I have an old Dell laptop I bought back in 2011 which I wasn't using (I'm now using a newer laptop.)
It has and I7 CPU, with 8 GB of memory and two 750 GB drives. It's an XPS Dell.
I wanted to try Linux so I downloaded Ubuntu and installed it on the old laptop. I chose the option to delete everything on the hard drive. After the installation the error message: "operation system not found" came up. I tried reinstalling (also with option to delete contents of hard drive so I wouldn't have two installations of Ubuntu.) Same result.
I then downloaded "Mint" and installed it with the same result. (I also chose erase the drive during this install so I wouldn’t have two different versions of Linux.)

I've tried numerous "fixes" but none worked.

I tried these:
set prefix=(hd0,msdos1)/boot/grub
set root=(hd0,msdos1)
insmod normal

insmod linux
linux /vmlinuz root=/hd0/msdos1
initrd /initrd.img
boot

Never got past the "vmlinuz" because it couldn't find it.

I'd appreciate any help getting this booted. I'd love to dump Windows!

Your description is rather sketchy, making it hard to tell what transpired after boot failed. What lead you to choose the "fixes" you tried?

Is Windows still installed on one of the two disks? If yes, it may be instructive to remove that disk and try booting Linux.

Using F12 at POST time, do you get a menu that offers a selection of more than one OS to boot or disk to boot from?

"operating system not found" IIRC may be a result of a Windows bootloader not finding anything it recognizes to boot, rather than the BIOS not finding anything, suggesting your installations may not have been replacing Windows MBR code on the Linux disk.

Does the BIOS have a mode choice between Windows, and Other OS or not Windows? If yes, set it to Other.

This could be an instance of mismatch between installation type and BIOS settings. Do you know whether this old laptop has a UEFI BIOS? If it does, I suggest to leave CSM (legacy MBR support) mode disabled, then install one more time, being sure the installer does indeed boot in UEFI mode and partition using GPT, and do this installation with only one disk installed.

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Thanks for the reply. The drive was "erased" during the Linux installations so it's only Linux, specifically Mint right now. I don't think the BIOS is UEFI.

I will attach 4 photos of the BIOS. The first two are the same page because there's more information when you "scroll" down.

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I don't think it's UEFI, not least because every UEFI BIOS I've encountered has a GUI mode interface, which yours is not, but where it would be apparent is in the boot section that you didn't image.

It's BIOS.
I went and chiselled the dusk off a slightly older model with a A13 BIOS level. I was worried it might be a BIOS message that it couldn't find a M$oft boot record, but I have grub2 as my loader, so it shouldn't be that.
Given it's MBR, not gpt, you might need an insmod for part_msdos - and I'm guessing the kernel will be at /boot/vmlinuz

Thanks again.
I'll post the BIOS Boot Page here.

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boot the live usb, open a terminal and post the output of

Thanks again. I tried that but I think I should be at a different folder or directory. Anyway, I'll post a screen shot.

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That is a lower case L not a one.

Thanks for the reply. When Windows still ran on MSDOS, I got pretty familiar and comfortable with the DOS commands I used regularly. With Linux, I am completely a Noobie! So much so that I don't even know what to do with "/boot/vmlinuz" or when, where or how to use it.

When you install Ubuntu or Mint with the typical Desktop GUI install, there will be an option for bootloader installation at the bottom of the main window. If you are using the Erase Disk option leave the default. After the install, you did change the boot order in the BIOS from the USB or DVD you used to install to the drive on which you installed.

You're not providing much useful information. You could start with the parted command suggested to LIST the devices and partitions. You could also boot the install DVD/USB of Mint/Ubuntu and go to the site at the link below and download and run the boot repair software. If you do, use the 2nd option described on the page and the Create BootINfo Summary option and post the link you get when it finishes here.

I ran into this when I installed KUbuntu 23.10 in a older laptop. Had to change an option in BIOS from Legacy to UEFI and then it booted just fine from the 'just installed' KUbuntu.

Thank you and thanks to all who replied. I found the solution on another forum and here's the solution that worked:

It was suggested I either install LM20.3 and then upgrade to LM21 or follow this guide:
https://foxclone.org/guides.html

I went with the foxclone guide and it worked. I did discover a "klink" that I worked around: When it got to clicking "change" to edit the partition, after hitting OK, on the next pop up window, INSTEAD of hitting continue (which hung forever), I hit GO BACK so I could make sure the Format box was checked, and chose the "Device for boot loader installation", (even though it had defaulted to the correct location anyway. Then I could click on "INSTALL" whereas it was previously grayed out.