1962: No Operating System Found [Archive]

civil

03-03-2009, 08:51 AM

I turned on my work computer to find this error running over and over on my computer screen. Everything I've looked up says that it's most likely a HDD failure. Sure enough, when I go to System Summary in my Setup Utility, this is what I see:

IDE Drive 0 None
IDE Drive 1 CD-ROM
IDE Drive 2 None
IDE Drive 3 None
Hard Disk 4 None
Hard Disk 5 None

I'm no computer expert, but I believe IDE Drive 0 should be showing my HDD. If that's correct, am I fucked? There is a lot of inventory data on this machine that I threw in there within the past three weeks, and no I didn't back up. You can deride me all you want for that, it's deserved.

Does anyone know if I have any recourse? Is there a way of getting the data off the HDD even if it isn't technically "working"? I can't imagine what my boss will say if she knows I just lost three weeks worth of work right now. I'll be killt, and killt good. :(

frederec

03-03-2009, 08:54 AM

A friend of mine once had her laptop hard drive fail. Wouldn't boot from that drive at all. I burned a Knoppix live CD and was able to see the drive and pull off most of the data to an external drive. I would try that.

Of course, depending on how bad the crash was (hopefully you haven't heard any sign of mechanical failure like clicking noises), this may not get you anywhere.

I know many others around here will know more than me, but it's something to try. Good luck.

civil

03-03-2009, 08:57 AM

Would it matter if the machine was originally running on Windows (Vista Business)? The Knoppix I looked up seemed to be Linux centered.

frederec

03-03-2009, 09:02 AM

Would it matter if the machine was originally running on Windows (Vista Business)? The Knoppix I looked up seemed to be Linux centered.

Knoppix is a Linux live CD. But it will recognize the hard drive (if it's not totally dead). My friend's computer was a Windows machine, but I couldn't get it to do any Windows-y stuff when it crashed. Knoppix also also recognized my usb hard drive without trouble.

I went this route because I had a little trouble tracking down a live (boot totally from CD) version of windows.

Hmmm...it does occur to me that you might run into problems because it was Vista, but I don't know how different the file system is on Vista from XP. I would still try it.

Panthera

03-03-2009, 09:08 AM

Be sure to check the cables, and if necessary try a different IDE or SATA port.

Smoof

03-03-2009, 09:11 AM

Quite possible that a cable got disconnected if the computer got bumped.

civil

03-03-2009, 09:15 AM

I'm about to open her up. I can't imagine that anything got bumped but you never know.

My boss just came in, saw the look on my face and asked what was wrong. I told her to come back in half an hour and if I was hanging from the ceiling she would know. Oh boy.

Worldcrafter

03-03-2009, 09:15 AM

Knoppix is great, but yeah, before jumping into Linux follow Panthera's advice.

Voodoo

03-03-2009, 09:23 AM

I also support those that suggest checking the connectors. Actually, unplug them and replug them - both ends in the case of the data cable. Regarding backups, scheduled FTP dumps can be your very best friend.

Slack3r78

03-03-2009, 09:23 AM

Pop the cover, and listen carefully. If you hear any kind of clicking or mechanical clunking from the drive, turn it off immediately.

civil

03-03-2009, 10:01 AM

Fuck. Opened her up, re-connected everything and now it's stuck at a blank screen after the initial splash screen. Sheeeeit.

If it is dead, is there any way to get stuff off of it?

EDIT: No clicks, no funny noises. Just...blackness. There is none more black right now than my monitor.

EDIT 2: Some new stuff came up:

PXE-E61: Media Test Failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel Boot Agent.
1962: No operating system found. Press F1 to repeat boot sequence.

It keeps repeating this sequence over and over. I'm going to try some Google Fu.

Voodoo

03-03-2009, 10:04 AM

Fuck. Opened her up, re-connected everything and now it's stuck at a blank screen after the initial splash screen. Sheeeeit.

If it is dead, is there any way to get stuff off of it?

EDIT: No clicks, no funny noises. Just...blackness. There is none more black right now than my monitor.

Now that you've confirmed, more or less, that the hard drive is accessable it is time to use Knoppix (http://www.knoppix.net/get.php). It should allow you to boot from the CD and access your HDD. Knoppix can mount and read NTFS partitions as well. Once you have access, you can then copy the files to a USB stick or to another network location if your network gets activated.

Commissar Rob

03-03-2009, 10:05 AM

Great way to start your day. :( Well, my laptop hard drive failed about a month or so ago. I was able to boot to the DOS prompt and access some of my data from there. The bad sector was apparently necessary for windows, but not for DOS. Might be worth a shot if you're getting at least to your bios screen.

Wraith

03-03-2009, 10:05 AM

I suppose the answer is no, but did you happen to have your data on a different partition than the OS?

frederec

03-03-2009, 10:06 AM

EDIT: No clicks, no funny noises. Just...blackness. There is none more black right now than my monitor.

No strange noises could be a good sign. Mechanical failures which cause odd noises like clicks frequently mean all your data is toast. Go for Knoppix, as I mentioned before, and good luck.

civil

03-03-2009, 10:16 AM

I suppose the answer is no, but did you happen to have your data on a different partition than the OS?
Other than the standard way that Vista partitions the OS to a different "drive", no.

I've got to try Knoppix.

NoName

03-03-2009, 10:17 AM

frederec

03-03-2009, 10:21 AM

If the Linux live CD doesn't work (if the drive really is dead, for example), don't despair completely. There are companies that can take a dead drive and magically get information off. Assuming the data is worth the cost.

Edit: A google search reveals multiple companies that do this...

Yeah, these companies like to brag how they can recover data from drives that have bullets embedded in them. But they generally charge thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars for their services. So your data has got to be crazy important.

Voodoo

03-03-2009, 10:23 AM

I would also like to recommend Hiren's BootCD (http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd). It has a HUGE tool inventory and it includes a RamDisc version of Win98...

Mini Windows 98
Can run from Ram Drive, with ntfs support,
Added 7-Zip which supports .7z .zip .cab .rar .arj .gzip,
.bzip2 .z .tar .cpio .rpm and .deb
Disk Defragmenter, Notepad / RichText Editor,
Image Viewer, .avi .mpg .divx .xvid Movie Player, etc...

Slack3r78

03-03-2009, 10:31 AM

Yeah, these companies like to brag how they can recover data from drives that have bullets embedded in them. But they generally charge thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars for their services. So your data has got to be crazy important.
Well, they brag because they can do it. But yeah, you can generally expect to spend at least $1500 if you have to send it off to somebody, so it's not cheap. I send a few drives a year off to DriveSavers. Pleasant folks to deal with and I know of at least one other forum member who will vouch for them. ;)

civil

03-03-2009, 10:38 AM

I'm torrenting Knoppix right now. I hope it can save my ass.

Voodoo, how do you download that (seemingly) magical CD? I can't find a link anywhere. Though I did enjoy their Jokes section.

Voodoo

03-03-2009, 10:42 AM

I'm torrenting Knoppix right now. I hope it can save my ass.

Voodoo, how do you download that (seemingly) magical CD? I can't find a link anywhere. Though I did enjoy their Jokes section.

Apologies... The download is a bit hard to find.

http://www.givemesolution.org/my-software-collection/36-my-software-collection/48-hirens-bootcd.html

The download link is on the bottom of that page.

civil

03-03-2009, 01:22 PM

Well, after some moving around I finally got Knoppix to run on the machine (under LDE?). And...it looks like the HDD isn't recognized. At least, I think so. I don't know anything about Linux (first time using it!) and...well...I'm not sure exactly where to look. :o

Any suggestions? I can find the memory stick I put in there just fine. Which makes me worried.

EDIT: Well, shit. I'm now viewing this website from the supposedly dead computer. That's weird to me. It's like I'm that little girl in Poltergeist, and I can hear everyone but somethign just isn't right. How odd to be typing from a machine that might have a dead HDD.

Voodoo

03-03-2009, 01:42 PM

Try the magical CD's Mini Win98 too.

civil

03-03-2009, 02:09 PM

Thanks Voodoo. That little app is amazing. Sadly, it reinforced the fact that the HDD is fried, as it's not on there either.

Woe is me. That means a trip to Microcenter, which in and of itself is reason to weep, let alone trying to find a replacement HDD. Does anyone know of any commercial data recover software?

civil

03-03-2009, 02:15 PM

frederec

03-03-2009, 06:52 PM

Sorry about the double post:

I've been thinking - if I can't even recognize the HDD doesn't that mean it's a cable issue? I mean, even if it were corrupted or some such thing wouldn't it still be at least recognizable? Granted, I'm a simple man when it comes to computers so I may be thinking along some wrong lines, but it seems to me that it would at least show up, even if it were bad. Am I wrong to think that?

If it's just some corruption, I think it should show up. So maybe it is your cables that are the problem. That would be nice. I know you've already been asked about strange noises, but do you hear the drive spin up when it gets power? If not, then it's either the power cable or it's just crashed really hard.

Slack3r78

03-04-2009, 12:00 AM

Is the drive recognized at all in BIOS? When you first fire it up, it'll prompt you to hit F1/F2/Del depending on the make to enter setup. The first BIOS screen will usually give you an idea if the controller is seeing the drive at all.

civil

03-04-2009, 07:06 AM

An update for all of you who gave advice yesterday:

So after I couldn't get the drive recognized with either Knoppix or Mini XP (Voodoo, it's actually XP that's on the ISO) I was resigned to not only buying a new HDD but spending the next few weeks re-inputting the inventory data. First I thought I'd have another crack at the innards, though.

So on the MoBo there are two data slots, one was going to the CD drive and the other to the HDD. I thought I'd unplug the CD data cable and connect the HDD one to that as a test. I reboot and voila - everything is up and running (except the CD drive, which I left unplugged). The very first thing I did was sign up for Carbonite and set all my data to be backed up. Since it's the first backup it'll take a day or so. Once that backup is done I'm going to power down the computer, plug the CD data cable into the old HDD data cable slot and see if the BIOS recognizes the CD drive. If not, then I assume my MoBo is wonky. I think. If anyone knows of another reason please lemme know.

Of course now my boss thinks I'm a genius, which is nice. But I explained that I couldn't have done it without all your help, so thanks everyone. I can't tell you how great it is to be able to jump online and know that within a half an hour I'll have a shit ton of great advice.

NoName

03-04-2009, 07:10 AM

So it sounds like it was in fact a bad cable. Yay for the joys of debugging electronics, so many points of failure...

I'm glad you're getting all the data backed up!

Edit: Wait, are you saying you just unplugged the CD rom drive and it worked? (leaving the old cable in the HD?)

frederec

03-04-2009, 07:15 AM

So on the MoBo there are two data slots, one was going to the CD drive and the other to the HDD. I thought I'd unplug the CD data cable and connect the HDD one to that as a test. I reboot and voila - everything is up and running (except the CD drive, which I left unplugged). The very first thing I did was sign up for Carbonite and set all my data to be backed up. Since it's the first backup it'll take a day or so. Once that backup is done I'm going to power down the computer, plug the CD data cable into the old HDD data cable slot and see if the BIOS recognizes the CD drive. If not, then I assume my MoBo is wonky. I think. If anyone knows of another reason please lemme know.

I'm really glad to hear that you didn't lose all that data. Now here's hoping that your cable swap shows that it's just the cable that needs replacing, not the whole motherboard, which would be a bit more of a pain in the ass.

Sorry my suggestions didn't do it for you, but I'm grateful you didn't lose all that data.

civil

03-04-2009, 07:16 AM

Yeah, the data cable works just fine. What I did was unplug the CD from the MoBo and connect the HDD into that slot. I'll check once I can power the computer down if the CD drive is recognized when I plug it into the slot that the HDD was plugged in to.

Now without this panic, I might have time to devote to that other thread. ;)

Commissar Rob

03-04-2009, 08:26 AM

Now that you've got this solved, and the ending is happy, I think this is entirely appropriate...

http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/funny-pictures-kitten-erases-your-hard-drive.jpg

civil

03-04-2009, 08:58 AM

Oh man, that is just...wrong. And it makes me miss fits. :(

But I will probably come back to this thread when I need help figuring out the MoBo problem.

total

03-04-2009, 09:25 AM

NoName

03-04-2009, 09:37 AM

That is fucking awesome.

It looks like a strange rat... o_0

Karak

03-04-2009, 09:51 AM

Carbonite and set all my data to be backed up.

Can this service backup system drives. My C drive?

civil

03-04-2009, 10:49 AM

Can this service backup system drives. My C drive?
Not to shill, but apparently you can backup whatever you want no matter how large the size. Personally we're just backing up our data, downloaded programs and other documents. Anything we have a DVD/CD for (or that can be readily downloaded) we're leaving as is.

I will warn you though that it takes a long time to do your initial backup. You can get the details here (http://www.carbonite.com/).