# Hard disk drive not detected!! Please help



## spoobare

Hi guys, I'm hoping you can help me again. This time the problem is: 
While trying to install a new hard drive on my friends system things did not turn out quite right, I seem to have lost the hard drive somewhere. The bios will not save the information, It says Primary Master (none) and when I save and exit it still does not detect the settings still says (none) I guess I'm not sounding very clear on this, So let me start over.
My friend tried to fdisk her system (because of a virus) she got half way through and she got lost, tried to start over with fdisk, but the system said it could not read drive "C" I am not sure what happened after that but she shut it down called me to help. She bought another hard drive (because of virus) and asked me to try and install it for her. I have been trying all day!!  I can't get this pc to do anything. It tells me HIMEM.SYS is missing and can't find drive C,D,E though I can access A which I know nothing about can some one please take a few mins and try to figure out what I did wrong and how I can fix it? Just before I left I put in the new hard disk's diaognostic cd and it said :
Cant load BDOS Kernel file *BDOS Kernel file A:\IBMDOS.COM * Any help woulp be greatly appreciated!!!


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## NiteHawk

Are you trying to boot from the HD or a boot floppy?

Also when she originally tried to Fdisk, did she do it fron the C: drive or the A:\ drive?


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## spoobare

I thought I might add sys is win98 2nd ed. the new hard drive is a Seagate 80gig


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## spoobare

I'm trying to boot from a floppy it won't read a H.D. it also won't boot from the start-up disk either


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## spoobare

(I'm pretty sure she said the C drive


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## IMM

Enter the bios and load the setup defaults - the virus may have changed some stuff around - or there is a possiblilty that that motherboard will not deal with a disk that large (at least w/o a bios update). What is the make and model of the motherboard?

Regarding fdisking: (perhaps with the original disk if the bios recognizes it OK)

You will need to do this from a boot floppy.
Enter the bios and set the boot order so that the A: drive is first.

If it's the 80G drive you will have to have the newer fdisk on the floppy.
You can get it at
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;263044

A guide to fdisk
http://fdisk.radified.com/


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## spoobare

I entered the setup defaults save and exit but it does not save them. When I try and boot from the floppy cant load himem.sys file and device drivers then it says system halted. And it will go no further.


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## NiteHawk

Do you get to a DOS prompt?

IF you can get to A:\> type in dir /a /s and let us know what files are on that boot floppy


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## spoobare

Thank you NiteHawk I will try that tomorrow and let you know


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## spoobare

I have got the pc to fdisk and format also got the new hard drive working but now it will not load windows. It goes through post and the windows screen appears for a second and then goes to the C:\> I don't know what command to give it to let me install windows. Please help!!!


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## dai

when you formatted did you use the correct command
format c: /s


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## spoobare

I have got it to start installing windows from the CD and it was at 8% when I recieved a error message: A serious error has occured while writing to drive c Retry (r)? I said yes and the system froze.
I can't get it to run setup at all now what can I do? Please Please help me out of this mess, I promise I'll never try and help anyone else fix their pc it's definitly (the blind leading the blind) any advice would be greatly appreciated and the sooner the better (smiles)


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## spoobare

Thank you for answering dai I did not use format using the( /s) just format c: and I did each drive letter the same way format d: format e: and format f: what can I do? please help me if it can be helped!!!


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## dai

you only use the /s on the active drive it loads the system tools to load the operating system justreformat drive c with the /s


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## spoobare

I am not sure I understand, could you please walk me through it if possible? Do I put in the floppy startup disk and boot up?
By the way Thank You!!!


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## dai

boot from the floppy
at the A;/ type in format c: /s
and press enter
you will see the computer receiving the tools from the floppy
and it will tell you the letter of your cd rom i.e. x
at the a promnt type x and enter
x:\win98\setup and enter
whatever letter your cd was before it will move down one letter for loading an operating system


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## NiteHawk

It sounds like this is a single HD with four partitions, C, D, E, and F, am I right?
If he has "sys'ed" all partitions shouldn't he start over with Fdisk and remove the partitions and recreat them and only "sys" the C: partition?

What's the size of this HD?


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## dai

from what he posted i gathered he had only formated


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## spoobare

I did the format c: /s and it worked, now it says device driver not found OEMCD001 CURRUPT OR ERROR IN OAKCDROM.SYS file and error in configsys line 10


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## spoobare

It's a 80gig HD seagate


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## spoobare

By the way dai, I'm really a she! and she thanks you and nitehawk for your help! kinda a not too smart blond with good intentions (smiles)


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## IMM

Which version of fdisk was used? (or was it the disk which came with the drive?)


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## dai

d/l another 98 boot disk from
www.bootdisk.com
and copy it to floppy


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## spoobare

Hello dai, I just tried to download and install the bootdisk from the site you gave me. It said non system disk or disk error when I tried to start it up. Also I did not use the fdisk for hd over 64gigs I guess that is a updated one? I downloaded the Seagate Diagnostics and ran the quick test and the through test it said cmos settings needed to be changed (but did not say to what) and everything was okay. I was wondering if the problem could be a low battery?


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## dai

you have to set your bios to boot from A first it is probably set to C or CD


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## spoobare

the bios is set :A,C,SCSI It is flashes the windows screen for a second and then goes to C:


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## spoobare

Would you suggest that I try fdisk with the updated version for hd over 64gigs? If so where can I get instructions on how to do this?


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## dai

yes just follow the instructions that come up is the best i can come up with as i have never used it
sorry about mistaken id i saw he in an earlier post and assumed wrong


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## spoobare

I just went to the site that was posted earlier to read about fdisk update, and it said (DO NOT USE for LBA hd) and that is what this hd is? any other fixes you can think of? Im getting desperate, not to mention stressed!!!! and thats ok about the ID my name is Tammy:


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## dai

you are only reformating the c drive and making it active how big have you got your c drive partitioned,so the the normal boot disk should suffice,we will worry about the other patitions when you get up and running


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## spoobare

I re ran format using the (/s) for C drive only, still nothing I tried to run the new bootdisk now it said (boot from ATAPI cdrom: failure)


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## spoobare

I partitioned the 80gig hd at, 25% 33% 50% and what ever was left.


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## dai

did you make the partition active


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## spoobare

Is there a way to check that? I don't remember if I did or not sorry!!


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## dai

i gather the first partition is 20g 2nd 6.4 3rd13 last 40
normally you would make them 4x20 or 10 30 20 20 it does not matter as long as the first one is active it has to be to load the operating system.
the boot failure message tells you if you are getting the message when you first turn the computer on is that it is set to boot from cd instead of floppy first in the bios you have to change it to boot from A first


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## dai

when you boot up at the a promnt type in fdisk then from the options that come up select 4 and press enter this will display the partion information.if it is not set to active then esc. out and select no. 2 option this will set it to active make sure it is the c partion that you do this on.then esc. out and reboot and do the format c: /s


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## spoobare

I did the fdisk and it shows :

Patition Status type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
C: 1 A PRI DOS 19085 100%
2 EXT DOS 57232 100%



DISPLAY LOGICAL DOS DRIVE INFO:

drv mbytes sys usage
D: 18889 FAT32 33%
E: 28616 FAT 32 50%
F: 9727 FAT32 17%


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## dai

did you set c as active


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## spoobare

I esc from fdisk since the drive is (active) and am at the A: I do not know what else to try!!!


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## dai

right now have you formatted with the /s


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## spoobare

Should I try to start another thread re: Can't install windows os? since it does detect my hd now? I apologize for being such a pain in the (_ _ _ ) and I truely appreciate all your help! If this is hopeless to continue, I understand and will let you get on with helping someone else. Please just let me know.
I will wait for your reply,Thank you.


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## spoobare

Yes I reformatted drive c only with: ( format c:\s) and made it active


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## dai

at the a prompt type G and enter
at the G:\win98\setup and enter


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## spoobare

Sorry I mean (format c:/s) not (format c:\s)


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## spoobare

I did this and it says Invalid drive specifications) and am at the A: again


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## dai

reboot the computer from the boot disk and when it loads it will say what letter your cd drive is just put this letter in place of the G


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## spoobare

It says device driver not found "oemcd001, no valid CDROM device drivers selected.

The windows 98 setup files were not found.
A:\>


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## dai

the cd driver should be on the boot disk


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## spoobare

Also in the bios shows drv A : 1.44 3.5"
drv B: none
PRi MAS mode 0 ?


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## spoobare

It does not say the drive letter for the cdrom, What have I done???


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## dai

d/load ultimate boot disk from
www.tecChannel.de/freeshareware/tools/system/437/

what are you looking in that section of the bios for? it has nothing to do with what we are doing


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## spoobare

I d/l the disk inserted it into drive, rebooted and it says:
(invalid system disk)
Replace the disk and then press any key.


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## dai

did you format the floppy as a system disk before transfering the files over to it


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## beepers

did you directly downloaded to the flopy ?


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## spoobare

I did a full format it copied sys files and then down loaded the 
98UBD file to the floppy disk


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## dai

you have to d/load to computer then extract files to the floppy then boot the computer from the floppy and you should see it load and give you the letter for the cd then just do what we did before. i have to go for now as it is 5.15am here i will check back before i go to work


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## spoobare

I did it that way!


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## amthmi

I was slightly confused as to what you've done or haven't done
so if you've done what I've suggested below then pardon my post.

Spoobare, on the 1st page of this thread you said
quote:
Thank you for answering dai I did not use format using the( /s) just
format c: and I did each drive letter the same way format d: format e:
and format f: what can I do? please help me if it can be helped!!!

a few post later nitehawk said
quote:
It sounds like this is a single HD with four partitions, C, D, E, and F, 
am I right?
If he has "sys'ed" all partitions shouldn't he start over with Fdisk and
remove the partitions and recreate them and only "sys" the C:
partition?

If you formatted all your other drives then you should
fdisk again and this time you should delete the partitions
and logical dos drives. Then recreate your partitions
and then format c: /s
Run fdisk without CD-ROM support option.
Don't forget to reboot between fdisk and format

One other note:
Have your win98 startup disk in the A drive when you reboot
select the Start computer without CD-ROM support menu option 
when the Windows 98 Startup menu is displayed.
After the format of C is finished try the 98 install again.

Insert the startup disk in your floppy (if you removed it) and reboot
When the Windows 98 Startup menu is displayed, select the 
Start computer with CD-ROM support menu option, and then press ENTER.
Insert the win98 cd , you should now be at the prompt of whatever letter
your cd-rom drive is. Type setup

One thing to remember about the drive letter of your cd-rom.
While installing windows from a cd the drive letter of your
cdrom will drop a letter.
example:
You say you have C D E F...your cdrom is probably not G
it should be H.

By doing the install of 98 outlined above it takes the
guess work out figuring out the drive letter

This guide will help with fdisk , has screen shots
http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/OS/fdisk/fdisk1.htm

You can also get the startup disk from another 98 pc
start \ settings \ control panel \ add & remove programs \start up disk \ create disk
Have your 98 cd handy


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## IMM

Sheesh - the update for fdisk says it isn't for *"48-bit logical block addressing (LBA) hard disks"* Such *BigLba* is intended for disks greater than 137 GB.  (I think it's only XP that supports BigLBA at the moment)


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## dai

hi tammy where are we up to


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## spoobare

OKAY I'M READY TO TRY AGAIN!
This is where I'm at I have just fdisk the system and when I rebooted and shut down the system I was going to format c:/s but it will not let me do the format it takes me to windows startup options start 98 from cdrom, start with support or start w/o support Why didn't it reboot to the A: so I could format c?


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## dai

choose with cd support
why did you fdisk again,did you reboot or do a cold boot


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## spoobare

I did this and it says bad command or file name then back to A: before it gets to A: it says missing or corrupt file OEMCD001 in config.sys line 24


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## dai

now you have the A format c /s


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## spoobare

I'm telling you it will not format from the A: (I type in format c:/s) and it says bad command or file name then A:


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## dai

go into fdisk
check partition information and that is still set to active


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## spoobare

Yes the C: 1 partition is Active


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## dai

turn off the computer boot again from the boot disk and try the format /s again if you get the problem with the cd driver that means there is something wrong with the disk try one of the other ones


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## spoobare

I downloaded the bootdisk to my aol d/l then I formatted a floppy disk I went to aol d/l and copied the file to A: I put it in the pc and tried to boot up it says (Invalid sys disk) replace the disk and press any key


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## spoobare

This is a bootdisk for 98second ed right?


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## dai

it does not make any difference


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## beepers

> _Originally posted by spoobare:_
> *I downloaded the bootdisk to my aol d/l then I formatted a floppy disk I went to aol d/l and copied the file to A: I put it in the pc and tried to boot up it says (Invalid sys disk) replace the disk and press any key *


spoobare, dont copy the files to the flopy.
click on that file and it will create the boot disk.


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## spoobare

Thank you Thank you!!!! I have a bootdisk thats works  now I'm in the disk's options or menu it has alot of choices and I don't see (A: to start format) as one of them are you familiar with this disk is so where do I go from here


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## dai

is one of the options command promnt


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## dai

i have to go to work will be back on line in 6 1/2 hrs


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## spoobare

This is a very cool bootdisk it is formatting my c drive now!!!
Sorry for being so dumb about creating a bootdisk in drv A: I have not used that option, My system has pretty much every thing I need and all I use it for really is selling on ebay, which is what I need to get back to after this is through!
Thank you so very much for sticking with me thru all of this, You went above and beyond the call. I hope you will be around if I find myself in trouble again. I would like to leave you possitive feedback and also a donation to this GREAT site!
Thank you all, Tammy   :up:


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## dai

i gather you are up and running,glad to have helped


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## spoobare

You guys are AWESOME!!! Thanks again.


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## dukegonz

i have the same prob, i got new hdd maxtor 80g. its found in the device manager but did not appear in the My Computer. what should i do?


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## dai

this thread is over a year old if this does not work start a new thread of your own,more people are likely to see it
go into disk management and format it,windows will not see it until it is formatted


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