"Error loading operating system"

[-Ever-]

Hey guys-

My brother's hard disk went out on his Dell so I'm installing an older 45 gig IBM of mine for him. I took his out, put mine in, and booted up. I was prompted to install a boot disk, so I put in the XP disk. I created a partition and formatted the drive. At 99%, it seemingly froze as I could hear the HDD making repetitve noises as if it was searching or lost...
After 10 minutes of this, I turned it off figuring everything would be ready or that I would start over. Now, after a Dell opening screen (no POST or Bios option), it says "error loading operating system". I've never worked with a Dell before but have they somehow enabled Bios manipulation? I unplugged the drive and everything worked fine and it loaded the XP install startup but obviously couldn't locate a drive.
What next?
Thanks
-Tim

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by -Ever-
Hey guys-

My brother's hard disk went out on his Dell so I'm installing an older 45 gig IBM of mine for him. I took his out, put mine in, and booted up. I was prompted to install a boot disk, so I put in the XP disk. I created a partition and formatted the drive. At 99%, it seemingly froze as I could hear the HDD making repetitve noises as if it was searching or lost...
After 10 minutes of this, I turned it off figuring everything would be ready or that I would start over. Now, after a Dell opening screen (no POST or Bios option), it says "error loading operating system". I've never worked with a Dell before but have they somehow enabled Bios manipulation? I unplugged the drive and everything worked fine and it loaded the XP install startup but obviously couldn't locate a drive.
What next?
Thanks
-Tim

press F2 to get into the BIOS on a Dell.

Well, try reseating everything in the case, putting your drive back in, booting from the XP CD again, and reformatting...it may have been a fluke.

Check the BIOS options to make sure everything looks normal first though.

 

[-Ever-]

Cool, thanks for the quick reply. However won't it just do the same thing again? I would love to reformat but it just freezes on this screen and I'm not even sure what BIOS would help me do...maybe change the boot sequence.
Thx
-T

 

[BlindedByScience]

Two thoughts;

- Download and run the drive diagnostics that the drive manufacturer's have. Most create self booting floppy's so you don't need an installed OS to run the tests. Go no further unless you get a clean bill of health.

- Download and run Memtest86 to make sure your RAM is alive and kicking....without errors.

Start there - good luck.

B.B.S.

 

[-Ever-]

Thanks for the quick help guys. I was able to get into Bios with F2 (never used F2 for it before) and set it up to boot from CD because it changed itself to HDD during the setup. Everything is up and running now I knew I could count on you!
-T

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by -Ever-
Thanks for the quick help guys. I was able to get into Bios with F2 (never used F2 for it before) and set it up to boot from CD because it changed itself to HDD during the setup. Everything is up and running now I knew I could count on you!
-T

glad to hear it's working.
tell your brother to get ready for the huge performance boost that will result by NOT having the OS pre-installed by Dell.

You ARE using a plain XP disk, right? NOT the one that came with the Dell? I don't trust those slippery OEM disks...never know HOW they managed to break windows.

 

[-Ever-]

I actually did use the copy that came with it, and I already see an 'infiltration' as there's an unremoveable Dell button in the start menu... lol