Tom's Hardware > Forum > Windows Vista > Vista General Discussion > "Missing operating system" on boot up...
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Hey guys, I've been working with this PC for a few months now no problems. But i just got home from a LAN that i went to and when i tried to boot for the first time i got a "Missing operating system error".

 

The first thing i figured was that i must have knocked a drive unplugged during the transport of my PC. I opened the pc up but couldnt find anything wrong. I also noticed something else...usually when i start up it will show a quick splash screen of my hard drives that i have connected...now it just says it cant detect any. The weird thing is when i go into BIOS they are still listed under the SATA devices.

 

Any tips? Im hoping this is just an easy fix and i didnt physically damage anything while carrying around my PC :/

 

Here are some specs:

 

Windows Vista Ultimate

 

Asus Maximus Formula

 

2 x 150 GB Western Digital Raptors in RAID 0

  


UPDATE: I tried using the repair function on the Windows disc. I couldn't find my operation system on the list of OS's to repair, even after loading the drivers i used to set up the raid. So i just hit next and tried the "Startup Repair" function anyway. It worked for around 15 minutes before saying it could not repair the operating system.


Message edited by nick3318 on 08-31-2008 at 03:40:04 AM
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NEVER run a windows repair on a drive that says missing os/missing system registry ect. you must repair the file structure or else cause damage to os.

to do this boot your vista cd you then need to get in a command prompt and run chkdsk /r

Reply to techguy911
- 0 +

It is possible that you changed sata configuration before first Vista install and your bios reset 2 default. try 2 change sata settings in bios. that a first think i do.

Reply to arkadi
- 0 +

It is possible that sata configuration was different form default before you first installed your Vista and your bios reset 2 default. try 2 change sata settings in bios. and chkdsk /r . hope it not 2 late :). And please install Acronis or Ghost, it saved my ass more than one's. :)

Reply to arkadi

Hi guys,

I know I'm a bit late to this discussion but I just ran into this problem myself. My problem was caused by something which wasn't listed in the discussion yet.

It all started within Windows... I was installing a developer version of the SQL server from a external USB drive. And when the installation was over it wanted me to restart the computer, so I did, only to see the "Missing operating system" message on bootup... Panic!

Of course my first reaction was panic... Where's my operating system?! So I quickly popped the Win7 RC disc into the dvd drive, hoping it could repair the problem. But when the repair tool booted, the OS list was empty. "Hmm, that's odd" I thought... So started my laptop and browsed the internet for a solution and I found this discussion. After a few seconds I realized the cause... It was the newly plugged in USB drive.

First, being lazy, I thought I could just alter the bootup devices and sequence in the bios. But to my surprise that didn't help so I had to unplug the drive completely, but when I did, the OS came right back up. Phew! ;)

Hope this helps if somebody else get caught of guard by this problem.

Kind regards,
Johannes

Reply to JohannesH

WOW, JohannesH I owe you big!!

That is exactly what the problem was for me. I didn't change anything at all in my settings -- didn't move my computer or anything -- but when I turned it on this morning, I got the "missing operating system" message. I am running Windows 7 RC1.

My first reaction was to panic, but then I decided to google "windows 7 missing operating system" and came across this thread. I saw JohannesH's comments and looked down at my computer -- sure enough, there was a thumb drive that I had left plugged in.

It seems for some reason that at least with certain types of thumb drives, Windows 7 detects them and tries to mount them during boot up -- hence the "missing operating system" because there is of course no OS loaded on your thumb drive!

I was about 30 seconds from a heart attack when I thought I was going to have to spend my morning formatting my computer. Unplugging the thumb drive worked. THANK YOU!!!

Reply to senorred
- 0 +

i have the same problem but when i put my vista cd in it doesn't say fix or anything just load. And when i do load it after it's done the screen just goes black.... help

Reply to joeys

Yep... same problem RC 7 thanks JohannesH

Reply to fuckyouguys

btw... the name isn't towards you guys it's towards the forced registration process topost.

Reply to fuckyouguys
- 0 +

fuckyouguys wrote :

btw... the name isn't towards you guys it's towards the forced registration process topost.



Stay classy.

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