Boot error: Cannot find operating system

I am running Win 98SE on a Dell Pentium 3 with 640 MB RAM. Occasionally, I get an error message when booting the pc that says :

Cannot find operating system

This normally occurs a couple of minutes after I turn on the pc. Once it does occur, nothing else will happen. I just get a black screen with that message at the top. If I turn off the pc and turn it on again, occasionally this will happen again. However, most of the time, the pc boots up fine, and I get into the Windows desktop screen, ready to go.

This condition happens approx. a couple times a month over the last 6-8 months.

Is this something to be concerned about? What should I do about it? Does it mean that something is wrong with either my hardware or operating system?

 

what kind of harddrive do you have?

 

Harddrive

20.4 GB Ultra ATA, 7200 RPM, Factory Install (Dell)

 

have you checked for a new bios for that machine?

http://support.dell.com

 

Thats very strange... If the problem pertains you may want to get a boot loader.. But that should be last choice...

 

i've seen things like this before. The problem was the hard drive wasn't completely spun up before the bootstrap passed off to the OS. but the DELL's take a while to go through their OS boot so the drive should be ready by that time. I would still look for a BIOS update.

 

I had a similar problem on my old Compaq

Sometimes it would say something along the lines of "CD-ROM Settings reset etc)

What it ended up being was a very low lithium battery and it would sometimes cut out hence things like my system clock was reset etc

could be that but you never know