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June 7th, 2018 19:00
Dell Inspiron One, Missing operating system
Hello everyone, in a bit of a bind here. My sound was not working so I was on the internet trying to update my drives. Some 3rd party software started automatically downloading from some of the web pages and then my computer started acting slow. I get a notification saying that the startup of the the computer has changed. It was from iobit. Telling me that some program was added to the start up. And then I got multiple of them. I force restarted my computer and then I get the “Missing operating System” error. Even tapping F8 to get the recovery brings up the “missing operating system” message. It stinks because my mom threw away the system recovery disks as she does with everything. I have some Windows 8 recovery disks from my laptop but I doubt they will work. I ran the diagnostics as I can still boot there and it found no issues. What else can I do?
Vyrotek
3 Posts
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June 7th, 2018 19:00
RoHe
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June 8th, 2018 16:00
Always include exact PC model in your posts. We can't see any images you post, even though you can see them.
Reboot and immediately press F2 to open BIOS setup. See if your hard drive is still recognized correctly. Then check the SATA Mode (aka: SATA Operations) setting in BIOS. It should be set to AHCI, assuming that's an available option - I can't be certain without knowing the exact PC model. And make sure your hard drive is listed as first in the boot sequence in BIOS too.
Assuming hard drive is recognized and you've checked those settings, reboot and immediately press F12. Look for option to run diagnostics, especially the extended hard drive tests. Copy error messages, if any.
Can you borrow a Win 7 Home Installation DVD (or a 7 Pro DVD, if that's what you have) from somebody? Put the disk in the optical drive and reboot the PC. Immediately press F12 and look for the option to boot from the optical drive. Then follow the instructions from Microsoft here to run Bootrec.exe.
If all else fails, read the post by Philip_Yip in this thread to upgrade to Win 10 for free. Just keep in mind that everything on your hard drive now will be lost if you upgrade to Win 10, so I hope your files are already backed up on external media.
RoHe
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June 8th, 2018 17:00
Two more thingys...
Are you pressing F8 fast enough when you power on so the PC doesn't attempt to boot from the hard drive? Power on and immediately start tapping F8.
Stuff from Iobit can be seriously questionable, as you've -unfortunately- found out. So stay away, IMHO...