SERIOUS FDISK problems

begud4me · 04-21-2005, 04:30 PM

OK this may get a little long but here we go.

I have three hard drives, one 20 gig that is full, one 160 gig that has nothing, and one 80 gig that has the operating sys win 2k prof.

The 80 gig today started not booting. So i am thinking corrupted op sys. It gets to the windows screen with the little blue bar across the bottom showing the loading progress. Then it restarts itself just as it is going to the next series of screens which contain the login window. So I pulled that hard drive (80 gig) and the 20 gig out of the box. I am trying to install the op sys on the 160 gig and then set the old 80 gig back up as a slave so i can pull my pics and some music off of it. But the 160 gig wont let me install the new op sys on it. I set in the Bios for it to boot from CDROM but it says non system disk etc. So I am trying to dig deep in my software collection and install Win 98 second edition. I set the bios to boot from the floppy and go through the motions of setting up the op sys on it and it gets to the screen where its going to install and then it says it cant and to press escape to exit. so i am currently trying to FDISK the 160 gig drive. When i go to delete partitions screen options 2 and 3 it tells me there arent any of those types of partitions. But when i hit 1 "delete primary partition" it just says current fixed partition 1 and sits on that screen. At the bottom of the screen it says press escape to return but nothing hap[pens when i press it. Also if from the main screen of the fdisk i just hit 1 for create primary partition it gives me the same mesage and just sits there.

The 160 gig hard drive is currently set up as master and was previously a secondary slave to the 80 gig.

Any ideas would be great! The computer i am on now has no floppy drive so i will not be able to put anything on a floppy but it does have a cd burner.

Thanks for reading.

batty_professor · 04-21-2005, 04:58 PM

My first thought is to suggest defaulting the bios. If the drive isn't being recognized properly, this should help. Also check to see if the bios defaults clear the initial problem you had with the 80 gig system drive. It might boot.

begud4me · 04-21-2005, 05:32 PM

ok i will try it be back shortly

begud4me · 04-21-2005, 05:57 PM

no luck

batty_professor · 04-21-2005, 06:15 PM

There are numerous live CD's available running Linux, containing repair utilities. Knoppix off course comes to mind. But here's a smaller distro' that may do the trick.
http://www.inside-security.de/insert_en.html
If you're unable to run one of these CD's on your system, you may have a hardware problem other than hard drives. With a live CD running you should also be able to see the content of your drives.

04-21-2005, 04:30 PM	#1 (permalink)
begud4me Registered User Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 15 OS: WIN2K	SERIOUS FDISK problems OK this may get a little long but here we go. I have three hard drives, one 20 gig that is full, one 160 gig that has nothing, and one 80 gig that has the operating sys win 2k prof. The 80 gig today started not booting. So i am thinking corrupted op sys. It gets to the windows screen with the little blue bar across the bottom showing the loading progress. Then it restarts itself just as it is going to the next series of screens which contain the login window. So I pulled that hard drive (80 gig) and the 20 gig out of the box. I am trying to install the op sys on the 160 gig and then set the old 80 gig back up as a slave so i can pull my pics and some music off of it. But the 160 gig wont let me install the new op sys on it. I set in the Bios for it to boot from CDROM but it says non system disk etc. So I am trying to dig deep in my software collection and install Win 98 second edition. I set the bios to boot from the floppy and go through the motions of setting up the op sys on it and it gets to the screen where its going to install and then it says it cant and to press escape to exit. so i am currently trying to FDISK the 160 gig drive. When i go to delete partitions screen options 2 and 3 it tells me there arent any of those types of partitions. But when i hit 1 "delete primary partition" it just says current fixed partition 1 and sits on that screen. At the bottom of the screen it says press escape to return but nothing hap[pens when i press it. Also if from the main screen of the fdisk i just hit 1 for create primary partition it gives me the same mesage and just sits there. The 160 gig hard drive is currently set up as master and was previously a secondary slave to the 80 gig. Any ideas would be great! The computer i am on now has no floppy drive so i will not be able to put anything on a floppy but it does have a cd burner. Thanks for reading.

04-21-2005, 04:58 PM	#2 (permalink)
batty_professor Asst. Manager, Alternative Computing Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hooterville Il 45 mi. east of St. Louis mo Posts: 2,609 OS: Fedora Core 5 for now	My first thought is to suggest defaulting the bios. If the drive isn't being recognized properly, this should help. Also check to see if the bios defaults clear the initial problem you had with the 80 gig system drive. It might boot. __________________ It's better to know me and not need me than to need me and not know me. B. While users are never under any obligation, if you feel the urge please feel free to visit our donation page. Every little bit helps. And we thank you for your support. Microsoft free Registered Linux user 397458

04-21-2005, 06:15 PM	#5 (permalink)
batty_professor Asst. Manager, Alternative Computing Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hooterville Il 45 mi. east of St. Louis mo Posts: 2,609 OS: Fedora Core 5 for now	There are numerous live CD's available running Linux, containing repair utilities. Knoppix off course comes to mind. But here's a smaller distro' that may do the trick. http://www.inside-security.de/insert_en.html If you're unable to run one of these CD's on your system, you may have a hardware problem other than hard drives. With a live CD running you should also be able to see the content of your drives. __________________ It's better to know me and not need me than to need me and not know me. B. While users are never under any obligation, if you feel the urge please feel free to visit our donation page. Every little bit helps. And we thank you for your support. Microsoft free Registered Linux user 397458

04-21-2005, 05:32 PM	#3 (permalink)
begud4me Registered User Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 15 OS: WIN2K	ok i will try it be back shortly

04-21-2005, 05:57 PM	#4 (permalink)
begud4me Registered User Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 15 OS: WIN2K	no luck