[burnsryan]

hi folks, can anyone help me? my lap top is displaying a blank screen with only the words "missing operating system". i cant access safe made. i cant install any software or OS. ctrl + alt + del reboots the machine to "missing operating system" message. please help me!!!!!!!

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Can you provide a bit more information to maybe narrow down the problem.

Does the laptop have 2 OS's on it(Dual boot)? Is the Hard Drive partioned?

Do you remember at what point last you did where the system did work? Was there any hardware or software changes you made right before the problem occured?

Check the bios settings to see if the HD is being recgonized in the Bios.

It is possible that somehow the Boot Ini file has been damaged. Im checking to find out better information for you..

[creepysound]

Can you provide a bit more information to maybe narrow down the problem.

Does the laptop have 2 OS's on it(Dual boot)? Is the Hard Drive partioned?

Do you remember at what point last you did where the system did work? Was there any hardware or software changes you made right before the problem occured?

Check the bios settings to see if the HD is being recgonized in the Bios.

It is possible that somehow the Boot Ini file has been damaged. Im checking to find out better information for you..

[burnsryan]

one OS - Win 98. the drive was partitioned but i reckon i have mucked it up via Fdisk. i'm trying to fix it for a friend, so i dont know the last time it worked. i tampered with the partitions, trying to make room for re-installation of 98. how do icheck the bios settings? thanks for your help.

[dsenette]

what exactly did you do with fdisk?

[burnsryan]

i tried to re install win 98 but a message told me there was no room on the hard disk. so i changed the partitions to what i thought was enough room (bad move i think).

[ZEUS_GB]

In resizing the partitions using fdisk you have completely wiped the partition tables and the file allocation tables, basically meaning you've lost the data. Boot up using a boot disk, check the partitions are setup as required, format the drive and then install Windows.

[burnsryan]

when u say boot disk, do u mean a floppy disk? i am asking as i am unable to locate my cd rom (D:) drive. where will i get a boot disk from? there are loads on the web.

Edited by burnsryan, 16 February 2006 - 02:06 PM.

[dsenette]

by boot disk he means like a 98se boot disk or an xp bootdisk from www.bootdisk.com

[burnsryan]

yes, but which format does this disc come in ? floppy? cd?

[dsenette]

you can make either with their images...

[burnsryan]

this is the message i get when i boot from floppy disk....."remove disks or other media...press any key to start". so i remove the disk and strike space...message........ "missing operating system"

Edited by burnsryan, 16 February 2006 - 02:46 PM.

[burnsryan]

This text appears on the screen for a second before the "missing operating system message" appears......

Save to disk file not found
Save to disk feature is disabled
Run PHdisk for information
Partition: Consult Manual
Hit any key to exit

[ZEUS_GB]

If you don't have a boot disk you can download one from www.bootdisk.com

[burnsryan]

downloaded boot disk from bootdisk.com. still no joy. i tell the machine to boot from floppy frive but nothing happens. get message saying "remove media disk.........strike any key". so i do that and get missing O/S " message on screen again