Missing OS or unformatted active partition Press any key to boot floppy.

This is the recurrent message I get when I reinstall Windows XP and other files from the restore disk that came with my computer.

I am using a Toshiba Satelliate P25 607 with Windows XP Media Edition, 2.8-GHz Pentium 4, 2 Gig RAM, CD/DVD drive, hard drive 75 Gig.

HISTORY

Three years ago, I used Partition Magic to create a Windows 98 SE partition. I did so successfully, but it did not fulfill my purpose. I simply ignored it.

Some months ago, I had some problems that chronically worsened. I backed up critical files and reinstalled from the disk that came with the computer. I reasoned I could just reinstall fresh and eliminate the Windows 98 partition.

I successfully reinstalled, but a Boot Magic command came up forcing me to choose to continue the boot. However, the computer worked O.K. However, after several weeks, it became unreliable so I reinstalled with the same results. About the fourth or fifth iteration, however, it ended up in such a condition that it would not reboot.

PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES

I used Fix-It Utilities 6 Professional to reformat the disk entirely, remove any evident vestige of Partition Magic/Boot Magic. However, no matter what variation of reformatting I try (single partition vs. mulitple, NTFS vs. Fat32, active vs. non-active partition), the results are always the same. My original reinstall disk seems to operate perfectly and reinstall everything except that I get the message at the beginning of this post. I can examine the install using Fix-It Utilities, and it appears that the installation succeeded. I can view the files, Fix-It indicated that Windows XP is present, etc. However, the computer will not reboot from the hard drive.

REQUEST FOR HELP

I am sure that I am overlooking something or done something that is way beyond my knowledge as to how to reverse. However, any surface checks of the hard drive or other indicators seem to suggest my reinstall should work. Nevertheless, it doesn't.

Incidentally, I checked the bios and confirmed that the hard drive is set to boot first.

Any insights and/or recommendations would be gratefully received.

Hello No Anxiety

Welcome to PC Help Forums

You need to set the boot sequence to cdrom first, insert the XP cd and away you go.

I've had trouble in the past with Tosh, but not this specific problem. IIRC, luckily the Tosh doesn't have a system partition (gawd I hate Compaq for that) so I'd suggest restoring factory BIOS settings, and then setting the boot order and reinstalling from the CD as Wolfeymole suggests.

Thank you for the input, but, unfortunately, that did not work. I may not have been clear. I could always reinstall XP by pressing F12, which allowed me to choose the CD/DVD player to reinstall. I did what you suggested:

1. Changed bios to boot CD/DVD first.
2. Put disk in.
3. Reinstalled
4. Upon reboot, got the same message.
5. Rebooted, pressed F2 to enter bios. Saw hard drive reset to boot first. Reset CD/DVD to boot first.
6. Rebooted
7. Got same message: Missing OS or unformatted active partition
Press any key to boot floppy.

Any other suggestions (or did I miss something)?

Hi NoAnxiety, welcome to the PC Help Forum....

Have a read through this and see if it helps...
"Missing Operating System" and "No ROM BASIC" Error Messages

GaRHaR
http://www.pchelpforum.com/images/editor/menupop.gif
Thanks for the link. The most relevant point seems to be this:

Missing Operating System
This error occurs when the boot record signature of the master boot record does not match a certain value at a certain location. In this case, the boot sector is invalid and the computer cannot boot. This error can also occur if there is no active partition defined in the partition table.

I checked boot partition and it is active. Fix-It Utilities 6 Pro also seems to indicate that there is no problem with the boot files.

Any suggestions on how to alter the boot record signature? The disk drive checks out O.K. (no bad sectors). Perhaps the drive needs replacing, but I can't find any indication that there is a disk problem per se.