cd rom 

i try and try and try but no way, if anyone can help plzzzzzzzz to solve that problem....

thank you


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## mattyc (Aug 22, 2007)

How old is this laptop and what model is it? Was the hard drive acting slow, or making click sounds before this happened?
Did this randomly start, or was there something else that happened around the same time?

I have an old Thinkpad, and if there is no hard drive installed, it automatically looks to boot off the network (PXE). It won't let me boot from the cd if there is no hard drive installed. Sounds similarto your problem.

Is the hard drive detected in the BIOS?
Press F1/F2/Del when the system is first starting up to get in there.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

Did you change the boot order to boot from the CD drive first? It looks like it's trying to boot from the network and then the hard drive, neither of which work in this case, and then it's failing.


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## smile003 (Aug 31, 2007)

Hi mattyc my pc is Compaq Hp nx9010 pentium4 ,and it gave no sound before the error message, and how can i know if my had disk is workin? in setup--->tools there's hard drive test, i dunno if that mean that there's a hard drive installed or not...that's all
thanx for replying if u have any question ask it plz


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## smile003 (Aug 31, 2007)

hi, yes i did change to boot by cd rom, Lan and hard drive, and it gives the same error message


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## mattyc (Aug 22, 2007)

When the computer first turns on it should show the name of the bios at the top of the screen.
Then it should list the drives it finds like so
Hard Disk or Fixed Disk:xxxxxxxxx
CD Rom:xxxxxxxxx
Floppy:xxxxxxxxxxx

Thats how my laptop does it.
It might say 
Master:xxxxxxxxxx
Slave:xxxxxxxxxx

If all you get a Compaq/HP logo try hitting ESC to clear the logo and see the text output.
Is it listing the hard drive here?


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## smile003 (Aug 31, 2007)

i don't have that screen you talk about, it just gave black page and there's press eschap to change boot and the message of pressing f2 for setup, when i change boot to cd rom it come back same message..


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## smile003 (Aug 31, 2007)

and yes there's boot menu
1-cd rom drive
2-hard drive
3- removables drives
4-built-In LAN


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

Is the CD bootable? Did you verify by checking it in another computer?


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## smile003 (Aug 31, 2007)

yes i am sure the cd is bootable, and i use it in other pc's


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## mattyc (Aug 22, 2007)

Ok so here are a couple options
1) change the boot order to be Hard Drive, CD Rom, Lan.
This will attempt to boot of the hard drive first.

2) CD Rom, Hard drive, Lan.
This will attempt to boot off the windows cd rom

If those don't work, try using the boot menu to select hard drive or CD rom.
If the system keeps trying to boot off the network (PXE boot) then double check the win cd in another pc to confirm it still works.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

Are you sure the CD drive works?


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## smile003 (Aug 31, 2007)

i did try it all, not working


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## smile003 (Aug 31, 2007)

DoubleHelix said:


> Are you sure the CD drive works?


yes i am sure the CD drive is working 100%


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

How do you know the CD drive is working?


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## smile003 (Aug 31, 2007)

DoubleHelix said:


> How do you know the CD drive is working?


i can see the light in it, and it was working before..that's it


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## smile003 (Aug 31, 2007)

None could solve my prob...


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

Just because you see a light in the drive doesn't mean it works. You've set the boot order properly and verified the disk is bootable. The only thing left is a faulty drive.


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## mattyc (Aug 22, 2007)

smile003 said:


> None could solve my prob...


I am suspecting your hard drive, or your motherboard, and/or your cd drive

As I said earlier I have a thinkpad t20, and if the hard drive is removed from the system, I can't boot from cd, and it automatically tries to boot off the network.

So you know your cd is bootable, because it works on other computer, but the laptop wont.
So that means the motherboard won't let you, or the cd drive is dead.
You can't boot off the hard drive, so that means the hard drive is dead, or corrupted, or the motherboard won't let you.

You can't use any boot disks because your computer won't boot from a cd.....
http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

try burning a system rescue cd, and see if that boots, and can see your hard drive.
If it won't boot you need to decide how much you are willing to spend on fixing this laptop.
1st would be trying a new hard drive.
2nd would be trying a new cd drive
3rd would be getting a new mobo if you still can't boot to a new hard drive and cd drive.


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## smile003 (Aug 31, 2007)

mattyc said:


> I am suspecting your hard drive, or your motherboard, and/or your cd drive
> 
> As I said earlier I have a thinkpad t20, and if the hard drive is removed from the system, I can't boot from cd, and it automatically tries to boot off the network.
> 
> ...


thanx a lot for your detail about my problem, well all what u said is so logical, i want to know how can i burn a rescue cd in that link u gave, cuz i entered and didn't know where to go, and also i wanna know plz what is ''mobo''..thanx a lotttttt


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## mattyc (Aug 22, 2007)

http://www.sysresccd.org/Download

Download the i686-PC version.
Burn the iso image to a cd using Nero, or your burning software.
Try booting off this cd, just to see if you cd drive still works.

If that doesn't work, you will have to start replacing parts until you get it to boot, as I described in my earlier post.
A mobo is the motherboard or main board of the computer.
With a laptop, you have to use the exact type of motherboard for the model laptop.
You might want to think about taking it to a repair shop if you think changing the hard drive and cd drive are above your abilities


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