computer won't boot, no operating system found

dsperber said:

Again, I really would like to see a screenshot of your hard drive, taken when running standalone Partition Wizard from its boot CD (assuming you have a second computer you can burn that CD to, ..............

Downloading it now. Hopefully it is able to see something.

MonkeeMadness said:

dsperber said:

Again, I really would like to see a screenshot of your hard drive, taken when running standalone Partition Wizard from its boot CD (assuming you have a second computer you can burn that CD to, ..............

Downloading it now. Hopefully it is able to see something.

i get this error message this bootable CD does not support windows server

i tried the first 2 options same error, should i try the third?
Boot from PW boot disc
Boot from PW Boot Disc (safe mode)
Boot from local drive

I don't understand what that could mean... unless the hard drive contains Windows Server? Can't begin to imagine what it's coming from, assuming you downloaded the 8.1.1 ISO for the standalone bootable CD from the PW site and burned it, and assuming you were truly booting from that CD as it appears you were.

Although it should produce the same ISO download, here's another link from the PW web site that should produce the same ordinary bootable CD (it's a Linux boot disc I believe, but the launched program is the standard PW program). Just something else to try, although I would think it's going to produce the same burned bootable 8.1.1 CD.

dsperber said:

I don't understand what that could mean... unless the hard drive contains Windows Server? Can't begin to imagine what it's coming from, assuming you downloaded the 8.1.1 ISO for the standalone bootable CD from the PW site and burned it, and assuming you were truly booting from that CD as it appears you were.

Although it should produce the same ISO download, here's another link from the PW web site that should produce the same ordinary bootable CD (it's a Linux boot disc I believe, but the launched program is the standard PW program). Just something else to try, although I would think it's going to produce the same burned bootable 8.1.1 CD.

downloading the other one now, this one is an exe file, will it still work? Also should i try the 3rd option?

MonkeeMadness said:

downloading the other one now, this one is an exe file, will it still work?

At the bottom of that page, there was a link for the "bootable CD". It is a link to the ISO. Don't know what you downloaded that produced an EXE.

Also should i try the 3rd option?

No, you've already said the hard drive is unbootable.

Try re-burning this link above, to the ISO. But if when you then use it, if after all the Linux boot messages are finished and you're then supposed to see the launched PW user interface window on your screen, if instead you get the same message about Windows Server (meaning PW is not happy with the hard drive's format or content), I would suspect something very strange (or nothing at all!) is currently on your laptop's hard drive. How did it get there?? Don't know.

(gotta run out for a while. Be back later.)

dsperber said:

MonkeeMadness said:

downloading the other one now, this one is an exe file, will it still work?

At the bottom of that page, there was a link for the "bootable CD". It is a link to the ISO. Don't know what you downloaded that produced an EXE.

Also should i try the 3rd option?

No, you've already said the hard drive is unbootable.

Try re-burning this link above, to the ISO. But if when you then use it, if after all the Linux boot messages are finished and you're then supposed to see the launched PW user interface window on your screen, if instead you get the same message about Windows Server (meaning PW is not happy with the hard drive's format or content), I would suspect something very strange (or nothing at all!) is currently on your laptop's hard drive. How did it get there?? Don't know.

downloaded the second one, i get the same error. I will order the SATA to USB you suggested and give that a try.... i will post my findings once i get it .. meanwhile, thank you for your help. I will keep you posted.

MonkeeMadness said:

downloaded the second one, i get the same error. I will order the SATA to USB you suggested and give that a try.... i will post my findings once i get it

Well, given the results from PW standalone which apparently can't read the drive via the machine's BIOS, and as was already mentioned the fact that the BIOS sees it as having 0GB capacity (shown in your screenshot), it really sounds like the drive itself has had a "catastrophic failure" making it completely unusable.

So while it's always a great convenience to have that SATA-to-USB adapter kit in your bag of tricks (so as to always feel you can most likely salvage the contents of a still-working and still-usable drive through a second computer, even if the rest of the first computer becomes useless and the working drive is all you have left), I'm afraid I'm pessimistic. So far all of the diagnostic clues point to a drive whose electronics are no longer functioning workably no matter through the BIOS or via external hardware adapter kit. But... fingers crossed. Realistically, however, I'm not optimistic.

While there are external data recovery services available to salvage data off of the disc platters, if it comes to that, my investigation has found them to be RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE, assuming they can be successful. I would think these situations can only be justified in extreme cases of truly valuable or priceless data which must absolutely be recovered at any cost.

Looking grim right now, I'm afraid.

Hi MonkeeMadness,

Before you take out the HDD from the laptop, please try to access the drive from a live Linux pendrive to check whether it can access the drive. Follow the post here Is there any way of saving a completely unrecognisable hard drive?

If it still fails to find your drive:

You seem to have a Seagate drive. Run Seagate Seatools for DOS and check your drive. It can also repair the drive if possible. SeaTools for DOS and Windows - How to Use

Rufus: Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

Lucid Puppy (Ubuntu Compatible Build) 5.2.8 ISO from Long-Term-Supported WaryPuppy (LTS)