CAN ANYONE HELP!!!missing operating system

Discussion in 'Windows OS's' started by vinylmason, Jan 25, 2004.

  1. vinylmason

    vinylmason Geek Trainee

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    missing operating system how can i get an A:\ prompt cant format, fdisk,or load anything
     
  2. Sniper

    Sniper Administrator Staff Member

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    could you provide more info if possible? guessing here but prob need to boot from a floppy disk (Win 98 Boot Disk) or the using the install CD you have for the operating system you are using!
     
  3. Anti-Trend

    Anti-Trend Nonconformist Geek

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    Make sure all of your devices are connected properly to data and power, and that your jumpers are set properly. You can usually tell if a floppy is hooked up wrong by the activity light remaining on constantly. Also, make sure your BIOS is set to properly handle your devices; on a modern system, this can be set to AUTO.
     
  4. vinylmason

    vinylmason Geek Trainee

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    this is an old HD im trying to boot just got one going but this one wont see A: or CD ROM ive tryed everything i cant get an A: promt ive tryed all diffrent bios settings everythign is hooked up properly
     
  5. Big B

    Big B HWF Godfather

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    Double check the boot sequence and make sure that the HDD/IDE section is detecting the CD-ROM. Also, check your jumpers on the CD-ROM and try a different floppy drive.
     
  6. vinylmason

    vinylmason Geek Trainee

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    i have done all of that.still nothing,i can hear the cdrom running but after it reconizes it i get the same message missing operating system
     
  7. Anti-Trend

    Anti-Trend Nonconformist Geek

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    By "A:", do you mean your floppy drive cannot be booted from via boot-disk?
     
  8. vinylmason

    vinylmason Geek Trainee

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    yes nothing will boot i have tryed a bunch of startup disk`s boot disk emergency disk everything i have iv`e tryed
     
  9. Anti-Trend

    Anti-Trend Nonconformist Geek

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    Could be a bad MoBo, but more likely you've got some cable hooked up improperly. My advice is to remove every data cable in the system, and carefully reinstall each one, taking care to check the jumpers on each device as you're hooking it up. Also, if you can, you might want to grab a floppy drive from another system and verify that yours isn't dead.
     
  10. harrack52

    harrack52 Supreme Geek

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    I'd look into new cables and/or new floppy drive like Anti-Trend said.
     
  11. vinylmason

    vinylmason Geek Trainee

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    i`m running it now with another HD everything works fine maby its the HD. well thanks everyone for trying
     
  12. Anti-Trend

    Anti-Trend Nonconformist Geek

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    Just to make sure though, I'd check that old HDD to make sure the jumpers were correct, or you may end up tossing a HDD that was OK after all. Note: "Cable Select" is *not* the right jumper settings.... ever! ;)

    Glad you got it working though!
     
  13. vinylmason

    vinylmason Geek Trainee

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    there are 2 jumpers on this HD one is in -active busy, the other is in master, other options are EWS, slave, or LT. not sure what EWS or LT is but i tryed the jumpers in these spots also still nothing
     

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