Operating system not found message after hard drive add-on/upgrade

start system restore again. it will be solved. if not, format and re install operating system.

Sounds like you've got some corrupted files. If you have your Windows disc, try a reinstall/repair or try to drop back to a previous restore point.

If those don't work, you might try to reformat/re-install your software. (backup your data if you can beforehand as reformatting will wipe all data from the drive).

This can even be a hardware problem, like the HD controller bad, which caused the file problem in the first place. Or a virus can cause such issues, which would make reformatting/reinstalling a good idea as well.

Make sure you have a defragment task running every month, if not every week. You can schedule to run at night or during the day, whenever you're not at the computer. If you turn it off when you're not using it, just leave it on that one day (or night) that the defragment needs to run... or start it manually before you go to sleep and unless it's a large drive, it should be done when you get up.

Good Luck!

8^)

Sorry to jump i here, but i had the same problem with a customers machine, and i found the solution o eMachines website....

Error code 0x203 may occur when using eRecovery.

Affected Products: Notebook Computers, Netbooks
Affected Operating Systems: Windows Vista™

ISSUE: Error code 0x203 may occur when using eRecovery.

RESOLUTION: Error code 203 may occur when creating 2nd or 3rd disk with eRecovery

Please click here to download the patch file.
ftp://esupport:[email protected]/pub/hardware_support/drivers/notebook/EC34_EC38/CleanInvalidPatch.zip
Download and unzip the file CleanInvalidPatch.zip. Run the program CleanInvalidPatch.exe Note: Only Vista operating systems are impacted.
Hope this helps. :-)

Hi tracey,

Cause for the NTLDR missing:

1. Computer is booting from a non-bootable source.
2. Computer hard disk drive is not properly setup in BIOS.
3. Corrupt NTLDR and/or NTDETECT.COM file.
4. Misconfiguration with the boot.ini file.
5. Attempting to upgrade from a Windows 95, 98, or ME computer that is using FAT32.
6. New hard disk drive being added.
7. Corrupt boot sector / master boot record.
8. Seriously corrupted version of Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
9. Loose or Faulty IDE/EIDE hard disk drive cable. are

Solutions:

Computer is booting from a non-bootable source


Windows XP users

1. Insert the Windows XP bootable CD into the computer.
2. When prompted to press any key to boot from the CD, press any key.
3. Once in the Windows XP setup menu press the "R" key to repair Windows.
4. Log into your Windows installation by pressing the "1" key and pressing enter.
5. You will then be prompted for your administrator password, enter that password.
6. Copy the below two files to the root directory of the primary hard disk. In the below example we are copying these files from the CD-ROM drive letter, which in this case is "e." This letter may be different on your computer.
   
   copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\
   copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\
   
   
7. Once both of these files have been successfully copied, remove the CD from the computer and reboot.

Misconfiguration with the boot.ini file

Edit the boot.ini on the root directory of the hard disk drive and verify that it is pointing to the correct location of your Windows operating system and that the partitions are properly defined. Additional information about the boot.ini can be found on document CH000492.
Attempting to upgrade from a Windows 95, 98, or ME computer that is using FAT32
If you are getting this error message while you are attempting to upgrade to Windows 2000 or Windows XP from Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows ME running FAT32 please try the below recommendations.

1. Boot the computer with a Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows ME bootable diskette.
2. At the A:\> prompt type:
   
   sys c: <press enter>
   
   
3. After pressing enter you should receive the "System Transferred" message. Once this has been completed remove the floppy diskette and reboot the computer.

New hard disk drive being added

If you are attempting to add a new hard disk drive to the computer make sure that drive is a blank drive. Adding a new hard disk drive to a computer that already has Windows installed on it may cause the NTLDR error to occur.
If you are unsure if the new drive is blank or not try booting from a bootable diskette and format the new hard disk drive.
Corrupt boot sector / master boot record
It's possible your computer's hard disk drive may have a corrupt boot sector and/or master boot record. These can be repaired through the Microsoft Windows Recovery console by running the fixboot and fixmbr commands.
Additional information and help in getting into the Microsoft Windows Recovery console can be found on document CH000627.

Seriously corrupted version of Windows 2000 or Windows XP

If you have tried each of the above recommendations that apply to your situation and you continue to experience this issue it is possible you may have a seriously corrupted version of Microsoft Windows. Therefore we would recommend you reinstall Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
If you are encountering this issue during your setup you may wish to completely erase your computer hard disk drive and all of its existing data and then install Microsoft Windows 2000 / Windows XP. Additional information about erasing the computer and starting over can be found on document CH000186.

Loose or Faulty IDE/EIDE hard disk drive cable
This issue has been known to be caused by a loose or fault IDE/EIDE cable. If the above recommendation does not resolve your issue and your computer hard disk drive is using an IDE or EIDE interface. Verify the computer hard disk drive cable is firmly connected by disconnected and reconnecting the cable.
If the issue continues it is also a possibility that the computer has a faulty cable, try replacing the hard disk drive cable with another cable and/or a new cable.
ENJOY! RATE THIS SOLUTION RNJ VINOD KUMAR

Yes all you have to do is.........

Turn off the Computer
Turn back on and Press F11 repeatedly when the message "Press F11 to start recovery" is displayed.
The recovery will load and display a menu of options:

Full System Restore (with Backup): This options will move all Hard Disk contents to the "c:\My Backup" directory and install a new copy of Windows. This option preserves your existing data files, however all applications and settings will need to be reinstalled. This option requires 4GB of free Hard Disk space for the new OS.

Alway suggest backing up your data before you do any recovery

Hello,

If you only your files to be copied in the other or any storage disk then you can remove the hard disk of your machine and then attached it to the other functional machine. in there you can browse and copy all the important files. after copying all your files then you can take back the hard drive to your non functional machine and then install new operating system. documentation found here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316941

tell me if something wrong with your system when applying the solution.

melnavz

you have to repair the operating system or re-install it

You can add another hard drive, but it won't double your C drive; it will just show up as another hard drive.

However, using a program like Acronis, you can hook up the 2nd hard drive, make an exact image of your c drive on the new drive, then connect the new drive in the old drive's place and there you have added more space on your c drive as it will automatically become the c drive.

Operating system not found? I have got Windows Boot Genius to fix problem safely!