# Operating System Not Found



## kathrynv (Jul 12, 2004)

I have a Packard Bell laptop, it is about 4 years old, and has given me problems for most of that time. I keep getting this message saying *"Operating System Not Found" *

The first time it happened, it was intermittent, sometimes I would turn it on and it just wouldn't boot up, other days it would. I called Packard Bell, as it was still under warranty, and they said that the hard drive must be faulty. I didn't agree with this because it was still booting up about 1 in 3 times I turned it on. Anyway it went off and got a new hard drive, but within 6 months the message was back, and would not go away.

By now the warranty had run out so I decided to take it home to let my dad have a look at it. I turned it on to show him the problem and it booted up. However when I restarted it the message came back. When he opened it up, inside there was a loose screw rattling around which he reckoned may have been causing a short. Since then it has worked fine, until this weekend.

The message came back so I restored the computer from the Master CDs. It was still not 100% normal, as some programs I had loaded onto it previously from CDs wouldn't work, it kept saying there was an error in the setup file. But I figured this was something I could sort out with a bit of effort. Then I moved it from the table it was on, turned it on and the message was back. 

I have been searching the web today for some answers. I am convinced it is not the hard drive, I think there must be something lose or broken inside because moving it seems to make the message appear or go away. Based on other answers I've read I'm thinking it has something to do with either the IDE cable or the CMOS battery, but to be honest I haven't got a clue what these look like or where they would be.  I feel confident to fix the problem myself, but I am reluctant to open it up without some guidance as to what could be wrong.

So if anyone has any ideas or help they can offer me I would be really grateful. It is a Packard Bell Easy-one, and is running Windows Me. Sorry I've rattled on a bit in this message - it's just driving me crazy and its good to get it off my chest!


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## Styxx (Sep 8, 2001)

A IDE cable is the cable that connects the hard drive to the main circuit board, and the CD-ROM to the same place. The BIOS battery (the acronym CMOS is incorrect) would have nothing to do with it. That's just the button battery that runs the clock. You need to ensure the small internal fans are free of dust, use the canned air you can by for loosening dust in computers, not probes like q-tip swabs, to ensure the fan(s) are dust-free. Clogged fans can cause over-heating that will interfere with computer operation.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Actually, the cmos battery could have something to do with it. The computer would forget that it has a hard drive. With a 4 year old system, it certainly can't hurt to replace a $3 battery.


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## darkjedi (Nov 22, 2002)

I got the same problem and I began changing everything, ide cable , cmos battery .I also ran the diagnostics program for the hard drive and the problem did not went away ,until I find out that the motor that spins the hardrive was faulty , when it spined the computer woould boot up correctly and when it didn't I got the massage "operating system not found" , what I believe is happenig to you is that the power supply might faulty which is damaging the spin motor on the drive


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