Can't Boot: "Operating System Not Found"

[p_l]

  No joy, either way.

But when I think about it it makes sense: I restored to a Norton Ghost image that I know works, and which does in fact contain those three files in C: (the first time I looked I did have Show hidden files and folders selected, but I had forgotten  to uncheck Hide protected operating system files.

So, something else must be preventing the boot process from even seeing those files, or something...  Could it be the master boot record or.. I really don't know. I'm out of my league here; I don't have a clue. As I've said, everything boots fine when I use my XP boot diskette in A:

Your continued help is appreciated.

[GX1_Man]

Well, nothing that a good format and reinstall won't cure anyway!

[p_l]

GX1_Man, wow, you're so helpful. I wish I'd thought of that.

Mac, thanks.  

I'd rather not have to reinstall everything, plus since I did just reinstall a Norton Ghost image and it still doesn't boot, I'm not sure even that would work. Maybe it's something in the BIOS. Or in the Master Boot Record. Or something else, I really don't know. Constructive advice is welcome.

[judi bixby]

here is my question---I havea dell laptop with windows and earlier today the screen resolution got all wierd---tonite i turn it on and i get the dell screen and windows screen then everything goes black---no notice or anything----should I be taking it in to the IS folks at work cuz I'm no techy...JB

[GX1_Man]

GX1_Man, wow, you're so helpful. I wish I'd thought of that.

Sounds a little sarcastic there!

Did you ever think the problem may be with the Norton image? If so, then this will never work. I know you don't WANT to format and reinstall, but how about a quick try, as it would only take 45 min or so. That is much less time than you have wrestled with here anyway. Heck, you could have been done by now!

If it doesn't work (your BIOS theory) then you are no worse off and you could always Ghost your way back to this spot.

[p_l]

I formated using Partition Magic (and received some weird error messages - it didn't seem to complete), then reinstalled. Same problem.

Maybe I should reformat from within the Recovery Console?

[patio]

You've just added another variable to the XP/Ghost and now /PM mix...
When you say it didn't work do you mean the Ghost image didn't work or a WinXP reinstall didn't work ? ?

Help us help you by giving more info...

patio.  

[p_l]

The formating with Partition Magic didn't seem to work. I can still boot to my restored Ghost image on C:, but only when I use my XP boot diskette in A: first. It won't boot from C: directly.

[Mac]

No joy, either way.

But when I think about it it makes sense: I restored to a Norton Ghost image that I know works, and which does in fact contain those three files in C: (the first time I looked I did have Show hidden files and folders selected, but I had forgotten  to uncheck Hide protected operating system files.

So, something else must be preventing the boot process from even seeing those files, or something...  Could it be the master boot record or.. I really don't know. I'm out of my league here; I don't have a clue. As I've said, everything boots fine when I use my XP boot diskette in A:

Your continued help is appreciated.

Try booting to the Recovery Console and typing - fixmbr

Norton...  

[p_l]

Sounds a little sarcastic there!

No, you think?







Anyhow, I finally fixed it, no need to reformat and reinstall.

If you can start your machine with an Emergency Start Up Disk go to Control Panel, click on Administrative Tools followed by Computer Management. Finally the click the Disk Management option. Now right click on the drive you want to make Active and select 'Mark partition as active' from the drop down menu. Alternatively, if you have a copy of Partition Magic you can use this to actually reset the correct partition as the Active system drive.

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Thanks, Mac, and everyone who helped.

[GX1_Man]

So basically you did not have a partition set as active? How did that occur? Was it something you did, or is that a problem with using Norton Ghost? I thought it was more automatic than that.

[p_l]

Best I can figure is that it got messed up in an abortive attempt at creating a Ghost image.

[GX1_Man]

So that is why every time you tried using the messed up ghost image it re-created the same problem? That makes sense, but there is no way to always get an active partition if that is what the image was created from?

I have used Partition Magic up until version 6.x with success, but there are many reports of problems after that (coincidentally about the time PowerQuest was bought out by Norton!)

[p_l]

No, the problem happened when I tried to create a more recent image. The process aborted part way through and left me with the no OS problem.

Then, I tried to restore from a previous Ghost image I knew worked, since I had used it successfully before. That image was fine, but I could only boot to it if I used my XP boot diskette in A: first.

Then, I applied the solution described in my links - making my C: drive active - and now all's well.

[GX1_Man]

So you could have done this with just a basic FDISK off of any DOS system/boot diskette as well, I suppose.