operating system not found- Help please

eamor

:eek::eek::eek:

Folks,

Cold sweat time here.... I have a loan of a laptop (sony vaio) from my mother in law. Its about 2 years old. My 4 year son was playing games on it (my first mistake right there, although, it was in front of me). He casually said 'oh its not working' and put it down. I didn't think anything strange until I picked it up. It was frozen & had an error box. I can't remember what the error said. I tried to close the box, complelety frozen. so .............. i switched it off.
Switched it back on , and got 'operating system not found'...honestly I could cry now I dont have any original discs ( and I don't want to ask for them) It may have been dropped, only barely from low couch to carpet floor, but I think its more software than hardware problem. PLEASE can someone help. Is this something I could fix myself.. If there is no magic bullet I will of course pay to have it repaired but would it be expensive?

Thanks in advance
Eamor

Echoes675

reboot the machine. Tap the F8 key once per second when the initial splash (POST) screen appears. Hopefully you will get a menu regarding safe mode and other options. Use the arrow keys to go down and select "Last Known Good Configuration"

This might work, but in all honestly you will probably need the CD to run a repair of the O/S

Torqay

First things first, can you check in the BIOS, whether the hard disk is recognized?

(Not sure about your model, but usually it's F2 during the POST Screen/VAIO logo)

eamor

Torqay wrote: »

First things first, can you check in the BIOS, whether the hard disk is recognized?

(Not sure about your model, but usually it's F2 during the POST Screen/VAIO logo)

Thank you Torqay I am in setup now. Looking at the main screen it is saying bios version/Machine name etc etc

under this it gives system memory,and then hard disk drive ATAPI. ..I assume this means it does recognise the hard drive? I havent actually touched anything but within the Boot menu it gives me the option of boot priority...1st int opt dd 2nd int hdd 3rd ex drive. Should i do this?
Apologies for the shorthand ..im typing on my phone..:(
again all help much appreciated....

Torqay

eamor wrote: »

hard disk drive ATAPI.

Is there any size in GB or even a model number?

eamor

Torqay wrote: »

eamor wrote: »

hard disk drive ATAPI.

Is there any size in GB or even a model number?

Yes machine number serial number & UUID all present..system memory reads 3072MB..HDD reads ATAPI. System date is correct as is time..

Torqay

eamor wrote: »

Yes machine number serial number & UUID all present..system memory reads 3072MB..HDD reads ATAPI. System date is correct as is time..

Hard disk size and maybe model should be listed somewhere if it is detected.

Anyway, go and get the UBCD. You'll need access to a computer with a CD burner and a blank CD (not DVD). IIRC, UBCD comes as a single executable file, just start it and follow the on-screen instructions, it will burn the image to CD then.

eamor

Torqay wrote: »

eamor wrote: »

Yes machine number serial number & UUID all present..system memory reads 3072MB..HDD reads ATAPI. System date is correct as is time..

Hard disk size and maybe model should be listed somewhere if it is detected.

Anyway, go and get the UBCD. You'll need access to a computer with a CD burner and a blank CD (not DVD). IIRC, UBCD comes as a single executable file, just start it and follow the on-screen instructions, it will burn the image to

Would the UBCD have come with the laptop originally & is it unique to that laptop?Im sorry if thats a really silly question,but I wouldnt have a clue. Is there anyway I can get away with this without asking mother in law for disks?

Dey were Sooted

follow this link for UBCD http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Torqay

Dey were Sooted wrote: »

follow this link for UBCD http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Ooops, I have been posting this in another thread, I thought it was here:

If you want to test the drive, get the Ultimate Bood CD (worry not, it's free), boot the laptop from UBCD navigate to Hard Disk Diagnosis, find ViVARD and select Surface Test.



Don't bother with Repair option.

eamor

Torqay wrote: »

Dey were Sooted wrote: »

follow this link for UBCD http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Ooops, I have been posting this in another thread, I thought it was here:

If you want to test the drive, get the Ultimate Bood CD (worry not, it's free), boot the laptop from UBCD navigate to Hard Disk Diagnosis, find ViVARD and select Surface Test.



Don't bother with Repair option.

Thanks for that. I will have a go when i am in the office tomorrow. If I run this will it restore operating system,windows etc.. Im not concerned about losing any work on it, I can live with that. But if I could just get it going again.....

johnnybmac

Basically, the laptop cannot see or access the OS (Windows). It sounds like one of a few possible problems to me:

(A) Hard drive has come loose from the drop (Hopefully, this is all it is...)

(B) Major corruption of the contents of the hard drive (Sometimes possible to fix with a format and re-install {but, usually very unlikely to help if the HDD is damaged...})

(C) Hard drive is fooked and will need to be replaced.

eamor

johnnybmac wrote: »

Basically, the laptop cannot see or access the OS (Windows). It sounds like one of a few possible problems to me:

(A) Hard drive has come loose from the drop (Hopefully, this is all it is...)

(B) Major corruption of the contents of the hard drive (Sometimes possible to fix with a format and re-install {but, usually very unlikely to help if the HDD is damaged...})

(C) Hard drive is fooked and will need to be replaced.

Thank.you johnnybac, assuming it is (a) would the UBCD flag this for.me & can I repair it myself?

eamor

Or can i do a boot from the setup menu?

Torqay

eamor wrote: »

If I run this will it restore operating system,windows etc..

No, this will only tell you whether the hard drive is still good or not. If the hard disk surface test comes up clear, we will deal with restoring Windows.

There is no point installing/restoring the operating system on a defective drive.

eamor

Torqay wrote: »

eamor wrote: »

If I run this will it restore operating system,windows etc..

No, this will only tell you whether the hard drive is still good or not. If the hard disk surface test comes up clear, we will deal with restoring Windows.

There is no point installing/restoring the operating system on a defective drive.

Thanks Torqay,will try download UBCD tomorrow in work. Will post when I know the status of hd.

Really appreciate advice folks...

eamor

eamor wrote: »

Torqay wrote: »

eamor wrote: »

If I run this will it restore operating system,windows etc..

No, this will only tell you whether the hard drive is still good or not. If the hard disk surface test comes up clear, we will deal with restoring Windows.

There is no point installing/restoring the operating system on a defective drive.

Thanks Torqay,will try download UBCD tomorrow in work. Will post when I know the status of hd.

Really appreciate advice folks...

Well im only getting around to doing this now...very busy the last few days.. So question if you dont mind..is it ubcd i need or ub4win? Thanks again folks

eamor

ok I have a feeling I'm heading down a rabbit hole here :eek: I've downloaded UBCD though Opera. I've downloaded bitzipper to open .ISO file

This is what I'm supposed to be doing 'After you have download the ISO image file, verify the integrity of the image by comparing the MD5/SHA1 checksum of the image with the values above.'



now when I go into UBCD through bitzipper there are a number of files. I'm not sure which one I use to compare Md/5SHA1 Checksum of image.???

Help PLEASE!!!!

uch

Nah you need to burn .iso image to a blank CD, then boot off it and follow Torqay's instructions

eamor

Im in vivard... Its giving me the option of surface tests/with remap/erasing sectors or whole.drive.....

When i click surface test...nothing is happening (please select drive) does that mean it cant see hd?

eamor

Ive gone into a few other things and its not seeing hd..:(
.i lifted laptop to plug battery in & noticed a very faint clicking noise...i actually cant believe i didnt notice it! ! (busy house ) it sounds like a clock ticking...something trying to engage/boot? so how much is this gonna cost to repair?

uch

Price of a new drive and install by the sound of it,

JDxtra

Drive is dead. You'll need to source a new one and re-install from scratch.

eamor

Thanks everyone for help & advice. Im dropping it into my local repair shop fri. They figure about €150 to repair. I will NEVER borrow it again...(it will never be loaned to me again )

Thanks again.

tonto2010

You should save yourself some cash, you can buy a drive for a 50 quid and fit it yourself, have a look at your laptop manufacturers website for a user guide, it will be just a case of removing a couple of phillips screws and replacing the drive. If you can change a light bulb your competant enough.

Then its just a case of booting the windows cd in the same as you booted the repair one and following the on-screen prompts. This drive is cheap, it may not be massive but you should be backing up your stuff externally anyway.

johnnybmac

tonto2010 wrote: »

it will be just a case of removing a couple of phillips screws and replacing the drive. If you can change a light bulb your competant enough.

Jaysus, shush will ya... your gonna cost us all a fortune