Operating system not found
Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Posted by topdog
(1 messages posted)
im using a dell inspiron 3500 with windows 98. lately it come on with a more frequently
reoccuring error saying "Operating System not found" I reboot with control depressed,
and have got it to the step by step set up on a few occasions, but recently it will
not even get to that step. Now its telling me i have a non-systems disk error, replace
and press any key when ready. I do not have the original windows 98 disk because
i bought the computer with it already on it. 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. 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. Someone please help.
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re: Operating system not found
Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Posted by gewg_
(3552 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.
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