# Unknown operating system??????



## zeke (Jul 22, 2001)

This is REALLY getting on my nerves! I formatted my drive with win98 on it and I was just going to start with a fresh install and be on my way TWO days ago. After reformatting & Partitioning I booted with the win 98 boot disk and I have been unable to load the cd rom drivers for my cd. Why you ask? Well the message I am getting is "unknown operating system", what is this junk? I have done this dozens of times and still nothing. I have been able to load the cd rom drivers on it and copy the win98 folder to the har drive. I start the installation process and just about finishes and then tells me it cannot write to the C: drive. 

I know this is bs because prior to starting over I did a couple of surface scans and found nothing. I also did this under dos and found no errors or problems with the drive.

Keep in mind I can copy files to the C: drive from the floppy but not any cd rom drivers. And I have tried several. I have a new 52x cd rom that I have not had any problems with. Also I have used the WD utiliie and nothing.

As you can tell I am totally ticked that this small thing has stumped me. So I hope someone can help me have a better memorial day weekend because if I don't figure this out I will not get much sleep tomorrow. 

Thanks

Z


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## Max19 (Jul 31, 2001)

Boot with the floppy. Run FDisk, remove all partitions, create one new one, and format it. Then run setup from the CD. If you need a boot disk with CD-ROM drivers, look here.

http://www.bootdisk.com


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## Paul Nagel (Sep 19, 1999)

If you still cannot get that to work, try "Fdisk /mbr" that should clear any reference to all previous information on the hd. Do the regular fdis, partition and format after that.


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## zeke (Jul 22, 2001)

fdisk/mbr doesn't work either. I am complete stumped, I cannot load windows on this drive.

I have done everything possible that can be done to this drive to install windows even using all of the WD drive utilities to troubleshoot. According to the utilities i have used this drive has no problem because it comes up clean, even doing a low level format and a surface scan doesn't come up with anything.

Maybe I will approach this problem differently. I can begin an install, input the M$ key and almost complete the installation. This what I am getting "error writing to drive C". Say what? I hit enter and it goes into oblivion and never comes back. I reboot and I get a message saying that windows did not complete the installation etc... Bottom line is I have done this 5 times now and I can't figure out why it is doing this stupid thing.

Anyone out there have problems likes this or similar.

The drive worked great before I formatted. It's a WD 30 gig 7200rpm with 2meg buffer.

Thanks

Zeke


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## MacFromOK (Mar 19, 2001)

Check your CD for scratches and/or lint. Also,
the CD-ROM could have problems - it may be
overheating on an extended run like the
Windows install. If the hard drive is really OK,
you obviously have a problem elsewhere.

You might also let the BIOS run it's autodetect
on the hard drive again...

Just a few thoughts. Good luck.


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## zeke (Jul 22, 2001)

I checked the bios and the cd rom works fine. I made a win98 folder in C drive and copied the folder to it from the cd. That does two things, first I don't need to find my cd everytime I need something for my system and two, the install goes much faster. 

Again, the problem I am getting is while I am installing windows and I am almost completed the installation I get an error stating "error writing to C".

baffled.


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## MacFromOK (Mar 19, 2001)

Hmmm... sure sounds like a bad sector, but a scandisk
surface scan should pick up on it. You might try copying
a gig or so of files (anything) to it first, then try the install.
That might get you past the bad part (if there is one).

Still thinkin'...


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## Paul Nagel (Sep 19, 1999)

When you copied the Win CD to a folder and tried the install from there, did it stop in the same place(at a reboot, a specific device install) that could indicate another problem with the CD at that point. Can you borrow another copy of the Win9x to verify it is the computer and not the CD? When you used Western Digitals Diagnostic software, it said the drive was good. I remember on the version i had, there was an option to write all "0s" to the entire drive. If you can find that on your copy, i would try and do that just to see if the drive can take being written to completely.


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## zeke (Jul 22, 2001)

yes, I have done the zero thing and it did the whole drive wirhout a problem. A well on the western front, as the saying goes. But you know how that turned out.


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## MacFromOK (Mar 19, 2001)

Hmmm... Some drives had instructions that warn
against doing a low-level format. Kinda late now,
but do you remember anything like that in your
drive info?


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## zeke (Jul 22, 2001)

On the WD webpage it does say that about older drives but mine is a new drive (about a year old) and I used their utility to do the low level format. 
This is very strange and here is why. I am able to format, fdisk partition and start installing an os but for the "error writting to drive C" message and then it stops the installation. The other is I figured I will try another angle and ghost the drive from my other drive but my system won't pick it up, meaning it doesn't see the drive. Even going into the bios doesn't help. I tried it with my drive being the master and the slave but still my system doesn't pick it up. I have done the very same thing before with these two drives when I backed up all my stuff on to the other drive. 

Strange heh?


Zeke


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## MacFromOK (Mar 19, 2001)

Hmmm.... I had a primary IDE controller go bad once,
and the drive started doing weird things occasionally.
I finally cabled the HD and CD-ROM together on the
secondary controller. I'm kinda running out of ideas
here...


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## zeke (Jul 22, 2001)

I am also out of ideas but you have given me one. I will try the second IDE controller and see what happens. I plug in my other drive on the primary and it works great so I am just doing it as the last resort. It's been a long weekend and I was hoping to get this working by saturday and I have come away empty handed but I do appreciate your help. What the heck maybe we all learned something from this. I am waiting on WD and what they have to say. I am 99% sure they will tell me to ship it back to them so they can take a look at it. maybe I have come up something eh...

Thanks again.

Zke


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## MacFromOK (Mar 19, 2001)

BTW, were you able to borrow another Win98
CD to make sure that isn't where the problem
originated (as Paul Nagel suggested)?


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## zeke (Jul 22, 2001)

Yes, I actually used a copy an original win98 folder from a working pc. I put it on a syquest floppy and transferred it.


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## Paul Nagel (Sep 19, 1999)

Lets start over at the very beginning.

I happen to have the WD 30 gig 7200 rpm hard drive also. I have mine setup with C:\=4.1 gig(OS+programs), D:\=4.21 gig(downloads, music, backups etc..) and E:\= 19.5 gig(video and anything being worked upon causing repeated changes to hard drive). I am using Win98se. 
I used Fdisk to:
1. enable large disk support
2. created a primary dos partition of 15%(4,299mb)
3. created an extended dos partition of 85%(24,325mb)
4. created a logical partition of:
a. D=18%(4,330mb)
b. E=82%(19,995mb)
I backed out of the program using the ESC key. Rebooted and from the A:\(Win98se boot disk) formated C:\, D:\ and E:\ individually. I dont want you to think i am insulting you, but is this the basic routine you did?


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## zeke (Jul 22, 2001)

None taken. That's not where I am having my problem, that part goes fine. It's the error I am getting WHILE I am intalling win98 (error writing to Drive C) message. It does it at the end of the install - not quite the very end but close adn I don't know what it could be.

I am going to try another win98 CD just for kicks and eliminate the possibility that my win98 folder is twieked.

thanks


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## Max19 (Jul 31, 2001)

What Win98 folder are you using? Are you using an actual Windows 98 installation CD? Did you copy the CAB files from another computer for the installation?


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## Lurker1 (Jan 30, 2001)

Hi zeke 

Just some random thoughts here. 
If you have a boot sector or virus protect in bios, make sure that it is turned off. 
can you SYS the C drive and load the operating system on it?

Possibly the bios is not seeing the 30 gig hard drive correctly. You may need to use western digital software to partition and set up your drive for you. Basically it will write a disk overlay if needed. Then you will need to boot off the hard drive before putting in a floppy to get the overlay loaded.


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## Paul Nagel (Sep 19, 1999)

Zeke-i was just trying to make sure that some glitch in the hd setup was not limiting your installation. Looking at one of your previous posts i saw were you say you had both the new and old drives hooked up for a data transfer and that worked. If you have a spare hd ribbon cable(did you use the ATA 100 cable that came with the drive-blue end on motheboard?) to try just to eliminate the posibility of a bad cable. I know its just a shot in the dark. I dont know what else to do but go back to he basics and check every detail right down to jumpers, cables etc...


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## zeke (Jul 22, 2001)

I want to thank everyone for your imput. I could not have done without your help, especially Paul Nagel & MacFromUK. I would have never thought it was the ribbon cable but sure enough it was the problem all along. 

Sorry I hadn't responded earlier but, I am now happy to get that behind me. I have now decided to try Red Hat Linux 7 and see what I can learn.. So I am sure you will hear from me again soon.

Thanks again!

zeke


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## MacFromOK (Mar 19, 2001)

Thanks for letting us know the outcome,
I've been wondering how it turned out.

Glad you got it fixed.


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