Computer Emergency! Operating System not found
Hi All,
I have an IBM Laptop running Windows XP. The laptop is used exclusively at home, so it wasn’t damaged in a move.
What happened: I tried to shut down the computer, however the computer seemed to be locked up, so I pushed the power button. It powered down just fine, but when I tried to power it back up, a strange clicking noise began as the hard drive began to stir. Then, the main screen came up, allowing me to choose F1 or F12 (I chose neither), went to the black screen, appeared to begin booting normally and then stopped immediately. The last line on the black screen:
Operating System not found.
This can’t be good! I did some searching on the web, and learned that this can be anything from a displaced pointer, to a hosed hard drive. Can anyone help me trouble shoot this? I do not have a boot disk or any of the XP software disks (misplaced in a move), so if there is a place where I can download any software I may need, I would appreciate it if you could point out the location. I found some software on the microsoft pages, but they require the XP CD or the XP boot disk, neither of which I’ve been able to locate. Any software you might suggest should be on a floppy, since I can get the laptop to boot from the floppy (I think).
Thanks in advance for your help. I will be happy to answer any questions you have to help debug this, so if you need some more information about the system or the laptop or whatever, let me know and I will get back to you asap. Of course, I will keep you all posted on the progress I have.
This computer has most of my important information on it. Please do not admonish me for not having it backed up; I feel bad enough already. But if I get this fixed, I promise I will invest in the best backup system I can find.
Ah, the click of death. I’ve heard that “why didn’t you back up?!” sound myself, several times. (I have finally learned my lesson - sort of). I’m pretty sure your hard drive is dead. There are data recover companies that will get your data back, for $500 and up. Here’s a sample search: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=data+recovery
I don’t advise futzing with it to try to fix it - you may make things a whole lot worse. If your data is worth a few hundred dollars to you, call one of the companies from the search and get an evaluation.
If you’re willing to take the risk, some people have had luck with sticking the drive in the freezer for a couple of hours (yes, really), enabling “one last boot”, which is enough to get the data off. At your own risk.
I’d bet on the drive being toast, at least for practical purposes.
I’m not familiar enough with drive mechanics to say for certain, but there’s a (slight) chance you can stick the drive in another machine and pull (some of) the data on to a working drive. That’s assuming the problem is simply that the drive is no longer capable of reading the portions of the hard drive platters relevant to the boot process. That’s a hell of an assumption though, so I wouldn’t count on it. You’ll probably need a data recovery service.
It looks like the master boot record has been corrupted. IIRC, if a hard drive is dead, the error will be something like “No disk or non-system disk detected”. OS not found only pops up when a hard drive is found but the boot sector contains no information.
Try putting in your XP install disk and selecting the repair option, then type “fixmbr”. That might fix it.
It kinda sucks you don’t have a CD - when I did tech support, the number of people I could have helped more if they had a CD was quite large. (Of course, the recovery console needs the Admin password, which most Big Box automated installs screw up, plus they often shipped disks that said they were Windows XP, but were actually quite altered…).
You should be able to get in to the recovery console using another XP CD. I don’t recommend doing a repair off of a borrowed CD, as you could end up with the other person’s CD key, which could lead to headaches for at least one of you later on.
I spent 3 hours last week trying to figure out what had died on one of my computers that was stopping it booting. Then I thought to look in the floppy drive… :smack: You just so rarely use floppies anymore that a floppy to sit in there forgotten until the next time the computer tries to boot.
There are two kinds of the Click of the Death. You say the disk begin to click as you boot, which may indicate that the disk isn’t spinning - the worst kind. You can do a test by unplugging the IDE cabe, leaving the disk only with power supply (while you’re at it, swap the power cable with a different one, it might be bad power supply). If the disk still clicks on reboot, then it’s pretty much beyond normal salvation.
In that case, a company specializing in data resque is your bet. However, if you can’t afford it then you want to try out Spinrite by Steve Gibson. His website looks like a marketing scheme, but he’s the Real Thing. I’ve salvaged my share of data over the years, and failed some too, and I’ve crossed with most of the progams out there. Spinrite is really the only one worthwhile. I’ve seen people saying nice things about another program, GetDataBack, but I haven’t tried this personally.
I’ve never tried the freezing method, but as DarrenS indicated, apparently this method only works on the first attempt, further attempts to freeze the disk to salvage more data usually wont do it.
I gather you already have a spare disk setup to receive data, right? :dubious:
SFP, if you still have your XP manual or have the CD key written down somewhere, then there is nothing wrong with borrowing or downloading an XP CD. You can then try to repair the installation or reinstall with your own key. It would be really cool if companies like IBM kept a record of everyone’s CD key but I seriously doubt they do.
If the disk still seems dead, rebooting the computer 20 times may be worth trying. I’ve seen lots of disks die gradually as the motor just wears out, so don’t give up until you’ve tried it a few times.
First, thank you all for replying so far. Any advice is appreciated. I do realize that I may very well have a smoked hard drive, but until I confirm it, I hold out the sliver of hope that keeps me alive. To clear up a few items:
My laptop is (perhaps “was”) an IBM T30.
The “clicking” sound I heard was only severe during the first boot-up after the irregular shut down. That lasted for 15-20 seconds. Now if I hear it at all, it’s one or two clicks. Perhaps the drive is in its final death throws, but please don’t spoil it for me until I have to accept it.
Since it was an irregular shut down, I was hoping it was a corrupted master boot record. But from what I’ve read on Microsoft’s site, I need the damn disk. I ripped apart half of my basement last night looking for that thing, and although I stumbled on a few things I thought I had lost, no disk. I HAVE downloaded the software from Microsoft, but without the disk, I don’t see any point to try to load it with the floppy… or should I?
I can get into the BIOS, but that’s about it. I’ve tried to find some setting to change my situation, but the only thing I can see of value is to change the boot order. Of course, I would need something on a floppy to boot from.
There is no floppy disk (drive isn’t even hooked up to the laptop) and there is nothing in the CD drive.
Is any of this software Spinrite or GetDataBack free? I need something free that I can safely put on a floppy and try to boot the computer.
Also, is there a way to easily remove the hard drive? I took the cover off, but could not figure out the trick to pop the drive out. There has to be an easy way to get this out, (and hopefully pop it back in.)
To the Computer Gods. OK, you nailed me. I feel like crying, but the pain hurts too much. Right now, I’m hoping this experience rewards me with an undamaged hard drive and a very strong warning about buying a backup system. Alright, already! I have the warning! Can I have my hard drive back, now? :dubious:
Keep the suggestions coming. In the meantime, I’ll check out the software suggested. Please remember, though. Any solution must remember I don’t have the damn XP disks yet. (maybe someone could send me theirs? I’ll send it back. Honest!)
Just went through this exact problem with my daughter’s Dell. Sorry to say, but I’d be willing to bet it’s the hard drive.
This site (IBM tech support) tells you exactly how to remove and replace your hard drive, which in a T30, should be a 40-gig ATA 100 (enhanced IDE).
You can buy a replacement hard drive on eBay for about $60 with shipping (that’s what it cost me in April when I bought one.) Snap it in, boot from your WinXP disks, and reinstall your OS and other stuff. Unfortunately, there isn’t much chance you can recover your data.
I saw a “temporarily fix the drive long enough to copy some data off” solution that involved sticking the drive (not the laptop) in a freezer for 30 minutes, then quickly installing it in the computer, and copying the data to another media like mad.
It works from time to time according to associates, however I’d fear condensation in a T30.
Both cost money. The NTFS version of GetDataBack costs a_lot_of money, like $150 I think. But Spinrite seems to be regarded as the best choice, it is known to have salvaged data from some clicking disks. GDB needs a spinning disk to work.
I understand that you don’t have the XP CD, but you’ll just have to borrow from a friend or from work/school. Hell, you can even boot with a win98 floppy (you can find these files on the net), you just won’t be able to access any of your files because the file format in XP is NTFS, not FAT32 as in win98. But you can still probe the drives. I have no idea how recovery software will react to working on a NTFS system after a FAT32 floppy boot. Your call. If you really can’t get your hands on the CD I can always mail you the emergency disks as a zip, should be four of them as I recall.
Also, when all else have failed, then you use a screwdriver on the disk, or replace the IDE controller with one from a similar disk. But this is pretty serious work and should only be your last resort.
I would be grateful if you could mail the zip file to me. That, with Spinrite ($89.99) should give me the best chance for success. If I get out of this with a ninety dollar slap on the wrist, then I’ll consider myself lucky. The stress I’m under right now isn’t worth the ninety dollars, so if it doesn’t work, my head may explode.
Of course, immediate denial has run its course. I’m now in the 4th day of this, and true panic has set in. I had EVERYTHING on this computer. Legal documents, medical information, things I haven’t even thought about yet but will bite me in the ass as soon as I realize where it is and how I can’t reach it. Add to that the final insult… I am writing this on a POS dell that is over 5 years old, has been dropped, kicked, drop kicked, you name it. THe screen fades from time to time, and it shuts down on a regular basis, but damn if it isn’t there when I need it. The IBM was specifically purchased with home use in mind. No danger rides in cars, no crumbs or soda in the keyboard. And here I sit.
Alien, please email me at my address, and we’ll go from there. Thanks again for your help. If you want me to email you first, just let me know.
I’m not in front of a computer running XP right now, so it’ll be faster for you to download them from this page. I just successfully initiated a download, and I didn’t need my CD key. Note that there are different versions for original XP and the Service Pack versions.
For future reference (to anybody), bootdisks for any MS based OS is available from: http://www.bootdisk.com
XP inhales, I’ll send you a PDF on harddisk failures by mail and some info. I also want to warn you that chances that Spinrite will work is slim, that is, if it’s really a mechanical failure. If your data is that important for you, the going rate seems to be $700 for a recovery by a pro. Just FYI. Good luck.
If his MBR is corrupt and he doesn’t have an XP CD, why not try taking the drive out, connecting it to a 2.5"/USB converter cable and then plugging the USB cable into a second PC?
If the drive is screwed, it’s screwed (as indicated by the clicking), but he might at least be able to rescue his data.