Hi, I got a Sony Vaio PCG-141A laptop from a friend. It was running Windows ME. This laptop has no cd or floppy drive. It just has a hard drive. I have an external USB CDR Drive for it. When I try to boot up, I get a message: No Operating System. Is there a way to install an operating system without removing the hard drive, maybe by using a usb flash drive? Thanks

It has to boot from SOMETHING. So the question becomes, will it boot from external floppy or CD or... M2 Mechanix2@Golden-Triangle.com

chrsmtchll, SWAG, may not do the trick, but... My ME put all the installation data into .cab files, maybe yours did too. Try to install with NO disk support and see uf it likes it. HTH. Ed in Texas.

It usually boots from the hard drive, but I believe the hard drive to be wiped out. So there are no drivers for cd-rom or floppy drive support. I can't even get a DOS prompt.

chrsmtchll, I didn't look up the specs, on this computer. So, bear with me, ok. In your setup (BIOS), is there a setting at the boot device, for USB? If there is, then set it for USB. With your USB CD drive connected, and your OS install CD in the drive. Start the computer, and choose to start from the CD, not the hard drive. Now, back to your subject; Laptop Operating System Not Found In your setup (BIOS), is the hard drive seen, and the proper one at that. Do you have a setting, that might of been changed, either on purpose, or by accident oops If you can start the computer, with USB devices. Then you could use your OS CD, as a bootdisk, and do some maintenance/checks on the OS & hard drive. Or you could even burn a boot CD, to use. CrazyOne