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Thread: What to you is "No Operating System Found? Hardware/Software

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    Ultimate Member CrazyCrusher's Avatar
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    What to you is "No Operating System Found? Hardware/Software

    Just a general question. What do you think cuases "No Operating System Found? Hardware/Software.

    I know what can cause it like bad MBR/Memory/HDD/Lose cable etc etc but what would your first step in this case? if you are unable to trouble shoot hardware issues due to the fact you are not onsite or you a remote would you try a remote reimage to see if it fails after checking the BIOS to make sure your HDD shows and the boot sequence is set correctly? To me I don't put this down to hardware more so a corrupt OS or MBR. I have this guy I work with who states this is a 9 times out of a10 a hardware problem even if the system passes all Hardware tests to me that a stupid statement and silly think that this issue is caused by hardware 99% of the time. I have argued with him and I can't budge him on it to the point it irritated me to anger lol


    One more thing my COMPTIA A+ test showed this a corrupt MBR or BIOS lol
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    Administrator Steve R Jones's Avatar
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    My first guess is always -> Dead hard drive.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve R Jones View Post
    My first guess is always -> Dead hard drive.
    Mine too. Only 3X has it been the motherboard, the rest hdd.

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    Ultimate Member CrazyCrusher's Avatar
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    OK which is what I would think right off the bad. If you can see the drive in the BIOS and load your OS on that Drive and see no other errors from the machine memory/HDD etc. Not a hardware issue. I would not replace the drive.
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    Ultimate Member CrazyCrusher's Avatar
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    Or is it just one of those Grey areas’s that is process of elimination. I my self have never came across this error due to a bad drive. Mostly was a bad MBR or lose cable causing the issue
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    May still be the hdd, why you run the diagnostic tool.

    The old Maxtor 40 GB hdds were good at doing what you stated. <shudder>

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    Ultimate Member CrazyCrusher's Avatar
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    And we run diags and they pass. strange thing.
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    Administrator Steve R Jones's Avatar
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    The phrase - "it depends" comes to mind.... If my mom called and said she got the error I would supsect bad drive cause I KNOW she would never open the case....thus rulling out loose cable.

    And the error will show up BEFORE you come close to loading the OS.... so that rules out a corrupt OS...

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    Now I would think a bad MBR maybe the cause.

    I use a SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 adapter and save what I would hate to lose on the hdd.
    Then DBAN, the default 3 passes is plenty, then try for a clean install.
    http://www.dban.org/

    If the install goes real goofy, then I would think the IDE controller(s) are bad and get a new mobo.

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    Ultimate Member Beeblequix's Avatar
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    Few minor thoughts.

    1. failing hard drive -- especially if it's getting long in the tooth (>=5 years old)
    2. failing IDE or SATA bus (would fail even more often when heated up)
    3. #1 &/or #2 can cause a corrupted OS.

    I think an old PC in my closet has a failing IDE bus because it will do that 'no os found' thing. Seems I just unplugged/replugged the IDE ribbon every time that happened to temporarily fix it.

    Hope that helps.
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    Member ua549's Avatar
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    My first thought is a failing hard drive for whatever reason.
    My first diagnostic action is to have the user attempt to boot from alternate media.
    My experience is that about half of the time the issue is with missing boot files, not hardware, because the user has been "optimizing" their PC.

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    Ultimate Member Rocketmech's Avatar
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    In this case, first thing I would check is for non-bootable floppy or CD media. If they are clear , then I check if the bios sees the HDD, next I look for content on the drive. There is a flow chart to tshooting problems. Never assume or jump to conclusions, especially in remote support. As you can see , my first assumption is operator error, which is the usual suspect

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    Ultimate Member Ol'Tunzafun's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rocketmech View Post
    In this case, first thing I would check is for non-bootable floppy or CD media.
    I've seen where flash drives that remain plugged in during restart can throw this same error.
    That said, in my experience this often means that the active partition has gone south (for whatever reason) or has lost its active status.

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