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no operating system found

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by squeak, 2008/07/30.

  1. 2008/07/30
    squeak

    squeak Inactive Thread Starter

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    my computer was working fine yeaturday turned it on today it now says no operating system found. What can i do ?
     
    squeak,
    #1
  2. 2008/07/30
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    squeak - Welcome to the Board :)

    No operating system found is symptomatic of a hard drive problem - it may have failed, but there may be hope :) ....

    Open the case and unplug and plug in again the ribbon and power cables to the drive - at both ends - assumes desktop.

    If no change ....

    Is the hard drive shown on the POST screen ?

    Is the hard drive recognised by the BIOS ?

    Let's have the answers to those two questions before going any further.
     
    PeteC,
    #2


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  4. 2008/07/30
    brybert

    brybert Banned

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    A few more things..

    Hi!
    I have seen this before..and it may have nothing to do with the hard drive failing at all. Or it may be so. Hard drives are very unpredictable beasts..sometimes they give you a bit of warning..sometimes nothing at all.

    This is the reason my primary two PCs have two hard drives..both bootable.
    The backup stays unplugged unless I want to do backups from the first drive.

    I also do backups daily on the two exteral hard drives as well...just in case.

    Ok..here's what to try.

    1) boot from install XP cd..and choose recovery console (R)

    2) login to the primary admin account (hopefully you've set a password for this..if not..)

    3) type: CHKDSK /P

    If everything else is ok..chkdsk should ix the drive errors..and you should be back in business.

    If the MBR has problems..CHKDSK will stop and give an error. If this happens (and you only have one drive):

    1) type: FIXBOOT C:

    It is possible your main boot drive may not be "C: "..so change if needed.

    2) type FIXMBR

    Then run CHKDSK /P and that should fix things.
     
    brybert,
    #3
  5. 2008/07/30
    squeak

    squeak Inactive Thread Starter

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    i have chaecked the ribbons, and can get onto the bios screen but not sure what to look for? thanks also have not got an xp disc only the recovery disk but cannot get it to run
     
    squeak,
    #4
  6. 2008/07/30
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Without knowing either the make/model of your motherboard or the make of the BIOS it is difficult to be precise, but you are looking for Primary IDE Master or First SATA drive and a make/disk model no. alongside. If that detail is there the drive is recognised.

    If you are unable to boot from your Recovery disk - remember this formats the drive so that everything on it is lost check that the Boot order set in the BIOS is CD-ROM > floppy (if fitted) > Hard drive, but hold back on that option until all other avenues have been explored.
     
    PeteC,
    #5
  7. 2008/07/30
    brybert

    brybert Banned

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    Well...next steps

    Hi!
    OK..you don't have the XP install CD..but you have a recovery disk(ette?).

    Are you taking about a DOS diskette? Ok. You can run chkdsk from a DOS diskette. I am not sure about the other commands...but I will check.

    I presume you have access to another computer? I'll find the fix DOS image program again..and advise.

    >>Ok..here's your options as I see it:

    1) Buy a copy of XP home or professional edition from Tigerdirect.com

    2) Download XP boot diskettes from here:

    http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/xphome.html

    This may not be a legal option..I'll say it now.

    That's about it. I don't know why you don't have a XP install CD..but that's on you. I have made backups of mine. It wasn't easy..but I didn't think it would be.




    Bryon
     
    Last edited: 2008/07/30
    brybert,
    #6
  8. 2008/07/30
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Byron ....
    Poster has already stated he has a Recoivery disk (CD) - Where have you been all these years? OEM's haven't given out full copies of XP for a long time - apart from maybe Dell.
    Not an acceptable solution - Poster has not yet confirmed if the BIOS is set to boot from CD.
     
    PeteC,
    #7
  9. 2008/07/30
    squeak

    squeak Inactive Thread Starter

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    i have the 3 recovery disks supplied by manufacturer but when i try to load them it tells mt no hard drive found. also can get to Bios screen and primary master and primary slave say none what should it say. i have checked boot route, andcd boot is first. thanks it was fine yesturday when i turned it off i dont understand
     
    squeak,
    #8
  10. 2008/07/30
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    squeak

    If the BIOS is not seeing the hard drive the odds are that the drive has failed catastrophically. I regret there is nothing further we can do to help you bar suggest that you take it to a professional repair shop. There is a remote chance that it is a motherboard failure and I do hope that you had your personal data backed up.

    Hard drives can fail at any time - they are electromechanical devices and are equally prone to sudden failure as any other piece of electrical or mechanical kit.
     
    PeteC,
    #9
  11. 2008/07/31
    charlie8686

    charlie8686 Inactive

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    No OS Found - get your XP CD ready

    It could be one of the windows start up DLL file is corrupted.

    Reboot with your XP CD in bay and you can attemp to re-install Windows on top of existing Windows folder. Your application should still be there, but will requires series of Windows update patchings.

    Re-install should copy over the corrupted file which may have caused this error.

    Good Luck
     
    charlie8686,
    #10
  12. 2008/07/31
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    charlie8686

    Read the thread - the hard drive is not recognised in BIOS and squeak has tried booting from the Recovery disks without success.
    squeak only has recovery disks.
     
    PeteC,
    #11

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