xp operating system no longer on e-machine

[patricia_taylor37]

First my moniter quit working, then I hooked up another
moniter, and after a few days, I went to use my computer,
and it gave me a message " No Operating System found"
I tried to use the recovery disc but now, my hard drive is
making some clicking noises. I dont' have the fund
available to buy a new pc, is there someone out there who
can help?
My xp was on an e-machine I purchased in fall of 2001. E-
machine is a T1440.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

"Operating System Not Found" Error Message When You Start the Computer
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;321626&Product=winxp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| First my moniter quit working, then I hooked up another
| moniter, and after a few days, I went to use my computer,
| and it gave me a message " No Operating System found"
| I tried to use the recovery disc but now, my hard drive is
| making some clicking noises. I dont' have the fund
| available to buy a new pc, is there someone out there who
| can help?
| My xp was on an e-machine I purchased in fall of 2001. E-
| machine is a T1440.
|

 

[John McGaw]

First my moniter quit working, then I hooked up another
moniter, and after a few days, I went to use my computer,
and it gave me a message " No Operating System found"
I tried to use the recovery disc but now, my hard drive is
making some clicking noises. I dont' have the fund
available to buy a new pc, is there someone out there who
can help?
My xp was on an e-machine I purchased in fall of 2001. E-
machine is a T1440.

So, what sort of help were you looking for? Not monetary I hope.

From what you say it sounds like you need a new hard drive. But given that
it is an e-machines and several years old the original drive probably wasn't
more than a 40gB and replacements twice that large (i.e. 80gB) can be had
for for less than $70 from newegg or some other online vendor. Changing a
drive is pretty trivial and there are surely some sites which will walk a
newbie through the process (basically open the case, disconnect two cables,
remove four screws and the drive, install the new drive and four screws,
re-attach the cables, close the case).

Your real problem is likely to be replacing the operating system since it is
likely that the recovery disk you have won't allow you to install to a bare
drive. That might mean buying a new copy of XP. If you need to do that you
might do well to buy your hard drive from a vendor which is willing to sell
you a copy of OEM XP along with the drive -- this can save a fantastic
amount of money over buying a full retail version and if what I've heard
about MS's loosening of the rules should be completely kosher since nearly
any hardware purchase seems to qualify.

Of course you've made backups of your critical and unreplaceable data files
on a regular basis so... Oh well, not the end of the world. We all need to
make a fresh start every now and then.

Good luck.
--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]

Return address will not work. Please
reply in group or through my website:
http://johnmcgaw.com

 

[Bob Harris]

It does indeed sound like you need a new hard drive. Check both on-line
stores and local PC shops (e.g., CompUSA). With luck you might find a 40-80
Gig disk on sale. Such a disk should come with a floppy and/or CD that will
guide you through the disk preparation process via a friendly interface. I
have install disks by Maxtor and Seagate, and both were very easy.

You probably just had one big partition on the old PC, and you could do that
again, or you could make 2 or 3 partitions. (I recommend that latter.)
This decision needs to be made before you load the operating system or use
the recovery CD. Also, use of the recovery CD might re-partition the hard
drive back to the way you bought it. It is difficult to know, until you try
it.

Once the disk is installed, try the recovery CD. It may work for something
as simple as a disk replacement. It probably would not work for something
more extreme, like a new motherboard.

But, if the recovery CD fails, the next step would be to (a) either buy a
new PC without a monitor, since you have one of those (about $400 or so), or
(b) buy a copy of XP (about $200, or $100 for the upgrade, if you happen to
have a CD from win98, ME, or 2000).

Note that a local PC shop might offer a cheap installation service, if you
buy the hard drive from them. If they do, ask whether they would also
install the recovery CD for you.

Good luck.