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Number   :  1858
Date     :  2002-03-28
Author   :  Kan Yabumoto
Subject  :  Re: "No Operating System" error message
Size(KB) :  2



Hi, Lee:

I assume you are running Win9x system (but you should have
stated that in your message).

My bold guess is that you took liberty to skip the format
step (which is Step #1 in the instruction in XXTB #10
and I do not say you can skip that step).

For some reason, many people skip that step. When you are
to initialize a new hard disk from scratch, it is such a
rare, golden opportunity to initialize the whole volume
including the FAT data and most importantly the boot sector,
I just don't understand why people cut corner here.
The boot sector can be initialized only by the FORMAT
or SYS commands. While XXCOPY transfer the key files
that are essential to make it bootable, (IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS,
etc.), it does not touch the boot sector (it could do so
but we deliberately stay within the bound of what XXCOPY
is supposed to do as a well-behaving, "ordinary" file
management tool).

So, my suggestion for you is to run the SYS command
from a floppy disk (the Windows Setup diskette that
you must have made from Win9x installation step).
If you don't have a Win9x boot diskette, you should
find a Win9x machine and go to

Control_Panel > Add/Remove_Programs > Startup_Disk

and create a start up diskette which contains the SYS.COM
utility. After booting up to the DOS 7.x environment
from the floppy, type

SYS C:

It will reinitialize the boot sector of C: drive
(and it copies the IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS and COMMAND.COM
files which has been copied by XXCOPY in your previous
steps but re-copying does not hurt.)

If you succeed booting into the Windows GUI environment,
I suggest you create the quick boot diskette by
following the article XXTB #32 which is more convenient
than the Startup diskette you made from the Windows
procedure (shown above).

Kan Yabumoto
---------------------------------------------------------------
At 2002-03-27 20:51, coondog2_us wrote:
>Hi,
>I'm in the process of building a new computer and used XXCOPY to
>fdisk, format and finally copy the approx 7.6gb of data on a 40gb HD
>down to a new 20gb HD. I thought I followed the instructions pretty
>decently as it copied 38,000+ files with only 1 failed (win386.swp)
>on the first pass then 6 and 1, and on the fourth pass 1 copy and
>only the 386 swap fail. Did the fdisk /mbr thing and then set up the
>20gb Hd as the primary drive in the existing system I copied from. I
>got the "no operating system" message after the memory test and HD
>detection went fine. I'm at a loss as to what to do next. Any
>suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated!
>Lee



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