urgent help needed please laptop os gone

i really do need some urgent help here im in dire need.
here is the scenario , today i got in and it said on my screen of my laptop cannot find operating system?????!!!!!!!!

i rebooted it and it says the same, what the hell do i do i have everything on there all my music but most importantly valuble work and pictures of my family i cant replace im extremly upset.

i have another problem to compound this my optical drive gave up working 4 weeks ago so i cant use it to see if putting a disc in will help.

i was going to buy an external drive if i couldnt get an internal one but now that is pointless to as i guess it wont be able to use it.

im really in the dark here and toatlly worried to the point i cant sleep, i cant believe im so dependant on this thing ,even more upset i didnt back up things.

please please help

thanks

 

No cd-rom? leaves out the boot disk solution. Pull the drive and hook it into some one elses PC and copy off your data.
Not a whole lot of options there...

 

my girlfriend has a laptop how do i do this could you explain it to me in detail please if you can

many thanks

 

Another way to go is to get another CD rom installed. Your going to need one anyway. From there it should be relatively easy to get your info back again.

 

retreiving files from a broken laptop

as i explained in a previous post my laptop has stopped working, it says cannot find operating system, a few of the local shops say they can reteive them.
is this hard to do as they are quoting quite large amounts.
im also unsure of having them trawl through my files folders of my private things, i have nothing illegal! but i just dont like the idea of them seeing everything ive got.
is it hard to do yourself? what tools do i need my optical drive is shot so i cant try a boot.
a friend said all you need is a lead that goes from my laptop hard drive to another pc is this correct?
how do i make sure i dont erase or make the damage worse?

thanks in advance

 

I think you would need to have the laptop up and running in order to transfer files direct to another computer via a cable.

Before you do anything else I would suggest getting into the BIOS setup (normally you do this by pressing Del or Esc or F1 or F2 etc. during start up depending on BIOS.

Once in BIOS setup check whether the hard disk shows up. If it does not show up suspect a hard drive failure or loose connection etc.

If it shows up then check the Boot Sequence. i.e. which device is listed to boot first. Make sure the defective CD drive is not listed as the first boot device. I would move the hard drive to be the first device.

 

Or.....

What is the EXACT error you are getting?

Some laptops can boot to an external USB device. If this doesn't work, you can always take the device back.

Does safe mode work?

 

this is the exact error message on a black screen

PXE - E51 NO DHCP or proxyDHCP OFFERS were received

PXE- M0F: exiting pxe rom

OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND


i have looked in the bios and cd drive is at the top of the list i tried it with the hard drive at the top and it is exactly the same, ie no joy.

safe mode does not work there is no operating system available.


look forward to your replies thanks to both of you

 

From the error you recieve, it does look like the hdd (Hard Disk Drive) is not recognized (for some oddball reason).

Can you check the bios to find your hdd? What size it is from the BIOS.

 

mmmm dont know if this is right but it says under main information

HDD MODEL NAME -- NONE

HDD SERIAL NUMBER --- NONE


i dont this has any bareing on my problem though does it?

is that what your after ? i cant see anything else.

also there is LEGACY USB SUPPORT - [DISABLED] what is this for?

 

I did a Google search on your error messages. These seem to relate to booting from a network. Has your laptop been networked at some stage?

It certainly looks like the BIOS has not recognised your hard drive. I would expect your main information page to show the HD model name somewhere eg "MAXTOR 6L040J2"

Somewhere there should be a list of all the HD parameters: Cylinders/Heads/Sectors/ Capacity in MB / Ultra DMA mode etc. - all these should be filled in with values.

Is it possible to see any information when you boot up? There will usually be a list of detected devices: Floppy drive, CD, Hard drive, Network card etc. I think you can press Pause/Break if it goes too quickly to read.

 

Hmm...
Not to confuse the issue, but maybe you should try to fix the CD drive. That way, you can go d/l a LIVE OS that you can boot from CD.

They're wonderful, they're free, and they're ready for the download. That is the weapon of choice for data recovery at most repair shops.

If there is no way that you can get your CD drive to work, I would do like the other guys have said and figure out what HD you have. I don't have patience to sit there and figure out what is inside most of the time so I just pull it out. The compartment housing the HDD is usually easily accessable with the turn of fewer than 4 screws off the housing. ALL the info you need will be on the top of the HDD. Note: be careful when handling a HDD as they are sensitive to static, dust, and magnetic fields. It's not that I'm saying they're fragile (I leave ones I'm working on on a desk all the time), just don't be stupid.

If it gets to this point, though, I suggest swapping the HDD into a laptop with a working CD drive. NOTE: if you are playing with a DELL anywhere in this process, you will have to contend with proprietary hardware configurations. In the working computer, go put the a recovery cd. I suggest Knoppix (a linux distribution) in order to get your files off. If you want to try to repair the HDD, you'll need a Windows-based recovery CD with an advanced ScanDisk utility. Those are not as plentiful on the net.

Another idea is to, again, take your HD out and put it into a USB HDD external enclosure (gives your internal HDD and external housing). You can get those for as cheap as $30 depending on where you are. From there, extract the data you want. From there, put the HDD back in your laptop and reformat. If the problem was a bad HDD, you will find out within a few weeks.

JUST BE SURE TO BACK UP ALL OF YOUR IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS!!!!

 

no it just comes up with the message i put before thats all.the list of boot ups is there within bios thats all.

ive noticed LEGACY USB SUPPORT - [DISABLED] is this for anything that i can use?

 

ok thankyou for your time and help ,someone said i may be able to go through my usb to slave the hdd from another system ? do you knoew about this? i thought maybe the LEGACY USB SUPPORT - [DISABLED] might be it?
also could you explain what a live os is?

 

I just googled "Legacy USB support" and, from what I've read, it is general suppor for USB devices that use a "universal protocol" so that you don't need to install drivers.

If you want to slave your HDD onto another system, that will only give you access to the files. You can't run the OS as a slave unless you set it as a boot option. You will need a hard drive enclosure for this. Like I said earlier, they're about $30. All that's inside is an IDE cable for the HDD and a power connector. They're pretty simple to play with. No extended setup should be needed. Many computer stores sell them these days.

LIVE CDs are bootablle CDs or DVDs that have a fully operational OS on them. To make this clear: these CDs do not rely on any existing HDD in order to operate the computer. Linux "distributions" (aka "versions") employ this as a way to "test drive" the OS before installing; however, it is an AWESOME way to do data recovery/ HDD repair and whatnot. The tools that most computer specialists use are on these bootable CDs. The ones that they use, though, are proprietary ones that are Window based. You can find them online, but they're fairly illegal due to copyright.

As far as LEGAL methods go, I recommend using a linux distribution called "Knoppix" found at www.knoppix.com (it is in english if you select it, otherwise, I believe it's german). This option cost exactly ONE burnable CD. All you need to do is d/l the Knoppix cd from one of the (many) mirrors available. Download the ISO. This is a disc image file, in other words, it represents a disc. If you burn the actual ISO to a disc, it won't work. You shouldn't need any special software to make the disc as most burners support burning pre-formatted images.

Once the CD is made, pop it into the afflicted computer. As the computer boots (if it is set up properly), it will boot from the cd INSTEAD of the HDD. If not, you may need to specify this by pressing [ESC], [F1],[F2], or [F12] as the computer is booting depending on the manufacturer of your comp.

Once you're in, you'll see your HDD hda# where # is a partition number beginning with "1". NOTE: everything in this environmnent is set to run on one-click. To select a file but not run it, drag-highlight it. Now that that has been established before you go running around needlessly accessing files, I will assume that you should be able to (with patience) pass the remainder of the learning curve. Back to navigation... Right now, your HDD is NOT "mounted" to mount it, click on it. This will start your drive spinning. You will be able to read stuff off the drive.

Assuming that you are able to find your files, you will need to have a place to move them to. You can do it online if you can connect to a network that has an internet connection, or you can use a flash drive. The ease of this depends on your environment. I will assume that you are going to use a flash or other disc drive to save these files. Knoppix supports all of this and the drives will be on your desktop same way as your HDD. You will only be able to read the drives if you do not specify otherwise. To specify writing privelages, right-click on the drive (I believe it needs to be unmounted). Somewhere in that menu will be an option to make it writable.

Save your stuff to that external media, then YOU"RE DONE!!! You're free to either get a new HDD or reformat your present one.
whew! I knew that was long, but I hope I made it understandable. Don't feel bad if you have trouble, it takes practice.
This sounds like a lot, but it's not enough to constitute $90/hr considering the great resources available online for FREE. Feel free to continue the post if you have problems with this GOOD LUCK!!!

 

ok thats very indepth and a great help im having one last thought i read this

Problem -
Messages such as No ROM Basic System halted, Operating System Not Found, Error Loading System Partition Table Error, and Missing Operating System appears when booting.

Answer -
Boot Sector was deformed or deleted due to virus. Hard disk drive must be reformatted.
In case Operating System Not Found message, check and see if the DOS or Windows95 is correctly installed.
It may be due to inactive Boot Record. In this case, run FDISK program and set the partitioned area to Active



now this could kind of make sense my mate said a virus can also stop your cd drive working to? so putting a new optical drive in may well be pointless as a virus disabled it in the first place.
what do you think is the best way to check this?

so this legasy usb thing, would this enable me to boot my laptop off another pc/laptops os?
how exactly would i benefit from this legacy usb option , i didnt quite understand your explanation on this purely because im not to knowlegable on this stuff



many thanks

 

hmm... toughie
I'll be honest, the viruses I deal with have never gone that low into a system's resources. If they have, that's a level beyond me. The CD drive (assuming that is was a virus) should still be good. "Disabling" it could only be done through BIOS or Windows. To date, the only time I've heard of viruses manifesting physical damage to a computer was limited to HDDs (except for "Chernobyl"), nothing more since you need very intimate knowledge of the system beyond that. Theoretically, all drives would still work if put in another computer. My first move would be to take out all power supplies (including any internal batteries) in an effort to reset the ROMs. But here are some articles that might help you out....
For the ROM issue:
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000185.htm

Force booting your computer:
http://freepctech.com/pc/002/files010.shtml

This is another pretty awesome legal cd that has the some of the diagnostics you need to possibly fix your hdd into a working one:
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

This becomes a nit-picky troubleshooting diagnostic from here.
On the assumption that IT IS a virus that has done this to your system, it is also safe to assume that it is still there. Therefore, I do not recommend connecting your HDD to another computer unless you didn't mind the risks. I brieflysearched for a Chernobyl -style virus that may be running amuck but found nothing of substance. I'm interested in exploring this more if you continue to have problems. (But I am hoping that some other forum members will have the needed expertise in this before we get to that)
On the assumption that IT IS NOT a virus that attacked your hardware and BIOS, you need to find some way to repair it. Generally, the computer manufacturer has instructions on its website somewhere for such unfortunate events. If this method fails, swap your HDD into a comp that has a working optical drive BUT DO NOT BOOT FROM IT. Boot from a Live CD to minimize risks. Even Chernobyl was not linux compatible. Save your stuff, then format the HDD thuroughly.
For good measure, you could put a HDD that you know works in your comp and see what happens. BIOS is pretty small, so I would find it hard to believe that a virus could reside there, RAM is volatile so it can't survive ther, and there aren't any usable ROMs anywhere else on the "comp. Even if it did, it would have no way of copying itself since the method for doing so was in the BIOS in the first place.

the "legacy USB" thing is for mice, keyboards, and a few other peripherals. It gives them the ability to run on a 'universal protocol' that does not require drivers in order to work. Sorry, but this cannot help us here.

Let's see where this goes....

 

wow thankyou for your knowledge and even more the effort you have put in to help me its really appreciated

i will keep you informed

thanks again

 

>>> JUST BE SURE TO BACK UP ALL OF YOUR IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS!!!!

How is this poor guy (after all the times he has told you) going to backup anything if his hdd is NOT seen?!!?

And he has a laptop, btw.

A failed/crashed hdd will not be seen. PERIOD.

Lord Lucan:

Before you waste any more time (and days off your life) take your laptop to someone who can extract the drive physically, to test it. Even if your boot record and all the other mumbo jumbo that wont work in order for you to boot may be lost… you MAY (possibly) be able to get the data off the hdd if it can be hooked to another system. If you are lucky.

Dude… and I think you see this… you are screwed. Your best hope is to try and get the data off. At the very least I think you are looking at a new hdd installation which means starting from scratch with reloading Win and all your software.

My very best advice to you is to focus from now on… on backup/Imaging software such as Norton or Acronis. Whatever it takes, get yourself into a position where/when a software/virus/hack/hardware failure comes your way, you can RESTORE to the previous day or week!

And make sure you have a working CD or DVD drive!

>>> im really in the dark here and toatlly worried to the point i cant sleep, i cant believe im so dependant on this thing ,even more upset i didnt back up things.

In these days and times, backing things up (important documents, pictures, etc.) is all well and good… but my friend, you are way behind the curve! You should be able to restore your whole OS as needs be with all data.

Sorry for the harshness, but anyone on this forum worth their salt, would tell you that.

My two-cents as I am passing in the night before I finish my day’s backup (as we speak).

 

Hey harshness,
I don't mean to get on your case, but we have already covered that. Besides LordLucan wouldn't be on this forum if he wasn't making an effort to do it himself. All of this stuff, including drive testing, he can do for free if he wants to take the time instead of dishing out the money to someone who is qualified (or just more experienced) to handle such things. As you can see, the posts that I left are long and detailed. He should get the idea how much work it takes for first timers to do this.

HOWEVER, I do believe that you are right about backing up. Backups are a must for important stuff these days. Too many college students I know come to me with floppies and whatnot that have MASTER copies of their senior thesis on them that are old and corrupted. Too often, I have to tell them that the months worth of work they've invested in their papers amounts to nothing because I was unable to recover their data.

LordLucan: I know I have mentioned this before, but since someone else brought it up, I will repeat myself. No matter what road you take to recover from this disaster, you should now realize the importance of backing up. There are online HDDs, flash drives, burnable CDs & DVDs, external HDDs, and backup partition managing programs out there that make it so that no one should have an excuse to for having major data loss. I have a flash drive, a server at my house, and an online HDD that I keep copies of anything of importance. Soon, I'm going to get an external HDD as well, and that will also house backups. I'm sure PainterPaul has at least one, if not more, concurrent backups of important stuff. Please let this be a lesson so that you will never make a mistake like this again.

As for the other things that PainterPaul has said, evaluate them. His angst does not mean that he is wrong. Even if you do everything outlined in this forum, you may not get passed square one. The choice is yours. If you want this done right and and done quickly, dish out the $90/hr. There is something to be said for that. If you want to do this yourself, keep using forums such as MAJORGEEKS, do some research, and keep trying. It's just like mowing the lawn: anyone can 'do it yourself' for free labor; but many people don't because their time is worth more somewhere else. Those people hire someone else to to a job that, with effort, they could do themselves.

GOOD LUCK AND LET ME KNOW HOW IT TURNS OUT!!!

 

Otaku,

Bad timing is all. I found MajorGeeks as a result of having a similar problem not too long ago, and unfortunately got no help at all here. I had to figure out my problem for myself, then resurrect the thread and post the answer for the benefit of informing those who did try to help, and, for those with similar problems who may do a Search.

It may have been harsh… my advice… but not bad advice either. I sympathize more than you could know with Mr. Lucan…

I truly hope he resolves his issue with the least amount of frustration. If his hdd isn’t fried, maybe his controller is, or maybe he has a loose cable. If it turns out to be a software issue, then I will be happy for him.

You are a very nice person to take the time and try to help. I just came along one night and, with my own frustration still in memory, saw the similarity and cut to the chase in hopes that Mr. Lucan would save himself some trouble.

 

Hey, I don't blame ya. Losing vital data is one of the most frustrating things that can happen. I've been there and done that myself. One thing is for sure: Anyone is a fool for letting it happen to them more than once. Myself as a member of a college tech support group, I see it all the time. As this forum, and my job, have "support" as part of the description, I feel it would be best to support people with problems in as positive a way as possible.
Besides, if nothing else, I'm hard headded. I have a graveyard of computers that I constantly tinker around with in order to get them to work because the owners have long since given up.
I'll tell you what, track me down if you need some help with a problem like that again. I love a good challenge!

 

Thank you, will do though hopefully not any time soon! <smile>