hard drive BIOS weirdness...

[darrkblu]

First time I have run across this in my career. Got a machine that I just installed Win98SE on. Previous to Win98 it had Mandrake Linux on it. Here is my problem:

I formatted the hard drive to remove all Linux remnants and installed Win98SE. Installation went smooth and I set it up for my LAN and everything. Then I noticed that Windows was reporting what should have been an 8gb HD as a 1.2gb HD. I located the source of the problem with my BIOS (it had mis-detected the HD) and fixed it by running auto-detect. Good to go right? Wrong.

Now the BIOS reports the HD as being the correct size but Windows will not boot from the HD, and for some odd reason it won't boot into the setup CD either.

Anyone have a suggestion on what the problem is and how it can be fixed?

I am getting very fed up with Win98 (I already had to resolve an issue with the boot sequence, which caused Win98 not to load vmm32.vxd and ask to be rebooted over and over).

 

[Enkrypted]

You may need to perform a low level format on the drive to ensure that the Linux partition is completely removed. Enkrypted
A+
Let others know how much help they are by marking the helpful posts.

 

[SESaskDFC]

Howdy:

No need to low-level format (I wouldn't even attempt it unless you knew what you were doing).. What I would do is "fdisk" to remove all non-dos partitions and then remove the primary dos thus totally wiping the linux partition as well as the DOS partition.. Then, fdisk again setting up the entire hdd as the Primary-DOS partition.. Format enabling large disk support and then run the Windows instyall.

Murray

 

[darrkblu]

OK I tried booting with a startup disk in the floppy drive but it still will not boot.

I am not exactly sure what is going on. I get no error messages of any kind, all i get is a black screen with a blinking cursor.

Someone mentioned on another forum that I should change the jumpers on the motherboard to flush the BIOS while it is powered off, but none of the jumpers are labeled in a sensible fashion and I don't even know what kind of motherboard it is to look it up on the net. The computer is an NEC Ready 9712 if anyone cares to find out but good luck.

I disconnected the HD from the system completely and now it boots up with the floopy startup disk, but that doesn't help me as I need to fdisk the hard drive.

Arrrghhhh. I find it very odd that the computer will not boot from another drive while the HD is connected. What could be causing this?

 

[PeteH2]

If the PC wont boot from a floppy disk, there are usually only two reasons, faulty disk or faulty hardware.

Check that the floppy disk boots ok by trying it in another PC. Check the hardware by powering off an removing all cards & drives (except video & floppy). Reboot from the floppy if it boots ok, power down and add one item. Power up and boot again.

Ok, this can be and long drawn out, but it will find the culprit eventually.


HTH


pete...

 

[fitfixer]

you are gonna have to FDISK to remove the non-dos partition
otherwise it will not work, see FAQ 615-2740 "Clean install of Win98" for more on FDISK and rebuilding a dos partition

For more information on your motherboard, look for the Board ID number beside the AGP Graphics slot, it is usually an Alpha-numeric ID, just punch this number into Google and see what comes up
This always works for me
Regards