No hard drive found!

[LightWolf]

I am using win98se and have partioned and formatted many times, yet now i have 2 drives doing the same thing. I formated and all went well, i went to fdisk and it goes to the first option, asking if i want to allow space allotment for a large drive, since i have a small drive on (under 2 gigs), I put in n for no, then click enter, when i do that it says error. Also when i boot up it tells me that 3 or 4 things may be wrong, can't remember them all but is same for both drives, something about If you have HPFS or NTFS installed, i need to create an MS-DOS boot partiton to set up win98 or a virus which i know i did not have before i formated. Also it says i need to partion the drive but it wont allow me to. I usually format then fdisk then format then install win98 se. And have never had a probem up tell now. I have a 20 gig i need as i have a website, so am in need of help please. I would purchase a new drive but am disabled mom and my website my only income (which isnt much) right now. I have tried many boot disks and nothing helps me. What am i doing wrong? I also trid partitoning repair floopy downloads and when i run them it say's "no hard drive" it wont allow me to go into c: dir as it diesn't acknwledge the drive, but i can boot up the drive and get to the fdisk opening stage, but thats it. It wont allow me to format also, or install. Somehow i lost my partion and it wont let me fdisk to set it back up. I know it's a small drive that should be trashed but im disabled with NO income and can't afford to buy another one. Pleaseeee there has got to be SOMEONE out here who can help me.

 

[inutelinside]

try deleting non-dos partitions in fdisk. maybe it will help. don't forget to format after you used fdisk.

 

[LightWolf]

As i said above, it wont allow me to Fdisk it. If i could get into fdisk and partition i wouldnt be having this problem..lol

 

[G0AOZ]

First off, try answering "Y" to the question about large drive allocation. Will this get you through to the FDISK menu? If yes, then use the relevant option to delete unwanted partitions. Your WIN98SE CD-ROM should then be able to boot up the system and partition and format for you.

If no, I'd suggest you do a partial low level format to completely wipe this disk, and then start again. I use either Power Quest's Drivepro or Quick Tech Pro's Disk wipe, but they're not freeware. However, I'm sure other forum members will be able to advise you of some suitable freeware...

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[garebo]

I had the same problem. My solution was for me to go to the hard drive mfgr and download the diagnostic program for it, then put it on floppy. Then i used a win98se boot disk to get to dos, took out boot disk, put in diagnostic disk and had it do a low-level format. When all i dont i used fdisk and fdisk worked fine, did the partition and format, all went well.

What make hard drive is it?
If its a quantum drive then you have to go to the maxtor website.
If its Fujitsu then i believe you have to go to the IBM website.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[LightWolf]

Okay well, i dont know who made this hard drive as its a older one, and i dont have a cd burner so that wont help. And for the gentlemen that asked about choosing "Y" once into fdisk, well i will say this 1 more time for all to see "I can't get into fdisk" It allows me to go to the first stage of fdisk and when i choose the option of yes or no it says "ERROR" disk error, so you see I can't get into fdisk.

 

[LloydSev]

You didn't say before that you had chosen yes... you only said you chose no before it's under 2GB..

regardless... how are you trying to get into fdisk? Via a bootdisk? the CD?

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[garebo]

Also, you can still look on the hard drive and see the mfgr's name on it.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[LightWolf]

okay sorry for that, i posted that in another forum..lol. When i tried it on the other drive I chose yes, and it said error no fixed drives when i hit enter, i am booting from a disc and a cd, which i made bootdisk from the cd i have.

 

[mainegeek]

LightWolf,

Your Win98 boot disk is probably bad. Try booting with a new Win98 boot disk. Then run fdisk selecting "Y" for large drive support. Then select 4 to view partitions. Remove any/all partitions if it shows any. Reboot and run fdisk again, select "Y" for large disk support. Then select 4 again to insure there are no partitions. If none then select 1 and create a primary partition. Also select the default that comes up to make the partition active. Reboot and select Boot with CD-Rom support. At the A:<prompt> run fdisk again,select "Y" again for large disk support, select 4 again to view partition. If it shows then just ESC back to the a:<prompt>

Then E:
cd\win98 <enter>
Format c:/s

 

[LightWolf]

I have tried other boot discs from other cds and also from bootdisk.com and many other places, none will allow me to get past the first stage of fdisk. Wont let me get into fdisk commands to partion. it's not registering the drive either when i try to locate it in dos mode. When i try partion repairs they can't find drive either to help, yet i know it was something simple that happened to drive as other one did it just by rebooting when windows was on it, and i got same things as with this one upon booting up.

 

[G0AOZ]

1. Does the BIOS recognise this drive?
2. Are you using AUTODETECT or manually inputting the drive parameters?
3. I suggest completely resetting the BIOS, then AUTODETECT the hard drive, if this is an option.
4. Assuming the BIOS can "see" this drive and FDISK still reports an error, you'll need to try low level formatting.
5. Failing that, it's a door stop.


ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[garebo]

For the low level formatting, see my post above.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips