re: Operating system not found
Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Windows 98 Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by gewg_
(3432 messages posted)
|I've tried downloading the win98 bootdisk from www.bootdisk.com,
|but the same message appears when i reboot with it in the disk drive.
| topdog
|
We assume that you didn't just copy the files to the floppy
but instead *executed* the download to build the bootable floppy.
We also assume that you went into CMOS Setup
and told it to look at A: first when booting.
|[...]lately[...]more frequently reoccuring error saying
|"Operating System not found"
|
It sounds like the reason you got such a deal on this computer
is that the previous owner knew the HDD was failing.
Old mechanically sluggish drives that don't spin up by the time POST has finished
(and the bootloader goes looking for a bootable drive)
are a common source of this failure mode.
If, after the cold boot attempt, you do a warm boot (3-finger salute),
often, the HDD will have come up to speed and the OS will load.
If you can get to a GUI,
don't shut the thing down until everything is backed up to an external device.
A USB device seems obvious (one that EXPLICITLY says it supports W98).
Since Windoze requires a reboot for the smallest tweak to take effect, 8-(
if you don't already have such a device installed, it's a game of Russian Roulette.
|I have only a 3.5 floppy with this computer.
|I also have a great deal of material on the hard drive i cannot afford to lose.
|
*Shakes head* {scold mode}"Valuable" and "Not backed up" is contradictory.
You should be backing up OFTEN.{/scold mode}
Take the unit to a pro.
Have him pull the drive, mount it as a slave in a working box, and back it up.
Have him install Windows[1] on a fresh HDD while he's got it.
[1] ...or a modern (free) OS like Kubuntu Linux.
- Written in response to:
- Operating system not found (topdog: Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 7:20 pm)
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