In This Issue ...

Editor's ViewPoint
The MailBag
Featured Articles
Product Spotlight
Tip Of The Week
Download Of The Week
 

Editor's ViewPoint

In case you haven't heard, Apple is coming up with an Intel based iMac and MacBook. The preliminary views from industry experts is that while these units look really good (the machines come with a remote control, media player front end, widescreen monitor), Apple will need to do a little more than that if they really want to gain market share.

And here's another nice news clip: PC monitor shipments will hit 155 million units in 2006, with LCD monitor shipments reaching 125 million units for an 80% share of the market, according to a forecast from DisplayBank. LCD monitor shipments are expected to increase 19% this year, while CRT shipments should drop 31%. I think its goodbye to CRT monitors very soon ...

And yes, your feedback has been heard! Many of you have dropped me a note saying how great it would be to have a 'little book' consolidating all the tips given in the website. I'll proceed to do just that. So stay tuned - I'll keep you updated. As always, drop me a note to give me comments!

Gary Hendricks
Build-Your-Own-Computers.com Editor

The MailBag

How To Deal with the "Missing Operating System" error

Question: I started up my computer and it gives me an error message “Missing Operating System.” What do I do?

Rick, United States

Answer: This is certainly one of the most terrifying error messages that one will ever see. It’s a hardware error message that comes from the chipset, though it could also be a boot loader message. Basically, it means that no operating system is on disk to load. Oh no!

Well, there are many things you can do, however:

• Boot from a bootable CD: For example, your computer may have come with a recovery disk, or you may have another bootable Windows CD. If so, try to start the computer with it. Again, this technique confirms that the computer is working fine; the problem may only be with the hard drive.
   
• Use an emergency boot disk: Windows used to have a tool for making such a recovery disk, but because Windows XP is so huge, it doesn’t fit on a floppy disk any more. Instead, you can still find emergency boot disks or CDs with some of your utility programs. For example, Norton Utilities comes with an emergency boot disk that you can use to start the computer and, hopefully, make some repairs.
   
• Reinstall your computer system: The final step, which is most drastic and terrible, is to merely start over and attempt a full system recovery. Most PCs come with a recovery CD, which you can use to reinstall basic system software and return your computer to the same state it was in when you took it out of the box.

I wish that I had better news on this error message. Generally speaking, the only way your operating system (Windows) can disappear and go for a powder is if you have somehow messed with it. This situation can happen if you attempt to modify or change the hard drive’s partition tables, boot sector, or master boot record or, well, if you just up and delete all of Windows.

Featured Articles

Basics of Personal Computer Hardware
The personal computer (PC) is one complex piece of machinery. Its made up of many individual components that will baffle the uninitiated. To learn about PCs, one has to have a desire to learn ... read more

How to Choose a CPU
Are you baffled by the range of CPUs in the market today? Processors from AMD and Intel come in so many shapes and sizes (Athlon, Celeron, Pentium, and what have you), it is very hard to ... read more

Top 5 AMD Athlon Motherboards
Many computer enthusiasts like Athlon motherboards. They're cheaper compared to Intel boards and offer exceptional performance. Just look at the power of the latest NVIDIA nForce2 chipset ... read more