My friend's laptop runs windows 7. After resetting last night she's getting an Operating System Not Found error during boot. Assuming the hard drive hasn't completely failed, what are the best, simplest tools she can use to either fix the problem or at least get her important data off the drive? She has access to another computer with a cd/dvd burner, an 8GB USB flash drive, and blank cds. She doesn't have access to the system restore disc or anything like that. She can get a blank DVD if that's simplest.
I was leaning toward Knoppix as the Linux distribution for a live dvd, but if there's an easier way I'd love to hear it. Thanks.
posted by Green With You
on Mar 16, 2013 -
11 answers
Help me diagnose/repair my Toshiba Satellite A355D-S6889.
When I try to boot, I get BOOTMGR MISSING.
When I try to reinstall XP from a CD it seems to start out fine, copying drivers and such, until it gets to the message Starting Windows, at which point I get a blue screen o' death with the code 0x7B which google informs me is a hard disk error.
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posted by Obscure Reference
on Feb 10, 2012 -
8 answers
I've 5 HDD and a sixth I'd like to install an image onto in order to install onto another physical computer so it has it's own MBR.
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posted by prodevel
on Sep 20, 2011 -
11 answers
I have a problem with Windows 7 startup after I made some hardware changes. The computer won't boot automatically and I'm hoping for some suggestions.
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posted by Mokusatsu
on Dec 5, 2010 -
5 answers
Windows 2000 Server suddenly won't boot, even in safe mode. Any way to get it running for just a few more weeks? Difficulty: No installation disks.
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posted by gemmy
on Jun 10, 2010 -
4 answers
My laptop's Vista install is borked and now it won't start up. How can I salvage my data?
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posted by ludwig_van
on Mar 15, 2010 -
5 answers
I think I've covered most everything to diagnose my desktop problems, but still with the same unusual problem(s)
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posted by teg4rvn
on Jan 13, 2010 -
4 answers
How do I migrate my boot drive from a traditional hard drive to a *smaller* SSD drive?
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posted by notsnot
on Jan 5, 2010 -
6 answers
I would like to make a custom boot disc that is very simple to the user. All it would do is restore an image from 6 DVDs to a hard drive. The only options I would like the user to see is:
1) format drive
2) restore drive
3) exit
I would like to create this menu and all sub menus that I see fit.
I have seen UBCD but it is too complicated for the people I know. I would like to use Driveimage XML and have it read the discs one at a time to restore the drive.
Any suggestions?
posted by CodeMonkey
on Nov 30, 2009 -
8 answers
Help me install Windows XP with a (non-bootable) installation CD!
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posted by sah
on Apr 13, 2009 -
7 answers
How can I install Windows 7 (via Boot Camp or rEFIt) from an ISO?
I think the Superdrive on my Macbook Pro (10.5.6) is on its last legs, because it ejects almost anything I put in it. (Meaning blank DVDs, and the DVD I burned of the ISO on my Windows XP desktop with ImgBurn). It's not extremely old (I got it refurbished on Christmas 2007), but still old enough to be out of warranty (at least I would think so).
What I have available:
1tb My Book Firewire External Hard Drive
4gb 1st gen iPod Nano, that isn't even formatted as an iPod right now, so it's basically just a 4gb USB flash drive. I know I can boot from it if it's set up right, because I've been using it with
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posted by N2O1138
on Mar 17, 2009 -
6 answers
I have an Intel iMac, and have partitioned off a Boot Camp drive that contains Windows XP. Is there any way to restart the computer into Windows without having to hold down the Alt key?
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posted by zardoz
on Dec 31, 2008 -
12 answers
My fantastically unstable IBM T42 (which is on it's 3rd, soon to be 4th, life) died a little while ago, no longer booting into Ubuntu. However, it loves to boot into Windows. How do I nuke both?
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posted by tmcw
on Jul 11, 2008 -
8 answers
After receiving
mixed advice three months ago, I bought an HP Pavilion Elite m9150f running Vista Home Premium. Except for being a little slow to boot into Windows, I've been happy with Vista ... until last night, when Vista Service Pack 1 installed "successfully". I dutifully rebooted and now it won't boot into Windows at all. I've tried system restore from two restore points. Neither works, although I do get a helpful message stating that "a recent upgrade" may be causing problems.
The computer can boot into Fedora 8, so it's not hosed, but I've run through my limited bag of Windows tricks. Any suggestions?
posted by lukemeister
on Mar 20, 2008 -
15 answers
Oh crap! While attempting to clear, reformat, and merge my ubuntu partition with my primary NTFS Windows partition, I somehow managed to give the GRUB boot-loader brain damage. Now I can't boot in to either partition need to fix this before my girlfriend comes home and sees that I've rendered her computer useless.
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posted by willie11
on Feb 27, 2008 -
6 answers
Why will neither my computer nor VMware boot the Windows XP SP2 installation CD I got from my university?
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posted by goingonit
on Oct 4, 2007 -
9 answers
I tried to install Vista but the install failed. Now when my PC boots I have to jump through some hoops to get it working. Help!
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posted by lemonfridge
on Sep 17, 2007 -
3 answers
About an hour ago, I told Windows Vista to hibernate. Now, when I try to boot, I get a "Windows failed to start" error. Apparently, winload.exe is either missing or corrupt. According to the error, I need to use my installation disc to fix this. Unfortunately, I won't have access to a Vista install disc until next week. Is there *any* other way to fix this, or am I just screwed?
posted by punishinglemur
on May 10, 2007 -
6 answers
I'm trying to find a "lost" tweak that automatically used XP's "lock workstation" feature on boot.
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posted by Ekim Neems
on Dec 22, 2006 -
9 answers
I've messed up my boot loader. I have a (working, legal) XP installation, but it won't boot, and I don't have any Windows installation media. How can I fix it? Linux, Windows and general stupidity feature in the creation of the problem, and getting the computer ready to give away in time for Christmas is the aim.
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posted by handee
on Dec 11, 2006 -
9 answers
How do I configure a 2.5" 60 gig usb external drive to boot Windows XP on a PC as well as be able to boot Mac OS X 10.4 on an Intel MacBook?
posted by h2
on Oct 10, 2006 -
4 answers
How can I return my Windows XP computer to its original speed after goofing up the Prefetch folder?
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posted by jordanian2
on Sep 18, 2006 -
14 answers
Help me make my choice from one of the three options below:
1) Fix Windows so that it boots without messing up my Ubuntu.
2) Remove Windows completely. I don't need it anyways.
3) Shrink Windows to the bare minimum and reclaim the space with Ubuntu.
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posted by furtive
on Aug 28, 2006 -
7 answers
Why does my Windows XP installation not only boot when I turn Bootlog mode on?
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posted by Jimbob
on Jun 28, 2006 -
4 answers
Given that: 1. I'm a Mac type; 2. I have and want to try out an Ubuntu linux live CD on my home's extra Dell desktop; 3. I don't want to try and figure out the syntax for the startup settings file...
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posted by docgonzo
on Nov 24, 2005 -
9 answers
I got virused (a wininit.exe problem) on my computer about ten days ago, and after I thought I had cleaned it, it seems to have zapped me with a sleeper program and now I can't boot to windows, even in Safe Mode. Help!
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posted by zaelic
on Nov 10, 2005 -
23 answers
My WinXP system won't boot. Knoppix comes up fine, and complains that it can't read the partition table. I've got
The Ultimate Boot CD; does anyone have a methodology for making things right, or at least recovering whatever I can from the hard drive?
posted by Daddio
on Jan 14, 2005 -
6 answers
I have 100GB and 160GB hard drives in my XP computer. I tried using Norton Ghost to move the 100GB info to my latter drive, and it worked but with serious partition errors (windows not booting). I then moved a large amount of data to my 160, the 100 not really having changed. Everything in windows functions, but when I use Partition Magic 8 I get the following error: "Disk 1 appears to have partitions created using a different drive geometry (255h 63s original, 240h 63 current) You should back up...." etcetera. More inside.
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posted by Keyser Soze
on Mar 7, 2004 -
2 answers
