Hello,

I just took the hard drive out of my daughter's computer and installed a new hard drive....

Turned the thing on and it says: "No Operating system found".

So, I tried to reload the disks that came with her computer (HP)

But, it didn't work...

I go into "Set Up" and I get lost.....

How do I get the Operating system to work on this new hard drive?...

thx,
Adreamer2

So, I tried to reload the disks that came with her computer (HP)

But, it didn't work...

Can you elaborate on the "it didn't work" part please? Any and all specifics that you can give us might be helpful.

We have the original disks that came with the computer....

Note: Our original cd drive doesn't work for some reason, so, whenever the computer needs to be rebooted, I will open it up and attach a cd rom drive... And it always works like a charm...

However, my daughter let someone else use her computer.... and I cannot even use the disks on this thing...Even with the cd rom drive!

It first gave message: "error on C drive"....

Then, it kept saying: "no operating system found"....

So, of course, I tried the CDRom drive (after opening the computer), popped in the HP disks and it would not boot from them...

It would go through the motion of booting, but then it stopped and said: "Error on Drive C"...

Then, I shut it down and tried to get the ME to boot from the disk but it wouldn't...


So... I did what any self respecting idiot would do.... I unplugged it and bought a new hard drive....

I unplugged the old hard drive and hooked up the new...

Now, I get a black screen with the words: "No operating system found"....

I cannot figure out what to do with this now....

How do I get the ME operating system onto this computer....???

I put the ME disk in the drive port, but it wont boot from the disk....

Should I go into the bios.... If so, how do I get there?...


Thx,
Adreamer2

New hard drive, awsome.
If your bios is on default settings this should be no problem.

Obviously, you have access to the internet from somewhere, so just download this http://spock.uccs.edu/pub/bootdisks/bootme.exe (Courtesy of www.bootdisks.com) and run the bootme.exe. You will need a floppy disk, the program will format it and copy the needed boot files.

Take it home, pop it in the floppy drive, and power up.
You will get a menu, pick the "...Load with CD-ROM support" Option. After it loads, you have to create a partition, so...

On the a: drive type "fdisk" so it looks like so: A:\fsidk
It will ask you if you want to support large disk sizes, up to you, read the warning!
After that, on the menu choose "Create Primary Dos Partition", Follow along the steps. Read everything! Because it will tell you that you have to format the drive after you partition it(something I missed).

Reboot, choose with CD support, wait till you get the "a:\" prompt
Type "format c:" ( A:\format c: ). It will ask you if you're dammn sure, then wait untill it's done. (When entering volume label, if you leave it blank it will be "C:" ...But it tells you that ;)

Reboot. Pick CD support AGAIN, wait till you get prompted. Now it gets fun(er)?). Your CD-ROM drive will be (unless otherwise told) E:
So switch to E: and type "setup" (E:\setup)

Scandisk will run, yadda yadda, exit scandisk, commence with Windows ME install.

I hope that helps you out. I remember being pissed off all through the AM when I first fiddled with the wonders of formatting, installing an OS and partitions.

Also, if I'm wrong at all, could someone point it out. Don't want to be speading lies on the internet(someone might loose a job :lol: ).

Nice try, Opopp, but off the mark in this instance. No Windows CD with one of those systems.

adreamer2, that CD should boot the machine up if it's an autoboot recovery CD and the system is set at default BIOS settings. Alternatively, you may have a system where the recovery files are stored on a 'hidden' partition of the original hard drive. If that's the case you can't recover the system without the original drive fitted, and would need to obtain recovery CDs from HP.

The best thing to do in your circiumstance is to contact HP support, let them know the specific model of your PC and describe your problem. Replacement recovery media will cost you a service fee.

No Windows CD with one of those systems.

Those systems don't come with the actual OS CD's?

In anycase, that would be how you'd do it normally right?

Would that still hold true even if the hard drive is new?..... The HD is not HP....

Adreamer2

It's rather hard to answer your question adreamer. Details of what HP model you own haven't been provided, and in any event the method of including the Recovery data has changed over time.

If the 'disks' you mention include a recovery CD then you may need to make changes in BIOS to allow the system to boot from CD. In my experience, however, such systems are generally configured to boot from CD as first preference, and cannot be changed. With HP systems you generally need to tap the <F1> key during POST to access BIOS setup.


If the recovery data is on the hard drive as speculated above, then it can only be retrieved from the original drive.

What she has is a Hewlitt Packard Pavillion.....

The method I used has not changed.... Unless you are speaking of HP's method....

Let me rephrase....

I "unplugged" her hard drive because we kept getting an error message.... The first error message was "no operating system found"...... Therefore, I made an attempt to load windows ME O/S......

It did not work.....

Secondly, I opened the machine and went inside attaching an external CD Drive (because the CD drive of her computer would not work... This was my attempt to reboot the machine (prior to "unplugging" her hard drive)..... We have the recovery disks.... I tried rebooting from the disks using a (external) CD drive... And it did not work...... It began to reboot, but got only so far before it stated: "Error or Corrupt drive C".......

So, I installed a new hard drive......

When I did that, I got the "Operating system not found"......

My problem is I have the recovery disks.... I have the operating system.... But, I cannot get either to load onto this machine.....

Can anyone help?....

Thx,
Adreamer2

Sometimes, the Recovery disks do not contain all the necessary data. Instead, they need to access data contained in a 'hidden' partition on the original hard drive. It is almost imposssible to determine if this is the case for your friend's HP Pavilion. There have been many, many different computers called "HP Pavilion', and we'd at least need the model number to have some chance of determining it. 'Pavilion' is a product line, not a specific PC.

The Recovery CD needs to be run from an internal CD or DVD drive. If the original drive does not work any more, replace it rather than connecting an external CD drive. BIOS can not boot from the external CD drive.

Hello,

I have unfortunately seen this problem on Compaq Presario lines too... the hidden partition with the masters on it.

What a cheap deal.... for a company to not provide the media. Just think of the couple of bucks needed to send the OS along on disk. Personally I would never purchase such a system without the recovery disks right there. TO me, it means the system is not complete.

I am thinking you are going to need to contact HP, and have them send you the correct stuff. Or, you could go to the store, and get a new copy of Microsoft Windows. Then again, you would not get all the freebies, such as your complimentary subscription to AOL, or Microsoft Money, or whatever was bundled with the computer.

Good luck with the process. And if you really get frustrated, give linux a try.

Christian

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.