windows 95 O/S

gypsy77 · #1 August 10th, 2003, 01:07 AM

When starting computer, I get a message saying:"Operating System Not Found". I put my windows 95 startup disk in the A drive and after waiting a few seconds, I get the A/: prompt. I then type in c:\, but that doesn't get me back to the c:/ prompt or anything else. What do I do next in order to start up Windows?
Thanks

Alfons · #2 August 10th, 2003, 03:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gypsy77

When starting computer, I get a message saying:"Operating System Not Found". I put my windows 95 startup disk in the A drive and after waiting a few seconds, I get the A/: prompt. I then type in c:\, but that doesn't get me back to the c:/ prompt or anything else. What do I do next in order to start up Windows?
Thanks

The BIOS can't find a boot record to hand-off to, so it appears that either your Hard Disk isn't responding or possibly your master boot record got trashed, so you'll need to provide more detail for anyone to give more assistance. Details like:

1. System Configuration - Hardware & Software
2. What happened just before that could have caused this.
3. Is your Hard Disk "seen" by the BIOS - should probably see something describing Primary Master on one of the first couple of Startup Pages.

gypsy77 · #3 August 10th, 2003, 11:52 AM

Okay, I'll get you that information as soon as possible (computer not physically here), but in the meantime, please tell me specifically what I am supposed to type in after inserting the Windows 95 boot disk when the A:/ prompt appears. Thanks.

Jim Smith · #4 August 10th, 2003, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gypsy77

Okay, I'll get you that information as soon as possible (computer not physically here), but in the meantime, please tell me specifically what I am supposed to type in after inserting the Windows 95 boot disk when the A:/ prompt appears. Thanks.

As Alfons wrote, you are dead in the water until you get the hard drive recognized. For now, you can only run DOS from the boot disc (a:\).

I would disconnect the hard drive from the power supply and IDE cable, reconnect them, and reboot. Same result, try the hard drive on the second IDE channel, try a different IDE cable, and install the HDD in a different machine as slave to see if it is recognized.

If it is recognized as slave, boot with boot discette issue a sys d: (or whatever the second hard drive is designated as) to load the boot files to the c drive. Then switch to the drive (d:\, or whatever) and see if Windows is there: dir /p

On the other hand, I don't care if I screw up my hard drive as I'll just reload Windows, etc.