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Can anyone help please. I have an old 486 notebook which has not been used for a long time and today when I fired it up it said it needed a system disk so I created one and it loaded to the A: drive but says it has not got a C:drive but it has. What now? Help please.
Lyn
OS ???
You must have one in mind since you posted here in the Win31 section.
What system disk are you using?
The drive may have failed or the BIOS may have lost its settings (dead CMOS battery) - check the BIOS and see if there is an entry for your hard drive, or if it can 'autodetect' one - you may have to choose that as an option, it wasn't always automatic.
I'm not insensitive, I just don't care.
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Sorry O/S win 3.1
I created a system disk from my laptop running XP Home.
How do I get into the BIOS?
Lyn
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Ok - that was assumed, but assumptions here are not always accurate.
Don't know much about XP's ability to create bootable floppies - XP itself only pretends to use DOS. Likely your system runs (or ran) under MS-DOS6xx. You can download a file to run and create the appropriate disk for your system here
The key sequence required to access the CMOS should be displayed onscreen as the computer starts - if not, maybe this list will be helpful. You don't require a bootdisk to access the CMOS setup (normally, anyways) - that feature is there whether there's an OS or not
I'm not insensitive, I just don't care.
0
Hi there
Thanks - I have not got a C:drive but it says I have not got an operating system!!!!
Two steps forward and one back.
Lyn
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{whew!}
Ok then, well that is encouraging. Although the hard drive appears to be detected in the CMOS, if it's not correctly detected, then the drive won't be read, and the OS will not be found or loaded - hence 'missing'
Is there an autodetect hard drive (or something like that) option in the CMOS? If so, select that and see what happens.
I'm not insensitive, I just don't care.
0
YOU ARE A STAR!!!!!!
Thank you so much - the whole notebook is now running OK.
Do you think I will have the same problem if I disconnect it from the mains?
You are wonderful. Thank you thank you thank you thank you etc etc.
Lyn
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Thanks for the kind words - I'm glad that things appear to be working now.
Yes, likely this will happen all over again once the machine is shut off or disconnected from power. A 486 is an old machine, if it has the original CMOS battery (not to be confused with the notebook battery) then that likely needs to be replaced. Usually an easy job, but not always, and laptops can be a struggle to open up and work on.
I'm not insensitive, I just don't care.
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Hi there
So far so good - switched off machine and disconnected from power. Left for an hour and switched on again - all OK!!!!
I will leave on power overnight and then switch off and leave for a good few hours to see if it is OK.
Once again thank you for all your help - you are very kind and patient.
Best wishes
Lyn
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That's good - it may be that the battery is just weak, and warming it up brought it back to life.
Hmmm - kind & patient - I'm not so sure ; )
(but that's nice of you to say)
I'm not insensitive, I just don't care.
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my friend has that same problem! thanks for the solution
If you have anything dos related email me and i'll do something bout it
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jboy,
Glad I stayed out of this.
You and Lyn clicked right along.
XP Oddly XP will make a boot floppy.
This came up a while back and I thought it was far fetched so I called a friend who's got XP and, sure enoufg, right click on the floppy and there's an option to make a boot floppy.
In fact, I think it says "make DOS boot floppy".
What intrigues me is what boots?
DOS 8.1?
DOS 9 1/2 ?
*****
M2
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M2G,
I just made a boot disk since the question came up.
After having booted the old 486 with the newly made boot disk from XP Home, the VER command gave "Windows Millennium [Version 4.90.3000]".Command.com is dated 2000-06-08, while the Command.com supplied by XP is dated 2001-09-07.
Strange!!Nigel
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When the questions are clear & concise (as these were), it helps considerably - and the problem itself was easily remedied.
Sure - I'd heard XP could do that, but I've no direct experience. Hmm - figures they would use the bästardized 'DOS8' - ah well, so long as it does the job.
I'm not insensitive, I just don't care.
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Hi Nigel,
Thanks for that.
The command.com in w2k is:
07-12-1999 19:00 50,620 command.com
Notice that this is much smaller than w98se 93890 bytes.
I assume w2k command.com would not do anything useful with DOS running.
Probably 'wrong version' or if it's 32 bit, won't run at all.
As Pooh says, curiouser and curiouser.
M2
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I'm trying to boot an old NoteStar computer for a mission group going to Africa. I'm made the boot disc from XP. But what is the hard disc type 1-47?
Messages I'm getting
C: drive error
Press F1 to resume
Missing operating system
Any ideas?
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It's best to start your own post in the appropriate forum - tagging your message onto the end of an existing (and resolved) thread may cause it to go unnoticed.
That message typically indicates that the drive is not setup correctly in the CMOS, likely due to a dead CMOS battery. If the machine can't determine the disk type, you will need to do so yourself and enter the values by hand. It may also mean that there is no OS installed on the HDD.
"C: drive error" could mean a bad drive or a problem with the drive controller.
If you're attempting to start with a boot floppy and get the "missing operating system" message, then the computer is trying to boot from the hard drive - you need to set the floppy drive first in the boot order, or else there is a problem with your bootdisk.
Give me ambiguity or give me something else
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