Hard disk has become unbootable in Win98se 1

[zbnet]

Not sure if this is the right forum to post this, or whether it should be in the Win98 forum. Here goes...

A few days ago one morning the system refused to boot, with the message that a non-system disk was present. I expected to see a floppy in the drive, but nothing in there! So, the hard disk has lost its 'bootability' under Win98.

I can boot from a system floppy, and the hard drive is accessible via DOS. I ran a chkdsk, this told me to run scandisk. This found the second FAT had errors, suggested copying FAT1 over FAT2, which I accepted. No further errors (I didn't do a surface scan). A second run of scandisk says no errors; but the disk still refuses to boot, with the same error.

All the data's intact on the drive via DOS when I boot via a floppy (well, the bits I looked at are), so is there an easy (and non-destrictive) way of making the hard disk bootable again?

 

[pmonett]

you could try to SYS C: the disk, if you have a complete Win98SE boot disk.

You can get one from

http://www.bootdisk.com/

Pascal.

 

[Freestone]

Use FDISK and ensure that the primary partition is still set to Active.

 

[zbnet]

Thanks for the recommendations, guys.

FDISK showed C as the active partition with no problems at all.

I used a floppy to SYS C:, and now when I boot the computer boots to a C: DOS prompt - so I have successfully made C bootable, but it's not loading Windows. I looked for an AUTOEXEC.BAT but this is missing. I'm wondering how the disk suddenly 'lost' its bootability - perhaps a virus? I've been running uptodate antivirus on it all the time.

Thanks for your help so far, now to get Windows booting again - is it time to move this to the Win98 forum, do you think?

 

[satrow]

If your config.sys and autoexec.bat files are missing, try renaming config.* and autoexec.*; these are usually backup versions made by antivirus apps., etc.

Andy.

 

[edfair]

Any one of several critical files may be corrupted.

Autoexec.bat and config.sys are not needed as the critical files are loaded by the OS if they are not found active when needed.

Probably the easiest soulution is an "over the top" reinstall, putting the windows in the same place.

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

 

[wolluf]

Is it just booting to a C: prompt?

If so, you will probably need to create/edit a proper msdos.sys file (sys C: just creates a minimal file).

http://www.mdgx.com/msdos.htm

may be helpful. Its just a text file (so you can create one elsewhere in notepad for example, put it on a floppy, boot to C: prompt then copy the version on the floppy to overwrite the C: drive version). I'll post my win98SE file here as well if you want to use that:-

WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C

[Options]
BootMulti=1
Logo=1
BootGUI=1
DoubleBuffer=1
AutoScan=1
WinVer=4.10.2222
;
;The following lines are required for compatibility with other programs.
;Do not remove them (MSDOS.SYS needs to be >1024 bytes).
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxa
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxb
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxc
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxd
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxe
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxf
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxg
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxh
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxi
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxj
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxk
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxl
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxm
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxn
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxo
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxp
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxq
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxr
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxs

 

[zbnet]

Thanks wolluk, this did the trick - the computer has now booted! I never realised that msdos.sys played such a key role in starting Windows.

There are one or two funnies, like no printers found even though they are there in the folder, but I recerated these and it works again. Many thanks.

 

[GuillermoS]

Just bootup from a floppy that had fdisk in it and at the dos prompt type fdisk/mbr
Tha will refresh the boot sectors

 

[wolluf]

GuillermoS - problem was solved!