"Operating System NOT found"...Harddrive not found in BIOS

[joewaggg]

I have this Hp Pavilion 6545c. When I boot up the computer's message is "operating system can not be found".
So I went in to the BIOS setup and found that it didn't list the hard drive as the Primary Master. But it did find the CD-Rom. I then switched the cables(CD and Hard drive)...the CD-Rom was discovered but not the hard drive...so it wasn't one of the controllers. Then I have another system at home. A gateway. I put the HP drive in the gate way and it booted up fine from the HP hard drive...(i disconnected the gateway drive). I backed up all information on a CD from the HP drive. Then I formated it...Ran the full blown Scan Disk and still...no luck. Didn't have any bad sectors...The HP system was running 98 if that helps. Its not mine so I wouldn't be able to tell you if it was SE.
Thanks for you help!
-Joe

 

[edfair]

Doesn't make good sense as you describe it. I would normally suspect that the master boot record had been corrupted, but then it shouldn't have booted in the Gateway.
Only suggestion I could offer is to try fdisk and formatiing with new info in the HP and see if it will ident on the next bootup. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[joewaggg]

In response to edfair:

On the HP it doesn't let me fdisk it. It comes up with a message saying "No fixed Disks". So I fdisked on the gateway. Reformated. Still didn't work...

The only thing that is really weird is that the Gateway will not find the HP hard drive if the gateway Hard drive is not pluged in. If the gate way drive is not pluged in the gateway acts the same way as the HP computer...So I had to have the gateway Hard drive pluged in to be able to run fdisk...with out the gateway hard drive...I'm not allowed to do the fdisk...
-Joe

 

[joewaggg]

Also...After I formated the HP drive I had to have the Gate way harddrive pluged in...Before when the OS(before format and fdisk) was installed on the HP drive I didn't need the gate way drive pluged in....Now I do...........

-Joe

 

[edfair]

Do you have it set as master hard drive? The fact that it needs the Gateway drive to work sounds like it is set to slave. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[dxd]

I think the area that needs to be concentrated on is the fact that the hard drive is not seen in the HP Bios.

I would try resetting the CMOS or Bios defaults. Also, run the hard drive auto-detection, if available.

To me, it doesn't appear to be a drive problem...at least considering the information given.

Although it could be risky...have you tried the Gateway drive in the HP? Doug
dxd_2000@yahoo.com

 

[joewaggg]

In response to Doug:

Yes...just today I put the Gateway hard drive in the Hp and it booted up fine.

I've set the Defaults in the Bios Settings...Where wound I find the Auto-Detection?

Also the Gateway BIOS will not find the HP drive if the gateway drive is not also pluged in....could that be because the HP drive is not set as master...?

The way it is configured now is the HP drive is the slave in my Gateway. It works fine in that sense. But when I want to use it by itself...it doesn't work.

In response to Edfair:

How do you set it to master or slave? Is it something in the BIOS or in the connection to the Computer?

Thanks a lot for both of your input!
-Joe

 

[jogairan]

I agree with 'dxd' it sounds like your HP bios is not detecting your HDD. I am not surprised that the gateway is not detecting it.
Make sure the jumper on your hdd indicates it to be a master. In your Bios, where it is suppose to list your hdd(s), select AUTO. This will allow the bios to attempt to detect the HDD.
There is no physical damage to your HDD. The boot sector is fine because it booted in another machine. this narrowes it down to the board detecting recognizing your HDD. Try the above and let us know how it goes.
Also, what is the history? did it work before? if so what happened?

 

[zaidoune]

i have a similar problem with a HP vectra ES when it boots it doesn't detect the hard drive and suggest system disk the problem is that i don't have a system disk. My Rom Bios system is by Phoenix Technologies, Ltd Version B.02.02ES.
When computer boots the next message is displayed:
Invalid configuration
Run Setup Program
The hard disk is Type 2
Can any one help me to solve this problem or give me informations about Type 2 Hard disks

 

[cdogg]

The hard drive will not be recognized by the BIOS if it's set as slave and is on the controller by itself. You must have it set to "master" or "cable select" (master preferably).


Worry about booting up into Windows after you get past the BIOS problem first...

 

[Guest_imported]

You set to MASTER or SLAVE by means of jumpers located on the hard drive. There may be several settings to choose from:-

MASTER
MASTER with SLAVE present
SLAVE
CABLE SELECT

If the your hard drive is the ONLY drive connected to the IDE interface on the mobo, then set the jumpers to MASTER. If, however, you are using the same IDE interface and cable to connect a CD-ROM drive as well, then choose MASTER with SLAVE present, and ensure that the CD-ROM is configured as a SLAVE (jumpers on the back).

Hope that helps...


ROGER - GØAOZ.

 

[joewaggg]

In Response to jogairan:

I do not know much about the history...It isn't my computer. He said something about a virus though. But I scanned it with Norton and it came up with nothing.



The HP hard drive is connected as the Primary Master. I also typed the information in the BIOS ( Head - Cylinder - Sectors)...But did not work. I'm about to tell him to get a new hard drive............

Thanks for all the input!

-Joe

 

[zaidoune]

it's not a problem of jumper because it was running^perfectely since i entred setup and redetected all periferics so the system requested to reboot and since that time the was the problem which i described to you.
this computer was commanding 3 Big machines of automatic electronic components insertion.

 

[dxd]

Joe, for the sake of clarity.... you say the drive is set for Master...but, you indicate it works fine in the Gateway. Did you change the jumper settings when you moved it over?? and then back??

If the drive is working fine as a "slave" jumpered as "slave" in another system, yet does not work in the HP jumpered as "Master" then I may recant my original diagnosis as not being a drive issue.

On the face it appears that the drive will not work anywhere jumpered as "Master". That being the case, I would now suspect a drive issue. I am not sure whether any virus could play a part in this....you may want to try putting the drive jumpered as "Slave" in the Gateway and booting to a DOS prompt. Then type Fdisk %driveletter%: /mbr to rebuild the boot record of the drive. Of course, substitute %driveletter% with the actual drive letter of this drive when installed in the Gateway.

Outside of that, remove any other IDE devices that may be installed in the HP so that this drive is the only one. Jumper as "Master" or "Cable Select" and plug it into the last connector of the IDE ribbon cable and give it a try.

Doug
dxd_2000@yahoo.com

 

[dhraste]

you face these problem due to boot sector is carupt so you need to format our hard disk and you use seagate Disk manager for format your hard drive beacause of if you format your hard disk using DM you will not get Page folt in Windows 98

 

[edfair]

zaidoune,
Type 2 hard disk is entry #2 in the hard disk table. Probably a 10 or 20 mb entry. These entries probably haven't been used for 5 years. Better to set as auto, or if you know the parameters you can set it as user and enter the data.

joewaggg,
If hard drive is is undetectable by bios when set as master, but is id'd when set as slave you have a drive problem. And time for replacement or add a new master and continue using it as slave. My personal feelings would be replacement. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[cdogg]

joewaggg,

If it is connected as the "Primary Master" in the Gateway system, then the jumper on the Gateway hard drive would have had to be changed to slave or vice versa. Not to add insult to injury, but you did check the jumper which is located on the back of the hard drive, correct? It doesn't matter what IDE controller you connect it to in the HP system as long as the hard drive is by itself and set to master. Primary or Secondary IDE controller would work.

Sorry if I sound repetitive, but it still sounds like the settings on the drive itself are incorrect. The drive works in one system, but not in the other. I'm just making sure you understand that the settings for master and slave are not in the BIOS and changing any settings here won't help if the jumper is set incorrectly.

 

[zaidoune]

i think that a boot disk is indispensable for running my computer

 

[edfair]

Shouldn't be. Sounds like you have a CMOS , battery, or BIOS problem, where you can't set up the CMOS to match the drive. Probably would install it into another machine long enough to get the drive parameters via autodetect, then reinstall into system using those params. Or at least would try to. This could be M/B problem. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[topscribe]

Just a wild guess, but did you try to see if your HP detected the hard drive WITHOUT the CD connected? The thinking here is that there may be a drive signal conflict between the two. Perhaps not likely, but possible.