# Operating system not found!!!



## -gunut- (May 8, 2006)

WTF?! Everything was going good then all of a sudden my computer froze. Restarted-froze again. Restarted-froze again. Restarted-Operating system not found. I cannot even press F2. So this mean either my hard drive, windows, or mother board is shot on my 3,000 computer. Hooray!

I guess the game plan will be meeting with my computer guy tomorrow to get some advice and most likely purchase a 1 year support package form Alienware for $120 to fix the problem and get the needed part. What a great day! :smt011


----------



## Mr. P (Sep 16, 2006)

$3000!!!!! Man.

Do you hear beeps when you start er up before it freezes?


----------



## js (Jun 29, 2006)

Try booting up with your Windows operating disc... At least that will get you access to your files...

Or, your hard drive may be toast... :smt011


----------



## -gunut- (May 8, 2006)

Mr. P said:


> $3000!!!!! Man.
> 
> Do you hear beeps when you start er up before it freezes?


No beeps. Just goes strait to no OS.


----------



## -gunut- (May 8, 2006)

js said:


> Try booting up with your Windows operating disc... At least that will get you access to your files...
> 
> Or, your hard drive may be toast... :smt011


I really hope it is not the HD! Now I have to find my Windows disc...


----------



## -gunut- (May 8, 2006)

Thankfully I saved my webpage to my zip right before she crashed!


----------



## js (Jun 29, 2006)

-gunut- said:


> I really hope it is not the HD! Now I have to find my Windows disc...


When you try and boot up, put your ear as close as possible to where your hard drive is located... listen for a constant "clicking" sound...

I had a HD go bad once and could hear it making noise (real soft constant clicking sound)... This happened years ago, when I called tech support the clicking noise was confirmed as a bad drive.


----------



## -gunut- (May 8, 2006)

js said:


> When you try and boot up, put your ear as close as possible to where your hard drive is located... listen for a constant "clicking" sound...
> 
> I had a HD go bad once and could hear it making noise (real soft constant clicking sound)... This happened years ago, when I called tech support the clicking noise was confirmed as a bad drive.


I will try this out. Thanks!


----------



## Mr. P (Sep 16, 2006)

-gunut- said:


> No beeps. Just goes strait to no OS.


No beeps=Bad news.


----------



## scooter (May 9, 2006)

No bootstrap=no POST=no beeps=$$$$


----------



## Mr. P (Sep 16, 2006)

scooter said:


> No bootstrap=no POST=no beeps=$$$$


Yep..


----------



## john doe. (Aug 26, 2006)

Man, you shoulda got a De... MAC.


----------



## js (Jun 29, 2006)

No beep is bad news...

Could be: Bad CPU or Bad Memory or Bad Motherboard...

Bottom line... Bad.


----------



## -gunut- (May 8, 2006)

js said:


> No beep is bad news...
> 
> Could be: Bad CPU or Bad Memory or Bad Motherboard...
> 
> Bottom line... Bad.


Hey, I do not really care as long as it is not my HD! If I get the Tech support for $70 or $120 I get a year of support that includes all parts and phone support. I just don't want to loose my information!


----------



## Benzbuilder (Sep 7, 2006)

Buy a Mac. They hardly ever crash.


----------



## rfawcs (Feb 11, 2006)

I know it's too late now, but after you get your machine up and running again, invest in a backup program like Retrospect; it works with Macs and Windows. It can be automated to run a script and back up your hard drive on specified intervals, even daily if you want. On successive runs, it only adds the data that hasn't been backed up previously, so you don't end up with multiple copies of the same data. I back up my machines over my network once a week, each machine on a different day, at night while I'm sleeping, to a hard drive dedicated to this purpose.

Hardware can be replaced, but if your data is toasted, you may or may not get it back. Ever lose photos of your kids when they were young? I learned the hard way. Backing up your data doesn't cost much and can save you much heartache.

And, not to start a flame war here, but I had more problems with OS X than I ever did with Windows. I've had about a dozen Macs over the years. No more for me, thanks.


----------



## Shipwreck (Jan 26, 2006)

Since the late 1990s, I have been using a program called Drive Image. When I got my newer PC about 3 years ago, I bought an updated copy.

I have 2 hard drives in my computer - 1 is strictly for backup purposes. I run Drive Image 2-3x a month. It makes a COMPLETE copy of the hard drive into 1 big file. As 4 or 5 pile up, I delete the older one to make room for more.

It has save my butt so, so many times. Back in the time of Windows 3.1, I can't tell U how often I would install something, and it would totally screw up the computer. Then, I'd be up all night reinstalling windows from scratch, and then putting things back on, 1 program at a time. With Drive Image -- 30 min later, and I am back to where I was.

I always have a fresh back up before I install something new. And, if I don't like the program or it screws something up, I can replace the entire drive.

U can partition your 1 drive and do backups on the other partition. But it is better to have a second hard drive incase your main drive craps out.

I used the program so often on my old computer that I went and bought a 2nd drive and the newest version of Drive Image the same day I got my current computer...


----------



## -gunut- (May 8, 2006)

Thanks for the advice guys!

ok so I got to utilities and it says

Expansion ROM not initialized- PCI Mass Storage Controller on Motherboard 

Does this sound like the problem?


----------



## Mr. P (Sep 16, 2006)

You got a good boot? How did you get to utilities? Safe mode?

How old is this puter?


----------



## jpruett79 (Sep 23, 2006)

Most likely your computer is still fine you probably just lost the boot record on the hard drive. That is recoverable.

first thing to do it go and get yourself as usb hard drive enclosure. They are about 40 bucks at the store you can get them online cheaper but you will have to wait. take the hard drive out of the computer and put it in the enclosure.
Use a second computer and plug the hard drive enclosure into it and copy your files to that computer or cds. Just to be safe you may want to do both.

Once you have your data you have three choices.

1. get your windows disk and do a repair installation. It will repair the corrupt or missing files.

2. You can use this as a opportunity to format your hard drive and start over. Windows tends to need to be reinstalled about once a year anyway to keep things working well.

3. get a copy of spinrite from www.grc.com its 90 bucks but its the best data recovery program on the market. It will map a harddrive around errors and read the raw data so it can recover your stuff without windows. It can also predict hard drive errors. They also have a money back garuntee if your not satisfied so you dont really have anything to loose. even if the hard drive is faulty it may still help you get your stuff off of it.


----------



## -gunut- (May 8, 2006)

Mr. P said:


> You got a good boot? How did you get to utilities? Safe mode?
> 
> How old is this puter?


Did not boot. I got to utilities and saw the message and other then that everything appears normal. When I save and exit and continue with boot it says no OS found. The comp is a few months over a year.


----------



## -gunut- (May 8, 2006)

jpruett79 said:


> Most likely your computer is still fine you probably just lost the boot record on the hard drive. That is recoverable.
> 
> first thing to do it go and get yourself as usb hard drive enclosure. They are about 40 bucks at the store you can get them online cheaper but you will have to wait. take the hard drive out of the computer and put it in the enclosure.
> Use a second computer and plug the hard drive enclosure into it and copy your files to that computer or cds. Just to be safe you may want to do both.
> ...


That sounds great! I will have to have my computer guy take a look at it because I am unsure where the HD on it is seeing as how it is a laptop. Because I have had so many problems the comp since I got it I am thinking about getting another year of support. I could use a new heat sinc for my graphics card anyways. Thanks for you help! I will keep you guys updated!


----------



## -gunut- (May 8, 2006)

Here are some pics of the screens I get


----------



## Thor (May 11, 2006)

This COULD be something as simple as a virus or it's something with the motherboard. Did you enter setup and see if the HDD was recognized at all?? I normally set the bios jumper to write protect to avoid any virus problems. But, after doing that, it's tough to add new hardware. Keep us posted as to what you find.


----------



## Mr. P (Sep 16, 2006)

Thor said:


> This COULD be something as simple as a virus or it's something with the motherboard. *Did you enter setup and see if the HDD was recognized at all??* I normally set the bios jumper to write protect to avoid any virus problems. But, after doing that, it's tough to add new hardware. Keep us posted as to what you find.


What he said...go to setup (F2) and give us some pics of the screens.


----------



## -gunut- (May 8, 2006)

Mr. P said:


> What he said...go to setup (F2) and give us some pics of the screens.


This what you want?









I snapped this earlier, but I packed up my computer because I am leaving for the weekend. I will have to give ya an update when I get back.


----------



## -gunut- (May 8, 2006)




----------



## Mr. P (Sep 16, 2006)

-gunut- said:


>


Yes, see that the 'power on beep' is disabled on the last pic? Enable it and save.
Restart and count the beeps&#8230;beeps tell you what may is or is not working on the motherboard. But you need the specs for the board to know what is wrong for sure, as I recall, but it's a start.

3 beeps are good.


----------



## -gunut- (May 8, 2006)

One beep...


----------



## rfawcs (Feb 11, 2006)

It's really tough to do this long distance; but, one beep during POST is good. That means that everything is probably OK and it's just a software problem, in that somehow, for some reason, the files the machine needs to start have been corrupted or are missing. I'm not going to try to troubleshoot your machine from here, but there's a good chance your data is not lost. 

The post from jpruett79 was good advice; I would try that process. If you're not comfortable doing that yourself, get to someone local.


----------



## Mr. P (Sep 16, 2006)

-gunut- said:


> One beep...


If it is a cold boot, the BIOS verifies RAM by performing a read/write test of each memory address. It checks the PS/2 ports or USB ports for a keyboard and a mouse. It looks for a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus and, if it finds one, checks all the PCI cards. *If the BIOS finds any errors during the POST, it will notify you by a series of beeps or a text message displayed on the screen. An error at this point is almost always a hardware problem.*

The screen does show an error. Local tech time, gunut.


----------



## Thor (May 11, 2006)

There shoould be a screen to show HDD0 or something. Looks like you have a RAID setup. Possibly your onboard RAID controller failed. I would move the hdd to IDE1 and see how it boots up. One beep is generally a good thing. If you DO move it to IDE1, then you will need to reset the bios bootup order to recognize it there. It is rather difficult to troubleshoot over the net.


----------



## -gunut- (May 8, 2006)

Hey, thanks for the help guys! I will have to get with my computer guy on Monday. Hopefully this can be resolved with to much difficulty!


----------



## -gunut- (May 8, 2006)

I sent this off to Alienware. I am wondering what they will say about it

To whom it may concern

Hello. I am writing you today to express my dissatisfaction with the product and support that I have received from your company. A little over a year ago I ordered a 7700 notebook with the belief that it was the best in terms of quality and performance. Well it was only a few months before I started experiencing my first problems. Within a few months my video card had started to over heat, making the function of the machine impossible. I used the over the phone tech support to try to resolve the issue. I gave them the error message about my video card being faulty but instead of receiving a new one I was given the run-around. After calling the tech support over and over through a month and a half, and doing task after task after task they then decided that my video card was to blame. I was unable to use my much needed system during this time. I received my new card a few weeks later and everything was working fine.

Within a few months the new card started acting up. It would over heat and give me the same problems that I had experienced previously. By this time my support that came with the computer was no longer valid and my only option would be to buy a new card. I purchased a ‘cool pad’ for my computer to sit on, which raised the computer and applied more air with the addition of two fans. My problem then stopped for some time. It kept the card cool enough to run video games while on the pad. It is now at the point where the games will start to lag even when on the pad. On top of this issue, I attempted to turn my computer on the other day to find there was NO OPERATING SYSTEM FOUND! My mother board is now dead with only a little over a year of service life. My only option now is to pay more to have this issue resolved. 

I am a student and need my computer! I have to tell you that I expected much more out of a system that I paid over three thousand dollars for; not to mention out of the company. I realize that things can happen, but at the least an extension of support would be appropriate for the massive hardware failure that I have experienced throughout my time owning this machine.
The problems that I have had with this system and the dealings with the company obviously do not make me a happy customer. What I would like to know now is what you intend to do to fix this issue. It is now up to you if you would like to take the initiative and do the right thing to fix my problem or to do nothing. Needless to say, there will be many more computers in my future, but your actions will determine who I will buy them from. 

Thank you for your time and help resolving this issue. I look forward to speaking with you further.


----------

