IBM 2621-420 I series laptop, won't boot, can't Fdisk.

[Gorg56]

Greetings!
I've got a problem with an IBM I series (2621-420) laptop running Win98SE. Push the power button, after IBM initial screen I get "insert system diskette and press enter key to reboot" (no post beep, etc). Insert the IBM system recovery disk and it starts to run but just keeps looping/rebooting/restarting. I insert 98 boot disk and reboot, see Win 98 startup menu. Choose start w/ cd-rom support, get message: "Win 98 has detected that drive C does not contain a valid FAT or FAT32 partition". Running Fdisk or Fdisk /status results in message: "runtime error R6003- integer divide by 0". Scandisk doesn't find any problems on drive C. Format C: gives message: "Format not supported on drive C:, format terminated.
Hard disk is NOT recognized in BIOS (all other items: cpu, drive A, CD-ROM, System BIOS version and VGA BIOS are all present). Jumpers are set correctly on drive (no jumpers, drive 0). Drive is seated firmly in connector. Downloaded PCdoctor hard disk util from IBM, but it isn't bootable, hence, no work.
Any idea's on this problem, guys (and/or ladies)? I'm thinking that the drive is junk....Thanks for the help. Gorg56 out......

 

[dkdude]

Gorg56,

Think you're right about the drive being completely dead. If it won't show up in the BIOS... hmmmm...

One last shot - if your BIOS has a low level format, then try that. Eventhough -doubt it'll work. Sorry!

Good Luck §:O)


Jakob

 

[MasterPi]

I had a harddrive that wouldn't read and i spent about 2 months working on it until i switched the motherboard switch labeled CMOS from normal to clear then booted, shut down, switched it back then rebooted again.

Nothing on my PCI/IDE ports would read though so i dont know if this would work for you.

It may be worth a try though.

Good Luck!!

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