Invalid FAT or FAT32 partition problems

[trideryck]

I am trying to salvage a SONY Vaio (PCG-F560) laptop whose original hard drive died. I have since replaced the hard drive and am trying to get up and going with Windows 98SE (because anything more than that wouldn't run on this poor old laptops max 256MB memory).

I have tried to install Windows 98SE from the boot disk, and I get the message:

"Windows 98 has detected that drive C does not contain a valid FAT or FAT32 partition. There are several possible causes.
1. The drive may need partitioned...
2. You may be using 3rd party disk-partitioning software...
3. Some viruses also cause your drive C to not register.

The hard drive (60GB Hitachi) I installed was brand new and shows up in the BIOS with the correct size. The HDD is set to autodetect. The BIOS info is being saved, seemingly indicating the little internal backup battery is okay, because the time and other changes are maintained even through powerdown. The RAM sticks appear to be good as well.

I have a win98SE bootdisk and I have tried to use FDISK, and while it shows no errors while partitioning, when it tells me to restart and then format, I do so and then there are no partitions to format. It is as though the partitions do not save.

If I try to boot from the Windows 98 Setup CD, it asks me to enable large disk support (which I need) and when I select that, Windows 98SE set up tells me:

"Windows files cannot be installed on your hard disk becuase the format of drive C is incompatible with Windows 98. You can have Setup reformat drive C..."

So when I try and format drive C using Windows 98 setup it gives me:

"Error - Setup cannot install Windows 98 on your computer. An error was dtected while formatting your primary hard disk partition."

Now, when this fails and kicks me to a dos prompt, if i type setup again to execute windows set up, i get this error:

"Cannot create a temporary directory. If you have HPFS or NTFS installed on your hard drive, you will need to create an MS-BOS boot partition to set up Windows."

Any help would be appreciated. I've run to the end of my leash with what I know about HDD problem solving. Thanks!

 

[edfair]

when you run fdisk and choose #4 what does the program return?

You may need to run a zerofill on the drive to eliminate stuff that inteferes with partitioning.

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

 

[pudda]

To my knowledge there is no way to return a hard drive that has been formatted to NTFS back to Fat32. The information you supply does show that the drive may have been formatted with NTFS.
By the way, I have a VAIO with 256mb of ram and running Windows XP Home edition. The free version of AVG runs on it with little system resource lag.
Does the BIOS support a drive that large? My FX63 I believe is capable of up to a 30GB hard drive. Possibly need a disk-partitioning program to run a larger-than-BIOS disk? I believe WesternDigital's version 9.3 was capable of doing any manufacturer's drive.
Things to ponder on, the fun of 98.

The test continues...

 

[G0AOZ]

From your W98 boot disk, run FDISK /mbr then reboot and try making a small partition of say 100Mb using FDISK and see if that will save.

If a hard disk has been partition and formatted NTFS, there is no reason I'm aware of as to why that partition cannot be wiped and reverted back to FAT16 or FAT32, given the relevant size contraints.

Your problem sounds more like a BIOS (working) limitation of 32Gb. Does the drive have a 32Gb jumper limiter on it?

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[edfair]

NTFS should show up as a non-dos partition in FDISK. And is normally removed by the non-dos section of partition removal.
If it won't go away from there you'll need to zero fill or use a Linux distro to clean the partition table.

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

 

[trideryck]

1. When I run FDisk and choose #4, it tells me No partitions defined. This happens even after I've run through FDISK. It's just like it isn't saving the partitions anywhere. Is there a way to reboot that I am missing - I've tried both power on/off and typing restart at the a:\ after exiting fdisk...

2. I admit, the upper GB limit didn't occur to me, as I assumed erroneously as it might be that because the BIOS was finding and registering the drive as 60GB, and because Windows 98SE setup offers to 'set up drive for disks larger than 512MB', that it would figure it out. I know better than that. I'm not dead set on using win98se as the O/S, but figured as it was smaller than 2000 or XP, it was a "better" choice.

3. I ran FDISK /mbr, rebooted, entered fdisk again, it asked me to enable large disk support and I said Yes, and created a logical dos partition of 100MB. It scanned for disk integrity, let me make a partition. Told me to set it to active or else it would not be accessible, then warned me that i must reboot and then format for it to work. Well, when I reboot (either by hitting the reset/power button or by typing restart at the A:\ prompt) the bootdisk loads up, gives me an A:\ prompt, and the only C:\ "drive" I have is the MS-RAMDRIVE that is created with the bootdisk.

4. If the NTFS partition should be showing up in FDISK, it is not.

I've no idea what to do at this point, and this seems like a lot of trouble in order to have a 10lb wireless email and word processing unit, but I appreciate any further ideas or help anyone has. Thanks!

 

[G0AOZ]

I don't think you went far enough with your No.3. You said you'd created a 100Mb partition, made it active, and then the system told you to reboot. Yes, all ok so far. Now you have to FORMAT it before you can "see" your C: drive.

Boot up to the A: drive and run FORMAT C: /S and it will either ask you to verify (Y/N) you really want to format, or it'll say "no fixed disk present" or similar.

Let us know what happens now...

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[edfair]

Once you have created the partition for C: it doesn't matter if it is formatted or not. If it is recognized as a valid drive partition the ramdisk should have gone to D:.

You may have run up against a SONY issue with the large hard drive.

Are you using the later version FDISK? It was updated and is available at MS.


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

 

[trideryck]

After running FDisk, and rebooting, I cannot format drive C because "Format not supported on Drive C" - drive C is instead defined as a RAMDRIVE by the win98se bootdisk.

I've been looking for a more recent version of Fdisk - the one that was on the win98se boot disk was from 1999. I used a newer version from June 2000 and still no luck. Should I try a different partitioning freeware at this point?

I'm beginning to think that the laptop jsut cant support a drive that big. I looked for a BIOS flash update this morning but couldnt find one. Might try again later.

 

[edfair]

Your ramdisk is put at the next available spot. By deductive reasoning it means there isn't a valid partition on the hard drive. But we both knew that, didn't we.
Who knows? BIOS problem. Defective drive?

As I see it, there are only 2 options open. Try fdisking the drive on another machine or finding another hard drive that the system will handle. Choice #1 may not work when you put it back in.

There are drive overlay packages that will help install drives on systems. They have their own set of problems, since access via any other system requires the software to be installed there too.

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