# [SOLVED!!!] Need help with Windows98SE



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

First of all I have been having trouble with my computer for a few weeks. Well it was down for about 3 weeks. I had to copy all my files to floppy disks and then clear my whole computer, reformatt and re-install my operating system. I am using Windows 98SE and a DELL Pentium II with 128.0MB RAM.
One of the problems I am having is for some reason when reformatting these are the drives that were created: A(floppy), C:\, D:\, E:\, F:\, G:\, H:\(CD_ROM drive). C is where all my stuff is, and its properties show File system: FAT32 , 970,960,896 bytes used space, 9, 142,779,904 bytes free (8.51GB). D drives properties show 4,773,580,800 bytes used 4.44GB, 5,340,160,000 bytes free (4.97 GB). Funny thing is that when I go to D, and look at the files none of them show any bytes used in other words all of the so called files are empty? But the strangest thing is that each file (most of them) have a symbol or letter below them  like the keyboard or something and when I try to look at the properties of some of them (really after checking about three of them it does this  it give me this explorer error: This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down. If the problem persists, contact the program vendor. These are the details of the illegal operation:EXPLORER caused an exception c0000006H in module CRYPT32.DLL at 017f:7148836c.

Registers:

EAX=00000000 CS=017f EIP=7148836c EFLGS=00010246

EBX=00000000 SS=0187 ESP=0312f714 EBP=0312f740

ECX=00000002 DS=0187 ESI=85a38000 FS=58ff

EDX=bffc9490 ES=0187 EDI=71454690 GS=0000

Bytes at CS:EIP:

f3 a6 75 16 ff 75 10 ff 75 f8 ff 75 fc e8 f9 01

Stack dump:

00000000 00000000 0312fa48 004e9bc6 0312f888 e7ffffff 8171b320 00000001 00000001 0065006d 85a38000 0312f9f0 7147b137 00506b98 00000310 0312f9d4

Once I click on the close  button of that message it does close down all my windows that are open. This is all going on when I am checking the properties of drive D.

Drive E properties show: 405,504 bytes (396KB) used and 861,511,680 bytes(821MB) free space. When I go to E these are the only files on it:Recycled(trash), Command.com (91,6KB used) read only file, DRVSPACE.BIN (67.2KB) read only, hidden, system file, IO.SYS (217KB) read only, hidden, system file, and MSDOS.SYS (9bytes) read only, hidden, archive, system file.

Drives F & G show this: Type: Local Disk, File system: FAT, 0 bytes used, 0 bytes free, Capacity 0 bytes. When I try to open either F or G it gives me this message: F:\ or G:\ is not accessible. A device attached to the system is not functioning. Then it has boxes to check that say retry or cancel. These two drives I believe are the original hard drive but then I also think E may also be ???? Not sure about any of it I mean I just dont understand what is going on. D is really weird  it is like some kind of code or something but when you try to check more than about three of the files out it gives that same illegal operation message. The weirdest thing about it is that it shows on the main properties how much space is used, but the individual files show zero (0) usage ? ? ? Any ideas? Well, I am going to go back to the search on the message about the MS-DOS Compatibility-mode file system and see what I can come up with on that but this crap on D really has me baffled

I also got this message the other day when I turned on the computer:

Drives A,C,E,F, & G are using MS-DOS Compatibility-mode file system. 
Comptibility-mode paging reduces overall system performance.

Windows was unable to identify a real-mode driver or memory resident program loaded in your Config.sys or Autoexec.bat file. You will see another message that lists the name of the driver or program causing the problem.
(I have yet to see this message?)

Because Windows could not identify the driver or program, it has switched to MS- DOS Compatibility-mode to ensure the program will run. However this decreases overall performance. To improve performance, remove the program or driver causing the problem, or contact it's manufacturer for an upgraded version.

I have no idea what driver or program this message is referring to?

Any ideas anyone?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Hello again 

Before formatting, did you do fdisk and create partitions?


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I think so??? Well, maybe I had better go into further explanation. First of all my computer has an added hard drive, which is what I am using. It is a Western Digital Hard Drive. To start out with I was using the diskette that came with it. It installs something called EZ_BIOS and then the drive is controlled by that. I ended up removing that and doing FDISK and believe I did create partitions, but not sure if I did so correctly? However as soon as I did that I was able to install the operating system using Window98 startup diskette with CD-ROM support. Then upgraded to Windows98SE using the CD. 

I believe that the drives F & G are the original hard drive. Today I got another message telling me that these drives have not been formatted yet, and would I like to do so? So I did and then it told me the specifics about each drive and told me I should run Scandisk on each of them.

I hope this information helps to give you a clearer picture of what is going on with my crazy computer....


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, if you use EZ Bios on one drive, you must use EZ Bios on the smaller drive too.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I removed EZ-BIOS entirely from both drives.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Why did you think you needed it to begin with then? If your bios doesn't support the hard drive size, the software will tell you this and allow you to partition it into smaller parts and/or install EZ Bios.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Not sure why I thought I needed it in the first place other than the fact that it came with the computer and was installed on it to begin with. My son-in-law gave me this computer a couple of years ago and that is how it was set up. He gave me the diskette along with all the other stuff he had on it.....


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Which drive are you booting to? For a test disconnect the other one that is not being booted to and let's narrow the problem down.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I would have responded sooner but was running ScanDisk on drive F and was getting ready to do it on drive g. Also my connection was cut off and I had to reconnect. 

I am fairly certain that I am booting from drive C but will try your suggestion. Do you mean for me to just unhook the cable/tapes from the smaller drive? If so do I need to shut down my computer and do it, then reboot? 

Also would the information from ScanDisk on drive F be pertinent to you in any way?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

No on the scandisk for right now.

Yes, turn off computer, ground yourself by touching case and disconnect the drive that you AREN'T booting to. Really all you need to do is disconnect the power to it. If you get an error on startup regarding slave or master not found, just ignore it.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay, I will shut down and do that, then report back to you as soon as I reboot. If for some reason it will not boot up I suppose I should just hook back up the other drive....


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Yep, and maybe disconnect the other one


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay, I am back. I disconnected the smaller drive (original that came with the computer) and rebooted. No problem with it. I also checked out what drives are present on "My Computer" and I now have: A (3 1/2" floppy), C, D, and H (CD-ROM). 

Will wait to hear from you...


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, so do things look normal on C and D? How large is that drive and how do they show up in my computer?


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Here is what I found when I checked:

Drive C:
Type: Local Disk
File system: FAT32

Used space 998,621,184 bytes 952MB
Free space 9,115,119,616 bytes 8.48GB

Capacity: 10,113,740.800bytes 9.41GB

Drive D:

Type: Local Disk
File system: FAT32

Used space: 405,504 bytes 396KB
Free space: 861,511,680 bytes 821MB

Capacity: 861,917,184 bytes 821MB

I also went to drive D and these are the only files there now:

Recycled.bin
Command.com (Read-only) 91.6KB used
Drvspace.bin (Read-only, hidden, and system are checked)67.2KB used
IO.SYS (Read-only, hidden and system are checked) 217KB used
Msdos.sys(Read-only, hidden, archive, & system are checked)9 bytes used

For some reason all of those strange & empty files that were there before are now gone?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, so what's on the other drive then? Anything we need to be worried about? Also, any reason that drive is partitioned since the small part has almost nothing space wise? Perhaps to get around the bios size limitation?


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Well I don't know if there is anything we need to worry about but here are the files listed for drive C:

Config.Msi File Folder
My Documents " "
Ncdtree " "
pci9x " "
Program Files " "
Recycled Recycle Bin
Windows File Folder
W U Temp File Folder
Autoexec 0KB MS-DOS
Bootlog.prv 36KB PRV File
Bootlog 69KB Text Document
Com 1KB File
Command 92KB MS-DOS Application
Config.dos 0KB DOS File
Dblspace.bin 68KB BIN File
Dblspace 1KB Configuration Settings
Detlog.old 7KB OLD File
Detlog 71KB Text Document
Drvspace.bin 68KB BIN File
Io.sys 218KB System file
Msdos.--- 1KB --- File
Msdos.bak 2KB BAK File
Msdos.sys 2KB System file
Netlog 8KB Text Document
Scandisk.log 1KB LOG File
Setuplog.old 8KB OLD File
Setupxlg 1KB Text Document
Suhdlog.--- 15KB DAT File
System.1st 1,773KB 1ST File
W98undo.dat 76,836KB DAT File
W98undo 346KB Configuration Settings
WINDOWSWinHlp32.BMK 1KB BMK File
Winlfn 11KB Configuration Settings

I'm not sure about the partitioning of the drive ( I guess you mean the original - the one we unplugged?) unless it is because it is so small? Or do you mean why it partitioned the Western Digital into C & D?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Yes, I mean the WD for the partitioning question.



I'm assuming the other one is still disconnected and you aren't able to see what you have on it right now  Is there anything on the drive you have disconnected that we need to worry about?


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

The drive is still unplugged. I don't remember at this point what was supposedly on Drive E: but as far as I know it didn't have anything important on it. Drives F & G were empty as far as I could tell.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok......so..........what would you like to attempt at this point since the system works with the new drive? How large is that 'small' drive? You are POSTIVE that when you boot up right now, EZ Bios isn't loading?

Is the other drive on the same cable with the WD drive?


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Oh, I went back to my original notations about drive "E" and this is what is on it:

Drive E properties show: 405,504 bytes (396KB) used and 861,511,680 bytes(821MB) free space. When I go to E these are the only files on it:Recycled(trash), Command.com (91,6KB used) read only file, DRVSPACE.BIN (67.2KB) read only, hidden, system file, IO.SYS (217KB) read only, hidden, system file, and MSDOS.SYS (9bytes) read only, hidden, archive, system file.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Can you check to see if the dos compatibility mode problem is gone? Right click my computer, properties, performance.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Yellowdog said:


> Oh, I went back to my original notations about drive "E" and this is what is on it:
> 
> Drive E properties show: 405,504 bytes (396KB) used and 861,511,680 bytes(821MB) free space. When I go to E these are the only files on it:Recycled(trash), Command.com (91,6KB used) read only file, DRVSPACE.BIN (67.2KB) read only, hidden, system file, IO.SYS (217KB) read only, hidden, system file, and MSDOS.SYS (9bytes) read only, hidden, archive, system file.


I'm not sure if that drive is partitioned correctly to begin with. Do you know how large it is? We should probably just reformat it and you can use it for storage. What you are calling "E" doesn't appear to have anything on it.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

If my recollection is correct I believe the "small drive" is about 3.8 GB. I am certain the EZ-BIOS is not loading and is completely removed from the system. I checked and both drives are connected to the same cable, but I still have the power supply disconnected from the small drive. I am not sure about checking for the DOS Compatibility-mode problem. I have been through so much nonsense with this crazy thing over the past 3 weeks that it is kind of all jumbled together in my mind. If you can tell me how to check for it though, I could do it. Yes I think that is a great idea about reformatting that smaller drive and using it for storage but I will probably need guidance through that too....since the cable is connected to both drives does that mean anything important... I mean even though the power is disconnected from the smaller drive?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

AcaCandy said:


> Can you check to see if the dos compatibility mode problem is gone? Right click my computer, properties, performance.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Seems to be gone... here is what it tells me on the performance tab:

Memory 128.0 MB of RAM
System Resources: 59% free
File System: 32-bit
Virtual Memory: 32-bit
Disk Compression: Not installed
PC Cards (PCMCIA): No PC Card sockets are installed.

Your system is configured for optimal performance.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, sorry about the delay in responding, I'm babysitting a cat and he decided it was dinner time 

Can the other drive be put on a separate cable? Or maybe on the same cable with the cdrom? Or maybe we can put the cdrom as slave on with the WD?

WD drives have a different jumper setting for master with slave present, and master by itself. I'm thinking that is what was causing the problem.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

No problem with the "delay". You are a very patient person, and I really appreciate you sticking with me through this. 

I believe I can change it around to where the CD drive and the smaller hard drive are on the same cable because the CD cable does have an "open" connector available on it. If you think that is what I need to do, do I need to shut down and do it, then reboot?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Yes, ALWAYS shutdown when you are connecting and reconnecting things internally, otherwise you may be in for a shocking good time 


Be sure the small drive is jumpered in the slave setting position. IF the cdrom was all by itself, it MAY OR MAY NOT be jumpered as master. You'll need to check, as some of us lazy folks leave the jumper off if there is no slave


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

How do I check for this? I mean to see if the small drive is in the slave setting position? Also how do I check to see if the CD is jumpered as master?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

On the back of both drives, near the power connector, you'll see some pins, and there will probably be a black or white plastic thing covering a couple of pins. Also, on the top of the drive, there should be information on which setting is for master, slave, etc.

The cdrom will be the easiest to read.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Just wanted to be sure you saw my reply


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay, I will try that and then post back to you when I am finished. Then maybe you can instruct me on how to formatt the small drive and all of that? It may take a few minutes for me to figure all that out but I think I can do it...Oh, and do I set the WD for anything and do I set the CD-ROM as Master and the small drive as Slave?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Leave the WD alone, it seems to be happy.

Check the jumper on the cdrom, it SHOULD already be at master unless someone changed it. Make the small drive slave, and hook it to the same gray cable with the cdrom.

If I don't reply fairly promptly, it's because I called it a night, but will check back on you tomorrow. DO NOT attempt to format the slave drive by yourself, as it is possible that you will choose the WRONG drive, and we don't want that mishap. Right now, all I want to see is this:

1) will the slave drive be recognized correctly hooked up this way, and 

2) will the computer revert back to msdos compatibility (we hope not).


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay I believe I understand now and will try that. If you aren't available when I am finished, I will just check in with you tomorrow and leave things as they are after I complete this change. Thank you very much for all of you patience and help so far.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

You are very welcome


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay I am back and I connected the small drive to the gray cable with the CD-ROM drive. I did not however, change any jumper pin settings. The WD stated that when use alone that it did not require any jumper settings to be changed. The CD I could not read, unbelievably enough, and the small drive which is a MAXTOR I could read but it said that is was set for Master with no Slave and did not tell me where to move the jumper, but I did see it and it is blue....and is set on the center two pins on the top row. My Computer now shows A,C,D,E,F,G, & H drives once again. I looked at the Device Manager on the System Properties in My Computer and on the settings tab for the "Generic IDE DISK TYPE 01" it tells me that the current drive letter assignments for this drive are C & E. For "Generic IDE DISK TYPE 80" it says the current drive letter assignment for it are D, F, & G. Also in drive D all those weird files are back and the properties of D tell me that there are 4.44GB used and 4.97GB free, with a total capacity of 9.41GB. Drives E properties say it's file system is FAT32, but F, & G say the file system is FAT. E says it has 396KB used, 821MB free, F says 64.0KB used, 1.99GB free, and G says 4.00KB used, 23.4MB free. Okay that is about all I know to tell you right now. If you aren't still there I will check my mail in the morning and see if you have any ideas????


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Looks like the small drive was sliced up in partitions.

Is there an operating system on the small drive? In other words, if you disconnected the WD hard drive, would the computer be able to boot up to an operating system?

By the way, for your further information and learning, the WD instructions that the jumpers didn't have to be changed if it were the only drive, refers to ONLY the WD drive on its own cable. NOT to any other drives on the secondary cable


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I do not know. All I can tell you is what files are there. Also I find it strange that the drive letter assignments are different now... and that those weird "empty" files are back on drive D again? Drive E contains the following files:Recycled, Command.com, Drvspace.bin (hidden), Io.sys(hidden), and Msdos.sys (hidden). F & G contain only a Recycle bin in each drive.....


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Drive letter assignments will change. Nothing to worry about. And the files that you are seeing are nothing to worry about. That would be about normal if there is nothing else on the partitions.

I'm signing off right now, so test that drive by itself and see if we have an operating system.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay I will be looking forward to talking to you tomorrow. I am not sure if I will try anymore unhooking of things tonight either. I will probably wait until morning. Night-night....


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I decided to go ahead and give it a try before calling it a night..... I unhooked the power supply and the gray cable from the WD drive, then tried to reboot. I got a black screen with a message something like "Invalid system disk, replace disk and press any key when ready." So.... I shut down and reconnected the cable and power supply, rebooted and got the same message - tried that about three times and so I disconnected the power supply from the "small drive" , which by the way is called a MAXTOR 84320D4-(SS) and then it started up normally. I have not reconnected the power supply to it because I thought it would keep doing the same error and error message? So I will wait until morning (really probably after noon - obviously I am a night owl ~Ha Ha) and get further instructions from you if you are available when I log on. Oh, and the drives are back to A, C, D, & H(CD-ROM) and drive D has only the 4 or 5 files I listed earlier when you first instructed me to disconnect the smaller drive. Okay, bye for now.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, the Maxtor drive is 4.3 gig.

With both drives hooked up, the WD is C, the Maxtor is D. Then the partitions are assigned, so that you understand what is happening with the numbers. The one thing I'm confused about is when you had both connected, the D (which 'should' be the Maxtor drive isn't reading how I would expect it to).

Right now, how is C appearing for free and used space. I'm thinking what I want to do is disconnect the WD again, boot with a floppy disk (either the Maxtor software that you used before, or a regular boot disk) and format the small drive using just one partition. I can't remember, did we figure out if anything is on the smaller drive that we need to worry about? I'm going to see who I can find for a second opinion on these drive letters


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Yes, with both drives hooked up Maxtor seems to be D. Also F& G.... No there didn't seem to be anything on the Maxtor drive that was important. When I did the test of unhooking the WD drive and tried to boot that way it wouldn't and kept telling me the same "non system disk" error even after I reattached the WD drive, until I disconnected the Maxtor completely. I am sure it will be fine if I hook all that back up and try what you are telling me to do but what do you think? Good, I mean I trust your opinion, but think it is a good idea that you are getting a second opinion about those drive letters. Okay I will be here waiting to hear from you.


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## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

Hello Candy and Yellowdog.

You'll have to bear with me while I get up to speed. I have a question. Did the WD drive come with an 80 pin cable? (It will have a blue connector that connects to the mother board and a black connector on the other end.)


Thanks.

Kilowatt


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Right now C has 885MB used and 8.55GB free space. No there is not an 80 pin cable as far as I can tell. There are only gray cables and appear to have about 40 pins. Both (all ends on connectors are gray too).


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## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

Could you tell me what the jumpers are set to on the WD hard drive?


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

There are no jumpers on the WD drive. Only two rows of 5 pins, all of which are open.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

http://support.wdc.com/techinfo/general/jumpers.asp


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## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

OK. In order to use anything on the same cable with with the WD you will have to use a jumper on the Master pins. But before you do that, lets see exactly what's happening with the WD drive. Please connect only the WD drive (without any jumpers). Disconnect the power and ribbon cables from the CDRom and the old hard drive. Boot up and see if everything appears to be working correctly. Also go to My Computer and tell us what's listed.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay I will shut down and remove all those items, reboot and report back to you two.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I have disconnected the power supply and gray cables from the CD-ROM drive and the Maxtor was already unhooked from last night. So now all that is attached is the WD drive and the 3 1/2" Floppy drive & the WD drive.


My Computer now shows (A)3 1/2 Floppy, (C), & (D). Properties of C now show 849MB used, and 8.58GB free space. D shows 396KB used and 821MB free space.


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## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

OK. Let's try this. Shut down the computer. Place a jumper over the master pins on the WD hard drive (if you don't have one borrow the one from the CDRom for now.) Now set the jumper on the Maxtor to slave and connect the Maxtor on the same cable as the WD. Don't forget to plug in the power on the Maxtor. Boot up and see what shows in My Computer. Do not connect the CDRom.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay, but I am not clear on which pins to put the jumper on. I suppose I should refer to the site link that Candy posted about the WD Hard drives? Also not sure if there is a jumper on the CD? I will look.... There is one on the Maxtor and it is set on the top row on the next to the last pin and the center pin, on the top row - there are two rows of five pins on it....The CD does have a jumper and it is set on the far left top and bottom pins...
Just not sure how to set the jumpers for either the WD or Maxtor.... I know I seem dense so please bear with me...Obviously if I knew about all this stuff I wouldn't be asking you all ~ LOL ! Will wait for your reply.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Cover pins 5 and 6 on the WD drive. The maxtor should show you what to cover for the slave position.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

By 5 & 6 do you mean the last two to the right on the bottom row? Last night when I looked at the Maxtor there didn't seem to be any diagrams or any indication of where to set the jumpers to make it "slave" position?


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Oops ! I meant to say are 5 & 6 the last two (top and bottom row)?


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## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

On the WD place the jumper on pins 5&6. Third set of pins ) to the left of the power connector. I'll have to find the correct ones for the Maxtor. Look closely at the back of the hard drive next to where the power is connected. You will see the jumper blocks and above each set of pins you will see something like this: SL MS CS The slave would be the one marked SL.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

The pins start counting from the right, the upper one is one and the lower one is two. The next row is 3 and 4, and so on. You'll cover 5 and 6 with one little jumper pin. On top of the Maxtor drive, there is no diagram? That is strange, let me check their site, I think, but may be wrong, for that drive you would cover the second up/down row from the left, but let me check.

KW, where did you go?


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## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

Boy I'm slow!!!


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

I see on Maxtor's site, they show that as an 8.4 gig drive. Now that clears things up 

My initial google showed it as 4.3.....

http://maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxto...Hard Drives/Desktop/DiamondMax 2160 Ultra ATA

I see you were typing the same time as I was KW 

Looks like for the slave, you don't need a jumper.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

kilowatt1 said:


> Boy I'm slow!!!


At least we don't post conflicting information


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## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

I had a slight disfunction with a command I entered on the DOS (Damned Outdated S..t) iI am working on. Speaking of DOS, I have deciphered the .bat file needed to help out Sitka's problem and we can do it manually with command prompts, but we need someone well versed to create a .reg file and merge it in DOS. Any suggestions?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Mosaic1 or perhaps Rog?


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay, sorry for the delay... I left for a minute and my computer decided to have another problem. . . It's like the darn thing can tell if I am sitting in front of it or not ~ LOL. I came back and it had a blue screen with a "WARNING" message, stating that the system was either busy or has become unstable....you can wait to see if it becomes available again or you can restart your computer...

When I restarted of course it went to try to run ScanDisk but here is the message it gave me and it has been giving me this same message anytime it "locks up" or has any type of problem and restarts other than from the start menu or manually:

ScanDisk cannot read from the last cluster on drive C. This cluster is either damaged or is not configured properly. Drive C may need to have Logical Block Addressing (LBA) enabled to work properly, or its disk partition may be incorrectly marked as a non-LBA partition. Data loss can occur if your LBA setting or disk partition type for this drive is misconfigured. 
Check your computers BIOS setup utility, or contact your computer manufacturer, or have your computer checked by a qualified computer hardware technician. 
If you are sure your drive is configured correctly, click continue to have ScanDisk check drive C for errors. 

Okay - I clicked on "Stop" and didn't let ScanDisk run. However last night I ran ScanDisk and it said errors were found and fixed on drive C. I also ran defrag on drive C & D. 

I know nothing about this LBA stuff either so you all will have to tell me how to proceed.... I mean should we continue to work with the current problem first or what? I am thoroughly confused as usual. ( I claim blonde hair ~ LOL !)


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## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

Yes, let's carry on with this problem first.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay. That sounds good to me. First I would like to make sure I understand exactly what it is you want me to try. Also would like to understand why the Maxtor site says the drive has a max. capacity of 8.4 gigs and the properties in "My Computer" show far less than that when it was attached? If I understood your earlier instructions you want me to take the jumper from the CD drive and put it on the WD on 5 & 6 which would be the center two (top & bottom row) and then remove any jumper that is on the Maxtor? Connect the power supply to the Maxtor and connect the same ribbon cable to the Maxtor that is connected to the WD?


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Are you all still there? Or am I just being impatient??? Hope not...


----------



## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

You are correct on the WD. On the Maxtor move the jumper over the pins marked SL or slave.


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay I see that I was being impatient - I apologize. Okay, now I will shut down, make the changes and boot back up, then report to you what is going on...by the way - thank you...


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

kilowatt1 said:


> You are correct on the WD. On the Maxtor move the jumper over the pins marked SL or slave.


KW, judging from the Maxtor website, the slave shouldn't need a jumper.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay, I looked on the back of the Maxtor and see no such markings? Will wait for you two to decide which I should do - jumper it to where or not jumper it at all?


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## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

Oooops. I didn't look at the Maxtor site. Proceed without a jumper.


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay I will proceed as follows: remove jumper from Maxtor and put it on the WD pins 5 & 6. Connect the power supply to the Maxtor and connect the same ribbon cable to the Maxtor that is connected to the WD? Right?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Correct.

Then stand back


----------



## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

Oh Oh. That particular HD has many flavors (sizes). Candy, take a look HERE .

Sneaky, aren't they.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

His is the 84320D4, so I guess maybe it IS a 4.3 after all? What does the top of the drive say? Does it give the size?


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay - getting ready to do it......be right back, I hope ? ? ?


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Hi Candy & KW, 
I finally got it done and took notes about the details on "My Computer". Sorry I took so long. I took the both drives completely out and wrote down all the details I could find on each of them for further reference if needed. I could find no information on the Maxtor that indicated to me any clue about the size. However, I did find upon removing it that a little blue wire from the circuitry going into the center of a disk shaped portion on the under side had a bare spot on the wire, so I put a small piece of electrical tape over it, just in case it may have been touching part of the case and shorting something out???

Okay, here is what information I noted about the computer since rebooting with both drives hooked to the same ribbon cable and the WD jumpered in the Master setting (pins 5 & 6) - also found those settings noted on bottom of the drive.Oh, and when the machine was booting up it did recognize the WD as (PM) and the Maxtor as (PS), which I assume means primary master and primary slave???

My Computer now shows: A, C, D, E, F, & G drives. I still have the CD-ROM disconnected.

C: shows: Capacity: 9.41GB
Used: 837MB
Free: 8.60GB

File system:FAT32

C still shows same files as I listed for Candy last night.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
D shows: Capacity: 9.41GB
Used: 4.44GB
Free: 4.97GB

File system:FAT32

D now has those weird "empty" files back and when you check more than one of them for properties you get an "Explorer Illegal" error message.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
E shows: Capacity: 821MB
Used: 396KB
Free: 821MB

File system:FAT32

E contains these: Recycled, Command.com (92KB) MS-DOS Application, Drvspace.bin 68KB BIN File, Io.sys 218KB System file, and Msdos.sys 1KB System file.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
F shows: Capacity: 1.99GB
Used: 64.0KB
Free: 1.99GB

File system:FAT

Drive F on the Compression Tab:
F is not currently compressed.
You can compress F so that it contains up to 743.03 MB more free space.
Or, you can use free space on F to create a new compressed drive with up to 1215.72 MB of free space.

Free space on F becomes New, empty drive H.

F contains only a Recycle Bin
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
G shows: Capacity: 23.4MB
Used: 4.00KB
Free: 23.4MB

File system:FAT

Drive G on the Compression Tab:
G is not currently compressed.
You can compress G so that it contains up to 34.60 MB more free space.
Or, you can use free space on G to create a new compressed drive with up to 58.33 MB of free space.

Free space on G becomes New, empty drive H

G: contains only a Recycle Bin
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
On My Computer Properties 
Device Manager Tab:
Generic IDE DISK TYPE01
Settings
Removable box is white and unchecked
Int 13 unit is grayed out and check marked
DMA box is white and unchecked
Current drive letter assignment: C:,E:

Generic IDE DISK TYPE02 
Settings tab:
same info as for above except:
Current drive letter assignment: D:,F:, G:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Performance tab on System Properties:

Memory: 128.0 MB of RAM
System Resources: 78% free
File System: 32-bit
Virtual Memory: 32-bit
Disk compression: Not installed
PC Cards (PCMCIA): No PC Card sockets are installed. 

Your system is configured for optimal performance.

I hope you all are still there. I am going to get something to drink right quick and give you a chance to digest all this information.... then I will check back to find out what to do next?


----------



## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

What a mess!! Let's do this. Take the Maxtor back out and take the jumper off of the WD drive and boot up the computer. Does Windows work correctly? Right click on My Computer/properties/performance. Does it say that it is configured for optimal performance? Let me know the results then I'll let you know what to do next.


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

We did that already KW, it works fine that way.


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

D shows: Capacity: 9.41GB
Used: 4.44GB

That bothers me, looks like a lot of files


----------



## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

OK. Boot up with a Win98 startup disk. Choose without CDRom support. At the A:\> prompt type fdisk then press enter. Choose option #4. What does it say?


----------



## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

What is strange is that the C: and E: drives are being reported exactly as when the WD drive is installed by itself. My concern is why the D: drive is showing FAT32 and is the same size as the C: drive.


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay, I unhooked the Maxtor and removed the jumper from the WD, but then got back and read the posts between you two so now I am not sure what I am supposed to be doing? I am a little concerned about the properties & file on D too, when the Maxtor is attached? The funny thing is that the properties say it is using a lot of space and when you try to go to the individual files to check the properties of them they are empty - zero bytes used on any, but after you check more than two of them I get an Explorer Illegal error message and then all open window are shut down?
Maybe I have forgotten something here, but when the WD drive is installed alone there is no E drive. Only C & D, and then D only has about five files....It is when the Maxtor is attached that E shows up and all those weird empty files show up on D drive.


----------



## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

Go ahead and run fdisk as noted earlier. We should be able to tell more about things after that.


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Forgot to report My Computer properties status: D is showing capacity of 821MB, 396KB used, and 821MB free. Also files shown for D are once again Recycled, Command.com, Drvspace.bin, Io.sys, & Msdos.sys. 

C is showing capacity of 9.41 GB, 846MB used, and 8.59GB free.


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Yellowdog said:


> Okay, I am back. I disconnected the smaller drive (original that came with the computer) and rebooted. No problem with it. I also checked out what drives are present on "My Computer" and I now have: A (3 1/2" floppy), C, D, and H (CD-ROM).
> 
> Will wait to hear from you...


KW, this is with the WD and CDrom connected only.


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

OK. Boot up with a Win98 startup disk. Choose without CDRom support. At the A:\> prompt type fdisk then press enter. Choose option #4. What does it say?

I have copied above what you said KW, but I have already unhooked the Maxtor. Do you want me to reattach it and then proceed as directed above? If so how am I to do that and report to you what is going on and get further instructions if I am in DOS mode? I mean after choosing option #4 what should I do? shut down and reboot to Windows? or what?


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

By the way, my CDROM is still disconnected, ribbon & power supply....


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I also forgot to mention that earlier when both the drives were connected and I booted up, some of my system tray icons were missing. Now with only the WD attached they are all back..... I will have to be away from the computer here in just a few minutes and won't be able to be back for 2-3 hours....but will still be here for a few minutes.


----------



## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

Yep. It looks like the WD drive is configured correctly. I wonder what the actual capacity of the WD drive is. I am thinking along the lines of Win98se problems with fdisk on drives larger than 32GB. There is also a couple of other possibilities. One is what would happen if the WD is set up to use LBA and the Maxtor doesn't support LBA and the other is that when the WD floppy disk was being used it wasn't doing it's eazy-bios routine but was actually copying the Maxtor to it. If this is the case then it is confused on exactly which partition to boot from, especially if the Maxtor does require to be jumpered as shown on the earlier link concerning different flavors of the hard drive.

I know. You think I've finally lost it!!!


----------



## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

OK. I didn't realize that you were communicating with us via that machine. Yes, just press Esc to exit fdisk after you write down what it says then remove the startup disk and reboot.


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay, I will have to try that when we return from our trip..... hate to shop but must have "supplies"... I really appreciate you two putting your heads together and trying to help me with this crazy machine. I should be back by at least 9pm I hope.....but as soon as I get here I will try that and report back. Thanks again.
Yellowdog


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Hello, 
I finally made it back but have not done anything to my computer yet. I am pretty clear on what you are telling me to do, but just want to be sure before I begin. Do I need to reattach the Maxtor drive before I perform the fdisk procedure. I was thinking (uh-oh) that was the drive you were wanting me to fdisk? I also thought I would give you some information that I took note of earlier on the capacity of the WD drive. When I removed them both earlier I wrote down any bit of information that was available on either of them. The WD says the Drive Parameters are LBA-19807200 & 10141.4MB. It also shows different jumper settings and the one you all told me to use earlier was correct for the Master, but it also said that "Most drives are shipped with a jumper as shown above. No need to remove for a single drive setting." The diagram they were referring to "above" was to jumper pins 6 & 4 together, but it also has a diagram for "single" that is completely un-jumpered.That part probably doesn't matter to you but I just thought I would tell you. Specifically I was wanting you to know the actual capacity of that drive because of one of your posts earlier. I got all the information from the Maxtor too, but I don't recognize any of it as specifying the capacity. Well, I hope you all are still on and can let me know if that is what you are wanting me to do - hook the Maxtor back up and do the fdisk, esc after recording what it tells me, etc. and then boot back up and report the results to you?


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

No, I think KW wanted the fdisk info WITHOUT the Maxtor drive attached.


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Ok, I will try that and be right back. That won't get rid of any of my information on the drive will it? Will it just tell us how the drive is partitioned etc.?


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Option 4 will just give you information. Don't choose any of the other options.

I'm probably going to disappear real soon, but I'll check on you in the a.m.


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay Candy, thank you for the information and if you are still there when I am finished great, if not talk to you tomorrow.


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I booted up from the Windows 98 Startup diskette and choose to start without CD-ROM support. The A:\> appeared and I typed: fdisk. Then this screen appeared:

Your coputer has a disk larger than 512 MB. This version of Windows includes improved support for large disks, resulting in more efficient use of disk space on large drives, and allowing disks over 2 GB to be formatted as a single drive.

IMPORTANT: If you enable large disk support and create any new drives on this disk, you will not be able to acces the new drive(s) using other operating systems, including some versions of Windows 95 and Windows NT, as well as earlier versions of Windows and MS-DOS. In addition, dick utilities that were not designed explicitly for the FAT32 file system will not be able to work with this disk. If you need to access this disk with other operating systems or older disk utilities, do no enable large drive support. 

Do you wish to enable large disk support (Y/N....?) 

At this point I pressed the Esc key and it took me to the menu of Fdisk and I chose the option #4 which was to view the drive information. Here are those results:

Current fixed disk drive: 1

Partition--Status-Type----Volume Label-Mbytes-System-Usage
C:1-------- A--- PRI DOS--------------4840----FAT32--50%
--2------------- EXT DOS--------------4816------------50%

Total disk space is 9664 Mbytes (1 Mbyte = 1048576 bytes)
The Extended DOS Partition contains Logical DOS Drives. 
Do you want to display the logical drive information (Y/N...?) I chose Y.

Display Logical DOS Drive Information

Drv-Volume Label-Mbytes-System-Usage
D:---------------4816----FAT32--100%

Total Extended DOS Partition size is 4816 Mbytes (1 Mbyte = 1048576 bytes)

I had to put the ------ in above to try to get the columns to line up...

Then I pressed the Esc key until I reached the A prompt again and then removed the diskette and rebooted my computer.


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Hello. Is there anybody there today?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Well, I was waiting for KW to reply since that was his request  I saw him online earlier, but he must have had to run. 

It looks like what he expected to see to me, but, let's be sure


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay I will just keep my eye on my email notifications until I hear something back from one of you.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Just checking to see if KW made it back yet?


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## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

Sorry for being missing in action. OK. Here is what I think is going on. When the WD drive was partitioned everything went well, except that it appears that the second partition (D: drive) never got formatted. I think this is why when you hook up the Maxtor drive on the same cable, the drive info is all out of whack. Basically Windows is looking for the next formatted device after C: and is finding it (them) on the Maxtor. Also, if the Maxtor is not really acting as a slave device then you have two primary (master) boot sectors conflicting with each other.

That said, and since I'm not positive that is whats happening, lets try the alternative jumper configuration on the Maxtor drive and see if it makes any difference. On the back of the Maxtor drive put jumpers on the top four pins starting at the power connector going left. Now jumper the WD drive as Master as you did before. (pins 5 & 6) and hook both drives up on the same cable.

Boot up the machine and lets see what is listed now.

I'll be on and off............but I'm still here!


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I thought I should tell you this too.... when I had the Maxtor drive removed and noted all the information on it this is the information it gave about the jumper, etc.. It was in a chart form which I cannot reproduce here but hopefully I can make it clear. 

Jumper
J50

Master/Single
On

Slave
Off

To the side of the jumper information it had this information:
S/N L40C5MLA
C, J, D
A 5


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Hello, 
I am still wondering what I am supposed to do to this computer? I hope I'm not being too much of a bother. I realize this isn't just an ordinary small problem and I hope you all can still help me? Okay I will be waiting to hear from some one?


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Yellowdog said:


> I thought I should tell you this too.... when I had the Maxtor drive removed and noted all the information on it this is the information it gave about the jumper, etc.. It was in a chart form which I cannot reproduce here but hopefully I can make it clear.
> 
> Jumper
> J50
> ...


Yes, that is basically what I was looking for awhile back. If it's on the same cable with the WD, no jumper is needed.


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

My feeling is since you don't seem to know what is on the Maxtor, you probably won't miss it if we just reformat it and go from there. The second partition on the WD is so small it's not worth worrying about, in my opinion....although with Partition Magic, you could merge the two partitions, I believe. Or if starting from scratch on the WD is an option, we can format it as well, and you'll reinstall the operating system and all your programs.

See how many options you have


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

As far as I know there isn't anything on the Maxtor, so not I wouldn't miss it. I am wondering if we could just reformat it and then re do the WD? I mean I don't really have that much on it yet either and I feel like it is probably done incorrectly so I wouldn't mind starting over on it too, but I would like to have one of them operable so that I may continue to communicate with you in order to get all of this completed. I really don't think I would be able to do it correctly with out help. You see what kind of mess I made by myself . . . . .


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, you have the Maxtor software disk right, that you used before? I think that would be the easiest way to set the Maxtor drive up first.

I'm trying to do some domestic goddess work today, so my replies will probably be delayed


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I took a look at what "Partition Magic" is about and that sounds like a good idea to me. I mean if I don't have to wipe out the WD and start all over that would be great. It sounds like that would fix the problem with the WD, hopefully?


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

No. I do not have any disk for the Maxtor. My son in law did not supply that when he gave me the computer? Only the EZ-BIOS for the WD...I understand.... I should be doing some "domestic goddess" work today too, but I'm being lazy.... had a few too many "drinks" last night ~ LOL!


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Actually, the EZ-Bios for WD 'should' work for the Maxtor too.

Do you already own a copy of PM?


I hear you on the drinks


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

No, I don't own a copy of PM. If I use the EZ-BIOS on one, won't I have to use it on both? I did find there is a downloadable copy of PM to try for free - do you think that would work okay?


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

You aren't going to install EZ-Bios, you are just going to use the disk to set the drive up. EZ-Bios shouldn't ask to be installed unless your bios doesn't support the size of the drive, which I'm still not sure if it does.

I've never used the trial version of PM. It may or may not be fully functional. Couldn't hurt to test it.


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

How do I find out if my BIOS supports the size of the Maxtor? I think I will go ahead and download that "free to try" version of PM and try that on the WD. Then report to you what is going on with the partition info by checking it with fdisk like before. Does that sound okay to you?


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

That sounds fine.

With the bios, the reason I'm suggesting to boot up with the EZ Bios disk, is that it will tell you without any further reseach  It will recognize the drives (so that there is no mistake on which one you are working with) and you'll choose the one you want to play with, it will then allow you to format the maxtor drive, warning you that all information will be lost etc. If it says your bios doesn't support the drive, let us know, as I'm still not too sure on what sizes both drives are


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I still don't fully understand about the jumper positions on the Maxtor. I mean if I want it to function as 'slave' then won't I have to jumper it in some manner? KW was trying to tell me something about jumpering it yesterday but according to his instructions, well, I wouldn't have been able to do it that way because of the pin configuration ? I did go to the Maxtor site yesterday and downloaded a "manual" for my model. Maybe I should study into that and see if it tells me anything about jumpering it to be used as slave?


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Your post above regarding what you saw on the drive explains it. As a slave it needs no jumper.

Jumper
J50

Master/Single
On

Slave
Off


----------



## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

Just my opinoin but here's what I would do.

First I would take the Ez-BIOS floppy disk, put it in an envelope, and mail it to myself so that I wouldn't be tempted to use it unless I had to.  Next I would take the WD drive out of the computer and set it aside somewhere. Then I would jumper the Maxtor HD to Master and install it along with the CDRom jumpered as slave on the same cable.

After this I would make sure the BIOS is set to boot to the floppy drive first, insert the Win98 boot disk, choose to start without CDRom support, run fdisk, delete all partions then make one partition on the hard drive and format it. I would then install Win98 and load all the drivers needed for sound, video, modem, printer, etc. After successfully completing all of this I would type myself a short, flattering letter in notepad about what a great job I did and print it out.

Finally, I would take the Maxtor HD out insert the WD hard drive and repeat the process. Once I had the WD drive up and going then I would move the CDRom drive over to the other cable (setting it as Master), remove the jumper on the Maxtor and hook it up on the cable with the CDRom.

If all went as planned then I would pop the top on several cold ones and enjoy them as I read the letter I typed myself over and over again.


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

KW, I like your plan too, however, I will only point out that using the Ez Bios disk is easier than fdisking, etc. It does that work for you


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Oh, I see. Okay I will try that PM on the WD and then report back to you what fdisk says afterward. Then maybe we can try to hook up the Maxtor and get it formatted, etc...


----------



## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

AcaCandy said:


> KW, I like your plan too, however, I will only point out that using the Ez Bios disk is easier than fdisking, etc. It does that work for you


I know.  I like to do things the hard way. Now if I can find somebody that can recover 20 years worth of customer data base from an old DOS Q&A program that somehow crashed (probably a power surge), I'll be in business.


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I am thoroughly confused now...... I am a little leary for some reason (probably my lack of understanding) of the EZ-BIOS.... I just don't understand how it works. I mean if I plug it in and reboot are you telling me that it will give me the information on how the WD is partitioned etc.? I guess I will just wait for some concrete instructions. Looks like that download is going to take a while . . . it is on 6% and says I have a 3 hour wait . . .


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

For right now, my suggestion on the EZ-Bios was for the Maxtor drive. I'm not too bent out of shape on how the WD drive is 

KW, I have a solution for you, and I'm sure you know what it is


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

That download is going a little quicker than it first stated. Now on 26% and says I have an hour and 35 minutes to go...


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Just wondering if you all decided what the best course of action for me to take would be. I agree with Candy about not worrying about the WD drive for now. I would just like to get the Maxtor done correctly and then think about either reformatting and reinstalling all my stuff on the WD later on. I got a bad download on that Partition Magic, so I am trying that from another download site. When it gets finished ( if ever?) I thought I would try that method for getting the drive information straightened out on the WD before I resort to starting completely over on it. Well I am open to suggestion, let me know what you think I should do please?


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Well, I see KW has bailed once again, going to have to smack him around 

What do we have hooked up now? It really shouldn't matter as with the ez bios, yes, I'm going to forge ahead and request that you use that  should see both drives, so there shouldn't be the accident potential of formatting the wrong one. For a test, why don't you do this, as I would like you to have a comfort level with that software. With both drives hooked up, boot with that floppy disk in the drive and 'explore' around your options.....don't do anything, but take a look and ESC back out when you think you're not sure what's going to happen.


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay, I will hook the Maxtor back up and leave it unjumpered? and then I guess I should leave the jumper on the WD as it is. Then I will boot up with the EZ-BIOS disk and try that and see what information it gives me...I don't mean to be such a pain in the butt, I just don' want to screw up anything any more than it already is...


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

No problem, like I said earlier, I've been caught in the domestic goddess trap..........cod is dethawing now 

Yes, hook up Maxtor (no jumper) and WD jumpered as master with slave present....IF they are on the same cable. To avoid that deal, put each as master (then the Maxtor drive will need a jumper) on separate cables, keeping the cdrom out of the picture. Your choice, there are many ways of hooking things up


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

That would be jumpering pins 5 & 6 on the WD right?


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

*back from kitchen  *

Correct


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay I will try that and let you know what happens afterward....


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, the ez bios software should see both drives, allow you to look at them individually, and also give you the option to format one or the other. There should also be an option to install or uninstall ez bios software, which we don't want to do either at this time, but just to let you know what kind of choices you should see.

Another option is to go to Maxtor.com and download their software, that, in my opinion, is more user friendly than the WD software, which I believe is what you say you have.


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I am back and see your message above. I will go and take a look at the software on the Maxtor site as soon as I finish this note to you. 

Here is what the EZ-BIOS disketee gave me on information about the drives:

Western Digital
Drive 1: Master Device on Primary IDE Port
Make and Model: WDC AC310100B
Serial Number: WD-WT6390259018

Firmware Rev: 32.02S32
LBA Mode: YES
Default Sectors: 19807200
Current Sectors: 19807200

Multi-Sector Mode: YES
Current Sector Count: 0
Max Sector Count: 16

----------------Cylndr------Head----Sect----MB
Drive Defaults:19650--------16-------63------10141
Drive currently:16383-------16-------63-------8455
EDPT Actual:--16383-------16-------63-------8455
EDPT Apparent:-1024------255------63-------8423
EZ-BIOS Int 13h:----------------------------------
ROM BIOS Int 13h:1233----255------63-------10142

Maxtor
Drive 2: Slave Device on Primary IDE Port
Make & Model: Maxtor 84320D4
Serial Number:L40C5MLA

Firmware Rev: NAVX171F

LBA Mode: YES
Default Sectors: 8439184
Current Sectors: 8438850

Multi Sector Mode: YES
Current Sector Count: 0
Max Sector Count: 16

----------------Cylndr-------Head------Sect-----MB
Drive Defaults:8930----------15---------63-------4320
Drive Currently:8930---------15---------63-------4320
EDPT Actual:--8930---------15---------63-------4320
EDPT Apparent:-525--------255--------63--------4318
EZ-BIOS Int 13h:-------------------------------------
ROM BIOS Int 13h:526------63---------63--------4326

I also went to My Computer Properties and took note of that once again, but it is the same as what I recorded before so I didn't really see any point of putting it on here again.

Okay will wait to see what you think after getting this information.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Looks good to me. Did you see another 'advanced' option, etc.? Not sure what WD calls it as I've always used the Maxtor software. You should be able to set the drive up by selecting the Maxtor drive, you'll be warned before everything is erased, and you should be given the chance to partition it as well. I would just make it one partition myself. Once we see what it looks like in Windows, you can always go back and divide it up, up until the point you start putting things on it.

By the way, the cod came out lovely


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

That's good. I mean that your Cod came out the way you wanted it to. I was a bad girl today. Did not cook. It was sandwiches or what ever....everyone for themselves tonight....ha ha...

Okay, on the EZ-BIOS the "Advanced Options" selection is where I went to find that information. It told me that I didn't need to go to this option until I used the "Fully Automatic Install" option but I went there anyway, because I remembered that was where I could view the drive information. So, now do I need to go back into that and choose the Fully Automatic Install? or what? Also how do I make it just one partition - will it tell me that?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

I don't have a copy of the WD software here, I could download it, but since you have it, it's just as easy for you to walk thru the various options. To the best of my recollection, there is one option to set the drive up initially, and you may have to start with option 1 and walk your way thru the whole process. Just be sure you have selected the Maxtor drive, we don't want any accidents. 

The Maxtor software has a deal that you highlight the drive you want to work with, and you can set it up, and it'll give you a partial directory on the drive, then warn you that your next step will erase everything, and ask you if you wish to continue. If at any time you are unsure what is going to happen to which drive, ESCAPE out.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I was unable to find the correct download on the Maxtor site so I am going to go ahead and use the WD EZ-BIOS. I will come back and report the drive status and if you are still on great, if not I will check back in the morning.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, I'll probably hang around for maybe a half hour or so longer. I'm a lightweight. Usually in bed by 9 p.m. whatever time zone I'm on, but usually up to catch pre stock market reports on CNBC. It's worse when I'm on PT like I am now, I prefer Acapulco CT myself, probably your time zone as well.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Yep, we are on CT. What are you doing on PT?
Okay here is what it looks like now after using the EZ-BIOS Fully Automatic Setup and selecting Maxtor drive. 

My Computer

C
capacity 9.41 GB
used 910 MB
free 8.52 GB

D
capacity 4.01 GB
used 320 KB
free 4.01 GB

Files on D
Recycled
Command.com
Drvspace.bin
Io.sys
Msdod.sys


E
capacity 821 MB
used 396 KB
free 821 MB

Files on E
Recycled
Command.com
Drvspace.bin
Io.sys
Msdos.sys

On the Device Manager tab of System Properties:

Generic IDE DISK TYPE01 
Current drive letter assignment C, E.

Generic IDE DISK TYPE02
Current drive letter assignment D.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, that looks good. Wanna call it a night at this point, then we'll play with the WD drive tomorrow? Like I said earlier, I'm not too concerned about that extra 821 megs in the whole scheme of things 

I'm in Las Vegas right now, thus the reason for PT.


BTW, I like that Maxtor drive without all those partitions


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Sounds good to me. All I am really concerned with is getting it back to where WD is C and Maxtor is D and then having my CD-ROM and floppy drive... all I need to do to get my CD back is to reattach the power supply and ribbon cable I think? and my floppy drive is still hooked up so Yes I am calling it a night too and get to the other stuff tomorrow. Thank you for all your help. 

Vegas....hope you're having fun... I went through the town once when I was about 19 years old, but only played a slot machine in a convienence store because my son was about 7 months old at the time and I was afraid to leave him with strangers, etc...but it was quite an amazing site when we came up over the hill from the dam and saw nothing but lights... especially for a homegrown Okie ~ LOL! I had never seen anything like that. .Okay talk to you tomorrow. Hope the fish was great ! ! !


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Well, we are close. The only obstacle is the WD is partitioned in two, and in the sequence of life with computers, REAL drive 1 is C, REAL drive 2 is D, and any partitions to real drive 1 come next, etc.

So, yes, you are safe to hook the cdrom back up.

You wouldn't recognize Vegas, they build a new community monthly here.

And yes, the fish was great 

Good nite!


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Good Morning Candy, 
I downloaded something called "Paragon Partition Manager" this morning and this is what it told me about my computer. Looks like "C" is a little more screwed up than it looked like? I am thinking that I should just completely start over on the WD because this program "Paragon Partition Manager" also told me there are no partitions to merge on DISK 0 ? I don't really understand how that can be, because it appears that Windows is running from C, but apparently it is running from "E" ? Not sure really what is going on, but I thought if I gave you all of this information you might be able to figure out what is going on? Let me know what you think and what I should do?

Paragon Partition Manager

Type Local disk (Unformatted)
Properties of the primary partition 0 "C" (disk 0)
Root entries 0
Sectors per boot 0
Sectors per cluster 0
Capacity 4.7 GB

Advanced tab
Partition 0, hard disk 0

Volume label:

File system: Unformatted

Drive letter: C:

Serial number: 00000000

Sectors / boot: 0

Sectors / cluster: 0

Size (capacity): 4.7 GB (5.074.965.504 )

Used space: 2048 GB (43330%)

Free space: 4.7 GB (100%)

Physical sectors:

First: 63 (Cyl 0, Hd 1, Sec 1)

Last: 9912104 (Cyl 616, Hd 254, Sec 63)

HDD info: Cyl 1232, Hd 255, Sec 63
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Properties of the logical partition 2 "E" (disk 0)

Type: Local disk (FAT32)
Root entries 0
Sectors per boot: 32
Sectors per cluster 8
Used space 3.9 GB
Free space 822 MB
capacity 4.7 GB

advanced tab
Partition 2, hard disk 0

Volume label:

File system: FAT32

Drive letter: E:

Serial number: 2C4C1104

Sectors / boot: 32

Sectors / cluster: 8

Size (capacity): 4.7 GB (5.050.289.664 )

Used space: 3.9 GB (82%)

Free space: 822 MB (17%)

Physical sectors:

First: 9912168 (Cyl 617, Hd 1, Sec 1)

Last: 19776014 (Cyl 1230, Hd 254, Sec 63)

HDD info: Cyl 1232, Hd 255, Sec 63
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Properties of the primary partition 0 "D" (disk 1)

Label DISK2PART01
Type Local disk (FAT32)
Root entried 0
Sectors per boot 32
Sectors per cluster 8

Used space 8.4 MB
Free space 4.0 GB
capacity 4.0 GB

Advanced tab

Partition 0, hard disk 1

Volume label: DISK2PART01

File system: FAT32

Drive letter: D:

Serial number: 0EAC2224

Sectors / boot: 32

Sectors / cluster: 8

Size (capacity): 4.0 GB (4.318.239.744 )

Used space: 8.4 MB ( 0%)

Free space: 4.0 GB (100%)

Physical sectors:

First: 63 (Cyl 0, Hd 1, Sec 1)

Last: 8434124 (Cyl 524, Hd 254, Sec 63)

HDD info: Cyl 525, Hd 255, Sec 63
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chart about Disk 0

C: Primary Unformatted 4.7 GB Active
*: Extended----------- 4.7 GB Not Active
E: Logical FAT32-------4.7 GB 3.9 GB used 822 MB freee Not Active
*: Primary [free]------7.8 MB 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chart about Disk 0
D: Primary FAT32 4.0 GB 8.4 MB used DISK2PART01 Active
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also a color code chart shows

C as unformatted
D as FAT32
E as FAT32 Extended


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Let me run back thru a couple of pages here.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Looks like something is still being misreported when the WD drive is attached. I'm suspecting it is as KW mentioned earlier with that one partition not being formatted.

Why don't you get Windows installed on the Maxtor drive by following the instructions in KW's post #121. Since you've formatted the drive with the EZ Bios software, you can ignore the fdisk etc. stuff. You might post a run down of what you understand is being asked of you before you proceed. We don't want to lose communication with you that you have from the WD drive, so if things go bad on the install and/or you can't get the correct drivers loaded to get internet access, you can always disconnect the Maxtor drive, put the WD drive back in and reach us.

Clear as mud?


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I think I understand? I believe you mean for me to disconnect the WD drive and install Windows on the Maxtor, then reattach the WD, use EZ-BIOS to partition and format it then re-install Windows on it?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Almost, you don't need Windows on both drives. 

Once you can communicate with us from the Maxtor drive, then we will go forward on the WD drive. I'm thinking once you have the Maxtor drive all set up, all we will need to do is again, use the EZ Bios software to transfer everything from the Maxtor drive to the WD drive. Then you will test that drive again to be sure you can still communicate with us. The most important thing is for you to have one drive you can revert back to where you have access to us.

Once the WD is happy again, then we'll wipe the Maxtor drive back to the stage it is at now and you'll use that for storage.

We probably should decide if you want to partition the WD drive, perhaps one partition for Windows, and another partition for your programs. That will be a question for KW, as I'm lazy and I usually don't partition a drive that small. I bought a 120 gig and did break that up into 4 partitions.


Also, I'm assuming you have all driver cds for modem, sound, video, motherboard, etc.? Because if not, we need to start looking for those right now.


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Well I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but I am not sure I have all the driver cds. I only know for sure that I have the one for my modem? The rest of the stuff just always seems to be there? Well I do have the cd for the 3D Blaster Banshee which I believe is the sound...? So if you don't want me to put Windows on the Maxtor what do I need to put there? I mean I don't know what else I would put there to enable me to communicate with you? Excuse my lack of knowledge please...Oh and on partitioning the WD, I would rather just have it one whole drive... I mean I could care less about dividing it up into partitions...Back to the driver question.... I am pretty sure I do not have anything in the way of drivers for the mother board...don't know a thing about it if I do?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Well, at this point it isn't going to hurt to give it a shot. The modem drivers obviously are the most important, and if you run into install problems with the modem, you can just put the WD drive back and report what's happening to us. Now, another option we have, and one to consider is: We can also transfer everything as it stands right now from the C: drive of the WD to the Maxtor drive, that way you aren't losing any data that you may not be thinking about right now. This of course would be done with both drives connected and the EZ Bios software, you probably saw an option to do that while you were playing around getting familiar with it. Doing it that way should give you instant access to us with just the Maxtor drive, then we can zap the WD, transfer back from the Maxtor, then zap the Maxtor drive again.

Did you follow that


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Yes, I did see that option to copy one complete drive to another. To me that really sounds the easiest. Mainly because I don't understand how else I would communicate with you without installing Windows? Then, if I understand you correctly, I would "erase" the WD drive and then transfer all the data back to it from the Maxtor, then clear the Maxtor again and use it for storage?


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I still have a question in about the WD though.... I mean how can I be sure that everything is really on C and not E? and even if it is, if I copy the WD drive all to the Maxtor would that matter anyway? or would it continue to work that way... I mean wouldn't it copy the drive exactly the way it is and if so .... well I hope you understand what I am asking....


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

With the EZ Bios software, you should be seeing what is really there, not what we are seeing when we have both hard drives connected.

The software identifies each drive, not just the C,D,E, etc. that we see in Windows. It will however, show you the 2 partitions on the WD drive. So once you choose the correct drive you want to copy from (the larger partition, since that is where windows is installed), and the destination drive, you should be fine. If not, we have lost nothing, just a bit of time, and you'll still be able to put only the WD in the computer and still be able to tell us what happened, if per chance, the transfer to the Maxtor drive doesn't allow you to communicate with us.

Also, for your comfort level, attach only the WD drive, and look on the C: partition where you should be able to verify a Windows directory


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

So, you think the report from that Paragon Partition Magic was incorrect this morning? I mean from what it said all of the information is on E, but when I go to "My Computer" it looks like it is on C, but that software said C isn't even formatted and I don't understand how that can be and have anything installed on it?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

I've never used that software, but I believe it's impossible for C not to be formatted because that is where it looks to load Windows, also the sizes don't seem to match up. You said you copied everything from the drives, how do the serial numbers match up from that report?


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Not sure. I mean when I check the properties of the disk drives in the device manager of My Computer there are no serial numbers listed there or when I check each drives properties either. The only serial numbers I have found are when I use the EZ-BIOS and that software I downloaded this morning and they don't look anything alike to me? Anyway, it sounds to me like none of that will matter from your other message about how EZ-BIOS reports the sizes and info... so I think I want to go for that option and try copying all from the WD to the Maxtor, then erasing the WD and transferring the information back to the WD and then clearing the Maxtor again, etc... If I get into EZ-BIOS and see something really strange I can always just escape out and come back and tell you what is going on before I decide what to do...


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Correct. Be sure to test the Maxtor to see if you can still communicate with us prior to wiping the WD.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay I'm going to give it a try, BUT FIRST make sure of one more thing... after I copy everthing to the Maxtor, then I need to disconnect the WD and see if I am able to communicate with you all via Maxtor. If so then reconnect the WD and proceed with clearing the WD and then transferring the info from the Maxtor back to the WD and then make sure I can communicate, then wipe out the Maxtor back to the stage it is in now?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Correct  Give us updates in between so I have a timeframe of doing my chores this morning 

Also, I believe that the software will show you a short list of files to be transferred, so you should be able to see that drive we keep referring to as E: and if the files there are those 6 or so that you keep mentioning, DO NOT transfer those to the Maxtor, as there is no need to.

Also, I believe the copying back from the Maxtor to the WD will do the wiping, but you'll see what is being told to you while you are doing the Maxtor, so you'll know what to expect on the WD transfer..............

Off to do some laundry


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay I will do it that way and report in between steps. I have been a good girl so far today. I've been up since 4:30 am (no drinking last night) and got my kitchen straightened up... next stop laundry for me too...


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Lol, good deal, I did the opposite 

Fingers crossed, good luck


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Well, I am back. I decided to escape out of EZ-Drive and report a few things to you all before I actually commit myself to anything yet. 

I first went to the "Fully Automatic Installation" and her is what it told me: 

Partition sizes below were calculated from the amount of data on the source drive partitions.

EZ-Drive will create the following partitions

Partition 1: 2706 MB
Partition 2: 1612 MB
Use these partition sizes ?
Enter new partition sizes ?

Then I esc from that menu and went back to the main menu and choose "Advanced Options" This is what that part told me:

Choose Source Partition

Drive Disk MB----%Full
C:----1--10114---10%
E:----1----862-----0%
D:----2---4310----0%

Then I went and took a look at the jumper settings for each. They both had diagrams in addition to the information I am going to try to make clear here:

Maxtor

Drive Configuration - J8 (my note here- I take it this means unjumpered?)
Selection------------------------J50-----J48-----J46----J44----J42
Single drive only-----------------closed
Master Drive in 2 drive system----closed
Slave in 2 drive system-----------open
Cable Select Enabled---------------------open
Cable Select Disabled--------------------closed
Factory Reserved--------------------------------------open---open
4092 Cylinder Option Enabled-------------------closed
4092 Cylinder Option Disabled------------------open
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Western Digital

Drive Configuration -J8
Selection----------------------------------Jumper 2-------------Jumper 3
---------------------------------------------(SL) (MA)
Single drive only------------------------------open------------------open
Master drive in 2 drive system-----------------open------------------closed
Slave in 2 drive system-----------------------closed-----------------open

Note: Jumpers 4 & 5 on a 10-pin drive (mine is) are reserved for factory use.

Shows 2 different pin configurations on with ::: (321) and ::::54321)<mine, which is jumpered on the middle set...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mainly I am checking back with you all to make sure I don't screw this up. From the above information I am thinking (uh-oh, trouble again ~ LOL )that I should go back to the advanced options and tell use C as the source disk to copy? I mean I really didn't understand why the automatic option wanted to create 2 partitions unless it is a size factor? 

Okay, please let me know what you think so I can get on with what we talked about earlier. I just want to be sure I am copying the correct portion and the correct partition sizes etc. I would have written back sooner but had an interruption and had to go put another load of laundry in too... Thanks.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Sorry, I was out, let me get caught up


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, you look good to go. The reason it wants to split the Maxtor into two partitions is that it is seeing that your source drive, the WD has two partitions, just over ride that by entering new partition size, I believe it will tell you the maximum is the entire drive, so you'll go with that option.

Please remember at this point, you CANNOT screw anything up on the Maxtor drive by making the wrong choices. Worse case scenario is you start all over with the Maxtor by wiping it again. You won't destroy the information on the WD drive unless you make REALLY bad choices, which I have a feeling, you would notice not to do that right away


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Hi Candy, 
I just now got your reply. Earlier my impatience got the best of me so I forged ahead without a concrete answer. To my surprise it turned out alright. At first I wasn't too sure.I chose C as the source to copy from and D as the destination to copy to. Then I was told all the files of C had been copied to D and even when I rebooted and checked out the My Computer properties the files were all there, identical. Well I unhooked the WD and tried to boot up a couple of times and even went into "Setup" and tried to make the Maxtor the first boot device but it wasn't even recognized there. So then realized that I must have to jumper the Maxtor to get it to be recognized. So I looked at my notebook and found the jumper specs and put the jumper on and tada! Here I am. Now I have to hook up the WD, but not sure about the jumpering positions right now. From the notes I took earlier today I think I am supposed to put the jumper on the row second to the left of the power supply? Maybe you could go back to the post earlier today and let me know if you think that configuration would be correct? When I wrote that today it was supposed to have 5 sets of colons to represent 10 pins but one of them turned into a smiley face ? ? Anyway that is where I am on the thing and as soon as I get the jumper positions figured out I believe I am ready to wipe out the WD and then copy the Maxtor drive back to the WD. Then I guess I will have to change the jumpers back as before (pins 5 & 6 on the WD, & all open on the Maxtor). Okay I'll be watching for your reply..........


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Good for you  I had faith, and a sneaky suspicion you would forge ahead 

That is good news regarding the Maxtor drive. Now the jumper pins we talked about earlier will need to change, as the Maxtor will be the MASTER, as you want to do the opposite of what you have done here. The WD will need the jumper set as slave with master, which won't be the same pins. You'll need the DUAL slave in this case, covering pins 3 and 4, one set of pins to the right of where you had it prior.

At least that is the way I would do it. It would probably work the other way around, but I'm a Virgo and I like to have the same balance 

Sorry about the Maxtor jumper pin setting, I should have mentioned it would probably need the jumper pin in order for you to boot to it


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I looked up your birthday so I knew you were a Virgo....my brother and one grandson are Virgo, and my son is a Libra..... so I know all about that balance thing you all have going on...except I am very bad at it ~ LOL ~ Sagittarius....
Okay back to the business at hand...I don't need to change the jumpers yet do I ? Well I mean for now don't I only want to change the WD over to slave until I get the WD wiped out and reformatted? I am not really sure I understand right now and so I hope you won't mind explaining a little further? I will check back in a few to see what you have to say.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Yes, put the WD as slave since the Maxtor is already happy at the Master setting. Then just do what you already did again. This time you will probably be told the destination drive has 2 partitions, and be given a similar option as before, just change the size to the whole drive, and off you go 

*Hubby is a Virgo too, tell me if that isn't too cute  *


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## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

Sorry I had to bail on you guys. I had to "save face" with some of my employees about a computer problem.   

Anyway, it looks like you have about got it whipped. Great work.


Take care.

Kilowatt


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Thanks KW, against your better suggestion, we're using the EZ Bios disk  I mailed it to myself, I really did  but then I sent it to yellowdog 

We've probably taken the long road here, I have learned from you well  but I think it's been the sure road as well


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## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

Well said. Hey, I just noticed that I finally reached DM status! No wonder I have been having trouble the last couple of days.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Lol, you may have a point


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay, it's the "dumb blonde" syndrome again ~ LOL ! I know you all probably thought I was finished up by now, but I was detained by something to lengthy to go into here. In any case I am back and just want to be sure of what I am doing again...

I jumpered the WD to the slave position and booted up with EZ-BIOS, checked the drive information. Here is what it is telling me:

Maxtor
Drive 1 Master on Primary IDE Port

WD
Drive 2 Slave Device on Primary IDE Port

Drive-------Disk-------MB-------%Full
C-----------1--------4310------24%
D-----------2-------10114------10%
E-----------2---------862-------0%

I just want to be sure that I am going to delete the correct one or rather overwrite it. According to this I would need to choose D as the source to copy from, and C as the destination? Right? How am I going to get rid of the E Portion? I apologize for seeming so thick headed ,but it has been a long day and I have been having problems with this stinking machine for over a month now... It's enough to have a girl coloring her hair red ~ just to have artificial intelligence ~ Ha Ha..... I had to make a joke, I can't afford to lose my sense of humor... Okay hopefully you can tell me what I need to do now so that I can complete the operation....Thanks in advance...


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

No, the source is the Maxtor now, you are going to copy it to the WD. You will probably be told something similar to what you saw before regarding partitions, this time it will be referring to partitions on the WD drive, so when asked if you want to make the WD drive only one partition, you'll make that choice.

BTW, I am on instant message programs if you use one.

Oh, and I'm a blonde now too


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

I did use MSN Instant Messanger, but haven't reinstalled it since I have been having all this trouble so for now I am just going to have to communicate with you here. 

Okay so for right now D is really C and C is really D? I just need to say that I want to copy C to D for now, and then re-arrange the jumpers and then reformat & partition the Maxtor?


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Oh yeah, I know this doesn't pertain to the issue, but I just wanted you two to know, even though I am a grandmother - I'm really not that old....looks like KW has me beat by a couple of years ! ! ! One of my grandsons is 5 months old (in 10 days) and the other will turn 5 years on September 3.... so... just fyi....


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Lol, I think we aren't too far apart in age either 

Anyway, no, forget all the old c and d and e information. The drive you boot up to is automatically C. For right now that is the Maxtor drive. The next drive in line is D, which is now the WD drive. Partitions on the c: drive will be lettered next, but since we have no partitions on the Maxtor drive, no extra letters for that, like we had before. The WD drive still has a partition, thus the reason for having E.

Clear as mud 

And once you get the Maxtor drive copied to the WD drive, stop right there for now. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be around. At that point, you should be able to boot to either hard drive by changing jumpers, and they both should be identical except for in size, and in my computer, you should only see C, D and the cdrom, which in reality, should be E, unless you set it at some point to that H letter that it seems to be happy with


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay, but just in case you do call it a night before I decide to give up, after I get that accomplished then don't I just need to "erase" or format and partition "D" ?, which after readjusting the jumper positions will be the Maxtor drive..


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Yes.

Change the WD back to dual master w/slave (cover pins 5 and 6) remove the jumper from the Maxtor drive which will make it slave again, and with the EZBios software, do the same thing you did to it at the beginning to wipe it 

I'm going to try to hang out, as I want to put a BIG FAT SOLVED on this thread before someone beats me to it 

Here is the link:

http://support.wdc.com/techinfo/general/jumpers.asp


----------



## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay I will try to hurry it up but I thought the Master position for the WD was 5/6?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

You are correct, I edited  Have another glass of wine Candy


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Okay I am going right to it...be right back....one way or the other...LOL ! ! !


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Okey dokey, fingers and toes crossed


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

I see you are back  At least we have some good news coming 

You do realize, it's past my bedtime


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Hi Candy, 
You may as well have another glass of wine... and get some rest... not complete yet, darn it... I did get everything from the Maxtor copied to the WD, but for some reason after switching the jumpers around and then using the EZ-Drive software again, I was able to reformat & partition (1) the Maxtor, and it told me it was completed and ready for use....okay then I rebooted and E is still there? So, I guess I was in too big of a hurry and will have to go back in with the EZ-Drive and see what I can do about getting rid of E - which by the way is still on the WD drive? I will let you know in the morning what happens and then you can put solved on it, because I feel sure that I will be able to figure it out.... at least I hope so. Thanks for waiting to see and sorry to keep you waiting but you will be the first to know when it is all fixed. It hopefully won't take much, but I just want to get rid of that E drive...

Okay I will get off of here so you can get your beauty rest. Thanks again and I will hopefully be talking to you tomorrow or maybe if you are still awake you will write back. Sorry for the trouble and wish I could have written and said it was all fixed. It mostly is, but that extra drive really bugs me....

Later on...


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, if you wiped the Maxtor drive, keep this in mind. The WD drive is the only operating system and the only way you can communciate with us. I'm surprised it didn't give you the option to combine that one. 

Per chance is the E: drive now the cdrom? And you are just so used to seeing an E?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

And I will leave you with this, in case you decide to continue on, and if the WD is really still showing two partitons.

First option: you can live with it, it's only 825 megs.
Second option: you can copy the WD back to the Maxtor like you did before, and this time just completely wipe the WD like you did the Maxtor twice now 
Then double check to see if you have one partition on the WD. Then copy the Maxtor back to the WD and zap the Maxtor again. Of course all the time, checking to be sure you still have connectivity along the way.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

No such luck here - maiden name is DRYE - it' that DRYE LUCK ~ well it really isn't funny, and pretty frustrating but the E is showning as an actual drive and has these same files as it has all along:Recycled, Command.com, Drvspace.bin, Io.sys, and Msdos.sys. The capacity shows 821 mb, used 396 mb, and free 821 mb... my CD drive letter right now is H? Anyway I don't want you to get put out with me and I am sure you are tired of waiting so I will keep working with it and talk to you tomorrow. Sounds like you were having fun anyhow...


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, good nite for now. Just be careful, as you have only the WD drive that is able to get you here. I'll go over the steps I would take if I were you, one more time:

1) Transfer the WD drive back to the Maxtor drive. 
2) Change jumper on Maxtor drive and test it to be sure you can get back here.
3) Run the EZBios software on the WD drive and wipe it just like you did the Maxtor, complete and make only one partition.
4) Copy the Maxtor drive back to the WD drive (of course changing jumpers when necessary)
5) Test the WD drive to be sure you can connect here.
6) Wipe the Maxtor drive again.

Hopefully you will have WD, C: Maxtor D: and CDROM H:



Good luck, I'll probably have nightmares about this all night


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Don't do that! ! ! Have sweet dreams and maybe when you wake up I will have it fixed. I don't give up easily and this darn thing has me pretty aggravated so I will probably be up for a while.....Niteynite


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

P.S. I will be copying your last instructions to refer to so I think it will all be fine....You are great and this site is priceless... for real...


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Thanks  I'll have pleasant dreams of waking up to good news 

Nite nite for real


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

*Hi Candy, 
I finally got the job finished about 3:15am (CT) and all is well with my computer now. I must say it was quite a task and without your help and support I'm really not sure I would have been able to make it through the whole process. I followed your instructions from last night, but for some reason EZBios did not give me an option or a way to get rid of that "E" drive so I had to go in with Windows98SE startup disk and use the Fdisk tool. I was a little leery of using that method, but I just took it really slow and looked at all of the options carefully before committing to anything. I used the Fdisk to completely wipe out the WD drive(after having copied it to the Maxtor and making sure I could still connect) and then set up 1 partition using all of the available space. After that I once again used the EZBios to copy the Maxtor to the WD.I checked for connectivity again, as per your suggestion. Then I changed the jumpers back with the WD as Master and the Maxtor as Slave, wipe out the Maxtor and formatted and partitioned it with EZBios as one partition on Drive 2. Anyway, I just can't thank you enough. I really had to push myself and go on with some of it even though I was afraid I might screw the whole thing up. I also thought I would mention that my best girlfriend from childhood turned me on to this site and I will for sure recommend it to everyone I know who needs help solving their computer problems. I am a zombie by now, but I am an insomniac about half the time any way, so I am sort of accustomed to feeling this way. I got maybe 2 hours of sleep before my husband started stirring around getting ready for work. I keep thinking I will go and take a nap, but as the morning wears on, I really doubt if that is going to happen, besides I'm on my 3rd cup of coffee and it looks like it is going to be a bright and sunny day so may as well not waste it sleeping....I also have a few "bugs" left that I'd like to figure out about my computer, so I will probably search around for answers on the site and if I don't find an answer through someone else's postings I may be back here asking about them...but I don't think any of them are near as complicated as this one seemed. I sure hope not... what are we on now, page 14? I think I have rambled on enough for now, I am starting to bore myself ~ LOL ! ! ! Thank you once again so very much. I hope to keep in touch with you, as I love "meeting new people" and you seem like a very nice person. Sure is nice of you to share your knowledge with others. I have learned quite a lot since going through this whole process. OK, bye for now. Have a wonderful day! ! ! Also thought I should add a note of thanks to KW for his input on the whole thing, especially since it sounds like he was in a big pot of hot water himself ! ! ! *    :up:


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Great, thanks for the PM too. I'm sure KW will be thrilled that you at least got to play with fdisk 

For your next problem, start a new thread. As it's impossible for me to read them all, feel free to email or pm and I'll check in on you.


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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

LOL ! ! ! He did seem pretty bent on that method ~ ha ha, so I guess that should make him happy.


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## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)




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## Yellowdog (Jul 4, 2004)

Hi KW 
Looks like Candy was right ~ LOL ! ! ! I am just happy that something worked. Thanks again for your input on the situation.


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