Hard Drive Fdisk/format/scandisk problems "Help, please" 2

[CeeDee]

New Western Digital 30 gig 7200 speed Drive installing Win 98SE
With win 98 startup disk Fdisk to create Dos Partition large Y Fdisk file dtd 4/23/99 shutdown then start again and Format C: /u to format drive
Next created directory Options and sub Win 98 to install from cd to Drive. I was then going to run setup from within the sub win 98 directory to install on C: ( for the purpose of having all the files in one clean directory and so when I needed to use CD, could point to folder)
Then ran Scandisk and had several errors Such as Fat does not match
saying copy 1 of FAT is Different that copy 2 asked if I wanted fixed I said yes
then went thru scan and began surface Scan and when 25% complete began to identify errors in clusters When I quit, I had told it to fix 100 clusters it identified as bad. The log then displayed that scandisk had copied FAT copy 1 over the top of FAT copy 2 and that it had patched 92 clusters. This is a new drive, what is goin on?
I can use HELP or should I try to get it replaced
Thanks, ceedee!

 

[Mudassar]

Is it a Brand new drive or a new second hand drive?

Try to reformat it again by using format c: command without the /u.
If you don't get any errors during formatting try scanning the hard drive again. Before going into Win98 Setup

Just to be safe, Install Win98 From CD. Once Installed then copy the entire CD into HD and link win98 from there.

If you do get an error then somehow a Logical error has occurred. Try Low Level Formatting your hard drive. This will set all the bits into zeros and make it "factory fresh"

NOTE/WARNING:
Low Level Format can void the warranty of the Hard Drive! Go to your hardware manufactures website (

http://www.westerndigital.com)

and find out if it does. And while your there you can download the Low Level Formatting Utility. (Also known as Zero-Fill)

Once you have Low Level Formatted your HD, Do a Primary DOS Partition from FDISK, Restart Computer, Normal Format from DOS (Format c, and install Windows 98SE again.

Hope this helps.

IF you still get Bad Sectors then your Hard Drive is physically damaged. Replace it immediately with the warranty you still have on it.

ANOTHER NOTE:
After formatting look at the results table and check to see if any bad sectors were found.

Tell me how it went! (Or if you have any other questions)
-----------------
MK

Everybody should use AntiVirus! Are you protected now?

 

[teknoguy]

why would you do an unconditional format on a fresh hard drive??

 

[kraut]

In my experience, format is the second step. To insure you have a really clean drive, fdisk and blow away all partitions existing. Then create a partition using all the drive space (Start the FDISK utility with large hard drive space supported). Some hard drives have a small FAT16 partition on them, like the Western Digital ones. They create that for drive manager, a utility that lets you use more of the hard drive than the BIOS is capabale of. Make sure your BIOS isn't too old to recognize the 30G hard drive. In that case you may need to apply a BIOS update. What kind of CPU are you working on?

Then:
format c: /s /u ... the /s let's you boot to the "clean" hard drive
reboot
create a win98 directory on the hard drive
copy all the cab files to the hard drive c:\win98 directory you just created(the cab files are on the CD under D:\win98 if your CD rom is the D:\ drive)
run SETUP.EXE from c:\win98

This is the way I install all my computers. It makes it unnecessary to lug around a win98 CD. Windows remembers where you installed from and default to the c:\win98 directory you started with.
If this doesn't work, you might return/exchange the drive with another one.
Remember to make sure your system supports a drive this large!!!!

Hope this helps

 

[teknoguy]

sounds like this is just more of a convenience then anything. although i have a 60gb harddrive i would find no need to put 500+ MB of cab files in a folder. if i need my windows cd (which is once in a blue moon) i'll just through it in which takes seconds. I could see this method very useful if there is a large network setup, then all the computers can grab the data from across the network. just my opinion.

 

[CeeDee]

To: Kraut (IS/IT--Manage)

Thanks to you and all who responded to original request for help. I am working with an ASUS CUSL-2 C mboard running a PIII 1 Gig processor and have 256 mb RAM.
Actually I did run FDisk first and deleted any partitions, then created one Large Dos partition before I formatted the drive. Eventually I used the WD Utility and was successful in getting Win 98 SE in the Options Directory I created. I am now up and running loading all programs and in process copying old data to new drive (eliminating some of the old files, programs, etc. I don't wish to use)
Thank you for the help

 

[cherokeewo]

I probably should be starting a new thread for this question I don't know but here is my question. I did fdisk and now am atempting to reinstall Windows 98 SE. At first the cdrom drive wasn't found now I've found it and when attempting to run setup for Windows 98 it says that some of the files needed for this version of Windows are not there to contact Microsoft. Windows SE is the operating system that was on this HD also on this same hardrive the config.sys file was BLANK when I started. Is this something that I need to correct and if so can I do it now or is this pc toast? Thank you in advance. I know if I can just get Windows SE reinstalled I will be in business again.
cherokeewo

 

[edfair]

Is the CD marked 98SE upgrade?
Don't worry about the config.sys. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[cherokeewo]

Thank you for the message unixstuff I was worried about the config.sys but won't now. I sent you an email. The cd says Windows 98 SE but it's a bootleg cd.
cherokeewo