Win98 reformat problems 5

[Ngolem]

My son decided to get creative with his machine. He wanted to reformat his hard drive and reinstall Win98.

He made a Win98 boot disk from the add/remove software applet, using the startup tab so that he could use his CDROM.

However, the computer would not recognize the floppy in the A Drive and merrily went on to boot his computer in the normal manner.

He then decided to exit to MS DOS where he went to the A-Drive and typed in Format C:...the C: drive formatted fine apparently.

He then rebooted his machine, now the machine just hangs when it encounters the A Drive...it doesn't go any further. I think because it is looking for info on the A drive and cannot find any.

How can we get his computer to recognize that there is a boot disk in the floppy??

Jim Broadbent

The quality of the answer is directly proportional to the quality of the problem statement!

 

[TekTippy4U]

Read this too,

http://powerjoe.tripod.com/MBR.html

to get a better idea of what I mean, don't mind the stupid pop up(Only 1)...I hate 'em too. You can quickly CTRL + W any popup if it's up front, and not a pop under(that's why bozos implemented pop unders).

TT4U

Notification:
These are just "my" thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs..All involved shall be spared the grief.

 

[Ngolem]

thanks...what you say makes sense. Would disconnecting the HD and trying the start disk prove anything?

The awkwardness is that I have only my Win95 machine available and it cannot handle a 6 gig drive for the LLF or am I wrong here??

Jim Broadbent

The quality of the answer is directly proportional to the quality of the problem statement!

 

[TekTippy4U]

Answer 1
No, I can't see how..it needs the HDD to create the RAM drive for the Utilities.

2. It shouldn't matter, but I'm not positive.
We should be a little more patient since we've waited so long already, right?
Someone else will stumble in......
And the Very last thing I want is for U to not Have a working Win95 machine.....so

The win95 machine is for D/l (DownLoading) the LLF utility and creating a floppy (Use Only Brand New Clean Ones!, and Write Protect them once their written)and perhaps the BIOS update (mobo spec's please?, maybe can help u find an update)....Make sure you D/l ALL the procedures for making and using the floppy and PRINT them out if possible)

Then you'd Set the BIOS in Win95 machine to floppy first (if it isn't alraedy) and (shutdown and UNPLUG the pc from the wall) open the Win95 and replace the HDD with your's. If there's a CDROM attached/slaved to the HDD disconnect it so only "your" HDD is on the Primary IDE channel, and the Orig Win95 HDD is far away
If the CDROM is on it's own data cable, you can leave it.
The LLF utility should run on it's own, but again I'm not positive as i've only done it on the Same System it came from.

Try to post all the info about win95 machine as possible....Is the CDROM IDE or SCSI?
How Old is it?
What's the BIOS info on it?
What's the HDD size??
Is the Win95 a, b (OSR2), or c (OSR2.5)?? Fat16?? or Fat32?

"Your" Mobo specs??? (little reminder)
and What's "Your" HDD Make and Model??
Same info for Win95 machine?

I know, you've got alot to answer, but it's best to know up front.

TT4U

Notification:
These are just "my" thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs..All involved shall be spared the grief.

 

[TekTippy4U]

Jim; One more quick thing;
you said something? before about a "System Restore CD" for the 98....do you have that too? please be specific in what you know about it if you have it....I have an LLF for one of my HDD right on the SysRestCD.

TT4U

Notification:
These are just "my" thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs..All involved shall be spared the grief.

 

[TekTippy4U]

Sorry Jim;
Another couple of things as I'm thinking about it. Maybe you can d/l the LLF utility and create the floppy on the 95 PC and "Write Protect" it and pop it in Your 98 System and see if it'll work that way...

And, it might just be easier to find a friend and borrow a copy of Partition Magic or buy it, and try that....Atleast the 95 System will be Safe for sure.

TT4U

Notification:
These are just "my" thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs..All involved shall be spared the grief.

 

[PatrickDickey]

Ok, I've skimmed this thread, and have a couple of questions for everyone..

I was thinking along the same lines as someone else-- BIOS Flash needed. His BIOS was dated 1995, and unless Zoltec went out of business shortly after, I would imagine they put out an updated BIOS to work with the larger HDD's.

How to do a BIOS flash, when the computer won't work is going to be interesting... Simply put, and I could be wrong on this (I would hope that someone else will confirm or clarify this), you go to the website for Zoltec (or

http://www.ami.com/support/bios.cfm

) for instructions on how to Identify your board, and update your BIOS.
You'll download the "Flash" update to a floppy (from your Win95 computer (You may have to create a startup disk on the floppy)) and put that in your sick computer. Boot up (hopefully, it will go to the floppy) and run the flash program.

Before you take my method to heart, I would hope someone else will confirm or clarify any mistakes I have made.. I would hate for you to do this and possibly make things worse.
Patrick.

**** The link I posted is for American Megatrends (the manufacturer of your BIOS).

 

[TekTippy4U]

Hi Patrick;
Basically that's correct, however, I did a google on Zoltec way back up this thread and Zilch..
So if it's a proprietary Mobo, support for an update may not be from AMI, but from whatever co. made the PC (possible to find one from third-parties also)...
however way back then, they didn't do that so much..plus his BIOS may be so old that it is incapable of Flashing (who knows if 1995 "is" the updated version...that's why i asked for mobo specs...AMI won't tell you that. He's gotta open the case and view the stamping on the Mobo.

The flash procedure is pretty straight forward, yet when you do it the first time it can be confusing
,...Instructions/utilities vary slightly from each Manu. or Mobo maker.

TT4U

Notification:
These are just "my" thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs..All involved shall be spared the grief.

 

[PatrickDickey]

Ok, then we need more information on this..

Ngolem, on the back of the computer (I would hope) is a nameplate. Could you give us the Model number and Serial Number off of that? Also, if it has the FCC-ID number on it, that would help. Earlier, you said it was a Zoltec computer, was that the brand name? Or is that what comes up with the bios information?

TechTippy is correct, in that we need the information off of the mainboard also. To get that, just open the case, and look at the board. There will be numbers/letters stamped on the board itself (hopefully with a brand name, but I doubt it). If you provide information stamped on the little chips, please indicate that.

So you can do the research on your own, I will look on google.com (

http://www.google.com

) for whatever information you provide.. If you have a FCC ID number, then you put fcc before the number there. Hopefully, I will find out who made the computer, and if they have support for it. If so, then I will go to their pages, and look for any updates that can be downloaded. If there are, then I will try to find BIOS updates. That will most likely be the link I will provide here (the page that lists the updates available).

Patrick.
**** I say "I", even though I'm fairly sure that TechTippy4U will do basically the same thing. I don't want to come off as speaking for him.

 

[diogenes10]

my question is why does he need a bios flash if win98 was actually installed and running once on the machine already.
To me, that mean the existing setup should run it.

 

[TekTippy4U]

diogenes10;
I'm figuring the Flash update will enable Larger Disk Support (which is probably why the Drive Overlay, likely at that age of a System for a 6GB drive, was used in the first place) and maybe even ATAPI support for CDROM instead of just ATA and also other issues.

TT4U

Notification:
These are just "my" thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs..All involved shall be spared the grief.

 

[Ngolem]

ok here is some more info. Zoltec was a ma/pa outfit who just silkscreened their name on the PC.

from the backplate of the computer

BW
s/n 990800746
Batch: 504/62 - 1
Mod: 585-51-MT
S/M: BB-BW-PII-B-CT
Celeron clock 433 mHz
FCC ID: FPLPCI8500HUUR
LR 76231-12

We finally found the manual for the System, My son buried it somewhere.

PC100 Systemboard
Slot 1/Socket 370
M741LMRT

Chipset: Xcel/2000 but there is another location called chipset on the diagram and it is AGP8m Ultra OMA 66 PC99Connector.

Under BIOS Setup the following is written

Introduction

If the information in the setup utility is incorrect, it may cause your computer to malfunction. It can even stop your computer from booting properly. If this happens, you can use the clear CMOS jumper to clear the CMOS memory area that is used to store the setup information, or you can hold down the END key while you reboot your computer. Holding down the END key also clears the setup information.

You can run the setup utility and manually make changes to the setup utility. You might need to do this to configure some of the hardware that you add to the mainboard, such as the CPU, the memory, disk drive, etc.

************************

I have not done a CMOS clear....what would happen if I did? Would I shut down then reboot again immediately?






Jim Broadbent

The quality of the answer is directly proportional to the quality of the problem statement!

 

[PatrickDickey]

From the FCC homepage, using the FCC ID number.

https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/w...&application_id=59062&fcc_id='FPLPCI8500HUUR'

The manufacturer of the PC is Pantex Computer. Their site is

http://www.pantexcom.com

and their support pages are at

http://www.pantexcom.com/svcpage/

You'll need the motherboard ID Number to get further in. The good thing is, they list all of their board numbers, so you know what you're looking for.
The bad thing is, their phone numbers aren't assigned to them anymore. So, what you find on the website, is what you get (unless you fill out a form).
Hope this helps you.
Patrick.

 

[cruze]

Have you went to the hard drive support site for your make of drive and downloaded there setup software?
I have ran into the same problem a time or to.
And downloaded the setup software from the drive support site and fixed the problem!
Some setup software puts a overlay on the drive.

 

[ImpetusEra]

http://www.pcchipsusa.com/BIOS/741t2K1220s.ZIP

That's a PC Chips motherbaord, the website above is the BIOS update for your system. Download it and use winzip to extract it to a floppy disk. It appears to only be a ROM file so how you apply it I don't know. There may be an update option in the BIOS itself.

 

[Ngolem]

If the information in the setup utility is incorrect, it may cause your computer to malfunction. It can even stop your computer from booting properly. If this happens, you can use the clear CMOS jumper to clear the CMOS memory area that is used to store the setup information, or you can hold down the END key while you reboot your computer. Holding down the END key also clears the setup information.


WE HAVE A COMPUTER AGAIN !!!!

The above paragraph explains what was done. Thanks to all of your suggestions and encouragement. Especially those demanding more information which spurred me to get my son to hunt for that manual in his room...if you know a 20 year old's room state you can understand the herculean task that was.

I suppose it comes to RYFM (read your freaken manual).

Exactly how the CMOS got screwed up is beyond me but at least it is resolved.

Jim Broadbent

The quality of the answer is directly proportional to the quality of the problem statement!

 

[PatrickDickey]

Well, I'm glad to see that the problem is resolved. And, I'm glad I could be of some help also.
One thing now that you've got the computer up and running.. Did you make any type of Emergency Repair Disks? I'm sure Windows 98SE has some version of that on it. (Just not sure if it's in backup like Windows 2K, or if it's a separate program in the System Tools menu.)
I would also recommend (since I know the state of a 20 year old's room) that you put the manuals in a filing cabinet, or keep them with the computer itself.
Patrick.

 

[ImpetusEra]

Funky little problems like that can be annoying but they are a good learning experience. I'm 19 but my room isn't what I would consider a mess. I have all my product manuals in one place and multiple binders of information all organized. I do like to keep some things just scattered around, mainly things I tend to make use of a lot. I think your son made a good choice in formatting though. All operating systems get old unused files and what not scattered around which take a real chunk out of performance.

 

[edfair]

And now that you have it running again, did you document the settings in CMOS for the time in the probable near future when the battery goes out and you need to set it up again?

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