Vista - operating system not found

my laptop was automatically reboot while while my usb drive inserted, i removed it and press enter, then the error operating system not found appeared, I'll switch it off and on again but the same error was displayed, "operating system not found"

First, use the following steps to determine if the hard drive is being detected in the BIOS:
Before you begin, remove everything (like USB drives, and CD and DVD discs) from the computer and connect only the original mouse, monitor and keyboard.

Turn on the computer and press the F10 key repeatedly at the first screen to enter the BIOS Setup utility.

Verify that a hard drive name is listed from the general screen.


If the hard drive name is listed, refer to the steps in the section Hard drive detected .

If the hard drive name is missing or the text Auto or None is listed, refer to the steps in the section Hard Drive is not detected .

Hard drive is detected

Use the following procedure to repair the file system on the hard drive:
Turn off the computer and wait at least 5 seconds with the computer in a full off state.

Turn on the computer and press the F8 key repeatedly as the computer starts.
An "Advanced Boot Options" screen opens.

Select Repair Your Computer and press Enter .

Select a keyboard layout that matches your country/region and click Next .
When the login prompt appears, select the user name with Administrator rights (not Administrator) from the User Name drop down. The user name with Admistrator rights is most likely the first user name that was entered during the initial computer setup.

Type the logon password into the Password field and then click OK .
NOTE: If you do not know the password, leave the Password field blank and click OK . If you are unable to get past the password window, notify the system administrator for the password or perform a system recovery to restore the system to its previous state.

A System Recovery Options window opens.

Click Startup Repair .
A Startup Repair window opens and automatically scans for startup problems.

Perform the actions suggested by Startup Repair: system restore, correct damaged or missing files, or other action.
NOTE: A window may appear stating that Startup Repair cannot repair this computer automatically. If an Internet connection is active, click Send information about this problem to help Microsoft better understand and react to these issues. Otherwise, continue to the next step.
After Startup Repair has been used, try to open Windows.
If Windows Vista opens, you are done.
If Windows Vista does not open, perform the first portion of this section again to open the Startup Recovery Options window and continue.
From the Starup Recovery Options window, click Command Prompt .
Enter the following at the command prompt:

bootrec /fixboot
Enter the following at the command prompt:
bootrec /fixmbr


After the bootrec tool has been used, close all open Windows to restart the computer and open Windows.
If Windows Vista opens, you are done.

Hard Drive is not detected
Perform the following steps when the hard drive is not detected:

Step 1: Resetting BIOS
First, reset the BIOS to make sure the BIOS settings are correct:
Turn on the computer and press F10 repeatedly to open the BIOS setup screen.
Press the F5 key to reset the default BIOS settings. Use the arrow keys to select Yes or OK and press Enter .

Press the F10 key to save settings and exit. Use the arrow keys to select Yes or OK and press Enter .

Turn off the computer.
Remove the power cord.
Press and hold the power button for five seconds.
Reconnect the power cord and turn on the computer.
If the startup problem is gone, you are done.
If the startup problem still exists, continue to the next section.

Step 2: Disconnecting and reconnecting hard drive cable
Use the following steps to remove and reseat the hard drive cables:
WARNING: The edges of metal panels can cut skin. Be careful not to slide skin along any interior metal edge of the computer.

Remove the side panel by loosening the side panel screws and sliding the panel to the back of the computer.

Find the power cable connected to the hard drive. Disconnect and reconnect the power cable.
IDE power and data cable location Serial ATA (SATA) power and data cable location

Find the IDE or SATA data cable connection to the hard drive. Disconnect and reconnect the IDE or SATA data cable from the hard drive.
Find the IDE or SATA data cable connection on the motherboard. Disconnect and reconnect the IDE or SATA data cable from the socket on the motherboard.
Replace the side panel.
Plug the power cable back into the computer.
Turn on the computer and wait to see if the startup problem still exists:
If the problem has been resolved, you are finished.
If the problem still exists try the following, depending on whether or not the hard drive is IDE or SATA:

IDE : Make sure the jumper setting and cable connections are correct. For more information refer to Jumper Settings for the Installation of IDE Hard Disks and CD, CDRW, and DVD Drives

SATA : Try a different SATA connection on the motherboard.
If the startup problem still exists, replace the hard drive.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

thanks nate, I've tried what you've told me. I switch on my laptop and press F10 repeatedly but the bios set up did not appear, instead operating system not found appears, below the screen i only see two options F2 for set up, F12 for multiboot selection menu...what should I do? thanks

Sounds like in your case press F2 and see the "setup". See if the hard drive is even there. The setup should be the boot order. That will tell you if the hard drive is detected and that will be a good place to start. Then you can go with those instructions. They are for an HP desktop but the idea is the same.

It also may be a USB issue from what yo described. Go to the device manager and see if you have any yellow warnings anywhere in the device manager.

Hey Nate, close but not quite. Setup is BIOS in his case. (I don't know why)

Your massive text blob up above was also not entirely accurate. You only need to hit F2 once when you get to the screen
Also, its reset CMOS, not BIOS, and you can do this through a jumper on the Mobo (some have a button) or the way described above.
For the repair, you will need a Vista disk to repair the OS.
Other than those few errors, good job.


Here is what I think happened. The mobo tried to boot from the flash drive, and set that as the default boot, or screwed up the Vista partition.
To fix this:
Boot into BIOS. If the HDD is listed there, then go into BOOT settings and select Boot order. Place your HDD first on the list. If the HDD is not there, look for a HDD order (or something) which just has HDD's in it, and place your HDD first. Then save and exit. Restart, and it should work.
If the HDD is not listed, then that is a problem. Put in a Vista DVD and reboot. Click install (or repair) Vista and see if the HDD and partition is listed there. If not, then your mobo is not reading your HDD. This is where you open your Case and make sure that it is connected. If it is, then it could have gone bad. You would need to try it in another computer or take it in somewhere (Like bestbuy or Frys) and have it tested. If it works in another computer, then your mobo could be bad. Since this is a laptop, this could be difficult.

Let us know how it works out.

~Lordbob

Hahaha Thanks Lord of Bobs. I copied it from my HP site......I'm trying. I want to help these guys. I have had so much help here. I want to give back. Thanks for the correction.

hi nate, i'm almost there, I tried again the process and it works, when i switch on my laptop the windows open and ask me some options like what normally pops up when you did not properly close your pc, it ask me if I will start normally, then I just click start normally, another window pops up saying that the system was stop to prevent further damage cause by maybe virus or something, nd advice me to run chkdsk /f, so i repeat the process switch off and on but again operating system not found pops up, and one more thing during the process i press F2 then I found my HDD name, but the next time i did the same i was not there anymore....I'm getting crazy with this.....plsss help me guys....

You may try switching SATA ports on the mother board if you have more. Like Lordbob said..it might be a bad MOBO. If you have another port....try to plug you HD into it and see if that works. Good luck.

No problem Nate, we are all here to help. And we are all here to learn.

Doodski: What process? What exactly did you do, and what happened? A little more info would help a great deal.

Also, it does sound as if the mobo, or the connector is bad. You could take it in to Fry's or GeekSquad and have them look at it. Though I don't trust GeekSquad...

~Lordbob

wouldn't the easiest thing to do first was to enter multiboot (f12) and see if he could in deed boot from the internal hdd? he could have had his bios set up to boot from something either than the hdd first (cdrom, external)--maybe. that has happened to me before--if i have the bios set up to boot from something other than the primary hdd first, and i accidentally leave an external hdd plugged in, then i will get a "cannot find operating system" message. so i have to reboot into bios, select to boot from primary hdd, remove the external, and all is good. try the easiest route first.