msdeej

I am trying to help out a friend with his computer. I have done all I know to do with no sucess. I am having servere startup problems.

I do have a windows startup disk from another machine (dated 2004). I can get into area where the options for the following is asked. #3 Safe Mode. I press #3 and machine says Safe Mode is loading.. But no success. By the way, If I tried to reboot without any disk, it ask for Bootable Media Disk. which I was able to retrieve and copy from the internet. It seems to be like a startup disk. It does boot, if I hold down and tap Control Key, but windows does not load. I see message " DRIVE C DOES NOT CONTAIN VALID FAT or AT32 PARTITION. SCDEX VERSON 2.25.. MICROSOFT WINDOWS

I tried Command Prompt at C:\scanreg /store --- NO SUCCESS
I tried Sys Command: By typing A:\sys c: - -- NO SUCESS
I tried Command Prompt - Step by Step - Don't really know what to select. I think my friend has many pictures and document stores on the hard drive and don't want to RE-insall Windows.

I also did a hard drive test.. everything sems to be okay. The Hard drive is still alive...

Is there anything else I can try before I return this "old guy" back to the old guy? I don't think the compute has been probably updated in a while. He only uses it for storing pictures and budget stuff..
HELP HELP HELP!

OldGrayGary

Hi msdeej


In your thread title, you mention "Kodak System". Kodak makes a great many products, such as cameras and printers, but I've never heard of a "Kodak PC". ---This is an IBM-compatible PC that we are concerned with, yes?

You mention you ran a hard drive test -- which one? Did you use a bootable floppy diskette & run diagnostics from the hard disk manufacturer? Or did you run a DOS or Windows based utility such as Checkdisk or ScanDisk?

By all means, you need to be careful starting a PC with startup disks for which you are uncertain of their capabilities. Especially disturbing is the message which concerns the absence of a suitable partition on the hard drive. Never run command line utilities, either, unless you are clear on their usage and grammar (your syntax was incorrect for the two examples you gave).

When was the last time the computer was working correctly?
Are you sure that it was running Windows 98?

With a known-good bootable Windows 98 floppy diskette, or bootable Windows 98/98se CD ("boot computer with CD-ROM support") - from the A: prompt, type fdisk and select option 4 -- this should display a list of partitions on the hard drive. If no partitions are listed, or if "Non-DOS" partitions are listed, let us know. Exit from fdisk without making any changes: in this situation, you only want to use it to view what partitions are present.

If there are no partitions listed, the only chance for your friend to recover his data is to use Data Recovery software to try and scan the drive for any data that hasn't been overwritten since the partition information was damaged. "PC Inspector File Recovery" is fairly good at this sort of thing = a qualified tech would need to 'slave' the drive in another PC (or in an external enclosure) and run the program using the other PC, pointing it to the problem drive. PC Inspector File Recovery can be found at download.com --- http://www.download.com/PC-Inspector...html?tag=lst-1

I imagine you might have more questions: let us know.
Best of luck
. . . Gary

msdeej

From the C:\ I ran scandisk --
I tried to do the fdisk at the a: prompt - and says, "no fix disk present

I was told by my friend that it was a Kodak System. I think it may be a compact system. Screen says it's running Windows 98....

The last time the machine booted up was around December 4th, according to my friend.

I have this machine sitting behind my computer...I have windows xp.. Is there anything I can go online and get to install? As you can tell, I am a "babe" when it comes to computer. I just wanted to help out my friend.
Deej

Thanks for any help..

OldGrayGary

Hi again

You mention you ran ScanDisk from the C: drive. When you did so, how did you start the computer? (What disk did you boot from?)
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I have some tasks for you to do:

1) Check to see if a drive-overlay is present:
There is one situation where utilities might not be able to see a partition on the drive, even when one is present: if a "drive-overlay" or "drive-translation" software has been installed onto the Master Boot Record of the hard drive. Such "drive-overlay" software makes it possible for older computers with older main circuit boards ("motherboards") to use much larger hard drives than they were originally designed for. This sort of translation software is not so common nowadays, but wasn't too uncommon during Win98's time. To see if a "drive-overlay" is present on the system, simply try to start it (with no floppies or CDs in those drives), and look for a message as the computer attempts to start that mentions "EZBios" or "Disk Manager". If you see such a message, write it down, and let us know.

2) Run a full disk diagnostic on the hard drive (not just ScanDisk)
Find the brand of the hard drive, and run it's diagnostic --- http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287 --- To find the brand & model, either power-off/unplug/open the PC & look at the hard drive label, or boot the PC with a bootable CD such as the "Ultimate Boot CD", and run a hardware detection program to identify the drive (Astra32 is included on the UBCD) --- http://www.ultimatebootcd.com ---

3) The "no fixed disk present" message might point to either-
a) the presence of a drive-overlay (which would be bypassed when booting from a CD or floppy)
b) incorrect IDE settings in the mainboard's Bios
c) a bad IDE cable
d) a failed hard drive
e) a faulty IDE controller on the motherboard, or other motherboard failure.

The diagnostics will check for cable, controller, and disk errors. Looking at system startup might tell if a drive overlay is present (some diagnostics can detect this as well). Also enter the Bios Setup screens for the PC, to check the IDE settings for the drive. Press the key mentioned in a banner or splash screen as the PC is starting "Press F1 (or F2, F10, Del, etc.) to Enter Setup", and look for the section for IDE settings. If possible, these should be set to AUTO. (A Win98 era computer should be able to auto-detect it's IDE drives).

[While you are running basic hardware diagnostics, might as well check the memory too --- http://www.memtest.org --- ]
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I suspect that a drive overlay is the reason the fdisk wouldn't detect partitions on the drive. Had the drive failed already, you wouldn't have been able to run ScanDisk. If the drive is still in good enough condition to pass its diagnostics, and the Bios settings look good, and you notice indications that a "drive overlay" such as EZBios is present, then as an attempt at a quick-fix, you can retry one of your earlier attempts, only this time with correct command syntax - the scanreg /restore command from the C: prompt. This command will attempt to restore a saved Registry. If the computer can start into Safe Mode with command prompt, try entering scanreg /restore and pressing Enter.


If none of this helps, ask your friend what Windows 98 CDs he has to use for repairing his PC.

Best of luck
. . . Gary