Ok guys, I am decent with fixing things and my PC has just taken a poop! It says "Operating system not found" but lets me get to BIOS. This PC is not worth taking to a professional to be fixed at all. I could buy a new HD for the same amount of money.. I have only owned one PC before and I have an Apple Ibook which I am using now. Heres what I got.. HP pavilion 7955 from 2002 256mb of ram 40gig HD 1.5ghz pentium 4 processor I do not have the Windows home XP disc. For some reason, best buy did not give me a disc and it had windows already on the computer. But yes, I assure you my XP is legal.. How would I fix this? After doing some research, it looks like I NEED the XP disc to use fixmbr to repair the hard disc ( if its a software problem) Im sure its in the software, as I have not dropped the desktop. Could I use a firewire to connect my ibook to my HP desktop and use my ibooks software to fix the HD? I believe the disc utilities allows me to fix PC drives too, im not sure though. If not, could I use a fire wire to get some of my data off the PC HD? I dont have very much $$$ or Id just get a new computer. I also want the data out of this HD. Thanks in advance

There are a couple things that you can try in the BIOS if it doesn't see the drive. One is set it to the defaults. The second is change the detection to auto.

If the bios does not see the drive, the drive is probably dead. That is unless someone was inside the box and knocked something loose. If the bios sees it, go to the hard drive manufacturer's web site and download a diagnostic. Go to http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm... for help with that.

"Could I use a firewire to connect my ibook to my HP desktop and use my ibooks software to fix the HD?" I don't think so. If the bios doesn't see the drive first I would check to make sure no cables have come loose. If the hard drive is not dead, you could get data off of it if you had another PC you could install it in as a slave drive. Or you could buy an enclosure and attach it to a usb port.

alright.. how does one use BIOS to detect if there is a drive?

One does not use BIOS to detect if there is a drive. One goes into BIOS to see if BIOS shows a HDD as being there. http://support.microsoft.com/defaul... "Operating System Not Found" or "Missing operating system" error message when you start your Windows XP-based computer

Yeah I have read that page, they basically say you need the windows XP disc or you are screwed if its in the software. Best buy preloaded XP into the computer and never gave me a disc and just a Serial number, which my dad crumpled up, ripped then burned saying a hacker can use it to destroy our computer. Its his first PC.. :) I think it could be the hard drive, I just dont have a way to see if its any good.. Its actually my parents PC, I use the mac. Mom likes to leave it on all night and she said it sounded like a lawn mower the other day she turned it on. I told her not to but she did... moms.. :) Aside from the parent stories, I cant find the HP manual for the computer. I found a thick book that tells me how to change the optical drive though.