Suggestions on how THIS happened?

[hech54]

OK...I'll make a long story short.
I did a re-install(wiped out the hard drive and started over) of Windows 98 on my wife's dad's computer. After some video driver work and getting a new sound card....all was going well.
THEN we attempted to tackle the problem that BIOS was recognizing the second hard drive....but Windows was NOT.
It is a Maxtor so I downloaded a Maxtor program to help Windows find the HD. Selected the Maxtor HD...the program went through it's routine...all looked well.
WELL....the computer restarts and what do I see?

I am now looking at the SAME computer I had BEFORE I supposedly wiped out the HD and re-loaded Windows....no shit....it is right back EXACTLY the way it was before. I am back to the same bloated, slow and barely running machine I had before.
What happened?.....or didn't happen?.....any suggestions?

[stiltman]

What I always do

format
install OS
bypass new hardware wizard for everything that it didn't find during the install
install the M/B drivers (most important thing IMO)
reboot and OSshould now find the new controlers
install video driver
install audio driver
instal network driver

[hech54]

No.....you don't understand.
Every program....every desktop icon.....every DLL error.....it is all back again. It's is the same exact EVERYTHING....back again.
What did I reformat?...a partition?

[mujahid7ia]

Probably, maybe it first booted from the wiped HDD, but then somehow booted from the old partition w. the old OS on it.

[hech54]

I still have NO idea exactly what happened. I was guessing it somehow was now booting from the partition with the old O/S on it....but still have no idea how it happened or how to fix it....SO.... I wiped out the 2nd hard drive COMPLETELY then I just did my re-install to that one. I KNOW that one never had an O/S on it....it was just for storage.
Now that hard drive is set as a SLAVE....it is now the only hard drive connected in that computer.....and the computer is working perfectly....another mystery....

[gammite]

i have had this happen to me a couple of times.

as a matter of fact today when i upgraded 98 to xp on someone's computer and went from FAT to NTFS all of the files were still there. i was p.o.'ed and confused. instead of trying to troubleshoot i went in and deleted the partition (which i did not do the first time) then formated the drive (which i did do the first time).

that would be my advice to you. in a situation where you don't have to save data it is always simpler and more efficient to start from scratch.

after you delete the partition, create the new one then format the drive i would follow stiltman's list:

format
install OS
bypass new hardware wizard for everything that it didn't find during the install
install the M/B drivers (most important thing IMO)
reboot and OSshould now find the new controlers
install video driver
install audio driver
instal network driver

good luck!!!

[hech54]

I've learned enough over the years to know to remove all of the cards and such from the computer and deal with Windows recognizing them once you have all of the drivers and software ready for when that situation arises....but I still can't imagine doing a "FORMAT C: /s"....I think that is correct....would only format a partition. To me....a slightly above novice computer guy.....is SO dumb.
I realize that each partition will have it's own drive letter....but I've never seen anything but "C" on any of my computers. How do you know that someone elses computer (or even my own) has the HD partitioned?
I need to do some serious reading I guess.
I also know enough to keep my computers free of JUNK....I've never had to re-install an O/S before this week. I've learned alot this week.

But is a Hard Drive that is still set as a SLAVE....and is still working perfectly....normal?
I would like to re-format the first drive that has one....maybe two now....installs of Windows 98 on it and now use IT as storage only....but I fear the computer will now boot from that one since it only runs as a master....and the new only runs as a slave.

[Ripper2860]

Format C:/S will only format the partition containing logical drive "C". If the drive is partitioned and other logical drives are present, they will continue to exist with whatever data is in their respective partitions. If there was another partition and it was inadvertently set to ACTIVE -- then the system would then boot from that newly active partition and any OS on that partition would load. FDISK will allow you to check for other partitions and their status as well as unallocated space.

It is possible that there was a "hidden" partition with a copy of the primary OS partition. This partition could reside on the same disk or on another disk. Many drive imaging programs allow for one to copy the contents of one partition to another and then hide the partition so thast it is not seen by the OS. This is a great way to have a "backup" of the original OS install hidden away to re-image a drive from if there is a need to restore the original OS. The fact that it is hidden keeps one from overwriting the contents or deleting files. It is also possible to boot from the hidden partition or drive by making it active.

I have actually done this with Drive Image for my father's PC as he is a novice and lives 1200 miles away. A great way to get everything back to working order if he

Not sure, but it may be a sceanario like above where a hidden partition was made actie and then the system booted from a "stored" copy of the OS.

[gmatov]

fdisk will tell you in no uncertain terms that only the primary DOS partition can be set as "Active".

Hech,

You have only a C:\ drive? Then your drive is not partitioned. Next time you boot, read the numbers on the boot screen, Primary Master....XXX gigabytes.

Go to My Computer, when it boots to Win, go to View>Details>Apply (Maybe you don't get apply), and see what it says C:\ is. If you have a 10 gig, and the detailed view says 10 gigs, or thereabouts, you do not have any other partitions.

If you did have they would have their own drive letters. They ARE logical drives in an extended DOS partition, and, as you are writing above, you are just one step up from a "Novice", no matter how many years you have at the keyboard.

Operating is not the same as building/installing/repairing/troubleshooting.

Hope this gets you to look more deeply into the depths of the computer "experience". They're really not that hard to understand, but it does take some study to make any kind of logic from these strictly logical machines.

Hey, the basis is 0+0=0, 0+1=1, 1+1=2. That is al the higher they can count. Simple, no?

Cheers,

George

ps: Drive C:\ is not a "logical drive". Logical drives are created in the "extended DOS" partition. C:\ is the "Primary DOS" partition, and you would not have a computer, did you not have this partition..

[SLK001]

Well, the first thing that you DIDN'T do was to "completely wipe the HD". You probably just wiped a single partition, as you postulated.

Win98 has a limit of about 2GB per partition with FAT16 or 4 GB with FAT32. These are the only two options available under '98 (IIRC).

If you are going to completely start over, then boot up to DOS, open FDISK and remove all the current partitions, then put down the new partitions that you want (if you don't want to change anything, you can skip the FDISK part). Then, still under DOS, run FORMAT on ALL of your drives. I do recommend that you still remove your old partitions, then reinstall them, so that you can perform a new low level format. This will lay down new tracks and also update your "bad sector" map on your drives. Once you do this, you will need to perform a high level format using FORMAT.

[stiltman]

I've learned enough over the years .......but I still can't imagine doing a "FORMAT C: /s".....

fdisk removes builds partitions
format formats the partition
format C: /s formats the C: partition and copys the system files to the partition

No, I'm not being a smartarse, just don't know if you know what you are doing

[Ripper2860]

gmatov,

You are correct about FDISK setting only the primary partition to active -- when attempting to make a partition on the same physical disk as the primary partition active. However, I was not very clear -- what I intended to communicate was that if one has a partition on another physical disk (as opposed to logical), it is possible to set the other drive's primary partition to active via FDISK. Of course an OS would have to be present before one could boot from that HDD.

In addition -- there are 3rd party utilities that can activate other partitions and set them as the active primary -- even when that partition resides on the same physical disk as the "real" primary partition.

[hech54]

So how do you know (in Windows) what size the partitions are? Can you make the hard drive show up as C......and have each partition have another drive letter?

[gammite]

So how do you know (in Windows) what size the partitions are? Can you make the hard drive show up as C......and have each partition have another drive letter?

uhhhh.... just.............. wow...................

go to www.cybertechhelp.com and check out their tutorials. you will get all of your questions answered.

to answer your question in short form:

1. there are a number of ways to find out how. if you have an operating system installed click on each hd drive in my computer and see. or you can check in your bios. or if you have a 98 or ME boot disk run fdisk and use option 4 to check out the status of each of your partitions.

2. you can assign any letter to any partition. for example, my active partition is named k: vs. c:. i just wanted to be different:P

[stiltman]

So how do you know (in Windows) what size the partitions are? Can you make the hard drive show up as C......and have each partition have another drive letter?

Plus

Wouldn't one of the millions of Sony sites have it in .pdf format to view and maybe print? NO...I'm not being a smarta§§....just a suggestion.

I think you need to spend some time reading websites covering A+ meterial, No, I'm not being a smartarse, just a suggestion

[gammite]

I think you need to spend some time reading websites covering A+ meterial, No, I'm not being a smartarse, just a suggestion

AGREED!!! i would have used the term 101 material instead of A+.

you really need to do some self teaching. the world wide web has all of the info you need based on the questions you are asking. just go googling. the best help you can get is the ability to find answers yourself. especially to questions like these.

[hech54]

[quote="stiltman
I think you need to spend some time reading websites covering A+ meterial, No, I'm not being a smartarse, just a suggestion[/quote]

Well there is one site I won't need to visit...the one covering spelling errors. Reading and writing is basic "101 Stuff".

Thanks to everyone else who attempted to help me sift through the technical "lingo" that I believe is the root of all of my problems.

[thayne]

Maybe try using a newer OS, win 98 is 7 years old!

[gmatov]

To see, in Windows, your partition sizes, open My Computer, click VIEW, then, under that, click DETAILS. That will show you the Total size and free space on each drive and partition on your machine.

Every partition on your drive will have its own letter, or you have no additional partitions. That is BASIC.

slk,

I've not used such tools, haven't needed them. Not sure about another partition on Pri Master being able to be set as active, other than Primary partition, with a tool.

Another drive entirely, sure, have 4 in this machine that have been OS drive at its own place in upgrade cycle, 80, 100, 120, 160, skip the 160, just a storage drive, but the others all have Active PriDOS partition.

Win 98SE does support larger than 4 gig partitions, else I would not have 137 gig part. on the 160, 63 gig on the 80, etc.

It will not see a large drive without DLing the Large Drive update from MS, Command.com dated 1999, to replace the one dated 1998. The old version subtracted 64 gig from your large drive, 80 would fdisk/format as 16.

Cheers,

George

[hech54]

Maybe try using a newer OS, win 98 is 7 years old!

I thought of that. But this guy can't keep a machine clean running WITHOUT internet access. Can you imagine someone dumber than me WITH internet access?
Dial-up is virtually gone here in Germany. You need USB support to gain access to the internet with most reputable ISP's in Deutschland. Right now with his old computer and old Windows 98....he has no USB support.
His daughter (my wife) wanted it to STAY that way....or I would have attempted to upgrade to at least Windows 2000. That is the only reason I re-loaded 98.
Thanks for the suggestion though..

[stiltman]

Can you imagine someone dumber than me WITH internet access?

[hech54]

1639 posts full of childish little games.
What's next ACE?..."My dad can beat up your dad you poo-head !!!"