"OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND"

[patriciaanne]

Hi Everyone,

Before I jump into my third laptop purchase in five years (laptop #1- stolen, laptop #2, apparently dead), I thought I would give the experts a try. The patient in question is a Dell Inspiron 2500 that was running on WinME. It has been giving me the same "operating system not found" message for some time, and the prevailing "click-click" noise has got me seriously disheartened. Is it time to fork over another hefty sum for a new laptop, or can mine possibly be saved? (There were no MP3s on the system, only many documents that are, for lack of backups, irreplaceable.)

If anyone has any insight on this problem, or if you could possibly give me some advice to avoid such a repeat performance in the future, I would very much appreciate it!

Thanks in advance,

no luck with laptops :upset:

[blakey81]

Hi,


This could be the problem:

The hard disk is not detected by the computer's basic input/output system (BIOS).
The computer's hard disk is damaged.

or the connecters on the hard drive could be on there way out

check the computer's BIOS settings to make sure that the hard disk is listed in, and recognized by, the BIOS. See the computer documentation or contact the hardware manufacturer for information about how to check the BIOS settings.

After you determine that the computer's BIOS detects the hard disk, restart the computer, and then test to see whether the issue is resolved. If the issue is not resolved, or if the computer's BIOS cannot detect the hard disk, this may indicate possible hardware failure. Contact the hardware manufacturer to inquire about how to resolve this issue. You may have to replace the hard disk.

Hope this helps

[patriciaanne]

thanks for your help! and by the way, any suggestions on a more stable system for the next laptop purchase, in case I can't get the old one fixed? I don't ask much of my laptops- that is to say I use them primarily for docs.
thanks a million!