The computer does not boot into the operating system and displays "Operating System not found."

Remove the HDD and test. It sounds like your HDD is gone. Can you get to the Boot Menu? Do a System Restore? Is the HDD LED blinking at boot? Will it boot to safe mode? Your data may be in jeopardy.

Just format your Laptop because your operating system is damage.Install another Operating System that's all.

hi goodner,

getting the error "operating system not found" means that the hard drive where the Operating System is installed (i.e. Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7), Cannot be found by you BIOS upon the boot sequence.

When you turn the PC/Laptop, you normal see a screen that flashes flashes with screen that displays the ff:

Primary Master:
Primary Slave:
Secondary Master:
Secondary Slave:

The Primary master should have a value right next to it. If not, either the hard drive is faulty and needs replacement, cable is loose,

If you have a value to it and stil gets the same error the operating is corrupted and needs to be re-installed.

if the hard drive has been completely erased then you will need to boot from a windows disc and re-install windows on it.

have you tried re-installing the operating system?if not try it.good luck

reformat HDD reload OS; i.e. windows then restart
your computer is saying that the hard drive can no longer find the operating system as it is corrupted

Hi tony prother,

"Boot From AHCI CD ROM: Operating System not found" error is because the system is booting the CDROM of the system and its not detecting an installed Operating System. You need to check if the system still detects the Hard Drive of your laptop on the Bios page. To go to BIOS reboot the computer and tap F2 on the system and on the bios page check if the hard drive is detected then go to then BOOT Tab select the hard drive as the first boot priority and reboot the system.

If the hard drive is not detected it might be damage, you can get intouch to a local tech to check and backup the files.

Thanks for using Fixya.

When you "boot" your computer, it tries to read from all the "bootable" devices:
* diskette
* CD/DVD
* disk-drive
* USB memory-stick

for which the BIOS SETUP has listed as "bootable" devices.

If it cannot read the "boot" information from _ANY_ of those devices, it reports "operating system not found".

So, enter BIOS SETUP, and ensure that your disk-drive *IS* "detected" (i.e., not "dead")
and that it is "enabled" as one of the boot-devices.

The most-likely (and most-disasterous) cause is that your disk-drive has "died",
and the Windows operating system could not be read from the device.

Take your computer to a qualified technician, for professional trouble-shooting.
If you have the original "System Restore" set of CDs, take them, too.

If the sound you are referring to is a clicking sound, then it is a hard drive failure.
Your computer is trying to boot up the operating system from the hard drive, but when it fails to access the hard drive, it tries to boot up from other devices configured on the BIOS. Apparently, your next choice for booting the operating system is set to the LAN card. Hence, you get the message "PXE-E61 Media test failure", which means that the computer tried to boot up the operating system over the network but it found out that your network cable is not connected to your computer's network interface card.

your operating system wasn't found because kill disk wipes your hard drive clean.
You have to re-install your operating system, all the drivers, and any programs that you might want in your computer.
Boot into the BIOS (tapping the delete key during initial boot-up should get you there, or follow any instructions on the bottom of your POST screen to get into "set-up") and make sure your DVD/CD drive is the first boot option, then put your operating system disc in the drive, and re-boot...the drive should read your CD, and boot from there.