PBC Web Design wrote: > At 10:40 AM 1/4/2008, you wrote: >> Are you sure that the drive in the old machine is dead, though? The >> "Missing Operating System" error doesn't necessarily mean that the hard >> drive is dead, it could just be that the bootloader has been wiped (by a >> virus, for example). >> >> When you tried booting from the recovery CD / Windows CD, you may have >> to press a key at the appropriate time to boot from CD, or you may need >> to enter the BIOS setup utility and configure it to boot from the CD >> before attempting to boot from the hard drive. > > No, I'm not absolutely positive but I thought > that's what it meant. I tried F8 to try to get > into Safe Mode, no luck. Tried that both w/the > recovery cd and the Win98 cd. She does think > this was caused by a virus. Any idea what key > I'd press? If I can get in what do I do then to > find out about the bootloader? Does that just mean it switched on how it > loads?
During a normal boot-up, the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System, the low-level software which brings the machine into life) does all sorts of BIOSy magic, then looks for some code to execute in order to start the operating system. This will be the bootloader on (one of) the system's hard drives normally, but can also be a bootable CD, or sometimes a bootable USB drive or a network card with a boot-from-network facility. Anyway, the error "Missing Operating System" simply means that the BIOS was unable to find anything to hand over control to, which could be because: - the drive has fully failed - the drive (possibly only the boot sector) has been wiped, by a virus or by someone playing with partititiong tools - someone has changed the list of boot devices in the BIOS. To get into the BIOS, you normally press the Delete key, or F2, or F1 shortly after turning the machine on. It will normally tell you on screen with a message like "Press Del to enter setup" or something similar. If you get into the BIOS, you should be able to find options to select which devices it should attempt to boot from and in which order. Some systems also have a "one-time" boot menu you can access in a similar way to the BIOS setup (pressing a specified key at the right time) in order to override the boot order. (My Dell Inspiron 1501 does this, and I think my older 1150 does too). Once you've selected the CD-ROM drive as a boot device (with a higher priority than the hard drive) reboot with the recovery CD or a Windows CD in the drive and see what happens (or, if you see an option for a one-time boot menu when the machine is first starting, use that instead). Good luck :) Cheers Dave P ____ The WDVL Discussion List from WDVL.COM ____ To Join wdvltalk, Send An Email To: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] or use the web interface http://e-newsletters.internet.com/discussionlists.html/ Send Your Posts To: [email protected] To change subscription settings, add a password or view the web interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/read/?forum=wdvltalk ________________ http://www.wdvl.com _______________________ You are currently subscribed to wdvltalk as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe via postal mail, please contact us at: Jupitermedia Corp. Attn: Discussion List Management 475 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 Please include the email address which you have been contacted with.
