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I have a Gateway Solo 2500 (laptop). I hadn't used it for a month and a half, then last week I plugged it in, started it up, and on the BIOS screen, it detects my hardware, then says, "Operating System not found." (It had previously worked fine.) I took the hard drive out, then put it back in the computer. Same problem.
I put in my Gateway restore CD, and reinstalled Windows XP. The install went flawlessly. The Hard Drive didn't give one error message, and the computer resstarted itself several times with no problem.
After the install was done, I used it for about 25 minutes, then turned it off. When I turned the computer back on - the same thing happened - "Operating System not found"
I put in a 98 startup disk, and tried to run FDISK. I got a "there are no fixed disks present" error. My question is, is there anything else I can do to fix or investigate this, or is this hardrive no good????Thanks in advance,
Roger
See if gateway has a hard drive diagnostic program. Download it and run it. I suspect the outermost tracks are failing physically which is why the boot info is being lost. Only solution is replace the drive.
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Your cmos battery may be going bad and causing you to lose bios settings -- change it and see if the problem disappears.
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Also-
Compaq has a download for Operationg System not found, for their computers. I do not know much about it, but maybe Gateway has one.
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Your first mistake was buying a Gateway laptop. Sadly I used to work for Gateway and their laptops where my specialty. If you gave me one I would sell it.
Go and download GWSCAN this will test the hard drive for errors. The CMOS battery could also be on its way out as well.
KTTD
Life is not fair, people lie and making it is not easy in this world.
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Not sure if laptops have a CMOS battery, as I think they just use power from the main battery. If resetting the boot order in the BIOS solves the problem of "operating system not found", then it sounds like the battery will not accept and keep a full charge. Usually there is a reference to "battery learning" in the BIOS, but you may need to download software from Gateway. This "battery learning" resets the battery to accept and keep a full charge, and will take about 1-2 days to run a full cycle, system depending. Our laptop BIOS's default to 01/01/00 when the main battery runs down.
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Laptops have CMOS batterys and most can be swapped out just like a desktop. The battery learning in the CMOS is just for the main battery that can be removed and has nothing to do with the CMOS battery. Think about it, if the main battery retained this information how would the laptop work when the battery is removed and you use AC Power? This is why all laptops have a CMOS battery or a dallas real time clock. The main battery that you remove has nothing to do with it, nada, zippo.
KTTD
Life is not fair, people lie and making it is not easy in this world.
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I would add that usually the hd detection is set to auto by default which means even if the battery failed you would still detect the drive and boot. There was also no indication in the post of the cmos check sum error which is the usual indication of a failed cmos battery.
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Hi all,
Thank you for your replies. I read them all carefully.
I received no indication of a CMOS checksum error, and, as Wanderer said, the HD detection is set to auto in the BIOS. I ran the gateway test suggested by Kevin, and found out my hard drive was no good.
Thanks to all, and I would advise against buying a Gateway, too. I have not had a good experience with this laptop.
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