BleepingComputer.com: "No bootable partion in table"

Wasn't sure where to put this, but its on an XP machine.

Doing a search on this seems to imply that its usually caused by the computer trying to boot from a different drive, and frequently is something like a USB drive or something in the CD/DVD drive.

I was called in to help when this error occurred. The computer had frozen when the patron plugged in her flash drive, the staff member helping her claims the flash drive was removed before rebooting, and when they rebooted they got "No bootable partition in table." I rebooted from there because I could do anything from there and it rebooted fine.

Is there anything I should be checking to make sure its working right on the off chance that this isn't related to the flash drive?

Reading material, http://www.articlesbase.com/data-recovery-articles/tips-to-solve-no-bootable-partiton-in-table-boot-error-in-windows-1745696.html .

Failing CMOS batteries can cause unexpected system configuration errors, IME.

Louis