# Solved: Hard Drive Boot Up Error



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

I am running Windows98se on a homebuilt computer. I recently had to reformat after a virus wiped out my IE. I have been trying to install all the safeguards to keep this from happening again, ie: Defender Pro Virus, Firewall, Spam blocker, Pop-up blocker, Registry Repair...etc. I found a program that can help recover lost files and was downloading a program to help open the lost files, when it locked up and gave an error message that there may be damage to D drive (I have a 20g hard drive on C & a 3g hard drive on D that are FAT32). The program would not let me cancel, so I shut down. Upon restart I get "Primary Master disk boot failure & Secondary Master disk boot failure." I have booted using Startup disk and ran SCANDISK. Scandisk took 16 hours and said it fixed several errors, but upon reboot I get the same error. I went into CMOS and tried changing to auto, and to user....still the same thing. When startup disk loads it says "Windows 98 has detected that drive C does not contain a valid FAT or FAT32 partition. There are several possible causes......." When I run FDISK it says "No fixed disks present".

Hopefully thats enough info for someone to give me a hand fixing this mess!!!


----------



## OBP (Mar 8, 2005)

If the disks are there in DOS then it sounds like your Boot sector or Boot.ini file has been corrupted. 
Have you got a Bootable Floppy disk?


----------



## OBP (Mar 8, 2005)

Have you run scanreg.exe or scanreg/restore?


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

The only bootup floppy I have is a Windows98se startup disk. I haven't tried scanreg, but I will and post a followup.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

OK...tried both scanreg/restore & scanreg.exe.....both say "Not ready reading drive D". Tried retry several times..same thing.


----------



## OBP (Mar 8, 2005)

What about drive C:, any joy on that one?


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

Tried it as C:/>scanreg/restore and as D:/>scanreg/restore. Both say "Not ready reading drive D"


----------



## OBP (Mar 8, 2005)

It definitely sounds as if your Boot sector hs been corrupted. 
If you boot up with the floppy can you read any files on c: or d:?
If you can't it sounds like you will need a new disc drive.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

Here's what I get when I try to boot with Startup disk:

After system verifies DMI Pool data, "Disk Boot Failure, insert system disk and press enter"
I put in disk. It asks for the usual (1. Start with CD-Rom support....etc).
1. The drive may nes to be partitioned. To create a partition on the drive, run FDISK from MS-DOS command pormpt.
2. You may be using a third-party disk-partitioning software. If you are using this type of software, remove the Emergency boot disk ans restart your computer. Then follow the on-screen instructions to start your computer from a floppy disk.
3. Some viruses also cause your drive C to not register. You can use a virus scanning program to check your computer for viruses.

The diagnostic tools were successfully loaded to drive C.

Then I tried SYS C: says "invalid function"
I tried config.sys it says "Bad command or file"
I tried CHKDSK it says "volume sent is 2AB5-A121
1,457,664 bytes total disk space
223,232 bytes in 3 hidden files
984,064 bytes in 21 user files
250,368 bytes available on disk

512 bytes in each allocation unit
2,847 total allocation units on disk
489 available allocation units on disk

655,360 total bytes memory
 628,624 bytes free
Instead of using CHKDSK, try using SCANDISK. ScanDis can reliably detect and fix a much wider range of disk problems. 

Ran SCANDISK on drive C: it says "Scandisk did not find any problems on drive C"
Ran SCANDISK on drive D: it says "Invalid drive specification"

OH, also....in CMOS it says
Primary Master Type: user Size: 0M Cyls: 0 Head: 0 Precomp: 0 Landz:38656 Sector: 0 Mode: Normal
Primary Slave is all the same except Landz: 5888

I don't know if this helps, but I'm trying to give as much info as I can. I am just an intermediate user learning as I go along.


----------



## OBP (Mar 8, 2005)

From that data Drive C: appears to be OK but Drive D: is gone as far as DOS is concerned.
From the Bootable floppy Disk have you tried reading any files directly?
Is your computer trying to Boot in to Drive D: or Drive C: during startup?


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

In the Bios it's set to start on A,C,SCSI. I'm not sure if I know how to read anything from C drive.? When I ran scandisk yesterday it took 16 hours and said it repaired damaged files in C. It also said that my system had 2 FAT32 running. It first tried to repair 1 several times, then restarted and said 2 was better, and that's the one it repaired all the files in. When I try scandisk again it says C drive has no errors, but it will not run on D drive.


----------



## OBP (Mar 8, 2005)

I was wrong about the chkdsk result, you checked drive "A" the floppy. You need to use chkdsk C:/f to check and fix drive C: or 
chkdsk D:/f to check and fix drive D:
Can you run chkdsk for C: and let us know the results?


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

OK, here goes.
I Typed: C:\>chkdsk C:/f I got:

Volume MS RAMDRIVE created 8-21-1991 12:00a
2,091,008 bytes total disk space
603,136 bytes in 15 user files
1,487,872 bytes available on disk

1,024 bytes in each allocation unit
2,042 total allocatio units on disk
1,453 available allocation units on disk

655,360 total bytes memory
559,856 bytes free

Then I typed: D:\>chkdsk D:/f I got:
Cannot CHKDSK a network drive

Hope this helps! I appreciate your assistance!


----------



## OBP (Mar 8, 2005)

That is much better, but there are only 15 User files on drive C:.
For drive D try using C:\>chkdsk D:/f


----------



## OBP (Mar 8, 2005)

Have you tried copying Windows on to Drive C:?


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

I tried C:\>chkdsk D:/f and it said: Cannot CHKDSK a network drive.
I also tried reinstalling Windows to C by typing C:\>setup and it scanned system registry and came back with: Cannot create a temporary directory. If you have HPFS or NTFS installed on your hard drive, you will need to create an MS-DOS boot partition to set up Windows.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

**If this posts twice I apologize, but when I looked for it it wasn't here**

I tried C:\>chkdsk D:/f and it says: "Cannot CHKDSK a network drive".

So, I tried to reinstall Windows to drive C using C:\>Setup ...it scanned the system registry and came back with: "Cannot create a temporary directory. If you have HPFS or NTFS installed on your hard drive, you will need to create an MS-DOS boot partition to set up Windows".


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

Hey, I clicked on a link on this site that said something about repairing boot up errors. It took me to a site called NTFS.com, and I found a download for a bootable floppy disk designed to repair Partition Boot Sectors. From there I found [email protected] Image with a download for Drive Image Software. Do you reccommend trying these? Sounds to me like they are just what I am looking for! I went ahead and created the boot disks, but I will wait for your reply. I don't want to cause more damage than I already have.


----------



## OBP (Mar 8, 2005)

I know about the NTFS repair floppy, you can give it a try, make sure you read the help text and look at all of the Menu options. 
The other option is to buy a small Hard drive to put in your computer as Master and slave this on to it to extract any data you need from it.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

Well, I tried the NTFS program to no avail. When it did it's search it did not recognize my C: or D: drive at all. Not even as unallocated. The only drive it pulled up was A:. And it said "Divide Error", So I tried a demo version of Media Tools Professional Edition just to see the outcome and it came up with: InitDiskBIOS reported 0 sectors/track, assuming 63!
Interrupt divide by zero, stack:
9DE7 F000 0246 0200 0280 0080 0000 3800 0000 0000 4200 0000 0042

I don't really know what that means, but I assume "0 sectors" to mean that I am pretty much screwed. So, What's my next step? Put another hard drive in it? Should I just start fresh with a new one or just put something in it to try to recover what I have lost?


----------



## OBP (Mar 8, 2005)

I am sorry pnthrpink, I was not paying attention when you mentioned NTFS, you have windows 98 that should use FAT32 not NTFS unless you have converted it in some way. 
If you put a standard win 98 Bootable floppy in a: and put in C: and enter does c: come up?
If so if you type in dir what happens?


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

If you look at the posts, the C: drive is a ram drive that is being created from whatever boot floppy you are using. It is not the hard drive. In fact, from the very first post it mentions that FDISK can't find any hard drives. Also, regardless of whether the hard drive had NTFS or FAT32, FDISK should have been able to at least see the drive.

So a few things that could be causing the problem:

1. The computer is not configured correctly in CMOS for the hard drive.
2. The cables to the hard drive are defective. If it isn't spinning, try a different power cable. If it is, try a different IDE cable.
3. The hard drive is defective.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

No it hasn't been changed, it is still FAT32. This program said it worked for both, but the user manual didn't give different instructions for both, so I figured it would work regardless. If I type in C: it does come up, but about the only command I get anywhere with is CHKDSK. Chkdsk tells me it is better to run SCANDISK, but when I do it says drive C: has no errors.....however it only takes @30 seconds to scan disk C:, and on a 20G harddrive that had @50% free space, I know it should take longer than that.


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

Again, that is because C: is not your hard drive !!!!

It is the ram drive that is being created by your boot floppy. 

If you run FDISK again, see if it recognizes a hard drive or not.


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

For example, from previous posts:

1. When I run FDISK it says "No fixed disks present" - So no hard drive is recognized at all.

2. Look at the size of the C: drive being reported - 1,457,664 bytes total disk space - ~1.4 megs? 

Look at the size of the hard drive in CMOS - Zero, Null, 0 -
Primary Master Type: user Size: 0M Cyls: 0 Head: 0 Precomp: 0 Landz:38656 Sector: 0 Mode: Normal

From that data, the hard drive is not ok at all. 

It doesn't matter at this point if the boot sector is corrupted or not. FDISK can't even find a disk to fix.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

Bob, I call C: my hard drive because just a few days ago it WAS my hard drive. C: was my 20g hard drive and D: was my 3g hard drive. It has been that way for 3 years.
I have run FDISK many, many times..the last of which was last night and it still says "No fixed disks present".

What do I look for in CMOS to see if my hard drives are configured incorrectly? As I posted earlier, I have viewed CMOS to see what it said. Results are as follows:

Type Size Cyls Head Precomp Landz Sector Mode
Primary Master User 0M 0 0 0 38656 0 Normal
Primary Slave User 0M 0 0 0 5888 0 Normal

What's my next step?


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

So that again confirms that you have two hard drives of 0 bytes.


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

Since CMOS is set for user defined configuration of the hard drive:

1. How did everything get set back to 0 (0 sectors, 0 heads etc).
2. What happens if you set it for auto
3. What are the correct settings supposed to be


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

OK, so I will start with replacing cables tonight and go from there. I really don't think that they are the problem because this all started when I was downloading a program, but I will try. Anything else I can try tonight? Reconfigure the CMOS?


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

I have tried setting it for Auto and when it boots up it still says Primary Master Disk Fail & Secondary Master Disk Fail. I don't know how it got set to 0...I was downloading a program to help read recovered files, when an error message popped up saying to download to another drive or it would cause damage to Drive D: Then it wouldn't let me cancel out of it, so I shut down. I have no idea what the correct settings are supposed to be.


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

I didn't say the cables were the source of the problem but you might as well check them.

But certainly having CMOS saying your hard drives are of 0 bytes is. 

Again:

1. How did everything get set back to 0 (0 sectors, 0 heads etc).
2. What happens if you set it for auto
3. What are the correct settings supposed to be


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

You could also have defective drives or IDE controller on the motherboard.

But now you at least know it is a problem with the hard drives and not all that other stuff that was being suggested.

Since auto is not working, maybe you can either look on the drives or go to the manufacturer's site to see what the settings should be.

But certainly 0's for everything is not going to work.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

How do I look on the drives for the correct values? I will get the manufacturer name of both hard drives tonight and go to their websites to see if they list the values.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

OK, I just pulled out a list that I made of all my hardware and info on this computer that I made a few months ago. This is a bit of what my computer was before this crash:

Partitions: C: FAT32 19083MB (18276MB free)
D: FAT32 2995MB (2995 MB free)

BIOS type Award Modular (4/12/00)

IDE controller Primary (dual FIFO)
Secondary (dual FIFO)

VIA BUS Master PCI IDE Controller

Does this mean anything?


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

That doesn't show things like the head and cylinder count for the drives in CMOS.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

I found the parameters for both harddrives and entered the info into CMOS. I noticed on boot up that C: drive was still not being seen. I used startup disk and typed FDISK in DOS command. Here's what it came back saying:

Current fixed disk drive:1
Choose the following
1. Create DOS partition or Logical DOS drive
2. Set active partition
3. Delete partition ot Logical DOS drive
4. Display partition information
5. Change current fixed disk drive
Unable to access Drive 2

I went back to CMOS to double check what I had entered. Should TYPE be set at Auto or User? Should I have Primary Master & Primary Slave HDD S.M.A.R.T. capability enabled?

Went through boot up again and this time it said:
CONFIG.SYS corrupted
Line 12 FLASHPT.SYS
Line 16 ASP4DOS.SYS
Line 17 ASPI8U2.SYS
Line 31 RAMDRIVE.SYS
COMMAND.COM
Type the name of the Command Interpreter (e.g., C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM)

What do I do next??


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

Since you previously stated the setting the CMOS for AUTO on the hard drives didn't work. So I would not recommend that setting. 

After manually entering in the hard drive parameters, at least the computer and FDISK can see the hard drive.

But at this point you might not want to do anything with FDISK. I recommened it initially just as a test. 

You might boot with a floppy and see what is left on either hard drive.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

The information I just posted is what I got when I did boot up with a floppy. Are there any specific commands I should type in to get more info?


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

If those are the errors just from the floppy, it sounds like you need a better one.

There is also the generic one which you can download and extract at:
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/software/win98_img.exe

There are a lot of the DOS utilities there that don't normally get added when you make one from Win98. For example Diskcopy, Doskey, Format, More, Move, Sys, Edit, Chkdsk, Deltree, Extract, Updated Fdisk, Attrib, Label, Mem, Scandisk, Scanreg, Smartdrv and Xcopy.

Not only are there more utilities on there but it starts much faster since it doesn't have to create the RAM disk and then expand the cab file from the floppy to that RAM disk.

It automatically loads with support for a generic CD ROM and assigns it the drive letter of X:

There is also a CD ROM boot image you can download at:
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/software/win_boot.iso

In addition to all the other DOS utilities, the CD version also has:
DELPART - For deleting DOS and NTFS partitions. Can delete extended NTFS partitions.
FDISK121 - FDISK with additional options - See the documentation, and 
READNTFS - Read and Copy files on a NTFS partition.

The CD image needs to be burned using a program that recognized ISO images.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

Terrific. I will download the floppy now, but since I am talking to you from my work computer I don't have the capability to burn any CD's. I will run this floppy tonight and post the outcome tomorrow morning. Thank you for all your help!


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

Bob, restarted with your floppy & this is waht I got:
Drive X:= Driver MSCD001 Unit 0
Drive Y:= Driver MSCD001 Uniit 1
DOSKey installed

Cache size 2,097,152
Cache size while running Windows 2,097,152

Disk caching Status
Drive Read cache write cache buffering
---------------------------------------------
A: yes  no no
B: yes no no
C: yes yes no
Write behind data will be committed before command prompt returns.

For help, type "Smartdrv /?"

Well.....I typed "Smartdrv /?" and I was lost!! What commands do I type in?


----------



## Tapeuup (Apr 6, 2005)

you should let the 3 gig be your C:\ & the other be the slave, the reason for this is you will get not enough memory error, I don't see how it scanned the disk with it being 20 gig. It will also eliminate other issues.

 ScanDisk could not continue because your computer does not have enough available memory


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

Good, now it seems like you have a working floppy disk. It has also assigned X: and Y: to your two CD ROM drives

There is not need to run the help on smartdrv unless that is what you want to do.

If you want to see what may be left on your C: drives, you can run "DIR C:\" - no quotes.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

I played with it a little more last night after I posted. I ran SCANDISK on C: It took 40 minutes and said "Free space reported incorrectly." No other errors. I know from that that I've lost almost everything. Tried to rum SCANDISK on D:, but it said "Invalid drive specification". The I ran FDISK to look at Display Partition info. It said "no fixed disks". So I went to Create Primary DOS Partition & it came up with:
Partition Status Type M Bytes
C:1 A PRI DOS 18936
System Usage
Unknown 100%
Total disk space is 18936 M Bytes (1Mbyte=104856 bytes)
Must restart............so I did and it said I must format

I went to C:\>FORMAT and it said "Invalid media type reading drive C"
I tried D:\>FORMAT and it was "Required Parameter Missing-"

My question is; How exactly do I reinstall my Operating system now? I only know how to install it with FORMAT.


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

That is not how your run FORMAT.

Since you want to format, you should probably run FDISK first

Information on how to use FDISK can be found at:
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/install/fdisk.htm

Topics covered are:
Overview and Getting Started
Partitioning a New Drive - Single Large Partition
Partitioning a New Drive - Multiple Partitions
Deleting a Single Partition
Deleting Multiple Partitions
Deleting a NTFS Partition
Fixing the Master Boot Record


----------



## OBP (Mar 8, 2005)

Bob, that is a usefull website you have.


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

Thanks. It's been going for just a few years now ;-)


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

Ran FDISK Here's the results:
Current fixed disk Drive: 1
Display Partition Info
Partition=C:1
Status=A
Type=PRI DOS
Volume Label
Mbytes=18936
System=Unknown
Usage=100%
Total disk space is 18936 Mbytes

Went to SET ACTIVE PARTITION:
Current fixed disk drive 1
The only startable partition on Drive 1 is already set active

Went to Change Current Fixed Disk Drive:
Disk 1 DRV C: Mbytes 18936 Free Usage 100%
Disk 2 DRV D: Mbytes 3020 Free Usage 100%

Still cannot get SETUP.EXE to run. It says "Bad command or file name"
If I start without bootdisk I stil get "Master boot disk fail". Do I go ahead and FORMAT C: at this point? I don't want to lose all the drivers I just downloaded unless I have no other options (if I haven't lost them already).


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

I'm not sure what setup program you were expecting to run.

I'm also not sure what you have done. Did you run FDISK and remove and then create new partitions? If so then you need to follow the instructions on the site that also mention the need to run FORMAT.

If you did not repartition, you might boot with the floppy and see what files are on your hard drives. It may be that you only need to reinstall Windows.

Also see http://www.onecomputerguy.com/install/win9x_install.htm for several ways to install Win9x.

Also, how did you download drivers if you can't boot to the computer?


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

The setup program I was trying to run is WINDOWS. When I ran FDISK I did not remove & create new, because when I would try FDISK before it said "No Fixed Disks Present" so there was nothing there to remove. I followed the directions on your site all except to FORMAT. The drvers I am talking about were just downloaded a few days before this crash last week. It took me forever to find them. I did look on your site at the different ways to install Windows, and that is the setup I was talking about. I have the CD that comes with a new computer for Windows 98SE. I was trying to run setup with the CD and the bootdisk I that you told me to copy a few days ago.


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

"that is the setup I was talking about"

What setup? 
Where is it? 
Can you access your CD ROM? 
Did you try copying the source files from the CD ROM to to a directory on your hard drive and installing from there?

Can you please give some specifics. It is very difficult to offer suggestions when it is necessary to keep having to ask what was done.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

OK, maybe setup isn't the right word. I cannot INSTALL Windows. Maybe I'm not doing it right, but I am trying to do it the same way I did the last 2 times I have had to reinstall my Operating system I am starting with your boot disk and using the CD ROM. When I get to DOS prompt A:\> I am typing SETUP.EXE. I don't know how to copy source files from the CD to a directory on my hard drive. I saw that on your website, but you don't explain how. I cannot access the CD ROM...again, it seems I don't know how. I don't know a whole lot about this stuff. Everything I have done so far has been trial and error. I apologize for sounding ignorant, but I am trying to learn.


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

You can't run setup from an a: prompt. You have to change directories to get to whatever drive letter your cdrom is being assigned, like perhaps in this case, e or f?

When you are booting with the boot disk, do you see indication that the cdrom is being found or not being found?

Until the bios setup sees your hard drive, I think you are just spinning your wheels though. Do you perhaps have the option to boot from the cdrom drive in your bios setup? You have mentioned changing bios settings, however, when you come out of the bios are you actually SAVING the changes?


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

My CD drives have been reassigned to X: and Y: with the floppy disk that Bob sent me the link to. My BIOS are configured to start up with A:, C:, SCSI. Should I change that? When my system boots up and goes through all it's checks, it does now show both Primary Master & Slave as C: & D:, and Secondary Master & Slave as the CD ROM drives. I wasn't running setup from A:, but I was making the mistake of trying to run it in C: instead of from X: or Y:. And yes, I do remember to save the changes each time in the BIOS. So, I guess what I need to know is should I run setup or go ahead an format at this point?


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Then you need to change to either X or Y, whichever drive you have the Windows cd in. Looks like you don't have an option to boot from the cd.

Please tell me that your CD drives aren't SCSI though.

I have to run out for the afternoon, so hopefully Bob will return


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

I don't know if they are or not....what is SCSI?? I just tried running Windows setup..it goes through Scandisk and gets to "The amount of free space on drive D: is being reported incorrectly. Choose fix it to let scandisk repair the problem" So when I click on fix it the computer just restarts. I have tried several times and it does the same thing every time.


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

I doubt you ran the setup program from you floppy.

So depending on which CD ROM has the OS source files (X: or Y change to that drive letter, then to the directory where the source files are located (the one with all the cab file) and run setup from there.

All this is pretty much detailed in previously provided links.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

I figured that much out! I DID change to X: which is the one I have the Windows CD in, so I typed in X:\>SETUP.EXE It says "please wait while setup initializes.........
Goes to ScanDisk, runs it's checks, stops at free space, says free space reported incorrectly on D, I choose fix it, it says "Please wait while setup initializes, Scanning system registry, copying files needed......" then it restarts and does the same thing again


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

So it sounds like you have a corrupted file system on at least one of your hard drives.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

OK, so do I just reformat and start over?


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

First off, although asked several times already, I still don't know much about what is on your computer. 

But given the lack of information, and assuming that you have some corrupted on at least one of your hard drives, if it were my computer, I would run FDISK, repartition, run FORMAT and format both drives and then start a clean install. 

But I also keep all my OS source files, drivers, data, and application source files on other locations to make this all a lot easier. I don't know how much of this you have done ahead of time.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

Bob Cerelli said:


> First off, although asked several times already, I still don't know much about what is on your computer.


What specifically do you want to know. I have told everything that I can think of throughout these posts. If you have specific questions about my computer system I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

I haven't saved files anywhere else, until this past week I didn't know that I should, or how to do so. I have figured it out now, but now is obviously too late.


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

I have previously asked:

"You might boot with a floppy and see what is left on either hard drive.

If you want to see what may be left on your C: drives, you can run "DIR C:\" - no quotes.

you might boot with the floppy and see what files are on your hard drives.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

Thank you. I posted earlier that I did not know how to see what I had on those drives. All I needed was to be told the commands to type in to find out. I will do that now and tell you what I find.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

I typed A:>\DIR C:\ and it said "Invalid media type reading drive C"
So I put it in as A:>\DIR D:\ and here's the results:

Volume in drive D has no label
Volume Serial Number is 1900-0B51
Directory of D:\

Drivers 04-14-03 7:30pm
RECOVE~1 EXE 3,829,832 03-20-19 6:40p
RECOVE~1 03-20-19 6:58p
1 file(s) 3,829,832 bytes
2 dir(s) 3,122,126,848 bytes free


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

I did post the commands earlier "If you want to see what may be left on your C: drives, you can run "DIR C:\" - no quotes." but never heard anything back until just now.

So if there is nothing that you can access on the C: drive, if it were me, I would delete whatever partition is there, create a new one, format and install.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

I must have missed that post, I apologize. I guess I will follow through with the format. Thank you for your help. I will leave this thread open for now...just in case.


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Please keep us updated with your progress.


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

Again, if you are going to format, might as well FDISK, delete whatever partition is there, create a new one, reboot and FORMAT C:


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

I think you've intimidated him Bob.


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

I'm not sure why. After he read my page on how to use FDISK he started to use it.

Also, since he has gone from having a very severe problem where there were no hard drives recognized at all due to incorrect CMOS settings to being able to determine that was the source of the problem, fix it, and finally run FDISK to confirm both drive sizes, we have come quite a long way. 

Now he just needs to run FDISK and FORMAT...and he has already started to see how FDISK works and has the detailed information on how to proceed.

Actually I'm very impressed with how much he as stuck with this.


----------



## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

If setup began and couldn't complete because of drive problems -- it might be worthwhile to determine the vendor name of the drive -- go to their site and download a diagnositic and repair utility for it before proceeding. This may be the only way of really determining if the drive is capable of being saved.

However another possibility for this infinite repetition is that setup is having trouble reading the CD ROM itself. Try cleaning and polishing it. Have a look for scratches. 

If the problem continues even after reformatting the hard drive successfully --- you may want to try copying the Win98 folder from the CD to the Hard Drive and running setup from there.


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

The problem disk was drive D: not C:. That is why I suggested doing a FDISK and FORMAT. Then any errors should so up there.


----------



## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

I thought that he could get a directory on D, but not on C?


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

From previous posts there were errors being reported on both drives. Given that, it would seem prudent and a more reliable solution to completely reFDISK and FORMAT them again. Given the sizes of the drives, this should only take a few minutes to do.


----------



## pnthrpink (Mar 12, 2005)

AcaCandy said:


> I think you've intimidated him Bob.


Well, Bob can be a bit intimidating, but being one of the few female auto technicians in Northern Colorado I think I can deal well with intimidation.  
He just needs to remember that there was once a time when he didn't know everything about computers either (granted, maybe he was 2), but most of us are on here because we are making an effort to learn.

Anyway, I did reFDISK and FORMAT. All was successful. My computer is up and running beautifully now and I do owe most of it to Bob. Both C: and D: are working to perfection.

Thank you all for your help. :up: :up:

Kellie


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

What was so intimidating about all that?

Got you from a computer that didn't even recognize that you have any any hard drives to where you were able to FDISK and FORMAT both of them. You are now up and running from what was a basically non-bootable computer. And all over the Internet. Pretty good job.

Aside from these few commentaries, there really wasn't any one else contributing any help at all on this one.


----------



## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Bob, you didn't hurt yourself patting yourself on the back, did you?


----------



## Bob Cerelli (Nov 3, 2002)

Just don't like these type of unsubstantiated personal rather than technical evaluations being made.


----------

