[catlover2]

i just downloaded knoppix 5.1.1 and had been booting from a flash
and sometimes booting win xp
i tried to boot win xp a few minutes ago and it
said missing operating system

i suppose i will continue to use knoppix for now
but i hope to get win xp back asap
thanks!!

[DoubleHelix]

Do you mean you were booting to Knoppix from a flash drive? Are you sure you didn't install anything to your hard drive? Is the computer actually booting from the hard drive? Did you check the boot order in the BIOS?

[catlover2]

all of the above

[catlover2]

bump

[catlover2]

btw i can still look at the contents of the "C:\" (win xp)
drive at hd1,
and there is NO important data on the drive,
that is tucked away on external hard drives....

[catlover2]

bump

[itsjusme]

Try changing the boot order back to boot from your HD first and see if you can get back into windows.

[catlover2]

actually,
that was the first thing i did.

[itsjusme]

Sounds like something got written to the hard drive somehow by accident as DoubleHelix hinted? Look at your boot.ini file and see if it looks normal, or if theres something there associated with Knoppix.

[catlover2]

this is what it says......

boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /noexecute=optout

[itsjusme]

Ok, that looks normal to me. What method did you use to install Knoppix to the flash drive, there are several ways to do this? Did it involve copying anything to the hard drive as mentioned above? Did your method involve using a boot floppy, if so make sure the floppy is not still in the drive, that would cause your error???

If you made a live cd, you can use one of the cheat codes to force Knoppix to run in ram, it`s even faster than the flash drive. At the splash screen boot prompt, type:

knoppix toram

It takes at least 1gig of ram, but it frees up your optical drive and a usb port, you can take the disk out after you get to the desk top. My flash drives always ran extremely hot running from them, running from ram posed no problems.

[catlover2]

i used this:
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/univers...easy-as-1-2-3/

p.s.
the only things connected to my computer now
are the bootable flash drive,the ac adapter, an old logitech cordless mouse,
and comcast internet.

[catlover2]

oops!!
it was this instead!!
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/install...1-using-linux/


ahhhh!
now im all confused!!
it wasn't that either !!

[itsjusme]

Ok, if you followed the instructions properly then this could just be a coincidence. What is the model of the computer? Does it have a cd burner, can you download and burn an .iso image to cd as a bootable disk?
First, take the hard drive out and reinstall it making sure it is seated properly. Sometimes pins and sockets can become oxidized causing problems like this, removing and reinstalling sometimes wipes the contacts clean enough to get it working again. See if it will boot. Since you can see it in Knoppix it should be being seen in the bios, but check just to be sure.
If still no go, download Parted Magic and burn it to cd . Change your boot order and boot from the cd, then use the "Smart Control" utility to test the hard drive. Toshiba isnt alot of help when it comes to diagnostics for their drives, this is supposed to work with their drives. Parted Magic is also a great little OS with lots of useful tools for diagnostics and recovery.

If all checks ok, use the "Partition editor" , which is Gparted. See how many partitions it sees and check to make sure your C:\ is still set as active, it will show up as hda1 and under the "Flags" category it should say "Boot" instead of active.

This problem can also be caused by some virus` and the MBR could have possibly become altered during the flash install if it wasnt done properly. You can fix the mbr, but microsoft recommends running a virus scan first. Although i`ve never had it happen, they say running the fixmbr command can do damage if the problem was caused by a virus.

[catlover2]

i have a toshiba satellite m30x-s191td that i have never dissembled before..
(that is a laptop)

i can burn just about anything: cdr/rw dvdr/rw/dl ect. ect.
yep its seen in the bios all right but if its first in boot order
i still get the good ol' "Missing Operating System" (tried it this morning)
also, an iso of what?