Missing Operating system

Question

This morning when I went to fire up my PC, it was already on ( My bro must have been using it ) , however, it was on a blue screen saying something about dumping physical memory, but being an idiot, I chalked it up to a fluke or something and didn't write it down. I said If I saw the screen again, do so and so. I did not see the screen again. However, now when I try to boot it up it stops and tells me that it is missing the operating system or something. Now I am desperately trying to find help on my girlfriends PC. While I am halfway liuterate at Computer Software, basic use, etc, I am in way over my head with this whole problem. If anyone could offer any advice, I would appreciate it tremendously. If anyone need any more information in order to help, just let me know. Thanks in advance.

Denny Denham · Answer

UofM, Open the chassis and disconnect/reconnect the ribbon cable to the disk drives and see if that resolves the problem.

UofM · Answer

Thanks alot for your response. I did as you said, and no dice.

UofM · Answer

Yea no kidding, I bet he was working on something real important.  Anyway, I think all the connections are secure. I took off the housing and reconnected all the cables and such. I will do as you said and report back right now. Thanks for your help. Is this gonna help fix whatever is wrong with Windows while keeping all the files and such, or am I gonna lose it all?

maxd · Answer

You're on the right road. It would be interesting to know what your brother was 'working on' when all this happened. I suggest you try this Recovery Console command:

chkdsk

If any errors are reported run this command:

chkdsk /r

If that doesn't help you could try the Repair Installation (one of the 3 options).

Q?: Are all your connections secure ?

UofM · Answer

Once I put the XP disc in and reboot, it tells me to hit any key to boot Windows from the disc. I hit any key, and it takes me to Windows set-up. Set-up then starts loading files along the bottom. Then it tells me it's starting Windows, and enters a Windows XP Professional Set-up. To Set-up XP now, press Enter. I then press enter, and it enters a new screen. It then gives me 3 options. Repair a XP installation using Recovery Console, press R. To quit setup w/o install, press f3. I didn't seem to write down the third, but I think it's to install XP. Am I on the right track here? Is Windows just completely gone now? I am so lost, and my mother is flipping out.  Is this what I need to do to fix this, or is Windows gone and I need to completely re-install it? Jeez, I hope that's not the case.

maxd · Answer

Doesn't sound good. Don't know if there's any way to recover any important files. There is a program called spinrite that my Dell tech uses; it's not free and there's no guarantees.

maxd · Answer

I've not heard of any risk to using the chkdsk commands. If you run the Repair Install you will have to go to the Windows update site and re-update XP with all the hotfixes shown. If I was more knowlegable I'd suggest a more definitive suggestion. Dumps are out of my league. Maybe someone can suggest a better solution. I hope you're backing up your personal data on a regular basis; never know when you're gonna lose it all.

UofM · Answer

Wow, I wish I knew what to do. I have been stressing out about this since yesterday. Lord knows what they get into on the computer up there, but I do know my mother has several files she would not like to lose. I haven't performed any backups, as I am new to learning how to properly maintain a CPU. I guess I kinda figured If I didn't get into anything odd, nothing would happen. Obviously I was wrong, as something happened from something or someone. Could AdAware or Spyware possibly delete something Windows needs ? that's the last thing I remember doing that night, but I'm sure someone else used it.  Am I pretty much looking at Formatting and reinstalling?

UofM · Answer

When I enter chkdsk it tells me 'The volume appears to contain one or more unrecoverable problems.' Same thing with chkdsk /r. This is bad, isn't it?

maxd · Answer

The spyware programs mentioned were unlikely to cause this. It could be a bad hard drive in which case you're probably out of luck. It appears that the file system (NTFS ?) may be corrupt and that I believe requires a clean install which includes the formatting for your file system. I would give the Repair Install a try. If no good try these Recovery Console commands: fix mbr and fixboot. Not sure of the syntax. The hard drive's manufacturer, eg Western Digital, may have a repair utility or even the Dell diagnostics may tell you if your HD is shot. I'd talk with Dell about this.

Windows General

Missing Operating system

Was this post helpful?