Operating system not found... and then some.

[ritzrsh]

Hello,

Ive got a problem. Im trying to fix a co workers Toshiba laptop but am having difficulties. He recently installed a new hd (hitotchi 120gb). The hd is correctly installed (just a simple, single plug in required). The bios correctly identifies it and all. Now, i need to install Windows onto it. Ive tryed using the Toshiba backup Cd the laptop came with and one of my Windows XP cds, all to no avail. Ive set up in bios to boot off the cd rom. But, when i try (with both cd's) to boot off the cd rom i just get the dreaded "operating system not found" message. Well, no duh! Thats what im trying to fix! I dont know if the computer isnt reading whats in the cd rom or what?! Any help would GREATLY be appreciated! Thanks,

Mike

[caperjack]

if it a sata hdd you will have to install sata drivers before xp install will see a harddrive .
google installing sata drivers if this is the case .

[ritzrsh]

im not sure what a sata hdd is or if the one in the laptop is one or not. the hd in there now is a hitachi 120gb model HTS541612J9AT00

again, when i enter the bios, it displays the hitachi hd.

[ritzrsh]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145176

this is the hd. apparently it is a SATA. so my next question would be where to get these drivers... i suppose. also, if the lacking of drivers is the case. how would i install the drivers without an os installed? sorry for my newbie questions, ive been out of the computer game for a while.

[caperjack]

www.google.com
they are usually found on the motherboard drive disk ,or the motherboard makers web site .

[ritzrsh]

from what ive gathered, you install these drivers once youve started the os installation process. youve got a period during the os installation to load third party drivers... correct? my problem is i cant even get the computer to start the os installation. in the bios ive set it to boot off the cd rom and ive put the xp disk (also tried the toshiba cd) in the cd rom. but for some reason, i cant get it to start the os install. when i reboot i can hear the computer running the cd but nothing happens. am i able to install the drivers before the os install? please help! this is driving me nuts!

[gerbil]

Hello, ritz, "operating system not found" is one of the messages encoded into the MBR of a hd. I can assure you that no matter the spinning of your cd, it is not being looked at. Your sys is trying to boot off the hd...ie BIOS is searching there for an OS.. it has read the MBR and loaded its code, but the code cannot find an active partition or ntldr.
Check again that the cd drive is foremost in your boot list, and that it works.
And yes, the "F6 to load a driver" prompt does come up after Setup has started copying files from the cd.

[ritzrsh]

thanks for the reply gerbil! yes, the cd drive is definitely number one in the boot list order. now whether or not it works is another question. the cd drive worked fine before i began this fiasco...

[Netking27]

Hi,

Was just going through your post...have u installed the OS ....

:)

[gerbil]

Whoops, an XP MBR contains these 3 messages:
Invalid partition table.Error loading operating system.Missing operating system.
It is the BIOS which has the "Operating System not found" msg. Which in your case really means that it cannot find a valid MBR, or bootable cd. Since you have the cd first in the boot order it could be a bad drive [two cd's themselves bad is asking too much], dirty lens...whatever... so it is skipping onto the hd and checking that.

[pappamook]

Had exactly the same problem with my laptop after full format of hard drive. Problem was solved by checking and cleaning lense on cd drive, hey presto it boots ! spent many wasted hours trying to find solution. hope it helps

[Bob_180_Bob]

Pappamook is most likely correct. Get yourself a CD lens cleaner, run it in your drive and then re-try the installation.
The fact that your CD drive worked well before is irrelevant as you could have easily got it dirty when you put in the XP CD.
If it will not fix the prob, the lens cleaner will be useful for all your other CD/DVDs and they are cheap.