Bebi Posted February 24, 2006 #1 Share Posted February 24, 2006 (edited) We're currently refitting my old pc for my son and there are a couple of problems. No1: After installation of Windows the system boots with the message "Operating System not found" No2: On insertion of the XP Professional disc to reformat/repair the following happens. A screen appears with English and Russian text combined, then a black screen comes up with the words "BCDWBIOS: read error" I've tried searching for this phrase on Google; the first attempt in full brought back one result, in Russian. The second attempt using only the word BCDWBIOS gave two entries, again,both in Russian. My husband is currently trying a Linux install to see what happens,and so far it's working fine. I was concerned the hard drive was faulty, but it appears not to be the case as Linux is in mid-installation with no problems (as yet...) Could our copy of XP be the problem? I've never heard of this BCDWBIOS before... Edited February 24, 2006 by Bebi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bebi Posted February 24, 2006 Author #2 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Update! Linux installed successfully but fails to boot. We tried installing Windows ME from the original recovery disc that came with the PC (Norton Ghost copy) and it throws up errors saying it cannot write to a protected disc (?!?!) BIOS has a worrying situation too - there is only one drive mentioned in the primary/secondary devices section, and that is the CD/RW as a Secondary Master. We've tried manually changing the Primary Master from "auto" to the local hard drive, and it says there is 0kb of space on it. I'm reluctant to give this pc up as a bad job because (1) I've promised it to my 8 year old son for his birthday and (2) it was previously used by my non-computer literate brother in law who likes to think he knows it all when it comes to computing (you know the type - they read "Windows for Dummies" and assume they're tech support...) and if I find out it's his doing consider his butt well and truly kicked :angry2: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frenat Posted February 25, 2006 #3 Share Posted February 25, 2006 Try searching for the operating sysstem not found error. There are quite a few things that can cause that. They range from having a non-bootable disk in the floppy drive to bios problems to bad hard drives. Based on your second post, I think it is either a bios or drive problem. Make sure the cables are not loose inside and the drive is jumpered correctly. If possible try another drive to rule out the BIOS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earthchick Posted February 26, 2006 #4 Share Posted February 26, 2006 Have you tried setting the CMOS settings back to default? It does sound to me though like HD is toast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bebi Posted February 26, 2006 Author #5 Share Posted February 26, 2006 (edited) Problem solved! Andy opened it up and found the following: *Hard drive set on secondary slave IDE *DVD reader completely disconnected *CD/RW set on secondary master IDE *Jumpers on all rearranged into interesting patterns that have no use at all *Screws holding hard drive all rounded down *Cables twisted every which way Outcome: Andy's glorious brother was bored one night and downloaded instructions for dismantling a PC and had a go at it... Ooops forgot to add... It all works fine now Andy's set it all back up properly. !00% full working order Edited February 26, 2006 by Bebi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frenat Posted February 26, 2006 #6 Share Posted February 26, 2006 Glad to help. I figured it was either a bad connection or a bad drive. Those were the most likely causes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earthchick Posted February 27, 2006 #7 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Outcome: Andy's glorious brother was bored one night and downloaded instructions for dismantling a PC and had a go at it... Oh boy! You're lucky everything still works!! LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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