Member Avatar for djnzak

Hi,

I have a hp pavilion dv9823cl ... recently the laptop suddenly showed me the error message Operating System not found.. And i noticed in the bios that the harddrive wasnt detected either. I changed the harddrive from the primary slot to the secondary one the laptop had ... and on doing that the harddisk was detected. The problem now is the laptop will not boot from the harddisk as it is in the secondary slot. I wanted to know the possible causes for this and if there is any way to make the laptop boot from the secondary bay (which still has the same harddisk) .. i managed to format the drive and copy the setup files for windows xp onto it using a usb but after the restart the machine will not boot frm the drive since it is in the secondary bay. Also the bios does not have an option as to which harddisk to boot from.

Thanks

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by techsheaven

Dani AI

Generated

A compact diagnostic checklist and next steps that build on the replies from and .

First, isolate hardware vs software:

  • On power-up try the HP startup menu (press ESC, then F9 for Boot Device Options and F10 for BIOS Setup). Look inside BIOS for a "Hard Disk Drive" or "HDD Priority" submenu — some BIOSes list disks separately there even when the main boot order screen does not.
  • Test the primary bay with a known-good drive (or put the suspect drive in an external USB enclosure and test it on another PC). If a known-good drive is also invisible in the primary bay, the bay/connector or its cable is likely faulty.

Software/boot checks (if the drive is visible but not booting):

  • A partition that only contains copied setup files is not a bootable Windows install. If you have a proper Windows installer or XP CD, use the Recovery Console to repair MBR/boot files. From the Recovery Console run:

    fixmbr
fixboot c:
bootcfg /rebuild
chkdsk /r

  • If you cannot run the XP Recovery Console, boot a Linux/live tool (GParted, SystemRescue) to confirm partition table, mark the Windows system partition as "bootable" (active), and inspect file systems.

If the BIOS will not boot from the secondary bay

  • Many laptops only allow booting from the primary bay; the secondary bay may be intended for an optical drive or a non-bootable caddy. If the primary bay is dead, options are: replace/repair the bay connector or cable, install the OS on a drive that sits in the primary bay, or use a small primary drive/USB bootloader to chainload (advanced).
  • Consider a BIOS update from HP if a later BIOS adds device options.

Practical tip: after any drive moves always power down, remove battery, and reseat connectors carefully.

Recommended Answers

All 5 Replies

Member Avatar for chrishea

The first thing I would try is to put it back in the primary slot and try it again. Sometimes, re-seating it is enough to have it recognized. I am surprised that you can't get into the bios and change the boot order. If you have another boot-able drive you might want to try it in the primary slot to see if it will work. If necessary, hard drives are cheap enough that you could buy another one put it in the primary slot, put in your windows cd, let it boot from the cd and see if you can load windows onto the new hard drive. I went through a similar sequence when I was having problems with my dv9200 and it refused to boot from the existing hard drive. I was able to format & load the new disk and I was eventually able to swap the old disk back in and boot from that as well. It wasn't totally logical and there was another problem on the machine but eventually I did get it all working.

Member Avatar for techsheaven

Did chrishea's post help you? If it did, mark this thread as solved, if not, what is happening now?

Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

Hi all,
I don't think the OP is coming back but according to his post he formatted his hard drive and copied, not installed, the set up files to his HD. If he actually did as he said, it will never boot no matter where he puts it. If he has one (I doubt he has) he need to install Windows from his OS CD.

i managed to format the drive and copy the setup files for windows xp onto it using a usb but after the restart the machine will not boot

Member Avatar for robbie r

Hi this may be completely different from the original string. but i also have an HP Pavillion laptop, when i turn it on, all i hear is 1 long beep followed by 2 short ones, the fan turns on but the monitor wont even show anything. the beeping just recycles until i turn the laptop off. please help

Member Avatar for techsheaven

robbie r:

Glad to see you looked for a simular post before starting a new one; in this case you should start a new one. When we change the focus of the discussion it is called "hijacking a thread." The idea is to keep things organized and focused toward a resolution. I'll be looking for your thread . . . Why not name it something like, "HP beeps but will not boot," and post it in "Dead Machines."

Good Luck,

techsheaven

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