I am trying to resurrect an old computer (Pentium 200). It now when turned on gives a basic check, tells me the processor speed etc, then flicks to the "operating System Not Found" message, and leaves me without a prompt at all. Any keystroke gives the same message. I cant even get into the bios. What has happened?? Can anyone help?

could need a new battery on the motherboard. to get past the os not found, bootup with a startup disk of the same operating system, and at the a: type sys c: and press enter. if you need a startup disk get an image at http://www.bootdisk.com

I have the boot disk, but the puter wont even look at the a drive, let alone me input any commands. New battery you think??

Before you get to the error message is there anything in the bootup sequence that tells you how to enter setup? Like "Press DEL to enter setup" or try the F# keys sometimes it's F10. Once you get into BIOS check the boot order. The "No Operating System Found" error may mean that the harddrive in the machine was wiped before you got it. Can you boot with the bootdisk? Do you get to an A:/ prompt? If so try to switch to C:/ and then do DIR command to check if the C drive has anything on it.

I have the boot disk, but the puter wont even look at the a drive, let alone me input any commands. New battery you think??

What is the make of puter, if it is a branded one like Compaq, IBM, HP, then quite often can download setup diskette sets. Though it should offer a key to press on startup to enter BIOS. keyboard works does it??