I am trying to fix my landlady's computer right now.......it's an ancient Windows 98 machine that gives the following two errors: "Ultra66 BIOS not installed" and "Operating system not found." I found her Windows 98 installation disc and put it into the comptuer, hoping to run W98 off of the CD. Unfortunately, when I tried to do so, I got a message saying "This computer has no hard disk."

I tried to Google the issue and it seems as if the hard drive is dead, which doesn't surprise me given this computer is probably over 10 years old. I still don't know a lot of specifics when it comes to this sort of thing, so I'm wondering if anybody on here possibly had more experience with this and tell me if there is anything I could do to help her.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

9/19/2010 5:49:14 PM

Sounds like a motherboard.

And we can only hope so - it's time for a new PC.

[Edited on September 19, 2010 at 6:35 PM. Reason : Try a linux live cd, at least you'll know if it's the mobo or the drive.]

9/19/2010 6:35:06 PM

Actually, it sounds very much like every indicator I've ever seen for a failed hard drive. The advice to try a Linux Live CD is sound enough and worth a short try.

And yes, honestly, it's not worth trying to fix that computer unless she just needs to get information off of it. Tell her she it's dead and she can buy a new desktop (or netbook) for about $200-300 that will be FAR better than what just died.

9/19/2010 8:47:56 PM

buy an enclosure or USB-IDE adapter so you can check the hard drive on a different computer

9/20/2010 7:57:27 AM