laptop help required

[chubbs111]

hi guys the wifes old laptop (ibm think pad)when powered up says exiting media unable to find operating system its running xp but we dont have any back up discs can anyone help please

 

[pawnie]

You say old but how old?

 

[chubbs111]

You say old but how old?

its an ibm tinkpad t41 prob about 10 years old

 

[balge]

Hi
try a repair install, you will need an XP disk of the same version and Service Pack you have installed

How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP


If it's ten years old it's unlikely to be SATA so probably a boot.ini problem
fyi - Additional information and help with the boot.ini.

 

[pawnie]

If its ten yrs old. May not need boot disks will have a recovery mode maybe. When you initially turn on lappy does it say anything leading you to hit a button for recovery?

 

[Dieselman]

Is it searching the hard drive or another drive?

 

[chubbs111]

not very clued up on laptops but when switched on it says searching then it says operating system not found but it keeps searching

 

[Dieselman]

You need to check the BIOS to see which drive is being searched.

 

[balge]

not very clued up on laptops but when switched on it says searching then it says operating system not found but it keeps searching

"Operating System Not Found" or "Missing operating system" error message when you start your Windows XP-based computer"

"Operating System Not Found" or "Missing operating system" error message when you start your Windows XP-based computer

 

[wilsodg]

You have some kind of problem with the hard disk - either it has failed, or the connection is bad. Most likely the former, since the connectors on TP disks is good.
T4x were fitted with IDE drives (not so easy to come by these days but a few around).
Press the blue "Thinkpad" or "Access IBM" or similar button when you first boot it. You will be presented some options - go to BIOS is one, and you will be able to see if it is detecting the disk. I recall F11 takes you to a recovery options screen.. A recovery CD was available from IBM as a spare part, but I doubt it now.

Have a look here.. How to use the pre-boot service partition to recover your software


Worst case is that you'll have to pop a new disk in and re-install windows.
T4x were probably the best Thinkpads ever made (last of the true IBM ones) so worth keeping it if you can.