Page 1 of Problem installing Windows

My sister recently gave me her computer which she was having troubles with, as I said I`d take a look at it. The problem came about when she tried to add additional memory from an old computer, which led to the whole system screwing up. When I start the computer I`m told `Operating System not found`, but the problem is I`ve no way of actually installing Windows because for some reason it`s not booting up from the A: drive. Is there anyway at all I can get into DOS to format the computer? I have another memory for it also, which is screwed too because of a fault which occurred half way through a Windows XP installation, so now when I try booting up with that it continues with Windows XP setup & I get this same blue screen error. Isn`t there anything I can do in setup which may help?

Feedback would be really appreciated!

Just curious - why are you needing the `A:` drive? Can you not just boot directly from the XP CD?

Hi Jason,

It sound like a BIOS problem. When you boot up their should be a screen that list how much memnory the system has and what Hard drives are connected along with and CD Drives. Dose the PC see anything?

If not, then you will have to check that the BIOS is set up correctly. Useually you can get into the BIOS settings by hitting the Delete key during the boot-up sequence. You can then check the system has the correct settings for Hard Drive and Floppy drive.

Also the problem couls be to do with the extra memory added, try removing it and see what happens.

If you not sure what to look for then go look at this site http://www.legge40.freeserve.co.uk/BuyerBeware.htm which has a lot of info about everything PC, very usefull for beginers and "experts" alike.


Nick D.I.Y.

PS. forgive the typos, this ain`t word so I miss things....

Nick DIY

Chris - I`ve tried installing Win XP & got half way through the installation & which point I got a blue screen error. So I`ve tried to install 98, which of course requires a boot-up disk, but for some reason it`s not recognising it.

Nick - I do get the list, and directly from that it sends me to a black screen with `No Operating System found` I`ve only got one memory in at once, as I said the problem occured when she tried to add the additonal one from an older computer.

if you have put in memory from an old computer it may not have been compatible with your other one, i`d take the old memory out and retry and see what happens

I got a BSOD when reinstalling W2K recently, the answer was to disconnect the CD writer while the install was in progress.

"Great chunks of my past detaching themselves like melting icebergs"

OK Jason,

Try a new boot disk, you can get a nice fresh image from [url]www.bootdisk.com/[url] of any OS you like.

Also can you tell us a bit more about the pc e.g. cpu, mother board, memory type/size etc


Nick DIY

oooerrr... I`ll get the hang of this key-board one day...boot disk link BOOTDISK`s

Nick DIY

errrr!!!!!!!!!!!! Bootdisk