Re: Operating system not found on any devices. by Gary
Gary
Wed Dec 10 15:02:54 CST 2003
Did you have any sort of internet firewall, ZoneAlarm or anything like that?
There are more possibilities than there is room or time to cover here, but
in general, it could have lost a fan and overheated and may boot again after
it sits a while. The drive or memory could have failed. You should check
the bios to see if the hard drive is recognized. Check the cables inside
that go from motherboard to the hard drive. If you need to reinstall
Windows, and don't know what happened, you will need to at least reformat
the drive and check for boot sector viruses.
Some Compaqs have the OS installation files on a separate partition. You
may be able to boot with a boot disk, go to the d drive, and see if the
files are there, usually in a folder called install, and run the setup.exe
file. They also may be on your C drive, probably in a folder named
C:\Windows\Options\Cabs\Install. Get some help if needed to copy the files
from there to another computer or drive. Hopefully you have the manual or
sticker that has the Windows product key on it, you will need it to install.
If you have the product key but the files are all lost, you can probably
borrow a WinME CD and reinstall using your key. If it's a different one and
won't accept the key, someone who knows the registry can do the install and
then enter your product info and type into it....there's nothing shady here,
you are entitled to the operating system that came with your computer,
whether they gave you a CD or not. Perhaps Compaq will give you a CD for a
modest fee (?). You can download the drivers for sound, video, etc. from
Compaq/HP's website.
ANYONE who has one of these prebuilt computers that came with the Windows
install files on the hard drive and no product disk should copy those files
to a CD and write their product key on it, and put it away, along with a
floppy boot disk, for safekeeping. I prefer a simple Windows install to the
recovery CD's that some give you with all the extra junk on it, the machines
often run better...plus you don't need to wipe out all your info if you just
need to reinstall Windows.
Gary
"David" <dgs65@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:1115f01c3bf3a$cf9a4c30$a601280a@phx.gbl...
> I had left my computer on overnight and woke up with this
> message on the screen:
>
> Operating system not found on any devices. Press any key
> to continue.
>
> I tried turning it off, and then back on again, but got
> the same message.
>
> I do not have the operating systems discs since I got my
> computer as a package deal when I got DSL. It is a Compaq
> Presario. Any help would be great.