HD unable to see or load OS ( Win 98SE )

[cshajkur]

I'm currently running windows 98 SE on two different hard drives, 11 and 13.6 respectively. After restarting the smaller drive "C" I received the following error message: " An operating system cannot be found ". My operating system had been working fine prior to shutting it down. No files or programs had been added or changed. I have been unable to resolve this problem on my own.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to resolve this issue? If I can get back into windows I might be able to use " scanreg /restore " to recover my operating system. Any advice will be appreciated.

 

[wolluf]

Is the drive still appearing in the bios?
If it is, can you access it by booting from a win98 boot floppy?

If you can, sounds like something might have happened to its boot sector (from your post, no idea what). In this case, I would:-

1. Copy msdos.sys (in root of drive) to somewhere else (its a hidden, system, readonly file, so need to run attrib C:\msdos.sys -r -s -h first).

2. At A: prompt, run sys C:

3. Copy back saved msdos.sys (all assumes troubled disk is C.

4. Try booting from hard drive again.

If drive appears in bios, but not accessible, try getting utility from manufacturer's website to check it out.

If drive not appearing in bios, check cabling.