Windows Vista Vista Laptop, "Operating System Not Found"

Found some tools.

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=702&sid=3&lang=en

I've got the Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows on a key in the drive now. Going to try to figure out how to run it and diagnose. Assuming I have the right tool.

I'll edit and update this post.

 

At the moment I think your problem is that you are trying to repair one OEM computer with the OS disk of a different OEM manufacturer. It looks quite hopeful (if the "partition" part is fixed). I think any "ordinary" drivers will be stripped from the Dell disk and you will have little further success with it. You might have success if it was an Acer disk (unless they only use a recovery-reimaging system).

I think you will need to use a retail version disk or an Acer disk (and hopefully that is not a re-image of the factory system).

Try Roger's suggestion to boot to the hidden partition. Read what it says. If you see "all data will be lost ", keep trying other avenues.

I suggest your contact Acer's Support (check contact details at their website). It seems Dell would offer a way out of this problem.

Knoppix...investigate Ultimate Boot Disk for Windows (UBD4W), yes, if you back up the data, you can re-image the drive (my choice over using up a lot of time trying this and that).

Unless you have retail or Acer version of Vista, you might not be able to overcome the driver problems (my background is trying to install a retail version of Windows onto a HP system, only to find that it had proprietary drivers and could only use a HP installation system).

Matt

 

It's not easy to find, but Acer do offer a download of a complete system recovery cd. You only need the serial number of the laptop.

Roger

 

I think that THIS address may be the answer to the problem, although it is not completely free.
I've no idea of what it costs.

Roger

 

Gah! They're charging me for recovery tools! I can understand if I had to have them make a physical CD and ship it to me.

But something like this should be gratis with a machine.

<has to do it anyway... grumble>

 

Hey! It's not my fault!

 

I have been interested in the "recovery" systems of laptop machines and if possible ask the sales people if they come with any disks. The answer has been No, they all seem to rely on the hidden partition (which means that if you don't have complete backup of the whole HDD, if the HDD fails, you need to request/purchase the recovery disks. I don't think it is just Acer, I think they are all/mostly like that).

I worked on a Compaq about 4-5 years old, to replace the HDD. It came with a Windows installation disk, but I think that is the exception, not the rule nowadays.

When somebody is buying a laptop, system recovery is probably not one of the questions they ask (except me maybe).

Matt

 

Someone passed me a copy of Ultimate Boot Disk last night. My first priority will be to run those tools tonight when I get home, and see if I can diagnose anything with it.

Then we'll move onto the pay-for-play solutions. ^_^

 

I thought I'd updated this.

Ultimate Boot Disk for Windows failed. It would not load the environment that held all the diagnostic tools. When I tried to use Boot And Nuke, it came back in 5 seconds (literally) with a message saying that it finished with non-fatal errors.

I decided to use one of my favorite utilities: Active@ KillDisk. The user wants their computer back soon as possible, so a zero-fill with reinstall seemed much more prudent at this point than trying to fix the problem.

When the utility hit about 98% at the 2-3 hour mark, it started making sounds I'd never heard in a modern laptop before. It was an irregular clicking sound. If you'd put it through a sound filter and up the db levels, it might sound like crackling fire - like you hear in the movies, or in a campfire. At that point I just shut the computer down at the power switch.

However, I'm not sure the hardware was actually sparking or frying inside the laptop. The case didn't become any hotter than normal, and I couldn't smell anything burning or ozone-smouldering-plastic like... Did I just get gun shy at an unusual sound from a machine whose sounds I'm not familiar with? Or were these bad sounds? (I remember many of the older dekstop HDDs made sounds like this when spinning up - but that's 10+ year old technology...)

 

Were you able to run Lifeguard? That will be what you need to test the HDD if you suspect it is damaged.

I doubt you will be able to run it from a USB drive unless you can make it bootable. Only making a bootable floppy, CD or running from Windows appear to be supported. If you can make a USB drive bootable, the laptop will need to have the ability and be set to boot from it.

Matt

 

I was not able to make a USB drive bootable. I will go back and attempt a bootable CD. But won't know the results of that until I get home and burn it.

 

No dice. I burned the DOS CD and booted to it. I get the error message:

The ISO I downloaded has the following in it:
DLDDIAG.TXT
Dlgdiag5.exe
Dlglice.txt
Ibmbio.com
Ibmdos.com

So, there's no command.com, and no floppy disk drive with which to boot it up with. Will any command.com file do, and just dump it into the iso?

I'll try finishing that wipe from yesterday and see what happens.

 

When you burnt the iso did you tell the burning program to "make the disk bootable "? If so, don't, the iso will make it bootable. I expect it should boot to the IBMDOS.com file, that's why there is no Command.com file.

Is DGLICE.txt/Dlglice.txt mispelled? (Missing or extra L)

 

DLGLICE.TXT ... I went and downloaded the iso a second time, just to make sure. My spelling was correct.

I tried once more to zero the drive with the same results. At 3:04 remaining, and 98% completion, the drive began a series of irregular ticking and clicking sounds. I ammend my earlier description of the sound: It reminds me more of the sound a record needle makes when it hits the end of the record and the needle doesn't lift itself up.

I'm going to have to make a call to Acer to see how to return the laptop for service and HD replacement. (Being less than 45 days old, this machine is still under warranty. I'm not going to void anyone's warranty, even with their permission. They'll thank me later when something else goes wrong, and the warranty is still good.)

 

I've been reading absolute horror stories on the net while searching for Acer support - which I can't contact anyone for, because I don't have the serial for the computer, and all I want to ask is if they'll cover it, just that one generic question.

I'm just going to replace the HD this weekend, I'm expecting. I do have a question, though. It was the HDD that failed, and I thought WD was supposed to be a decent company for making that sort of thing... Should I recommend the user get a new WD Scorpio Blue drive (identitcal to what's dead in there now), or some "safer" hardware that hasn't already failed once before?

(Price ceiling is about $120, tops... but we should be able to get plenty for that price, right? At least 200GB? <shopping Tiger now>)

 

The serial number is not on a label on the base? That's where you normally find them.

I have a possible theory about the clicking, not that I could confirm it. That is that the size of the HDD is set incorrectly. It might be set larger than it really is, so when using the (zeroing) utility, it is actually trying to read/write off the end of the disk/platters. The read/write heads may be banging at the limit of their travel.

The only testing utility I would use is one from Acer or Western Digital. If you still get the error messages, search for the terms in the message at the WD Support website. Look for any testing utilities at the Acer website. I will do some searches if I get time.

The BIOS of the laptop will be set to read the drive information from the MBR on the HDD. Zeroing removes the MBR, that's when the only utility I would trust to read the size of the drive accurately is the HDD manufacturer's.

I wouldn't persist with any third party "utilities ". Hopefully, the HDD is not damaged.

Since you used the third party utilities, the warranty may be void, although, you should look up the look up the warranty and RMA information.

If you get another HDD you will still have the same problem of not having an operating system (Vista) to install onto it. You will need a retail version of Vista or the HDD re-imaged with the hidden partition.

Matt

 

I tried running the WD utilities for the hard drive, and they failed to run. I received the message about the missing license file that actually exists. (I did go back and check, I am burning only the iso to the disc - I used PowerISO to put the utility on a disc.)

I have a legal, licensed version of Windows Vista to install now. That's no longer an issue to worry about.

I will double-check for the license number. I probably did just miss it, because all I remember seeing was that Windows Liscense sticker.

 

You cannot use the floppy versions. Try making the other CD version. The instructions are lower down the download page. You can try the Windows versions, obviously it needs to be installed on Windows, but, from memory, you can make a diagnostics or tools disk from there.

Those Lifeguard Tools should be able to repartition and reformat the HDD, saving you getting another HDD.

 

For expediency's sake, I did have to install a new HD in the laptop. The good news is that I kept the broken laptop and was able to throw it into an enclosure.

Now, I can install the WD tools on any computer, and then just plug the busted HD into said tower, to run the diagnostics on. That should *hopefully* get some answers.

 

Maybe, but most HDD manufacturer's diagnostic and drive set-up utilities I have used/investigated will only work over USB or Firewire on a drive that is formatted in the FAT file system, not NTFS.

Matt