"error loading operating system"

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

On 29 Jun 2004 10:56:00 -0700, saberb@hotmail.com (SAMBA) wrote:

>Hi, need help please.
>I have a XP operating system and was in good condition until i add a
>old hard drive (Windows 4.0 i think). and the computer he boot in this
>hard drive.
>i close the computer and i move this hard drive. i try to boot
>computer again a i got this message "error loading operating system"
>.

Hmm, it's kinda muddled but are you saying you made the old hard drive with
Win2K on it the primary and booted from it with the WinXP hard drive as a
secondary hard drive? If this is the case, the partitions on your XP drive
have been renamed in the MBR of the XP drive to follow those of the primary
drive; when you make it a primary drive again and try to boot from it now
the renamed drive letter sticks, e.g. at D: or some other letter depending
on the partition structure of the old hard drive, and it doesn't know where
the OS is.

>do you think i have to flush my bios.
>
>format not a good solution for me because a have a lot of data in this
>hard drive.
>some one can help me please.

One M$ recommended procedure to reset the drive letters of your XP drive --
basically wipes the mangled drive letter assignments in the MBR -- and the
simplest one, is to make a Win98 bootable floppy with FDISK on it. Boot
from that floppy and enter FDISK /MBR.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

Bitstring <11b7df58.0406290956.205f00a8@posting.google.com>, from the
wonderful person SAMBA <saberb@hotmail.com> said
>Hi, need help please.
>I have a XP operating system and was in good condition until i add a
>old hard drive (Windows 4.0 i think). and the computer he boot in this
>hard drive.
>i close the computer and i move this hard drive. i try to boot
>computer again a i got this message "error loading operating system"
>.
>do you think i have to flush my bios.
>
>format not a good solution for me because a have a lot of data in this
>hard drive.
>some one can help me please.

A repair install will fix the OS without losing your data, assuming you
have a proper installation CD, and not just a recovery CD. Google for
'Windows XP repair install' for details of how to.

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

George Macdonald <fammacd=!SPAM^nothanks@tellurian.com> wrote in message news:<tmi3e0l0pjlu6agn7h48oibeeqjs3uoigg@4ax.com>...
> On 29 Jun 2004 10:56:00 -0700, saberb@hotmail.com (SAMBA) wrote:
>
> >Hi, need help please.
> >I have a XP operating system and was in good condition until i add a
> >old hard drive (Windows 4.0 i think). and the computer he boot in this
> >hard drive.
> >i close the computer and i move this hard drive. i try to boot
> >computer again a i got this message "error loading operating system"
> >.
>
> Hmm, it's kinda muddled but are you saying you made the old hard drive with
> Win2K on it the primary and booted from it with the WinXP hard drive as a
> secondary hard drive? If this is the case, the partitions on your XP drive
> have been renamed in the MBR of the XP drive to follow those of the primary
> drive; when you make it a primary drive again and try to boot from it now
> the renamed drive letter sticks, e.g. at D: or some other letter depending
> on the partition structure of the old hard drive, and it doesn't know where
> the OS is.
>
> >do you think i have to flush my bios.
> >
> >format not a good solution for me because a have a lot of data in this
> >hard drive.
> >some one can help me please.
>
> One M$ recommended procedure to reset the drive letters of your XP drive --
> basically wipes the mangled drive letter assignments in the MBR -- and the
> simplest one, is to make a Win98 bootable floppy with FDISK on it. Boot
> from that floppy and enter FDISK /MBR.
>
> Rgds, George Macdonald
>
> "Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??


Hi there,
a did exactly FDISK /MBR and i boot, it say "missing operating system"
some one can help me thanx

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

On 30 Jun 2004 15:51:23 -0700, saberb@hotmail.com (SAMBA) wrote:

>George Macdonald <fammacd=!SPAM^nothanks@tellurian.com> wrote in message news:<tmi3e0l0pjlu6agn7h48oibeeqjs3uoigg@4ax.com>...
>> On 29 Jun 2004 10:56:00 -0700, saberb@hotmail.com (SAMBA) wrote:
>>
>> >Hi, need help please.
>> >I have a XP operating system and was in good condition until i add a
>> >old hard drive (Windows 4.0 i think).

>a did exactly FDISK /MBR and i boot, it say "missing operating system"
>some one can help me thanx

When you added the second disk, you changed the disk and/or partition
order. Now your boot.ini file is pointing to the wrong disk and/or
partition and doesn't find the operating system. Use a bootable floppy
with an editor and correct the boot.ini entry so that it points to the
partition containing the OS. If you don't know what your disk and
partition entries are, or the boot.ini syntax, then you need to
research this and figure it out. You may still have issues if the
partition letter assignments have changed, but at least the OS will
boot.

Alternatively, you can simply do another installation of Win XP on
some partition without re-formatting the hard disk. Your data files
should remain intact after doing this, as long as you don't format
anything.
- -
Gary L.
Reply to the newsgroup only

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

saberb@hotmail.com (SAMBA) wrote in message news:<11b7df58.0406290956.205f00a8@posting.google.com>...
> Hi, need help please.
> I have a XP operating system and was in good condition until i add a
> old hard drive (Windows 4.0 i think). and the computer he boot in this
> hard drive.
> i close the computer and i move this hard drive. i try to boot
> computer again a i got this message "error loading operating system"
> .
> do you think i have to flush my bios.
>
> format not a good solution for me because a have a lot of data in this
> hard drive.
> some one can help me please.
> thanks

Try 'testdisk' utility and use it's file system analyzation
capabilities to rebuild your partition table.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (More info?)

On 30 Jun 2004 15:51:23 -0700, saberb@hotmail.com (SAMBA) wrote:

>George Macdonald <fammacd=!SPAM^nothanks@tellurian.com> wrote in message news:<tmi3e0l0pjlu6agn7h48oibeeqjs3uoigg@4ax.com>...

>> One M$ recommended procedure to reset the drive letters of your XP drive --
>> basically wipes the mangled drive letter assignments in the MBR -- and the
>> simplest one, is to make a Win98 bootable floppy with FDISK on it. Boot
>> from that floppy and enter FDISK /MBR.
>>
>> Rgds, George Macdonald
>>
>> "Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??
>
>
>Hi there,
>a did exactly FDISK /MBR and i boot, it say "missing operating system"
>some one can help me thanx

Like someone else suggested, try booting from the WinXP CD and run the
repair procedure - sorry I don't recall details.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??