Error Loading Operating System

[Jip]

after a long hard day of travelling to birmingham and shifting 50\" Plasmas(the hard part was the long journey home which too along time ;) )

i get home, eat my curry, go to the pc which i left on to find a black screen, move the mouse

nothing.

fair enough, turn computer off, turn it on

after bios:

\"Error Loading Operating System\"

OK, restart, the same error, i let my hard drive cool down, try it again, same thing

i seem to have misplaced my windows disk, i know probably doing a simple repair should fix the problem

but is it a sign of my hdd failing? ive had it a good few years now

[Colin]

Hi there

I've had this problem a couple of times too. I've never actually pinned down what the problem is.

What are your system specs? Especially HDD, motherboard and power supply.

Do you see your HDD in the BIOS? If not, your data is most likely still all intact and you *shouldn't* have to re-install Windows.

[Mighty_Jah]

Soz Dude Im begging to differ..here...that pile of **** ..needs replacing...to a nice..160 g...Mofo..from our buds on da A...thang..stop kiddin ya self...!

regards Mighty.. :wink:

Ya know it makes sense... :lol:

Robin: No Swearing!

[Colin]

[quote:7032db198b=\"Mighty_Jah\"]Soz Dude Im begging to differ..here...that pile of ****..needs replacing...to a nice..160 g...Mofo..from our buds on da A...thang..stop kiddin ya self...!

regards Mighty.. :wink:

Ya know it makes sense... :lol:[/quote:7032db198b]

Eh, sorry?

Colin

[Mighty_Jah]

[quote:caa7f6c4de=\"Mighty_Jah\"]Soz Dude Im begging to differ..here...that pile of ****..needs replacing...to a nice..160 g...Mofo..from our buds on da A...thang..stop kiddin ya self...!

regards Mighty.. :wink:

Ya know it makes sense... :lol:[/quote:caa7f6c4de]


As I said...earlier...read up.....Froogle...!

[Colin]

How do u know it is a \"pile of shite\" if you don't even know what his system is? The best hard drive in the world can still get corrupted. \"replacing to a nice 160g mofo\" will not magically solve all Jip's problems. It could be a fault in the motherboard or a wrong setting in the bios. It is impossible to tell without further details, which is why I asked for details before telling him to buy some \"thang from our buds on da A\".

Colin

[Mighty_Jah]

I concede Col...your of obvious higher intelect... :wink:

1. The Bios is present
2. Error occurs on boot

set bios to default setting, and possibly install windows to a seperate partition, and boot from that,...if error still occurs, replace the Hd..

Regards Mighty

[Jip]

the hdd is still visible on the boot drive list

its a 80g maxtor, im currently working on getting hold of a windows disc

the mobo is asus, not sure which model but ive never had problems with it, its probably just getting old now

once its repaired. i might ghost everything onto my 5 month old 80g hdd, just incase and use the old one as somewhere u store rubbish?

[Colin]

If the harddrive is present on the boot list, then it has simply somehow got corrupted. Reason I asked is that my own computer has done that a few times, even though nothing had changed.

Reinstall windows, yadda yadda, loss of data, yadda yadda... unfortunately, **** happens :(. Now might also be an excuse to upgrade, maybe for a nice 300GB model (http://www.aria.co.uk/productinfocomm.asp?id=22687) if your board suports SATA :wink:.

EDIT: just noticed that it's PATA, so it will be supported. Oh, and Aria, the product picture is wrong, it shows a SATA drive. Just a heads up.

Colin

[Jip]

got my hands on windows disc, put it in, hit R for the repair console

then it says something along the lines of \"Windows did not detect any hard drives on your system\"

but my hard is on the list in bios?

im stuck for ideas now

is it my hdd, or my mobo?

sorted that problem

got to repair console, main drive is gone, probably dead dunno yet

my other drive still had all the stuff on, so i wiped it and tried to install windows clean

half way through gives me a message saying it cannot install onto the hard drive if your drive is SCSI then get the drivers for it etc...

it should install but i havent a clue as to why it wont :/

[Belso]

Can you post your exact computer specs please?
__________________________________________________ __________

Its a problem with your hard drive.

Its either dead or on its last legs.

I would try either of these steps/ or both:

Remove the faulty hard drive, place into a friends computer, or a USB caddy on another of your computers.

Run a Disk Check or Chkdsk on the faulty drive. If it appears!
__________________________________________________ __________

If this doesn't work, try replacing the IDE cable from your motherboard to your hard drive.

__________________________________________________ __________

If not then then it could be time to purchase a new hard drive.

[Mighty_Jah]

The Dreaded dodgy Maxtor syndrome....I dunno whether, Its a batch fault, of thousands, I wouldnt say Its a Maxtor thing, as Ive had M's for years, although I have seen this prob a few times, same drive, 80'gs and 40'gs same prob...shows in bios but after boot up forget it..!

Ive got 2 in my box of DEAD bits, exactly the same....Defunkt..!

Also...Ive seen a nationwide, reclaim of a batch of thousands of a certain Fujitsu Hd, that failed on every network, in every school up and down mainland UK.



Regards Mighty... :wink:

[matt_2k34]

Amazing - i never had a good maxtor either =\
Always stick to seagate these days...

Bought one from aria ages ago and city link left it in their van overnight, it leaked box was soaking wet and the hdd was damp, left it to dry and its still alright - 'squeeks' every now and then but ive never had a problem with corruption etc. :P

(Product was OEM, and not worth sending back as i needed it asap)

=) got it in a raid just incase but never had a glitch pretty quick too for an early 1st gen sata. :P

IBM were no good, had one (very long time ago tho) lasted about 9 months before it packed up...
Western digi one in a pre-built pc (not mine) and thats ok... for now..
Had a maxtor drive a while ago, put it in didnt load, replaced it, loaded after getting it set up drive failed. :( money back

But then again this was along time ago.. could have got alot better since then :p

[Firerat]

I can't believe no one has suggested using Diagnostic software !!


PowerMax 4.22 Floppy Version (http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.3c67e325e0a6b1f6294198b091346068/?channelpath=%2Fen_us%2FSupport%2FSoftware+Downloa ds%2FAll+Downloads&downloadID=22)

PowerMax 4.22 Bootable CD .ISO image file (http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.3c67e325e0a6b1f6294198b091346068/?channelpath=%2Fen_us%2FSupport%2FSoftware+Downloa ds%2FAll+Downloads&downloadID=113)


BTW Seagate bought Maxtor (http://www.shareholder.com/maxtor/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=198048&reltype=Corporate&maxtor_section=press\")

<edit fixed broken link>

[matt_2k34]

yes they did...

however maxtor doesnt make use of the 'floating point bearing' patented by Seagate many years ago (bearing floats in liquid) i believe ?

And if he cant get into his OS / and the hdd is 'corrupt' how can ya run diagnostics software on it - Diagnostics software could put un-necessary strain on the product, And you could end up ruining the hdd completely, meaning you cant get ANYTHING back...

[Firerat]

[quote:487f6196e9=\"matt_2k34\"]
however maxtor doesnt make use of the 'floating point bearing' patented by Seagate many years ago (bearing floats in liquid) i believe ?[/quote:487f6196e9]

Is that the same as fluid dynamic bearing?


[quote:487f6196e9=\"matt_2k34\"]And if he cant get into his OS / and the hdd is 'corrupt' how can ya run diagnostics software on it - Diagnostics software could put un-necessary strain on the product, And you could end up ruining the hdd completely, meaning you cant get ANYTHING back...[/quote:487f6196e9]

PowerMax is independent of the operating System, you boot from floppy or CD. There is also a quick 90 sec test which will not strain it too much, if it has a problem it should show up in this.

But Yeah , no one likes to loose data which is why I use RAID 5 ( linux Software Raid )

[markpocock]

I have had this error and actually resolved it in my case.

The problem is not one of hardware or indeed software.

I traced it down (in my case) to the fact that the boot preference had changed on the pc. I shut it down one day, restarted the next and all the drive letters changed causing it to fail.

It was all down to a portable device which had malfunctioned and upset XP. It made life even more difficult because of 3 SATA and 1 PATA drive and the system did not have a clue. It was originally set to boot of SATA, but one day it tried a different SATA. et voila - problem.

I had to re-install, but I reckon it would have got it going eventually if I was to have persisted.

Take all HDs / CDs out and place your main drive into its original connector and see if that works.

[maul]

make sure bios shows the right hard drive selected to boot from first. if bios reset itself to default settings it could have changed from what you had before.(dont know how that happens but i have seen it) if thats all ok then
if you go to the maxtor website you can download software

http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.3c67e325e0a6b1f6294198b091346068/?channelpath=%2Fen_us%2FSupport%2FSoftware+Downloa ds%2FTop+Downloads&downloadID=22

to run on a floppy or a cd that's bootable(you will need another pc to download and make the disc) will diagnose/repair the disc without having to run in windows. make sure floppy/cd is set as boot drive in bios to run it and set back after.
you might lose the data if you have to reformat disc but hey if you get your drive back its not all tears.
i had to do this on gf's pc yesterday (but hers was a segate drive )so i know it works.
also if the hd is shot then it could possibly be replaced by maxtor on their waranty scheme. (worth checking out on that same website for details )
good luck ;)