Lost my Operating System!!!!!

[Guest]

Hi all,

I need desperate help. My sister's XP desktop was frozen last night while
it was shutting down. She waited a while but it was just hanging. She then
decided to turn the computer off herself. Now it doesn't boot up anymore.
It comes up with a message to install operating disk or something like that
in what I would imagine to be DOS mode. Seems like it can't find the
operating system. My advice was to insert the XP cd and reinstall it but why
would you lose the operating system???? What would cause this??? How do we
fix the problem?????Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks, Tim

 

[Ken]

My advice was to insert the XP cd and reinstall it but why

would you lose the operating system???? What would cause this??? How do
we
fix the problem?????Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
thanks, Tim

Just a thought: but I'd check the integrity of the hard drive; download the
manufacturer's tools and run it.
hth
ken

 

[Malke]

Hi all,

I need desperate help. My sister's XP desktop was frozen last night
while
it was shutting down. She waited a while but it was just hanging.
She then
decided to turn the computer off herself. Now it doesn't boot up
anymore. It comes up with a message to install operating disk or
something like that
in what I would imagine to be DOS mode. Seems like it can't find the
operating system. My advice was to insert the XP cd and reinstall it
but why
would you lose the operating system???? What would cause this??? How
do we fix the problem?????Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

There is no way we can guess why this happened from reading your post.
Your sister could have had a virus that deleted operating system files
or her hard drive could have died, or any number of other factors. If
your sister doesn't have any data she cares about on the machine, then
she could try a clean install of Windows. However, I'd make sure the
hard drive is good first by running a diagnostic utility from the drive
mftr.'s website.

You know your own computer skills best. Be honest with yourself; if you
and/or your sister aren't particularly computer-savvy, take the machine
to a professional computer repair shop (not your local version of
BigStoreUSA).

Malke

 

[beb]

Get the exact wording of the message and see if any of these instructions
apply.
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Troubleshooting-Startup-Problems.html

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308041

 

[Infosink]

beb wrote:
| Get the exact wording of the message and see if any of these instructions
| apply.
|
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Troubleshooting-Startup-Problems.html
|
| http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308041
|
| || Hi all,
||
|| I need desperate help. My sister's XP desktop was frozen last night
|| while it was shutting down. She waited a while but it was just hanging.
|| She then
|| decided to turn the computer off herself. Now it doesn't boot up
|| anymore. It comes up with a message to install operating disk or
|| something like that
|| in what I would imagine to be DOS mode. Seems like it can't find the
|| operating system. My advice was to insert the XP cd and reinstall it but
|| why
|| would you lose the operating system???? What would cause this??? How do
|| we
|| fix the problem?????Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
||
|| thanks, Tim

Good reply. The OP (Original Poster) should read those pages. They pretty
much sum up anything this newsgroup could advise on the matter so far.

 

[Plato]

I need desperate help. My sister's XP desktop was frozen last night while
it was shutting down. She waited a while but it was just hanging. She then
decided to turn the computer off herself. Now it doesn't boot up anymore.
It comes up with a message to install operating disk or something like that
in what I would imagine to be DOS mode. Seems like it can't find the
operating system. My advice was to insert the XP cd and reinstall it but why
would you lose the operating system???? What would cause this??? How do we
fix the problem?????Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Offhand, it sounds like the hard drive died.