Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

Have a dell insperian laptop lost operating system

Jul 27, 2014 3:56AM PDT

will not reconize recovery discs help.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
What about the onboard factory reset?
Jul 27, 2014 4:07AM PDT

Usually in control panel.

Dafydd.

- Collapse -
Answer
Re: recovery
Jul 27, 2014 4:23AM PDT

Can you tell what exactly you do and what exactly happens? That would be much more informative that saying what it does NOT do (recognise the discs).

There's no ctrl-F11 recovery for this model?

Kees

- Collapse -
And ...
Jul 27, 2014 4:24AM PDT

how did the OS get lost?

Kees

- Collapse -
this is what happens
Jul 27, 2014 8:14AM PDT

starts to boot up then goes to missing operating system. there is no safe mode. when i put in recovery disc i get that there is no room on the hard drive. when i put in the windows 7 disc i can try to repair. i get to the part where i can look at the hard drive and I see that there is plenty of room . I tried to copy an ISO to a disc but I cannot get it to load. computer is booting fine and set up show no errors.I apperciate your help

- Collapse -
Copy an ISO to a disc? That's not going to load.
Jul 27, 2014 8:20AM PDT

The ISO is a file. You could create a bootable DVD from it but many download some ISO from the web then discover all the troubles with that. I'm going to skip how to use an ISO here and wait for you to reveal where it came from since if not from Dell, you may be jumping into a vat of burning oil.

What you want is the recovery media.

If you do have such as there is no space on the HDD it's possible someone was trying out Linux. If so you go get GPARTED to remove all the partitions from the HDD (yup, we are going to start fresh) and then the recovery will partition as need be.
Bob

- Collapse -
recovery disc
Jul 28, 2014 1:26AM PDT

I have the dell recovery disc but the system says not enough hard drive space ive tried both recovery and repair.

- Collapse -
(NT) Then do what folk wrote about GPARTED next.
Jul 28, 2014 1:36AM PDT
- Collapse -
Re: discs
Jul 27, 2014 4:44PM PDT

You're rather unclear.
- "when I put in the recovery disc i get that there is no room on the hard drive". Recovery discs are meant to boot from and then a lot happens before they give this unlikely message.
- "i get to the part ... and see there is plenty of room". And after that?
- "an ISO". What ISO and how did you copy it to a disc?

So I agree with James, more or less. Erase everything on the disk (using a GPARTED boot disk) and then use the recovery discs.

Kees

- Collapse -
Answer
lost
Jul 27, 2014 8:15AM PDT

Im thinking germlins.. no idea just booted up and it said missing operatin system. there is no safe mode in the dell i have tried all the easy things looking for the one solution that will get this baby working again.

- Collapse -
you can boot to this
Jul 27, 2014 1:19PM PDT
Linux help disc.

It boots to a fully operational operating system without a need to install it, in order to use it.
It has tools you can use to check the drive and system out. It's cheap to buy and have on hand, don't have to worry about burning an ISO image yourself. It has a file manager that is intuitive and easy to use. It can help you back up your personal files you wish to save such as photographs, documents and so forth from your My Documents area (which would actually be in Documents and Settings under your username). I sure wouldn't try anything else until I had all my files backed up first.

Also consider having a computer savvy friend help you with this. Here's what you want to do in order.

1) Boot to the Linux Mint 17 DVD (if you have only a CD drive, I'd need to suggest an alternative)

2) This will allow you to find and back up all your files you want to save to external data device like USB flashdrive of sufficient size or USB hard drive.

3) Once this is done, some tools on the Linux DVD can be used to take a look at the drive to see
a) how it's partitioned
b) sizes of the partitions
c) amount of data in each partition

4) A determination on whether the current operating system remains or can be rescued and steps taken to do that if advisable. Otherwise a reloading of the entire system.

5) If it turns out you don't have the restore and installation discs you need from your manufacturer, or were supposed to create them after purchase and failed to do so. At least you'll be able then to load the Linux system for the interim and use it instead.
- Collapse -
Answer
Missing Details
Jul 27, 2014 11:29PM PDT

There are some missing details here. There should be a recovery partition on the system so if you bring up the prompt for where you'd enter safe mode, there should be an option for system recovery. I forget the exact verbiage, but it should be along those lines.

Another option is to use the one-time boot menu, which is F12 at boot for Dell. There should be a recovery option there as well. This will reload all the software to factory condition. This is all pre-POST so when you first turn on the system.

If you're not getting any of those, I'd suspect the HDD has failed and if it's under warranty, call up Dell and get them to replace the HDD. Otherwise start checking online and local electronics stores for deals on laptop HDDs. Then you'll need to contact Dell to get copies of the restore media for your system. Something you should have created when prompted to do so the first couple of times you booted the system for just this sort of occasion. Live and learn and don't let it happen again.

- Collapse -
Answer
no f11
Jul 28, 2014 1:11AM PDT

no ctnl f11 did nothing. recovery disc tells me there is no room in harddrive. but when i put in the indows 7 repair dsc that i have i can see that there is room on the drive.

- Collapse -
are you sure
Jul 28, 2014 2:58PM PDT

you have the proper recover disc for this computer? Or did you get these recovery disc off EBay perhaps? If so, then you might have recovery disc for a 32 bit system using MBR, but need them for a 64 bit system using GPT. The "protective MBR" that is on the GPT disc will do that exact thing, say there's no more room.

- Collapse -
Answer
laptop
Jul 28, 2014 1:13AM PDT

i have no way of accessing the control panel.
i can get into the drive when i use the windows repair disc. but other then that i get missing operating system and can do nothing.