Jump to content

Welcome to Geeks to Go - Register now for FREE

Need help with your computer or device? Want to learn new tech skills? You're in the right place!
Geeks to Go is a friendly community of tech experts who can solve any problem you have. Just create a free account and post your question. Our volunteers will reply quickly and guide you through the steps. Don't let tech troubles stop you. Join Geeks to Go now and get the support you need!

How it Works Create Account
Photo

Operating System not found...


  • Please log in to reply

#1
Aries311

Aries311

    New Member

  • Member
  • Pip
  • 2 posts
Ok, I'm home for thanksgiving and my parent's computer is giving them problems, so I decided to help them out. The problem is, when it boots up it gets a message saying "operating system not found". I went into the BIOS and checked to see if the hard drive was detected. Indeed, the correct hard drive was listed. But I decided to see if it would detect it automatically. So I removed the hard drive from the BIOS and attemped to have it automatically detect it. It couldn't detect the hard drive at all. I opened the case and made sure the cables were plugged in and they were fine so that doesn't seem to be the problem.

I wanted to try to open the windows xp installer by booting from the CD-ROM drive but it wont boot from there! I selected the CD-ROM drive as the first boot device and I still get the "operating system not found". I have no idea why it wont at least boot from the CD drive.

I'm running out of options and I really need some help. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
  • 0

Advertisements


#2
wannabe1

wannabe1

    Tech Staff

  • Technician
  • 16,645 posts
Hi Aries311...Welcome to G2G!

If you are ok about being inside the machine, let's try flashing the BIOS. To do this, you need to remove the CMOS battery. It's about the size of a quarter and is usually located in the lower right quarter of the Motherboard. Near the battery (either below or to the right on most) you should see 3 small pins with a jumper block on them. It should look like this, where the underscore represents the jumper . . . Move the jumper to the other pins . . . for about 30 seconds and then move it back to it's original position. Put the battery back in, making sure to put it in + side up. Try to boot your machine.

Note that this will clear the date, time, and restore all default settings to the BIOS. You will have to reset any settings you have changed such as Boot Priority. If you are not using a static strap, keep one hand or your arm touching a metal part of the case to prevent static discharge damage to the Motherboard and it's components.

Let me know how it goes...

wannabe1
  • 0

#3
Aries311

Aries311

    New Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • Pip
  • 2 posts
Hi,

Thanks for the reply. That was so close to solving the problem. I reset the CMOS just as you instructed and it booted actually booted windows after I did that. I was very happy. So I restarted Windows to see if it would boot again but again I got the message "operating system not found". So now I'm not sure what to do...

Maybe I'll use a combination of resetting the CMOS and trying to boot the Windows XP CD from the CD drive. Maybe I should just reinstall it. I'll try this out in the morning. Any more suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
  • 0

#4
wannabe1

wannabe1

    Tech Staff

  • Technician
  • 16,645 posts
Aries311...How to use the Recovery Console

Hmmm...probably a bad MBR. You could try booting to the Recovery Console (see How to use the Recovery Console) with the XP cd or XP Bootdisk Set and try the fixmbr command, but the repair I've linked to below will be easier and probably more effective.

If you have a floppy drive on that machine, go HERE and download the files needed to create the bootdisk set for the operating system on that machine (the links are about 2/3 the way down the page). Double click the downloaded file and it will prompt you for the floppies and create the XP boot set. This will require 6 floppy disks.

Boot the machine using the floppies and then try this REPAIR to your installation of XP. This procedure will not damage or change your current files or settings...it will just repair or replace damaged system files. You will be asked for your Installation CD and may be asked for your product key. Follow the instructions carefully...print them out if you can. Note: This option is not always available on OEM Recovery Cd's

Once this repair has completed, you will have to download all Windows Updates again.

wannabe1

Edited by wannabe1, 24 November 2005 - 02:29 AM.

  • 0






Similar Topics

0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users

As Featured On:

Microsoft Yahoo BBC MSN PC Magazine Washington Post HP