no start

PC 486
error message, HHD controller failure, press f1 to resume.
drive not ready error.
insert boot diskette in a:
press any key when ready. I have done these things but get no further........Dick.

Presume you are running a 486 and therefor a few years old.
Alternative 1
Often happens when the battery gives up the ghost.
Press Delete on boot, when CMOS setup utility presents itself choose IDE HDD auto detection. When process of identification has finished press Esc, F10 and enter.
Alternative 2
HDD is nackered. (Or the boot sector is corrupt - viruses can cause this) Try another one if you can, or put yours in another machine as a slave and salvage your files. You can spend a lot of time finding out what the problem is. Moral - backup, backup, backup.
regards
Don

You probably have to set a BIOS option to allow it to boot from the A: drive; this setting might also be lost if the battery is dead.

If that and Don's reply don't get you going, post again, but: more information. Has this happened to a working computer, have you changed hardware on a working computer, or have you just acquired an old machine which has been sitting for years?