operating system not found

[Kester]

Today I was happily surfing the web when my computer flashed to a blue screen then shut down. When I went to restart it a message comes up saying "operating system not found".

Does anyone know how I can fix this shit. The computer is only about 6 months old, all up to date with virus protection and stuff. I haven't added any new hardware or nothing.... I dunno what could have caused the problem.

I have run some start up repair thingo twice when I turn my computer back on. The first time seemed to work for about 20 minutes, but now it doesn't work at all.

Any help would be really appreciated...

 

[Corny]

Please check if you have any CDs or DVDs in your drives or USB sticks connected. Remove those and restart your machine. If this error persists it probably means that your harddrive failed. The failed repair cd or whatever you used only further points into that direction.

 

[andysayshi]

^Agreed, sounds like the hard drive died to me. As it's only 6 months old, it should be covered by warranty.

Hope you have a drive backup.

 

[Molitor69]

^Agreed, sounds like the hard drive died to me. As it's only 6 months old, it should be covered by warranty.

Hope you have a drive backup.

In my experience definitely a dead hard drive. I have had them die twice in one year. They don't make computer parts like they used to. Third world workers and cheap materials don't equal quality.

 

[looseliam]

If you have access to the OS's CD/DVD try and boot into it and see if you can read the C drive. If you can read the C drive, run ckdisk on it to mark any bad sectors.

Use the recovery disk to reload the master boot record/boot loader.

Once the OS is back up and running, backup you data.

If you can't get the OS to load, I recommend downloading a live linux cd to see if you can recover files from the drive - put it on a usb drive, or backup to something on your network, if you have.

If you can recover your data, you've a couple options:

1) if it's under warranty, send it in for repair
2) reinstall windows and hope for the best

 

[Kester]

Hey guys, thanks for the response.

My computer seems to be running fine today, started up all nice and normal. Fingers crossed it stays like this.

Thanks for your help though. Much appriciated.

 

[vforvendetta]

Hey guys, thanks for the response.

My computer seems to be running fine today, started up all nice and normal. Fingers crossed it stays like this.

Thanks for your help though. Much appriciated.

I would also check that all of the drive is firmly in place inside of the tower - a neighbor at uni came to see me with this same error and was wondering what they needed to do to fix it, and it turned out that their laptop was missing a screw that held the drive in the bay; as a result, the drive had gotten loose and was barely protruding from its insert bay. Giving it a nice firm shove solved the issue (as well as advice that the person find a replacement screw...)

In addition, given your drive now has a history of problematic behavior, it would be a wise practice of safe computing if you backed up all of your data to another medium if you haven't done so already.

 

[shainski]

Hey guys, thanks for the response.

My computer seems to be running fine today, started up all nice and normal. Fingers crossed it stays like this.

Thanks for your help though. Much appriciated.

Back up your hard drive NOW - and OFTEN.

BEEP - This is just a warning. had this been a real emergency, instructions would have been broadcast - BEEP.

No, seriously - back it up. Then when this happens again - AND IT WILL, you will have only lost that which you added since the backup.

 

[versatileplayer]

I agree, this sounds like the HD is gone.