WIN98 is gone and won't reload 2

[KarateLois]

My c: drive crashed and even though I tried FDisk and partitioning and formatting several times, loaded a boot disk, and put in a new BIOS battery, it won't let me load Windows again. I get error SU 0013 over and over. Windows work fine until last week and the computer is just over a year old. I did have a virus a while ago and was never able to get sound after that.

I have a second hard drive called D:. What can I set to make that my boot drive and try to load Windows on that? I do have things saved on that drive that I do not want to lose. My CD is a CD-R but the program is gone since it was on C: or I would copy everything onto CD. Some are photos. Someone told me yesterday that when they did what I want to do, they lost everything on their D:

 

[diogenes10]

Backing up to c drive for a minute:
What does "crashed" mean? Noises, etc or just stopped working?
What was the virus you had?
Did you set an active partition?
Did the bios recognize the hard drive?
Does your boot disk have cd rom support?

I may be going in the wrong direction here, but I thought with a little more info, someone might have ideas about the c drive. If it would happen that way, then you could keep your d drive intact.

 

[KarateLois]

Good Questions..let's see what I can tell you...
I'm not sure what virus I had anymore, it was a while ago, but ever since then problems remained e.g. it couldn't recognize my sound card or find the drivers no matter what I did. Then one day I couldn't boot up except in safe mode. I tried to run some troubleshooting steps, but at one point, when I went to reboot, I couldn't. I could get to DOS but not to Windows. It started telling me that it couldn't find an OS. I used FDisk and I partitioned, checking instructions with Microsift's instructions. I set an active partition. I went into BIOS and it found all of the drives, a: c: d: and my CD rom. If I hit F8 while I boot up, I can get into a: and tell it that I want CD support, and it wil recognize my CD and start setup from my CD. But everytime I do, I get to that SU0013 error. Windows has instructions for that error to FDisk, format and partition, again... it's a circle. Thanks for your efforts. I really appreciate the help.

 

[wolluf]

If you boot from win98 boot floppy, can you see/read the problem C: drive? (be careful - the D: will appear as C: if C: is not recognisable). If can't read it, run fdisk from flopy and see what it thinks is on the drive.

If it is accessible, couple of suggestions:-

1. Have you access to another PC (eg, a friend) - could mount your drive as slave in that and then backup what you need - reformat it and start again.

2. The installing 98 on the D: drive option. As long as you don't format it, you shouldn't loose any data installing win98 on top of what's there (assuming there's room). If you go this route, remove the problem drive from the machine and make D: single master while installing 98. Then put C: back as slave when 98 up and running - hopefully will read it ok.

 

[KarateLois]

Thatnk you! I was thinking along these lines, but wanted to act cautiously. I'll let you know what happens, whether I employ this option or another. But I probably won't get to it until the weekend. Stay tuned... and I welcome any other ideas.

 

[diogenes10]

Im confused about the boot disk and f8. When booting from a win98 boot disk, I thought it went directly to a choice of booting with or without cd support.

Also, are fdisk and boot disk being used win98 boot disks?
(you can look at

http://www.bootdisk.com

for different versions of boot disks.)

You could also check at manufacturer's web site for your harddrive and see if they have a diagnostic utility that you could run to check the hard drive out.

 

[Enkrypted]

I would boot to the floppy again and run FDISK. Double-check the partition information for both of your drives. Make sure they are not reading NON-DOS. Both drives should have FAT32 partitioning to them. The SU0013 error you are describing during installation is known to be tied to this.

Enkrypted
A+

 

[KarateLois]

When I partition, it asks if I have a drive larger than a certain amount, and I say I want to enable it to partition a larger drive. I thought that made the system FAT32. How do I check to see if it obeyed or made a non-dos partiton?

 

[wolluf]

KarateLois - if you are using fdisk to partition, then it asks upfront if you want to enable large disk support. If you answer yes (Y) to this, any partition > 512 MB will be created as fat32 (smaller ones will be fat16). If you answer no (N), it will only create fat16 (max size 2GB) partitions. It will not make a non-dos partition - fat16 & fat32 are all it does.

If you're using another tool to partition......

 

[KarateLois]

I used FDisk and it did ask and I said yes..I've done it all a few times. When I try to partition now it tells me I am already partitioned. So why when I try to install Windows 98 from my CD does it think I haven't?

 

[TekTippy4U]

I'm jumpin in late here, and maybe i missed somethin,
but
Are you using a 98 startup floppy?
Are u using an Upgrade CD??....Full Retail??

Do you have an OEM CD? (it'll say for "distribution with New PC only" or somesuch on it)
assuming you don't want non-dos patitions if they exist
Set BIOS to "Boot from CDROM" as first boot device, floppy second HDD third..exit saving changes in BIOS.
Use a 98 startup floppy to delete partitions
Delete all partitions in this order(it's important)
1. Non-Dos Partitions
2. Logical Dos drives
3. Extended Dos
4. Primary Active
esc to exit Fdisk
Put OEM in CD drive
CTRL+ALT+DEL

If you've an OEM It'll automatically recognize that there are no partitions and instruct you to Fdisk and Format from CD....(if not an OEM, It'll say "Boot disc failure, insert System disc and hit enter&quot or somesuch.....
when you restart w/OEM Choose
2. "Boot from CD ROM"
Then choose
1. "Start Windows98 Setup from CD Rom"
when asked "setup windows now?" hit enter
choose "configure unallocated HD space" (recommended) hit enter
Now Fdisk will run on it's own
select yes for "large disc support"(Fat32) as mentioned above...hit enter
ignore the "startup disc in Drive A:\ prompt" before restarting
Upon Restart it'll automatically start Formatting the HDD...
once format is complete
Win98 Setup now begins

just to re-ask;
Are you using a 98 startup floppy?
Are u using an Upgrade CD??....Full Retail??

TT4U

Notification:
These are just "my" thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions....I try very hard to impart correct info at all times.

 

[wolluf]

Did you format the partition after creating it? (format c: from dos prompt after rebooting). Mind you, if you're booting from win98 install CD, it should detect an unformatted fat32 partition and offer to format it before installing 98.

 

[KarateLois]

sounds like a plan...how do I delete from the floppy? No command i can think of seems to work

 

[KarateLois]

forgot to tell you...I have an emergency startup floppy for win98SE and an OEM CD...not an upgrade form

 

[TekTippy4U]

Firstly remember to change the BIOS setting.....as per my above post(CdRom first)....
Forget the floppy.....(send it to Dr.Hammerdrill for a checkup!)

Put the 98 OEM Cd in drive
CTRL+ALT+DEL to reboot
choose
2. "Boot from CD ROM"
choose
2. "Start Computer with CD ROM Support"

Now it'll load all the tools like a floppy and you end up at A:
type Fdisk hit enter

choose "y" to enable large support.....don't worry, this is always the first screen you see,when you start Fdisk, whether your adding or deleting partitions.

Once you delete partitions in proper order and exit fdisk....reboot and follow my notes from above


TT4U

Notification:
These are just "my" thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions....I try very hard to impart correct info at all times.

 

[KarateLois]

so far so good.. I finally got rid of the partitons...it took a few tries before the computer believed me. Now it is trying to format my drive from my CD. It gets ready and asks me to put the CD (which I just booted with) in E: to format c: but during the course of things, my CD drive was renamed F:. I tried to use the old DOS command attribute f:e: but it doesn't recognize the command. Any ideas? Murphy's law is getting on my nerves!

 

[TekTippy4U]

It's supposed to be moved one drive letter....

If you boot with the OEM cd rom...it'll automatically recognize that the HDD(C:\) isn't formatted
Again
(from above)
when you restart w/OEM Choose
2. "Boot from CD ROM"
Then choose
1. "Start Windows98 Setup from CD Rom

you probably just chose "Start w/CdRom support" by mistake....which was only necessary when there were no partitions


TT4U

Notification:
These are just "my" thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions....I try very hard to impart correct info at all times.

 

[TekTippy4U]

I'll tell ya, if you really want to do it "your" way
Switch to C:\ type Format hit enter
or try From F:type Format C: hit enter

TT4U

Notification:
These are just "my" thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions....I try very hard to impart correct info at all times.

 

[TekTippy4U]

one correction from my last post only......
Switch to F:\ type CD\Win98
now your at F:\Win98
type Format C:
The format.com file is right there in the win98 directory
you could also do this from the A:\ prompt....and yes,"without" a floppy.

I ususally let win98 setup do it in one shot.....

if i confused you..i didn't mean to.....though PC's are so finniky that you have to be exact with procedures and commands

TT4U

Notification:
These are just "my" thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions....I try very hard to impart correct info at all times.

 

[TekTippy4U]

Hi KarateLois
just to accept a little more blame if there was any confusion.....
a while back i wrote
Once you delete partitions in proper order and exit fdisk....reboot and follow my notes from above

i should've said "reboot and follow my notes from previous post"...which is what i meant(i was referring to my Nov 21 post)

TT4U

Notification:
These are just "my" thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions....I try very hard to impart correct info at all times.