"Operating system wasn't found" DELL XPS 420

mattburley

New Member
Messages
2
I have a Dell XPS 420 and I've just bought an SSD for it. Every time I boot the machine I see "Operating system wasn't found" now, despite having booted into Windows successfully just before.

The only change I made was connecting a standard SATA 2TB drive - which it boots into fine - but now when I have removed the 2TB drive I cannot boot onto the SSD.

Any suggestions? Thanks!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8
Hi there

a) Is the machine UEFI or not
b) how did you copy the OS on to the SSD.
c) How are the disks formatted - MBR or GPT.
d) (Should really be at the top so question -z !!) what OS are you using.

Usually with these computers there's a BOOT menu you can get to from the BIOS - you don't need to go into the full BIOS - there's often something like ALT + F9 to get into a boot menu. Here there's often more disks than you will see in the BIOS settings -- you'll see things like UEFI file.

As a starter try and insert a windows install / recovery disk -boot from that and choose REPAIR windows. If you don't have a dvd device there's plenty of ways of writing the install / recovery system to a USB.

We need more info before proceeding here.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
Hi there

a) Is the machine UEFI or not
b) how did you copy the OS on to the SSD.
c) How are the disks formatted - MBR or GPT.
d) (Should really be at the top so question -z !!) what OS are you using.

Usually with these computers there's a BOOT menu you can get to from the BIOS - you don't need to go into the full BIOS - there's often something like ALT + F9 to get into a boot menu. Here there's often more disks than you will see in the BIOS settings -- you'll see things like UEFI file.

As a starter try and insert a windows install / recovery disk -boot from that and choose REPAIR windows. If you don't have a dvd device there's plenty of ways of writing the install / recovery system to a USB.

We need more info before proceeding here.

Cheers
jimbo

Cheers Jimbo. It looks like it was formatted as GPT. With a bit of assistance I've done it MBR. Cheers for your time though - it's really appreciated!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8
Jimbo's the best!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built Intel i7-3770k-based system
    CPU
    Intel i7-3770k, Overclocked to 4.6GHz (46x100) with Corsair H110i GT cooler
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 OC Formula 2.30 BIOS
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 2133 Corsair Vengeance Pro
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 980ti SC ACS 6GB DDR5 by EVGA
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, Corsair SP2500 speakers and subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 27EA33 [Monitor] (27.2"vis) HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (system drive)
    WD 6TB Red NAS hard drives x 2 in Storage Spaces (redundancy)
    PSU
    Corsair 750ax fully modular power supply with sleeved cables
    Case
    Corsair Air 540 with 7 x 140mm fans on front, rear and top panels
    Cooling
    Corsair H110i GT liquid cooled CPU with 4 x 140" Corsair SP "push-pull" and 3 x 140mm fans
    Keyboard
    Thermaltake Poseidon Z illuminated keyboard
    Mouse
    Corsair M65 wired
    Internet Speed
    85MBps DSL
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, MalwareBytes Pro and CCleaner Pro
    Other Info
    Client of Windows Server 2012 R2 10 PC's, laptops and smartphones on the WLAN.

    1GBps Ethernet ports
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