My screen says "no operating system found" when turning on my laptop

[Rapid Fire]

I was given a compaq presario 1692 laptop that was put in a truck and moved around alot, now when i start the laptop it shows the startup "compaq" across the screen but then it shows a underscore line and it says "operating system not found". Could someone help me try to figure out what i need to fix or what i need.

 

[John]

Go into the BIOS and see if the hard drive is recognized. Most likely it's not so you may need to have the drive tested, or you can slap a new one in and load an OS or run the recovery cd's on it.

 

[Rapid Fire]

sorry, i am not that familiar with computers how do i get to bios and what is OS?

 

[pkme2]

BIOS is basic input operating system

Link to BIOS Click on link.

OS is operating system like Windows.....

 

[Bill Kunert]

Originally posted by: Rapid Fire
sorry, i am not that familiar with computers how do i get to bios and what is OS?

I'm not trying to be unkind or a wise guy, but how does somebody log over 450 posts on this board and have a heatware rating and not know what a bios or operating system is?
Reading posts on this board will give you a certain amount of knowledge. If I'm out of line, I apologize, but it just seemed incongruous.

Bill

 

[pcgeek11]

BIOS basic input/output system of your computer, commonly known as the BIOS (pronounced "bye-ose"). On virtually every computer available, the BIOS makes sure all the other chips, hard drives, ports and CPU function together.

 

[Rapid Fire]

Originally posted by: Bill Kunert

Originally posted by: Rapid Fire
sorry, i am not that familiar with computers how do i get to bios and what is OS?

I'm not trying to be unkind or a wise guy, but how does somebody log over 450 posts on this board and have a heatware rating and not know what a bios or operating system is?
Reading posts on this board will give you a certain amount of knowledge. If I'm out of line, I apologize, but it just seemed incongruous.

Bill

mostly all my posts are in fs/wtb, i dont browse this site much because i dont have the time.

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: Bill Kunert

Originally posted by: Rapid Fire
sorry, i am not that familiar with computers how do i get to bios and what is OS?

I'm not trying to be unkind or a wise guy, but how does somebody log over 450 posts on this board and have a heatware rating and not know what a bios or operating system is?
Reading posts on this board will give you a certain amount of knowledge. If I'm out of line, I apologize, but it just seemed incongruous.

Bill

I was thinking the exact same thing. Regardless, if the OP has questions, I'll still answer them.

While we're on it: 7 years and only 233 posts?! Nice.