I am in the process of assembling my first pc.During the final boot up, I am getting following error message

Intel Base-Code, PXE-2.1 (build 083)
Copyright (C) 1997-2001, Intel Corporation
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0f: Exiting Intel PXE ROM.
Boot Failure: System Halted

Some people advised me that it is due to BIOS is trying to boot from the network card. I am using Intel845WNL motherboard. My boot device priority is

1-Removable Dev.
2-CD-ROM
3-Hard Drive
4-IBA 4.0.19 Slot 0208 [I don't know what this means]

I tried 1,2,3 in different orders, but didn't work. Please advice how can I get rid of this error. Thanks in advance.

The problem is either caused by a faulty hard drive/connector
disconnection or a bug in the boot up BIOS.

A 'Live boot disk' will not find this error.

So to elimate all faults from basics to more advanced.

When Laptop boots hit F2 to force into, BIOS mode.
Manually note all the unique settings that were set
either by supplier, or previous owner.

Go to the option where it resets BIOS to DEFAULT settings, Save/Exit,
and then reboot. This will over write the bug in BIOS chip memory.
This should clear the error described in the original post.

You 'may. need to manually re-insert any unique manual settings to the
BIOS.

My Laptop also had a faulty hard drive, which I replaced.
the type needed is an older internal 2'5 IDE type. These are more
difficult to buy, as most new Hard drives are now 2'5 SATA.

Borrow a functioning 2'5 IDE hard drive for test purposes
from a PC technician, to test in your own unit to see if you
need a replacement hard drive. Size of test drive is not important.

Prepare a well lighted work area.
Use may like to use a handy Camera in Macro mode in case you forget what each stage should look like in reverse !
Get 4 small containers for seperate sets of screws(do no mix different thread types, when rebuilding.
Turn off Laptop & Turn Laptop over
Put on an anti-static wrist strap[other wise you will destroy static -sensitive hard drive].
Using a philips head screw driver remove 1st single screw to the
DVD drive. DVD drive slides out.
Remove cover and shielding to access hard drive.
remove.
Swap hard drive out for new or test unit.
Check your internal cables before you rebuild PC[You may want to refer to your photos !]
Re-boot PC.
If error came on as described in original post do the BIOS
reset as described earlier, in case the BIOS can not identify
hard drive[Happens more often then you might think (1/10 times]
Re-Boot.

Hopefully you have enough info here to pin point problem and
repair.

If you end up installing a new hard drive, it will come
blank if new.
You will have to install a new operating system.

I recommend Linux based, as it will preserve your hard drive
lifetime better than windows types.
Linux does not fragmnet data, so does not have to defragment.
Every unnecessary access to your drive, wears out drives faster
in the long term.

[I am using SUSE for 6 years], and Ubuntu are popular choices, and you can do a dry run without
installing, using live CDROM/DVD that will not touch hardrive,
but run for a session only in temporary memory.

LINUX is always, and always be free[OPENSOURCE]. Download ISO image,
or buy a Linux magazine, and get ISO from that.

Is there any quick way to tell whether the disk itself is gone or whether it is not being recognised for some other reason??

this shows up right after.

Also when i start the laptop up it beeps continously whilst loading and my only options are F2 or F12 to load.

Can anyone help or point me in the right direction please?

Intel(R) boot Agent Version 4.1.08
Copyright (C) 1997-2002, Intel Corporation
PXE-E61: Media Test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel Boot Agent.

Then the next screen is:

Non-System disk or disk error
replace and strike key when ready

The error is because you have the network as one of the boot devices, the BIOS tries for the disk but doesn't find it, probaby tries the DVD/CD next with no luck so then tries the network and gives the error you see.

PXE-E6: Media Test Failure, Check Cable
PXE-M0f: Exiting Intel Boot Agent

I've tried whacking it as well, although Im not sure if I'm doing it hard enough, and I'm still getting the same message. I know nothing about computers but I've heard that this is a common problem among PC Notebooks? All I want to know is if files can be extracted...at this point I could care less about the computer, I'm over this pos and getting a new one anyways but theres 1 particular file that is saved on the desktop that my grade this semester is riding on and I need it ASAP.

O
\___________/

I have check on other comp that my hard drive is OK, so I got back some of the confidence that the hard drive is OK, its just a matter of loose cable or somehow BIOS settings changed. I don't know how but it turned out that in the BIOS my SATA MODE setting was switched to AHCI MODE. I gave a try with IDE MODE and Success!!!

media test failure; check cable
exiting PXE rom

harddisk failure on boot (seagate)

fiddled with the harddisk with no luck;

smacked the bottom and side as presribed above; reboot and back in business!! Really. Apparently harddisk locked somewhere.

Broadcome Base Code PXE-2.1 v1.1.0
copyright (c) 2000-2008 broadcom Corporation
copyright (c) 1997-2000 Intel Coroporation
PXE-E61: Media rest failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting Broadcom PXE ROM.
Operating System not found.

PLEASE HELP ME.
i have assignments that need to be completed.
this is urgent.

thank you.

please email me on
miss-kristii@hotmail.com

I read your post and I turned my computer over and fiddled around and made sure everything was secure, and I kid you not my computer is working.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Thank You sooooo much.

what you will need internet access ,a disc with an operating system xp or 2ooo, a floppy drive

step 1 download from microsoft on to floppy when prompted for xp or 2ooo bootable disc its 6 floppy for xp and 4 for 2000

step 2 you need to make your floppy in your bios primary thats first to load .its all differant for makes but if you google somthing like make of com/lap and the word bios you should find somthing you can work with

step 3 fier up your system and start loading your floppys until finish then use your os disk and see what options windows gives you repair or new system bla bla bla

the floppys are free but you must have some sort of operating os disk in the first place to finish the job

I tryed to boot it from my xp cd and it doesnt go anywhere.

At this point i could not careless for the files.
I tryed banging it, it made me feel great but the laptop is still stuck in the same place.
Is there any thing else anyone thinks i should be doing?
shall i start kicking it?
I cant even get into Bios.
Is my laptop dead?
My email is elnandovasquez@gmail.com

If you're trying to fix the
PXE-E61 Media test failure, check cable...

Instead of whacking it on the left side...maybe that will work for you like it did for others but open up the panel for the hard disk and make sure it is seated all the way in so that none of the pins are showing. I tried taking out the hard disk and putting it back in a few times but the third time a pushed it a little harder and it went in all the way. I put the panel back on and turned on the power and it worked perfectly. Everything...(files, software, internet works fine)

Thanks Stan
----------------------------------------
From: Stan on 08/03/2009
I had the same problem after reinstalling Windows XP and it was driving me nuts. After stumbling across this discussion and seeing people mentioning boot order... I was ablt to fix it by doing a restore defaults in the bios and then doing Shift + 1 (disable) on the FDD (last thing in the list) in the boot order section. Very strange, but it worked.

From: Stan on 08/03/2009
I had the same problem after reinstalling Windows XP and it was driving me nuts. After stumbling across this discussion and seeing people mentioning boot order... I was ablt to fix it by doing a restore defaults in the bios and then doing Shift + 1 (disable) on the FDD (last thing in the list) in the boot order section. Very strange, but it worked.

____________________________________________________________________

I try to change The QUICK boot in BIOS whit FULL boot and it WORKS

____________________________________________________________________

I was getting the PXE61 error trying to load windows xp on a new HDD; after reading the posts I went and disabled all boot devices but the CDROM and viola! No more pxe message and I was able to continue with my setup.

Thanks all for the many suggestions and solution.

When i start my pc & boot pc to bootable cd so display come PXE-E61 media test failure,check cable..
Pls give me solution to this point.

reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key.

Media Test failure, check cable.
Exiting Broadcom PXE ROM.

I already tried one of the possible solutions which is disconnecting the hard drive and the memory and this did not fix it. Also another thing to take in consideration is the fact that this computer sometimes boots properly takes me to the password screen, I enter the password go into the OS and then mabye after a few minutes i'll shut down and then once I try to restart I will the above message mdia test failure, and Exting BroadcomPXEROM.........can someone give me a possible solution, again am not an expert yet so please give me simple instructions.

The boot order is HDD>CD-ROM>FDD>LAN. When i disable LAN i get error message as "Insert system disk in drive..." "Press any key when ready...".
And am sure the disk is in and am now thinking of trying another disk as that is the option i have not done so far.

I am having a problem when i start my pc this error was appeared "PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable. PXE-MOF: Exiting PXE ROM., DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"

Please give solution

Last resort solution before expensive repairs?

for realtek RTL8100E/8101E fast ethernet netwprk adapter V1.02 (060510)
PXE-E61 : Media test falure, check cable
PXE-M0F : Exiting PXE ROM.

I received the msg above after i insert a new battery in my HP omnibook XE4100. i re-start the system then press F2 to enter setup it ask for the password. The boot priority:

1-Removable Dev.
2-CD-ROM
3-Hard Drive
4-IBA 4.0.19 Slot 0208

I tried that ESC, CTRL, ALT & DEL for several times and the message disappear and everything went ok. Then i test it again, i re-started the system the message appeared again. For now i just remove the new battery and plug the power cord directly.Please advice how can I fix the problem. Thanks in advance.

when i try to boot it says:
PXE-E61: media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: exiting broadcom PXE ROM.
Operating system not found

i have proved there is no problem with the boot device priority.

what can i do? maybe ive knocked it and the cable to the hard drive has knocked out of place or something? i dont have any reboot cds or anything.

The first issue was "ntdlr is missing" but it wouldn't boot from the windows disk because of a second error "pxe-e61:media test failure check cable" dealing with the CD/DVD drive I guess.

Thanks so much to Kevin who posted this below:
"I thought this was a crazy idea, but I tried it. It worked

Problem
- change boot order to be CD-ROM first
- insert the Toshiba Notebook Recovery CD
- looks OK, the message asks to delete everything on HDD, say yes
- it runs on first CD a little while, and comes up with DOS style error message something like, No drive T: found, and show options to
Abort, Retry, Failed. I choose "Abort", the process asks to insert disk2, I did, then frozen and reboot and come up with pxe-e61:media test failure check cable

Resolution
- reboot machine, ESC and F1 to go in to BIOS setup, disable LAN on the laptop.
- take out battery, and put it in, turn on machine again, this time, the problem solve.

I think the cause was beacuse it tried to access network drive (on T:) and it remembers that value until the battery has taken out. Take me an hour to figure this out. Thanks a lot for this thread for giving me this idea.

"PXE-E61 Media Test Failure, System won't boot"

1.Go to Bios Settings
2.Remove LAN booting from booting options...For laptop ,type "X" on the LAN booting option.
3.Save The configuration(F10)
This Will Solve this problem

But my problem was little different .System was not able to detect the CD/DVD in my Drive while booting
And my "HardDisk" vista had got corrupted

So finally i got hold of 1 USB DVD drive,booted and installed Vista on my machine

Then later i found out that ,CD/DVD drive reads for Non-bootable CD/DVD
but for bootable CD/DVD ,my system although detects CD/DVD but is unable to read them .

Question to any one here:

Can anyone tell me why Bootable CD/DVD are not being read in my system [The bus is alright and i can detect the CD/DVD drive but cant read on booting ]

but with vista/XP image in my harddisk i can read games/music CD/DVD i n my system

I have excluded n/w from boot order
i only boot with cd and hard disk

hard disk booting is working

but in case of cd/dvd ,its giving "No operating System Found"

CD is working fine of other system

i need to install a new OS on my system

i am facing a similar problem on my lenovo laptop

My Vista got corrupted due to some problem with one of its drivers
i am not able to do safe booting as one of the driver crashes

while i try to do normal booting,it boots and restarts on finding a driver failure just before logon(corrupt winlogon.exe)

hence i tried to re-install /Repair Vista

i got the same error
:PXE-E61 Media Test Failure, System won't boot

Then i removed Network and harddisk from Booting options in BIOS settings

and Now once i try to boot from cd/dvd
it gives :"Operating System Not Found"

The CD is fine as it is able to boot on a different machine

Can someone help me with this problem?

I am able to detect the CD Option from Bios,which implies that there should be no problem with Bus connecting to CD Drive

-PXE-E61:media test Failre.

-pxe-mof:Exiting PXE ROM.

-Invalid Media type reading Drive C.

1. Please perform the below steps for the same:

a. Restart your computer.
b. When the F10 setup message appears in the lower left corner of the screen, press the F10 key.
c. Locate ‘System Configuration’ and then select ‘Device Configurations’.
d. Under ‘Device Configurations’, select ‘SATA Native Mode’ and disable the same.
e. Save the settings and exit.

Once the SATA Mode is disabled, please install the Operating System in the normal fashion using the Recovery CDs or the Operating System CDs that you have. Before installing the same, you need have the SATA Controller driver. Please follow the ’Installation Instructions’ in the SATA controller driver link given below.

2. Download the latest “Intel SATA AHCI Controller Driver” driver from the below mentioned link:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId
=321957&prodSeriesId=3356620&prodNameId=3356622&swEnvOID=1093&swLang=13&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=ob-54270-1

Upon installing the same, please get back into the BIOS and enable the SATA Native Mode.

Note: The third-party information provided is to help you find the support you need. This information is subject to change without notice. HP in no way guarantees the accuracy of this third-party information. The software manufacturer will provide support for this software.
Please update your observation for us to serve you better.

I have also given you the link below for the XP Professional Drivers:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId
=3356622&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=3356620&swLang=13&taskId=135&swEnvOID=1093

i have tryed many of the listed solutions but their not working, i can get the the option screen (F8) and select all the options but then it hangs while loading windows so im guessing the hard drive in broken and ive not had any ram changed, ive reset the bios to the Factory settings and its still not having any joy any ideas?

The quickest way to check this is to open up your boot menu (on my laptop you hit F12 on boot up). If your hard drive is missing from the list of items then could have slipped out of it's connector.

Try to boot up with a Boot CD from win XP. You'll probably get access to your hd by the end of the process.

If that doesn't work you might (I do not recomend unless you're a pro) just install the hd in another machine and format it. Then re-install whatever OS you like, partitioning the hd.

Cheers and good luck.

PXE - E61 : media test failure, check cable PXE - MOF : Exiting Broadcom PXE ROM

and i have a dell computer
but i took a test that says hardware and everything elas is fine but the problem is that this keeps comeing up

I have used to have the same error. I just disabled Broadcom PXE (my wireless adapter) in the boot list in setup, haven't seen it since.. Actually, I disabled everything except the hard drive. What is the point in having the usb adapter, cd-rom (unless you are booting from cd), wireless adapter, et al, boot whenever it is booted in the os anyways?

I got impatient and tried right away to reinstall Windows.

After looking through the solutions offered a bit more, I decided to go into BIOS and look at the boot options again. This time I expanded hard drives and noticed a "!" next to the HDD listed. After enabling the HDD, it worked fine.

I solved the problem (for me anyway): I was using a pci card with IDE ports to connect my cd drives (x2). My HD's (x2) connect directly to the IDE port on the motherboard. It was working fine, bios saw the cd drives and the xp cd ran. While long story short the pci card was the problem, so i could not use it which limited me to two things being connected by IDE during the XP install (so one cd drive and one HD were not connected just for the install)

my first screen says secondary ide channel no 80 conductor cable installed

floppy disk fail (40)

***i dont even have a floppy drive)****

then press F1 to continue or del to enter setup.. and well setup doesnt get me to bios.. just to a few things and the advanced bios, but nothing anyone has talked about on here.. or anything that comes close to what someone has tried on here to try in this setup area.

so if i go to continue i get

"verifying DMI pool data....

boot from cd:

nvidia boot agent, pxe 2.0 (build 082 v1.82)

pxe-e61: media test failure, check cable

pxe-m0f: exiting nvidia boot agent

disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter.

* C: CD ..
* C: ATTRIB -H C:\\boot.ini
* C:ATTRIB -S C:\\boot.ini
* C:ATRIB -R C:\\boot.ini
* C: del boot.ini
* C: BOOTCFG /Rebuild
* C: CHKDSK /R /F
* C: FIXBOOT

Your computer is unable to boot from your hard drive, and unable to boot from your CD, and unable to boot from any other sources. So now it is trying to boot from the network. This error message means that you do not have a network cable plugged into your computer. Therefore it is failing to boot from the network as well.

This means that either your hard drive has crashed, so your computer can't find it. Or you are using a bogus boot CD, that the computer can't read.

Hope Intel would have done better messaging with boot failure.. as it was in previous releases..

I took turned the comp off, unplugged it, took out the battery, removed my 160GB hdd replaced it, removed my 1GB RAM replaced it, and turned it on and same thing, or nothing happened.

then i again removed everything, shook the comp a wee bit, undid some other screws had a look in side, jiggled it some more, replaced everything, put in my old 40GB hdd and wow it worked!!!! it's a bloody miracle!
so of course i'm thinking, it's fixed and swap hdd's and now it doesn't want to work... so i swap the hdds again and WOW!!! it's working!

so it works with the 40GB and not with the 160GB??? beats me!
any ideas?

i'm thinking of taking it to a computer technician and getting the data from it onto another hdd. as well as asking them if there is a fault with the hdd, if there is and i can find my receipt i should get some money back!

I will try resetting the boot order in the BIOS, as explained below.

what am i supposed to do?
i have tried everything.
my boot sequence is
1. hard drive
2. cd rom
3. floppy drive
4. nic

also in the boot sequence it says the hard drive and cd rom drive are not installed.

I was getting this error on my Toshiba Satelite P205 -s6237

PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exciting PXE ROM'

first HD - Harddrive

second cd-rom

third remote-device

forth diabled floppy-disk

I am in nearly same position at my laptop, but when I press switch-on button is off. After 10 times trying laptop is on.
Than on my black screen is repeating PXE-E61 and MOf ...

There is no function to operate, no reaction on any button, just black screen and repeating sbout mistake.

I try CD recovery but is stopped after 10 or 20 sec after start.

Any idea for BIOS connection in my situation ?!

Any help and advice
Please

"I just found that setting in the BIOS, changed it so that the A drive was assigned to my floppy drive and everything worked"

Hope this helps anyone who needs it.
********************************************************
Referring to the above previous and very old post I have this
I too am getting that awful error PXE-E61/PXE-E53 type errors everyone else is experiencing with their laptops. Our is an ACER Aspire 5100 series; Windows XP Media Center Edition Version 2002; SP2.

I have restored to factory conditions from the D: drive factory install. After install has been completed, I see that the hard drive is a FAT32 file system. I do not have install disk from acer for my machine as I never got one when it was new. Just the Recover Program on drive D.

As far as "PXE-M0f: Exiting Intel PXE ROM." I'm not really sure of, It sounds like its trying to boot from somewhere else, perhaps on an external harddrive or something. And that it can't find that drive, so it exits, thus resulting it the "PXE-M0f: Exiting Intel PXE ROM." error. My guess is that it can't find the boot volume.

You may try resetting the bios, or simply making sure the boot order is set to boot off your local hard drive as first priority. And then to make sure that you have a valid OS installed on that hard drive.

Hope that helped.

i too am having above problem of 'Media test failure/ Check cable' on my home PC today..

but for me, I am trying to awake from my hibernate state of my PC.
In my dualboot system with XP and Server2k3, after my installing SP3 to XP, the problem emerged. May be XP booter / service pack would have reconfigured few files regarding booting/sequence to read harddisk/network boot..

My MAJOR question / WORRY is.:
Whether open files mainly JSP/HTML/JAVA/TXT would be corrupt if the computer, for god's sake, opens after troubleshooting properly...

I'll try few options of troublshooting 1] changing boot sequence, 2] disable logfrom network etc. when i go to home...3] Try default BIOS setup...4] lastly, go for hardisk cabling, tighten its position.. then will revert...

Wish me good luck...

a.rajadurai, newdelhi

Funny thing is, the TOSHIBA RESTORE disk does load entire windows/OS on the hard driv, i see the LED blinking flashing.... but strange it doesnt boot... appreciate any help ata ll.

Start the notebook
press F2 to enter bios
it asks a password
press F12 > it generates a number

with HP/Compaq software you insert the 5 digits and it generates an unlock code that makes you enter bios and reset nios password.

For realtek rtl8139(x)/8130/810x pci fast Ethernet controller v2.13 (020326)
PXE-E61 Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F Exiting PXE ROM.

First my laptop stopped working and I called in a technician, who said my hard drive was gone. But he copied all my information from the old hard drive and said he would come back and install the new hard drive (after I bought it) and reinstall the information. I never saw him again. I bought a new hard drive and now I am getting this error message.I contacted HP customer support, but I think I am in contact with somebody in India, who gives me no help.

I am older and not very good with computer language, but I am usually pretty good at solving my computer problems.

Try if you can run a hardrive diagnostic.
Look if you see some linklights at the LAN connector.
Check the Primary IDE cable that goes to you HDD. (if you have a voltmeter check for continuity through the wires, that will tell you if the wires are getting any power, if not change wires)
Try to boot into DOS
Try a known good harddrive, or try this hdd in a different system and check if it is booting in a KG system.
If you can rule out the hdd you might have a mobo issue.

Intel UNDI, PXE-2.1 (build 082)
Copyright (C) 1997-2000 Intel Corporation
For Realtek RTL8100E/8101E Fast Ethernet Network Adapter v1.02 (060510)
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE-ROM.

From: Pete on 04/21/2008
Help! Im not great with computers but my computer is bein very very loud and I'm getting this message (which seems to be fairly common). I've read some of the responses below but I'm afraid they dont make much sense to me. I took out the hard drive and battery and cleaned 'em out. Didnt see any loose wires. This happened to me a few months back and after a few days of leaving my laptop unplugged, it suddenly started working again. I have a HP Pavillion. Please help me!!

For Realtek RTL8139(X)/8130/810X PCI Fast Ethernet Controller v2.13 (020326)
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exciting PXE ROM'

-----------------------

reason+solution1:

From: stoney on 04/15/2008
i had the very same error in the top of this list today and found it to be a bad ide cable from motherboard to 2 hard drives i replaced it and everything is fine

----------------------------

reason+solution2:

i've had that problem before too, it was when the hard drive was faulty, i had to get a replacement hard drive for it

-------------------------

another problem:

i've been trying to do a dual-boot [have two operating systems at once] but it cannot read the CD, i'm trying to install linux as well as windows, but it has the same error

PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exciting PXE ROM

For Realtek RTL8139(X)/8130/810X PCI Fast Ethernet Controller v2.13 (020326)
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exciting PXE ROM'

I've taken out the HD, cleaned everything, and closed back up. Still receiving error message. I've changed the boot order to no avail.

Thanks a lot for the detailed instructions. I had problems with a beeping keyboard and found your post by googling "PXE-E61" which I'd noticed at startup. The IT guys at my school told me it was a hardware problem and that I would have to take it back to Toshiba technical service to get it fixed. Not so, it was something with my BIOS and my problem was solved by setting it back to default. Took all of 30 seconds. Many thanks!

-your Windows installation is corrupt (unlikely for this kind of error): run windows installation of the install CD with repair option

-reformat your hard-drive.

-go into bios and reset the PXE detection in the security section.

-check if the cable to the hard drive is defective.

-the computer is booting to a non-existent external hard-drive, instead of the internal drive. remove or disable the non-existent drive in BIOS setup (see above)

-try a different or new hard-drive.

-disabled the quiet boot in BIOS setup after removing the battery

these fixes go back as far as slashpile on 09/20/2007. if none work, look on this thread before slashpile on 09/20/2007.

(feel free to vote for this post!)

The problem is caused because your computer is not launching the hard-drive when you turn it on.

There are several potential causes of this:

-The motherboard startup settings (BIOS) are out of wack. SOLUTION: Turn on the computer and press the F2 or F10 keys (at the top of the keyboard) as soon as you see anything on the monitor. You should see a message on the screen telling you which F key to press to get into SETUP (getting into toshiba satellite bios you need to keep holding the power button and the escape button until youve been aske to press F1). In setup, select the option to "Reset to Default Settings", and then the option to "Save and exit". If that does not work, go back into the Setup screen, and look for "Boot devices" or "Boot sequence"-- it may be inside a screen called "Boot Settings" or "CMOS Settings". You may have to dig through sub-menus. You want to make sure that LAN or Network is not in the boot device list ahead of HD or Hard Drive. The boot order should be:
1. Floppy
2. CD
3. Hard Drive
4. anything else

-The hard-drive has a mechanical problem, such as a loose connection, or incorrectly installed. SOLUTION: Unplug and open the tower, remove the hard drive gently, making note of all connections. If necessary, label each cable with a bit of masking tape before disconnecting. Get the dust out of the tower, and reinstall the hard-drive securely. If necessary, use a match or bit of cardboard to secure it-- be inventive, but GENTLE. Make sure the cables and jumpers are firmly and correctly connected. If this is a new or intermittent problem, you can assume the cables and jumpers are correct.

Other fixes from this page which may apply to you:

-due to a disconnected keyboard cable (forgot to plug it in after replacing the HDD), of all things.

-disable "Boot to LAN" or "Boot to network" in the BIOS boot sequence (first solution above).

-Check for a RAID setting on your HDD in your bios, switch to IDE.

-the hard drive power cable was not connected

-download and install new BIOS from your computer or motherboard manufacturer: On a working computer, go to their website, and download the correct BIOS Update for your computer. This may take some research. Install the BIOS onto a floppy or USB drive according to their directions. Put the floppy or USB stick into the sick computer, and turn it on (you may need to set startup sequence so that the USB stick is recognized, see first solution above). Your BIOS will get updated. Remove the floppy or stick, and restart the computer.

-if you used the restore disks to reinstall Windows, and your drive is larger than 80 GB, it's possible that the restore disks formatted the drive as a FAT32 system instead of NTFS. FAT32 cannot handle a boot disk larger than 32GB - it becomes unstable. SOLUTION: reformat the drive using the restore disks or a windows install disk as NTFS, not FAT.

1) Go to Microsoft and download Windows XP Setup boot disks http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994

The Setup boot disks are available so that you can run the Setup program on computers that cannot use a bootable CD-ROM. (I think the X22 supports bootable CD-ROM but I did not want to waste any time finding out)

2) I use a USB floppy drive and a PCMCIA CD-drive (both from Ebay)
(I think the X22 will work with USB CD-drive as well.)

3) Leave Windows XP CD in CD-drive

4) Insert floppy into floppy disk and follow steps, i.e. insert disks 1 to 6

5) After disk 6, the system switches over to the CD-drive and starts installing windows.

When i tried the Disable on board lan control i didnt get the error message all i got was a black screen with the _ flashing

nothing else happens. if I re-enable the on board lan control it goes back to the same error message

I checked the harddrive and scaned everything for problems using PSA (pre-bios scan assesment) or somthing like that

Intel Base-Code, PXE-2.1 (build 083)
Copyright (C) 1997-2001, Intel Corporation
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0f: Exiting Intel PXE ROM.

And then computer went into a unrelenting reboot cycle... grrr

I went into the bios set everything to default, noticed bios still sees the hd info. hd test said no hdd present.

Changed the boot order since it was showing floppy disk as first to boot from that didn't work, still recycles boot with errors

What worked for me was, I attempted one last time to look at every single option in the bios and noticed one setting that showed boot floppy drive enable/disable i changed it to disable and the system booted.

My harddrive and files were intacted!! So really dig in your bios at every option for boot orders or floppy disk that might be enabled before you go beserk and trash the computer hehe

When I powerup I see:
Broadcom UNDI PXE-2.1 (build 082) v6.2.11a
Copyright 2000-2003 Broadcom Corporation
Copyright 1997-2000 Intel Corporation
All rights reserved

PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable

PXE-M0F: Exiting Broadcom PXE ROM
Operating System not found

I've attempted the following solutions offered so far without any success.

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-010254.htm#pxeerror

describes this error message:

Quote
Error "PXE-E61 Media Test Failure" at Boot
The error PXE-E61 Media Test Failure can occur at boot, if all the following are true:

Boot to LAN is enabled in BIOS Setup.
A network cable/connection is not present.
Network Boot is in the boot order before a present boot device.
To resolve this, remove Boot to LAN from the list of boot devices in BIOS Setup.
End of Quote

Open your BIOS and check to see if Boot to LAN is in the startup order. Then remove or disable it.

After hooking up the new drive to another machine, I could see that the restore disks were formatting the drive as a FAT32 system with a boot partition the size of the entire drive (~80GB) instead of NTFS. FAT32 cannot handle a boot disk larger than 32GB - it becomes unstable, so I reformatted the drive using a windows XP install disk I keep handy and downloaded the drivers from Acer and now all is fixed.

Both errors were gone.

This is a Toshiba Satellite with XP Home on it.

Thats why we have the computer show we do live on the radio and coming back soon and people need answers.
We actually help.

Bits & Bytes

I hope I helped.

I unscrewed the cover of the HD, noticed that the HD got a bit out of place, pressed it into th eposition, stuck in a match for further support and it worked.

After reading over many suggestions on this forum, I went ahead and F2'd and set the Network Boot part to "disable" (putting an ! next to the choice).

Since I already took the computer down the bones, and cleaned the CPU fan, and a thorough spring cleaning of the innards, I also sprung for a 1G RAM and a new 120GB HDD from Western Digital (their Scorpio-that is compatible). Because the new HDD doesn't have any OS's on it, I was able to get past all the mumbo about the "media failure" (cause it doesn't look for the network) and then simply says OS SYSTEM NOT FOUND. HOOORAH!!

I will deal with any of the more serious issues later!

The laptop is a V2000 that is a little over two years old. Due to the construction of it, the power pin that the adapter plugs into broke off, thus the laptop was not turning on.

I removed the back of it and soldered a makeship power plug on to the existing one. I then attached the adapter to the new "plug".

After re-assembly of unit, I went to test it and it powered up but continued to give the

PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0f: Exiting Intel PXE ROM.

error. I was unable to get into BIOS by pressing ESC, F10 or F12. The keyboard worked because I was able to reboot by using CTL ALT DEL. Since I was unable to check the BIOS, I disassembled unit again to check for any loose connection and found none.

After re-assembly, same thing. I removed the HD from the unit and checked the connectors and found nothing out of the ordinary.

I re-inserted the HD into the unit and by chance I pushed it against the connectors, which it did allow me to do. Again, HD in, then push the HD toward the center of the laptop, which causes the connection to be tight.

Re-Boot and right into Windows. Now I have a different issue (laptop keeps shutting off after entering Windows in Normal Mode), but the initial one is fixed.

So make sure that the HD connection is tight.

Ok after reading nearly half of this page and trying everything that was mentioned. I bit the bullet and gave up. Nothing worked.

But as mentioned above, the fault was nothing to do with cables. It was infact the HDD. I placed a spare HDD that was lying around in the laptop and hey presto the thing fired up (be it not to a opertaing system as there wasn't one installed).

I removed the plate covering the HD, took-out the hard-drive, re-inserted it, and i even made a little pad to add pressure and keep it in place once the plate cover wss screwed back on.

That fixed the problem. I suspect the HD was shifting around.And properly so, for it appears that there were 2 of four screws missing , that keep the HD neatly in place.

I too have the PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable Error.

When I start the machine, the Toshiba Logos appear (but no option of Press blah to get into BIOS setup). During this time the HD tries to read something for a while and finally gives up and then the E61 & M0F errors appear in a loop indefinitely in the black background. I do not get the option of getting into the BIOS setup. I am still unable to get into the BIOS setup. It allows me to choose what I would like to boot from but nothing works, I get the same error.

I reseated the HD, RAM, Battery and tried, no use. I removed and then replaced thte HD, then tried to boot. Still same E61 error appears.

Interestingly, I have the bootable OS recovery CD (Win XP Home). When I inserted the CD into the drive and tried to boot, it is not able to boot from the CD (I checked the CD in another machine, it boots from that CD). I still remember that the CD Drive is in the Boot list and the drive was working fine.

1. Even if I assume that the HD is damaged (just replaced), should it not boot from the CD?

2. If yes, is there something wrong with my BIOS or perhaps CD-ROM?

3. What is the alternate way to access the BIOS setup?

So you know, the computer worked fine until I installed two programs.

1. Canon A560 camera software
2. Epson CX6000 printer software

Here's what I did if you're interested (P4 Toshiba Satellite Lappy):

1. Re-seated the battery (Just try it .. only 2 seconds of your time =P)

2. Unplugged/plugged the Hard Drive back.

3. Re-seated RAM

4. I actually tested the CMOS battery. It was fine.

5. I basically changed everything in the BIOS according to other posts.

6. My bro suggested I get a new HD ... so I did.

7. Installed OS and works. If you cant live without files on your computer right now you should probably go to an expert (ie, Future Shop) and they can probably salvage your files for a sum of money.

Regards, Tom =)

This is why it says invalid disc volume etc.

I tried to make it boot from the cd via the bios but it doesnt even show cd/dvd rom station in the bios list.

it only shows boot from lan and HTS541010G9SA00

"Broadcom UNDI, PXE-2.1 (build 082) v2.0.4
Copyright © 2000-2003 Broadcom Corporation
Copyright © 1997-2000 Intel Corporation
All Rights Reserved.

Intel Base-Code, PXE-2.1 (build 082J)
Copyright © 1997-2000 Intel Corporation
PXE-E61: Media Test Failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting Broadcom PXE ROM."

and then it goes to the blue and grey screen with the options and what to do. I have disabled Network boot and also changed the boot order to:
Floppy Drive
CD Drive
Hardrive
Network Boot

westernshootor@hotmail.com

i removed the HDD, then put the thing back in...

volla... problem gone...

i must have come slightly undone...

Anyways, when I booted back up, I start getting this PXE-E61 error. I immediate dug out the old WIN XP (home) and proceeded to try and repair the situation. After countless times of trying (okay twice) I would not repair and would exit out and return to the C:> prompt, but would not read the C:> or HD. I will read the CD drive though.

When I start the machine, the Compaq/Intel Centrino Logos appear (but no option of Press F10 to get into BIOS setup, as opposed to regular appearance). During this time the HD tries to read something for a while and finally gives up and then the E61 & M0F errors appear in a loop indefinitely in the black background. I do not get the option of getting into the BIOS setup. I tried to start by holding the F10, as recommende by the user manual from HP, no use. I am still unable to get into the BIOS setup.

I reseated the HD, RAM, Battery and tried, no use. I removed HD, ODD and Battery, then tried to boot. Still same E61 error appears.

Interestingly, I have the bootable OS recovery CD (Win XP Home). When I inserted the CD into the drive and tried to boot, it is not able to boot from the CD (I checked the CD in another machine, it boots from that CD). I still remember that the CD Drive is in the Boot list and the drive was working fine.

1. Even if I assume that the HD is damaged, should it not boot from the CD?

2.If yes, is there something wrong with my BIOS?

3. What is the alternate way to access the BIOS setup?

Looking forward to your suggestions.

Solution for my computer:
After several hours of trying all of the above. Changed hard drive and cdrom jumpers from CS to Master, added a floppy disk drive, and set the bios to system defaults. Boot 1: CDROM, 2: Hard drive, 3: Legacy Floppy, 4: disable. MEDIA TEST FAILURE, CHECK CABLE start up message is gone. One or more of the above may have solved the problem.