Re: Operating system missing

jon wrote:

> no floppy!

Then troubleshoot this way, making only one change at a time and testing
after each change:

1. See if the hard drive is being seen in the BIOS. If it is not then
2. Swap out the ribbon cable going to the motherboard with a
known-working one. Reseat the power supply connector going to the
drive.
3. If #2 doesn't work, attach the drive to a different IDE connector on
the motherboard (assuming IDE). If the drive appears, you know the
first IDE connector on the motherboard doesn't work and you need a new
motherboard.
4. If #3 doesn't work, attach the drive in another, working computer. Is
the drive seen there? If not, the connector on the drive is broken and
the drive will need to be replaced.
5. If the drive is seen in the BIOS but no operating system is found,
test the drive with a diagnostic utility from the drive mftr.'s
website. You will make a bootable cd or floppy with the file you
download. Boot with it and do a thorough test. If there are any
failures, replace the drive.
6. If the drive is seen in the BIOS and tests healthy, then something
has happened to the operating system that was installed on it. What
changed between the time things worked and the time they didn't?

Start with that and let us know if you need more help.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: flash bios
    ... BIOS flashing tools are typically obtained from motherboard manufacturers. ... Yes but, though recently bought computer have no floppy drive, they ...
    (Fedora)
  • Re: Cp/m 86
    ... Industry standard 286's did have a CMOS clock and memory that maintained the time, data and system parameters (including the hard and floppy disk types), and it was battery backed up. ... In those days, the battery was usually not "on" the motherboard, but was an offboard battery that connected to the motherboard with a polarized 4-pin header connector. ... The bios setup program did not exist in the BIOS but was a separate program supplied on floppy diskette. ...
    (comp.os.cpm)
  • Re: IRQ-Nutzung
    ... Mein Floppy-Interface auf dem Motherboard ist hin - ein Stift abgebrochen. ... Dieser Port ist IRQ 5 zugeordnet. ... Schalte in diesem Fall im BIOS den Floppy-Controller - "die Floppy" - ab ...
    (microsoft.public.de.german.win98.allgemein)
  • Re: Under Win XP Pro SP2 Need to Format Floppy with DOS Command Format A:/S
    ... DOS boot floppy with NT. ... >>> create a BOOTABLE floppy on which to save the original motherboard BIOS ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: Help! Motherboard or CPU blown?
    ... was pressed but the green led on the motherboard remained lit. ... computer remained dead and the Nvidia chip on the board became ... I have tried taking out the CPU and applying power and ... Worked fine until I was changing the floppy drive. ...
    (alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus)
Loading