fat 32 is now non=dos

[spacekowboy]

ican still boot up, after invalid sys disk msg,i hit enter and it is normal. fdisk show a tiny dos part.

anyway to fix? it wont reinstall...'

spacekowboy

Spacekowboy

 

[mattjurado]

Need a clearer post please.

1. After invalid system disk, you hit enter and it boots off the hard drive? You say it is normal? Does Windows function OK? Are you running 95 or 98?

2. "fdisk show a tiny dos part." What does this mean? A tiny dos partition? If so, any other partitions? How big is this tiny dos one? How big is your hard drive?

2. What won't reinstall?

Matt J.

 

[spacekowboy]

winn98 annd it wont reinstall,yes after it comes up, itss normal.

its a 30g drive,yes it created this tiny part on its own, hellp

Spacekowboy

 

[mattjurado]

So Windows boots okay? I would focus more on backing up any important data, in case you have a bad hard drive. If the computer functions okay, do you really want to reinstall Windows? I'll be happy to help if you really want to. Check your BIOS for the first boot device, make sure its booting to the hard drive first, and not some other drive or device.

Matt J.

 

[edfair]

And what kind of machine? Some manufacturers put a diagnostic partition at the front.

And what happens when you try to reinstall? All windows from 95up don't like to reinstall into the default space with an existing version. So it is a matter of getting the full error message to figure it out.

And how was the original installation put on? Or did the machine come with it installed?

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[spacekowboy]

was offline for long while.

if i use a boot disk it boots,but doesnt find the
disks.

its a generic machine.

if i boot without a floppy it finds a pri dos part,but no cd player-cant reinstall??

help guys


Spacekowboy

 

[spacekowboy]

c mon guys, its feb,surely someone has had a dos drive lose its doshood"?

Spacekowboy

 

[OldPCKen]

It sounds like you might have some bad HDD parameters in the setup program. Fdisk will look at a drive differently with "LBA", "Large", or "Normal".
OldPCKen

 

[yada]

I've had this problem with newer Dell and IBM machines. I usually have to fdisk/remove partition them 2 or 3 times but eventually I get it off there.

 

[micker377]

From dos, run scanreg /repair. Anyone out there: what is that command "fix /mbr"?

 

[KimLeece]

"fix /mbr" ?
I think that you probably mean "fdisk /mbr" - this command writes a new default master boot record. In this situation I'm not sure that he wants to do that - he could lose all the data on the disk now.
However if it is simply a question of a total repartition/reformat/re-install after mattjurado's suggestion to back up all important data first then maybe:
1. make sure that a copy of fdisk is on the boot floppy (copy it from c:\windows\command) and type fdisk /mbr from the DOS prompt - enter
2. start the fdisk program by typing fdisk at the DOS prompt - enter.
3. Create a new Primary DOS partition (at the question window about large disk support - make sure the box is checked for yes) Allow fdisk to use all the disk for the partition (unless you want extra ones)
4. Make sure in the BIOS setup that the CD drive is selected as the first boot device.
5. Put the Windows 98 disk in the drive and select setup windows at the choice screen.

Windows should now automatically reformat the drive and then install.

Kim.