HELP, "Operating System not Found" Error

[Emergency]

HELP


I had two partitions in my hard drive. With Partition Magic, I deleted Partition C, because I only wanted Partition D. Now my computer doesn't boot, and I get the error message "Operating System not Found" everytime I restart.

I tried restoring my PC with the manufacturer's Restore CDs, and also tried installing a fresh copy of windows XP with a new XP CD. Apparently my harddrive cannot read from the CD Rom, or is missing the CD Rom drivers. Anyways, I bought a new CD Rom drive to try to fix the problem, but it didn't work. I also bought a new hard drive, and I am still getting the same message.

I need help desperately.

 

[smore9648]

Well to help you with your first issue. You deleted your OS because by default your OS is loaded on C: Thats why you have that error


You need to get to make sure your CDROM configured to boot up from in BIOS.

You will keeping getting that error until you load it correctly

 

[gbhall]

you need an expert friend

I am sorry, you are probably not experienced enough to recover the situation you are in. You will need to find a more expert friend. Quite why you were let loose with a system-level product like partition magic is a poser - like lending a four-year old a shotgun, I suspect.

To start, you enter the bios by pressing any one of a number of keys as you switch it on. Escape, Delete and F2 are the most common. The startup screen will tell you if you can read it quick enough. If you cannot find it, start the PC with the keyboard removed, which is practically a fool-proof way of getting into the bios.

Then find where the bios allows setting of 'boot order' of devices, and get CD-ROM or DVD whichever, to the top. Save the change.

Now reboot with the CD in and it will boot from the CD, and can continue to install from there - if you dare. You did not need a new HD or CD drive to get to this point, but still....at a later date you can add in your old drive, get any important data off it and use it as an image backup for your system.