Tom's Guide | Tom's Hardware | Tom's Games

Computing.Net > Forums > Disk Operating System > no operating system found

Computer Problems? Computing.Net has over 1,000,000 posts about all things technology related! Over 90% answered within 24 hours! Click here to start participating now! Also, be sure to check out the New User Guide.

no operating system found

Reply to Message Icon

Name: rrrose74
Date: June 28, 2009 at 07:02:42 Pacific
OS: Windows XP
Subcategory: Installation
Comment:

I recently recieved a free pc when i turn it on it says no operating system found. It is an older Dell, if that matters. No disks came with it. Is the operating system hiding? If not is there anywhere that I can get free disks to reload the operating system?



Sponsored Link
Ads by Google

Response Number 1
Name: Gamer126
Date: June 28, 2009 at 07:27:05 Pacific
Reply:

Once someone gave me a free pc and it said the same thing, turns out they took out the hard drive >.> you might want to check if thats the case first.


0

Response Number 2
Name: rrrose74
Date: June 28, 2009 at 07:30:44 Pacific
Reply:

i know this sounds stupid but how do i know if the hard drive is missing?


0

Response Number 3
Name: paulsep
Date: June 28, 2009 at 07:35:44 Pacific
Reply:

Take a look into the system BIOS.
Available harddisk are listed there.
You might also enable the diagnostic boot screen, that gives more information on what hardware found during system initialization.

Please send a reply, if you solved the problem !!!


0

Response Number 4
Name: T-R-A
Date: June 28, 2009 at 07:38:31 Pacific
Reply:

Likely the machine's HDD was wiped clean before you obtained it. You should be able to enter the BIOS setup and see if there's truly a drive still there. Should you need any help (from http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixth...

Dell - XPS, Dimension, Inspiron, Latitude. OptiPlex, Precision, Vostro

* Press F2 when the Dell logo appears. Press every few seconds until the message Entering Setup appears.
* Older Dell desktops and laptops may instead use Ctrl+Alt+Enter or Del to enter BIOS.
* Older Dell laptops may use Fn+Esc or Fn+F1.


0

Response Number 5
Name: rrrose74
Date: June 28, 2009 at 07:51:41 Pacific
Reply:

it appears to have a hard drive. how do i get an operating system??


0

Related Posts

See More



Response Number 6
Name: Jennifer SUMN
Date: June 28, 2009 at 07:54:47 Pacific
Reply:

You have to buy one.

LIR


0

Response Number 7
Name: IVO
Date: June 28, 2009 at 09:07:50 Pacific
Reply:

You can try a free Linux distribution. There are a lot on the web, Google for one you like.

There is FreeDOS too, but to set up a working box with e-mail and internet access you must be quite skilled about PC architecture.


0

Response Number 8
Name: T-R-A
Date: June 28, 2009 at 11:44:38 Pacific
Reply:

Depending on the age of the machine (you didn't specify the system specs), Linux may (or may not) be suitable for it. Live Linux CD's all the way from low-spec 486 machines (DamnSmallLinux) to much more modern equipment (Ubuntu, Fedora) can be found here:

http://www.livecdlist.com/

The advantage of live-distro's are that you don't have to commit to one until you see how well it works on your equipment. The disadvantage is that the machine needs to be able to boot from CD (though many have floppy-boot workarounds) and running from CD can be quite slow. Also, the "heavier" distros require more memory (usually >256MB) to run adequately.

If you require Windows, then (as Jennifer mentioned) you'll have to (legally) ante-up...


0

Sponsored Link
Ads by Google
Reply to Message Icon


Use following form to reply to current message:

Login or Register to Reply
LoginRegister


Sponsored links
Ads by Google


Results for: no operating system found
DOS - No operatinfg system found www.computing.net/answers/dos/dos-no-operatinfg-system-found/2620.html

Loading operating System www.computing.net/answers/dos/loading-operating-system/3395.html

no operating system??? www.computing.net/answers/dos/no-operating-system/7931.html