Compaq Presario That Doesn't Startup (1 Viewer)

[Chuck C]

my roomate's computer gives a message 'operating system not found on any devices. press any key'

compaq boot CD does not work

any ideas what's up?

computer just shut off while he was doing work

 

[JamesHl]

Sounds like it can't boot from the cd for some reason, and can't boot from the hdd for some reason. Make sure that the system is recognizing your drives.

If it shut off while he was working and has come back up like that, I would be willing to bet it's some kind of catastrophic failure.

 

[Chuck C]

catastrophic was also my conclusion...corrupted hd, short on the motherboard, terrible virus. either way, we might be throwing it off the ledge tomorrow.

 

[Cary_H]

When powered up from shutdown it still posts, right??
What beeps are you getting?

 

[Chuck C]

cary:

COMPAQ logo for 25 seconds. then 'operating system not found on any devices. press any key to try again' no beeps.

 

[Cary_H]

If all the pieces are seated/connected as they should be and it isn't giving you anything post-wise, it points to something at the top of the chain, that is, the power supply, CPU, or motherboard has gone south.
Why you even get anything coming up on your monitor has me puzzled though.

 

[John_Berger]

I've had this happen.

I would wager that it's a failure of the IDE controller or the BIOS/CMOS, but I'd put much more weight on the IDE controller.

The reason for this is that CD-ROMs are immune from virii due to their read-only nature. A CD cannot be modified, therefore a virus can't change it's boot block. Although it's not impossible that a virus corrupted the boot block on the hard drive, it is impossible for the CD to be affected. That rules out a virus for the most part.

It could be that the CMOS/BIOS has become corrupted and therefore is making improper boot sequence calls to the IDE controller, which obviously are being rejected. I would get on Compaq's site from another system, download the newest CMOS/BIOS upgrade and install it. I think that you'll have a better chance of hitting the lottery than this would fix the problem, but it's still a possibility.

Seriously, though. I've had this happen to me before, exactly what you're describing. I'd bet that your IDE controller has died for whatever reason. Unfortunately, there's no way to get it replaced without switching out the entire motherboard.

 

[Chuck C]

thanks you guys...ya, it's an old unkempt system...guess it was only a matter of time. I'll let my poor housemate know what's up.