OK, so I have a 600mhz HP desktop (XE743) that we have been trying to install Mepis on. We have installed it as the only operating system on the hard drive and after several seemingly successful attempts are only getting the message
"OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND"

We have changed the bios to reflect booting off the hard drive and using "OTHER" as OS.

We are able to boot and run Mepis off the CD but it is VERY unstable and would appreciate any help given. Thanks

GRUB has to be installed in the "MBR" (master boot record) on "/dev/hda" (The first harddrive).

Also, you may wish to install the CD in Minimal Desktop Mode (I forget exactly what it's called). You select that when the CD first boots up.

boot off the cd. The computer will tell us operating system not found. Yeah we can get on the internet but only for short periods before the machine freezes. I can't even load windows 98 back on my machine. I ran qt parted and made a fat 32 file like someone suggested. so now I'm no mepis no windoze. its sad and so close to thanksgiving....If anyone has anything for me to try I'd love to hear input because my wife keeps screaming about how it wasn't broke before and now windows doesn't even work... Help me. I did reinstall mepis and put grub on mbr during the installation. still the same. it seems I need something else. or maybe linux just won't run on my machine(hp XE743) or anything else now that I've got my hands on it.Please help!!

Sounds to me like a possible harddrive failure, not a problem with Mepis. There's no reason another Operating System shouldn't installed. If I were you, I'd try another distro. If that didn't work, then I'd be pretty well convinced that the harddrive is bad.