# Sister PC problems...



## PcFreak14 (Oct 12, 2006)

Sister PC problems...

well guys let me just tell you i have been hearin my sister like crying to me becasue i did something to her pc..
well heres the story yesterday i decided to slave another HD from another pc so i can reformat it. well when i tryed booting the pc it turned on and it said there was a missing or corupt file not found and and to insert the windows xp disc and do a repair so i tryed and got a error saying setupdd.sys wasnt found or something like that. and i thoguht okay ill just take the slave drive off her pc and just not bother with it and after i tryed starting it i got an error so then itryed to repair the her actually HD with her disc...no go ..so i reformated her drive and no i cant install windows it keeps saying to ctrl+alt + del...can anyone clarfy what i must do to go about geting windows back on becasue now shes useing my pc and i hate it and my dads saying i must get it running..so my sis would really appricate it to get it running again..

THanks a million guys, steve

**any questions please ask!!


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## PC eye (Oct 12, 2006)

For one when you booted from the installation disk you went after "her" primary drive and not your drive which was slaved in "her" case at the time. Now you will probably have to see if there is a partition on the drive with the installer by first looking and following the onscreen instructions.

 When you first reach the option to install Windows you press the enter and look at the screen to see what drive is detected by the installer. If you corrupted the current partition you will want to choose the "L" option in order to delete the current partition and return to the installation screen. Once back you will a drive total for creation of a new primary partition which reads the total drive space. Answer yes to have the installer partition and format the drive when going to install Windows.


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## PcFreak14 (Oct 12, 2006)

Well i went about useing the Western Digital format disc that came with the HD..but i mean in the beginning where the blue windows setup window comes up and ask if you want to load RAID drivers i let it go becasue i dont need to then i recieve the message setupdd.sys the code error is 4 and i need to restart, i cant go any further..im lost i never had this happen..thanks steve


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## hells3000 (Oct 12, 2006)

Ive had this problem with my hdd...
I moved the jumper. not tp  cable or master or slave I moved it to the blank space and it started loading again.
Unfortunately I got a driver error like a week after that but who cares press F1 to keep going and works perfectly


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## PcFreak14 (Oct 12, 2006)

yea but i reformatted so theres nothin to load..or do you mean to be able to get the pc to install windows and not get that error? thanks


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## PC eye (Oct 13, 2006)

The one thing to try there is mastering the drive at the end of the cable and booting with the installation disk. Once you are at the point to choose the "R" for repair with the recovery console and the press enter now to install proceed like you are ready to. Once the next screen comes up it will show the partitions and drives detected. You probably used the Fat32 partitioning tool and need to highlight the detected partition and press the "L" key for deletion.

 On the next screen press the "D" key to confirm you want that removed. When starting the installation again notice the amount of drive space available and choose that to start the installer. You will then be prompted for an answer on having the installer partition and format the drive where you type "Y" for the yes answer. Let the installer create and format the drive. If the master jumper settings has a problem use the cable select.


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## PcFreak14 (Oct 14, 2006)

well i changed the drive and now when its going to boot from the cd i get this message

NTLDR is missing
Press ctrl + alt + del to restart

Now whats going on? thanks again


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## PC eye (Oct 15, 2006)

Have a floppy onhand? Find a working XP system like the one you are on and copy the three essential files for loading Windows onto it. The "ntldr", ntdetect.com, and boot.ini are the three you need to copy onto the drive if the "Fixmbr" and "Fixboot" commands fail at the recover console. You can also try an old 98-ME startup floppy and type "fdisk /mbr" at the dos prompt after booting with that. If none of these work try the "fixntldr.exe" method described at http://www.tinyempire.com/shortnotes/files/ntldr_missing.htm


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## dopeskins12 (Oct 15, 2006)

just do it again...it would be funny


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## dopeskins12 (Oct 15, 2006)

..


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## dopeskins12 (Oct 15, 2006)

..........


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## PcFreak14 (Oct 15, 2006)

PC Eye , how would i go about locating these files on putting them on a floppy? I know how to put them on a floppy,buy where can i go about locating them? thanks again


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## PcFreak14 (Oct 15, 2006)

Well i went to that link made a floppy and made sure it booted from that first and i got into the windowsxp but i got another error=[

File hal.dll could not be loaded
The code error is 7

What now?


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## PC eye (Oct 15, 2006)

Do you have a cd writer onhand? The idea there was to see if you still had a partition to work with on the drive. Since you haven't been able to use the XP installer the next step would be to see if the drive can be detected properly. If you don't have  an older 98 or ME startup disk you can download the needed files to create a startup floppy with the fdisk utility. But even the updated version you would have search for at this time only partitions upto the 55gb point.

 GParted is a free Linux partitioning tool that boots from a cd. With a good burn you can use this to delete any partitions on the drive as well as create a new primary. It will also show if the drive is detected. Is the drive connected at the end of the cable with the jumper set as master? At this time you want your sister's drive in the case by itself set as master. You can download GParted at http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/gparted/gparted-livecd-0.3.1-1.iso?download

 Once you have that downloaded you can burn that to cd with the free version of BurnOn found at http://www.download.com/BurnOn-CD-DVD/3000-2646-10434785.html?part=dl-BurnOnCDD&subj=dl&tag=button Afterwards you boot from the cd and press enter on the items already highlighted without wandering around there by choosing anything else. Most of the time the 24bit setting will work when you see that. The resolution is the one item you can change before getting to interface that looks like an old Windows desktop.

 Once the gui is reached the hda1 should be seen on the small dropdown found at the upper righthand side of the screen. If you see that the drive has been detected properly. The exit and reboot is the small red button at the lower right corner. Before this however look over the XP cd to see if you find any scratches or finger marks from handling. A damaged or smeared cd will cause some installation problems.


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## PcFreak14 (Oct 15, 2006)

Well i downloaded both, the only thing is i cant locate what i need to burn in Burnon.Also i looked my Windowsxp Home disc that i need to use and there is some small scratches, may these casue the problem? What if i download a windowsxp home ISO file and burn that..will it work thanks


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## PcFreak14 (Oct 15, 2006)

bump


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## PC eye (Oct 16, 2006)

PcFreak14 said:


> Well i downloaded both, the only thing is i cant locate what i need to burn in Burnon.Also i looked my Windowsxp Home disc that i need to use and there is some small scratches, may these casue the problem? What if i download a windowsxp home ISO file and burn that..will it work thanks


 
 With BurnOn you use the browser to burn the GPart 0.3.1-1.iso to disk. That is teh Gnome Partition Editor. After burning it to a cd-r you boot from that to see if the drive is detected and still has a partition on it. Any partitions will be listed in the main window. If the drive isn't listed you will have to reassign the jumper setting on the drive itself. It should be mastered at the end of the cable.

 If the scratches on the installation disk are too deep you would need to buy another copy in order to have a valid installation. But this sounds more like the drive isn't being detected by the installer on the current disk. If the drive still isn't detected after making sure it is set as master then try the cable select position. The first thing to remember is to remove the other drive you had in there so that this drive is a stand alone drive detected.


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## PcFreak14 (Oct 17, 2006)

okay will try later thanks


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## PcFreak14 (Oct 29, 2006)

sorry to bump an old thread but over the last week i havebt had time to try and fix my sisters pc..can anyone reccomend a good iso burner so i can burn something..and there experiences with it..i cant find a good one that burns over 300mbs on to a disc becasue there free trials..thanks


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## PC eye (Oct 29, 2006)

That's easy enough. BurnOn found at BurnWorld. The link was posted earlier for GParted partitioning tool. BurnOn will work endlessly as long as you get used to closing the IE window that opens after each burn for buying the retail version. The free version of BurnOn so far as worked better then the $100 paid out for Roxio's Easy Media Creator 8.0 for burning Linux isos.


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## PcFreak14 (Oct 29, 2006)

okay im on burn world and i clicked on software downloads... which one should i download,,, CD Bootable software? thanks


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## PC eye (Oct 30, 2006)

One direct link is seen at http://www.download.com/BurnOn-CD-DVD/3000-2646-10434785.html?part=dl-BurnOnCDD&subj=dl&tag=button as posted earlier.

EIther of the two download links seen at http://www.burnworld.com/burnoncddvd/ will bring you right back to the download.com page.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 1, 2006)

okay i used that program and burned a iso file of windows xp home edition. I tryed booting from it so that i can install it..went smooth untill when i think its called the kernal debugger starts then i got another error message " File ntkrnlmp.exe could not be loaded. So i think my disc was find from the beggiding (sp)...  I think we i tired running both HD in th e beddiding ,, the file from both hd's conflicted casueing this one to not have the right files... i maybe wrong  you guys know this better.. I really need to get this pc up and running. Do you think theres files still on this HD . and can i somehow erase the whole thing. I just bought this HD for 70 bucks at bestbuy and its a shame that its not usable for her.. Thanks again guys i appricate and so does my lil sis


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 2, 2006)

anyone ever experience this or have an idea about sorting this out ,, im trying to be patient but my lil sis is going crazy bot having her pc..its stressing me ..lol thanks again


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## khumalo (Nov 2, 2006)

Hey guys I have a problem, my PC is DELL make. Once I power it on it does not take long, it automatically shuts down without my commanding to do so, please assist?


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## PC eye (Nov 2, 2006)

PcFreak14 said:


> okay i used that program and burned a iso file of windows xp home edition. I tryed booting from it so that i can install it..went smooth untill when i think its called the kernal debugger starts then i got another error message " File ntkrnlmp.exe could not be loaded. So i think my disc was find from the beggiding (sp)... I think we i tired running both HD in th e beddiding ,, the file from both hd's conflicted casueing this one to not have the right files... i maybe wrong you guys know this better.. I really need to get this pc up and running. Do you think theres files still on this HD . and can i somehow erase the whole thing. I just bought this HD for 70 bucks at bestbuy and its a shame that its not usable for her.. Thanks again guys i appricate and so does my lil sis


 
 The links posted earlier were burning GParted to cd in order to clean off and repartition the old drive there. The Windows installer would then format the new primary partition when you went to install a fresh copy onto the drive. That was to simply the process since you were having problems with getting the installer to wipe the drive for you. You tried burning the wrong thing to disk there.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 2, 2006)

okay can you post the link to down the GParted , thanks


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## PC eye (Nov 2, 2006)

The main page for downloads is at http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/gparted/gparted-livecd-0.3.1-1.iso?download  You will have to pick from the list of servers available.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 2, 2006)

okay PC eye i downloaded it and burned it as a iso file. I put the disc in her pc and booted it up , gparted started and maybe a few seconds in to it, i recieved a message. 

Kernel panic  not syncing : attempted to kill init!

What does this mean?
What can i do

thanks steve


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## PC eye (Nov 3, 2006)

When you have a good burn to disk with GParted you will see different lists where the indicator sits on one by default. You simply keeping pressing the enter key until you reach the option to change from 1024x768 to 1280x1024. The others will send you all over the place since those are more for Linux then Windows. The resolution is one of the last options before the main gui comes up. You can raise or lower there without any problem.

 Upon reaching what looks like an explorer type window you will see a large tool bar at the top of the screen. The buttons with new, apply, and delete will be seen along with a small one at the far right. When you click on that one the drive or drives installed in the system can be selected along with the partitions. Once you click on and highlight the HDa1 which should be the single primary for the drive you would then go to the delete button to click on that followed by the "apply" button. A popup box will then ask you for confirmation.

 Once you respond to that the box will disappear and you will then see a scrolling bar going left and right for a minute or so as the primary is removed. You then simply click on the "new" button to create the new primary. It's a simple process where you will then click on the apply button a second time to see the confirmation box for this. To exit and restart the system click on the button with the red dot at the bottom right. You then have a choice of simply rebooting or first having the GParted cd ejected and then restart.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 4, 2006)

when it starts it says 20 secs till boot or press enter
or something likefor older pc's type "lowmem" 

the pc isnt too new really so what should i do
it has 96mb of ram
80gb hd


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## PC eye (Nov 5, 2006)

Do you have the drive repartitioned and the cd drive set as the first boot device? The 20 or so seconds is an older timer for deciding on booting right into the OS or entering the bios setup. It must have a 32mb along with a 64mb simm installed there. The command often seen on older systems was the "memset" or "lowset" for dos, 3.1, 95, 98, and ME. If you are planning to install XP that won't be necessary since XP has it's own configuration tools. For a look at the minimum system requirements for running XP go to http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/XPRequirements.html


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 5, 2006)

well i tryed useing the western digital disc after this whole thing happened... i did have xp on there for a long time...i mean it was super fast but my  sis  didnt mind


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## PC eye (Nov 5, 2006)

Often you will see the press any key in so many seconds in order to boot from the cd drive. Were you trying to use the LifeGuard utilities or the DRFat32 to reformat the other drive originally?


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## lhuser (Nov 5, 2006)

Well, here's what I'd do:

Try to get another CD in the house and rewrite over the Windows setup. Then, if you can, insert her CD-Key. It should be left intact. I'm outdated on the thread. I forgot there was more than one page.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 7, 2006)

PC eye said:


> Often you will see the press any key in so many seconds in order to boot from the cd drive. Were you trying to use the LifeGuard utilities or the DRFat32 to reformat the other drive originally?



Sorry for the late responce ,, well yes in the begining after the problem started i did use the disc to erase the hard drive the life guard that was included when i bought the HD. Was that a bad idea? thanks again soo much


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## PC eye (Nov 7, 2006)

From your description you had both drives in the case when that was done. That's where you saw the problem initially. While your sister's system was up and running you could have used the Disk Management tool to wipe the other one without going through this. But that is the old news here.

 Now you have to get the drive cleaned off and then boot from the installation disk once GParted has cleaned the drive. How far did you get there? Once you delete the existing partition you should be able to use the installer to partition and format the drive when going to install XP on it. But to insure a new partition is created you can go that one step further and create the single primary with GParted.

 The XP installer will then format the new partition. XP iwll detect the drive a little easier with a partition already on. But that is still going the one extra step. Check the XP cd for any scratches or finger marks in the meantime.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 7, 2006)

i dont think i get the option that shows the partation.. and the ability to delete..ill try now and return with results that i recieve


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 7, 2006)

well i tryed again and it just gives me the boot option in the begining then itjust starts running a list and then it stops and it shows the Kernal panic thing..cant do anything after that...


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## PC eye (Nov 8, 2006)

What is the actual error message you see when trying this? For some reason it's detecting the drive but not able to delete the existing partition. There are two reasons I could think of offhand for seeing that. One is that there was a newer version on the drive then on the installation disk itself or you may have a bad disk. Have you been able to burn the GPart iso to cd?


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 8, 2006)

"Kernel panic not syncing : attempted to kill init!" is the last thing i see towards the bottom, if you need all the other messages before that ill get it tomarrow after school. Yea i dont under stand why it wont let me go about deleteing that partation. No i tried useing the same exact disc that iused when i first bought the new HD, I also tried other discs,,same problem. Yea i burned the Gpart using a program called "burn on" iso file too. Im starting to doubt this pc..but i dont want to..because my dads on my tail about getting this pc goin again =[  thanks again for the  help

Steve


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## PC eye (Nov 8, 2006)

One thing you could take a look at is the drive cable and the jumper setting on the drive to make sure it's mastered at the end of the primary ide cable. The cd drive can either set as the slave device at the middle connector or master on the secondary ide. Make sure those are the only drives connected. That will rule out any configuration problem.

 When going to boot with the GParted cd keep pressing the enter key when you see each screen come up with one item already highlighted. Those are the defaults that will work on all systems. One of the last is the screen resolution settings. The previous one is at "24". Don't move that to "32". The default screen res is at 1024x768. You can move it to 1280x1024 without a problem. Once you reach the main gui that looks like large browser window you can move around easily there. You simply go to the far right and bring down the small tab to select the drive and partition on it. Then you click the "delete" and "apply" buttons on the main bar at the top and wait for a popup box.

 Once you confirm the prompt there you will see a small scrolling tab in a box come up for a minute or so while the partition is being removed. To exit and restart afterwards click on the red button at the lower right corner.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 12, 2006)

Well i have them both mastered on  there own IDE. I tryed keep pressing enter and it started goin through and then i recieved a message


BUG: unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 8001006c
printing eip:
c012d0d
*=00000000
Recursive die( )failure, output suppressed
<0> Kernel panic - not syncing:Fatal exception in interrupt

I really dont know what that mean and im goin crazy
Well thanks once again for your patience and time
Steve


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 12, 2006)

GOOD NEWS PC EYE! I Though maybe it was the pc hardware itsself. So i have other pc's laying around with out HD's. So i pulled out a tower and inserted her new 80GB HD and booted Gparted. Started up and went through the enter clicking part..I deleted the partations. So its clean. Im just going to use this tower. But I ran into another problem when i try to boot from the windowsxp home disc i get an error that says
Error loading OS
What should i do now.
Im looking around n asking friends to see if they have a Xp home disc to barrow.
Thanks


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## PC eye (Nov 13, 2006)

How did you try starting the installer? Did you boot directly from the cd? Once you deleted the original partition you use the installer to create the new one along with that being formatted. When askked if you want to install Windows on the detected drive the installer will create that using the drive space listed. It will create and format a new primary followed by copying the setup files onto the drive.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 13, 2006)

Well when i started running the windows xp disc it got through the blue screen, then the part a screen comes up saying theres no other copies of windows  on this HD. so it says to put in a windows anyone from 98 to xp to show the pc.

also  it says that it wasnt formatted to ntfs so itryed with gparted but it failed every time i tryed to make a new primary partation.
thanks again pceye


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## PC eye (Nov 13, 2006)

GParted can make a new one for you. It just won't be formatted until you select it when getting into the first install screen after the choice between R for the recovery console or press enter now to install. Once you get into the part where the total drive space is shown and you can highlight the C drive shown there you answer yes to ciontinue. If you are using an ugrade disk that explains the need for a disk from a previous version of Windows.

 If you only have an upgrade disk you would have to create a Fat32 partition and install 98 onto to it in order to run the XP installer. Once XP is on you can convert the partition from Fat32 to NTFS. You now have  to delete the one you made in order to create the new one. You can't make a new one without having drive space available. That's why you are seeing the error most likely.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 13, 2006)

okay ill look for windows98 disc, then install it and go from there..thanks


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## PC eye (Nov 13, 2006)

Once you use GParted to delete the new one just made and go to create the one you need for 98 remember to select the type for Fat32. You will need to boot with a 98 floppy later to format it however. If you don't have one go to http://www.bootdisk.com to download the files need to make one up.

Once booted from type "Format C: /s" at the dos prompt to format and transfer the basic dos files on. 98 will be on long enough to run the XP installer. Hope to hear about some better results. You've been at it long enough.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 13, 2006)

Okay will try this now..yes i have been at this wayyy too longg. will let you know about results thanks


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 13, 2006)

well im still looking for my windows 98se disc. but i downloaded a copy of 98se from a torrentsite. i burned it as a bootable disc. I also made a bootdisk like you said. but when i try to run 98 it starts this thing called caldera DR-DOS
and it shows 
[DR-DOS] A:\>  I have no idea what its doing
also when i try to gparted again it gets to the part where its scanning for devices then it just freezes.
what should i do?


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## PC eye (Nov 13, 2006)

DR Dos goes waaaaaaayy back to the old IBM days. First you need a definition of it to understand more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DR-DOS ANd then you may have to download a few things like the updated FDisk for drives over 64gb in size found at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=263044

 Since bootdisk.com is clustered with links you probably grabbed the wrong one. That won't be a problem since you simply will need the format.com file from a different link. That along with the updated fdisk will take care of removing the DR Dos and create a new Fat32 partition on the drive. Once the partition is made you then format it by typing "Format C: /s" and pressing the enter key. The "/s" is a switch to see that dos system files are copied to the drive as well as making the drive bootable to a dos prompt.

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm is the second page where you will see two 98 ilnks or mirrors followed by two 98SE mirrors for downloading the self extracting zip file. When going down 1/3 of the page there you will also see "dos/95/NT/98/bios" all bunched together. The 98 link is for a regular zip file containing the needed dos files. If you have Winzip you are all set.

 You will have just enough room on a floppy for the updated fdisk along with the rest of the dos files. The original fdisk.exe file will need to be deleted to make room for the updated version of that. You simply boot to the dos prompt and type fdisk and press enter to see that screen come up where you will have 4 options. That's the fun part going back and forth initially in deleting and then creating a partition.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 14, 2006)

okay well im going to try this when i get back from quadding, but what should i have all on that floppy, im sorry but im confused and just wanna make sure


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## PC eye (Nov 15, 2006)

Once you download and create the boot disk delete the fdisk.exe file. You need the updated fdisk download that will have a long number on it. Rename that to fdisk.exe and copy that to the floppy. With the old fdisk gone the floppy will now have room for the updated version. But it still has to be named fdisk in order to enter the dos command to enter that utility at the dos prompt.

 The "format.com" file will be a mandate there to since that is what will be used to format the new partition created by fdisk. The following files should be seen when viewing the contents of the disk with either Windows Explorer or at the dos prompt with the "dir" or "dir/w" command.
"total files"
attrib.exe
autoexec.bat
cd1.sys
cd2.sys
cd3.sys
cd4.sys
chdsk.exe
command.com
config.sys
deltree.exe
display.sys
drvspace.bin
edit.com
edit.hlp(takes up space not needed)
extract.exe
fdisk.exe(updated version)
find.exe
format.com
himem.sys
io.sys
label.exe(can label drive in Windows not needed)
mem.exe
move.exe
mscdex.exe
msdos.sys
scandisk.exe
scandisk.ini
scanreg.exe(not needed)
smartdrv.exe
sys.com
xcopy32.exe(not needed)
xcopy32.mod(not needed)
xcopy.exe(not needed)

 Once you have the drive partitioned with the updated fdisk you exit the fdisk utility and enter the "format C: /s" command to see it formatted as well as having the basic dos system files transferred with the "/s" switch added. You then simply change to the cd drive for installing 98 by typing "D:"(cd drive letter) and pressing the enter key. Once at the drive's prompt type in "setup" or "setup.exe" and press enter again to start the installer.

 The link to download from is the "Windows 98SE Custom, No Ram [mirror]". This will actually create the boot disk for you. Just remember to replace the fdisk.exe file there with the updated version and you should be set. Just remember to have a preformatted blank floppy in the drive when double clicking on the tool in explorer. A popup box will show the progress as the floppy is being prepared and files are copied to it by the utility.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 15, 2006)

PCeye , im sorry but can you please clarify the first paragraph. I'm very confused. Thanks so much


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## PC eye (Nov 16, 2006)

When you get to bootdisk.com's download page for the 98 download you save that to a folder and have a preformatted blank floppy ready to go. Once the blank is in the drive you cimply double click on the file to watch it copy the files needed to the disk by itself. The updated version of fdisk is named "263044usa8.exe" and will have to be renamed before it can be used.

First you will need to download both so you have them onhand. Once the boot floppy is created automatically by the 98 utility you browse to the floppy and delete the existing fdisk.exe file since that has drive size limitations on it. You never mentioned the size of the new drive you put in the case. If you installed an 80gb for instance you would see something like 55-64gb partitioned by the old fdisk. If it is a Western digital drive you could save time by downloading DRFAT32 which would do all of it in one shot.

The 263044usa8.exe will need to renamed when going to enter the fdisk command at the dos prompt once you boot with the boot floppy you just made. You simply right click on it and go to the general tab to enter fdisk.exe to replace the 263044usa8.exe name there and press the enter key or click on the ok button. either way there the name will now be fdisk.exe ready to replace the original version still on the floppy. Now you can fully partition a drive larger then 64gb with fdisk. Once you have done this once you will see how easy it is. The steps are outlined here to repeat that.

1)download both files needed from both sites
2)double click on 98 boot disk creator with blank floppy in drive
3)delete original fdisk,exe from floppy
4)rename 263044usa8.exe to fdisk.exe
5)copy updated fdisk utility onto floppy after removal of older tool.
6)boot system with finished boot disk with updated fdisk partitioning tool
7)type fdisk and press enter at dos prompt "A>" to startup fdisk utility
8)out of the 4 main onscreen options choose delete primary to delete the current one on the new drive.
9)return to previous menu to create new partition.
10)exit fdisk and enter "format C; /s" at A> to format new partition

Once you have followed those as seen you are ready to start the 98 installer after then changing to the D:>(cd drive letter) dos prompt. Step #11 is even far easier where you simply type "setup and press enter" to start 98 installer.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 16, 2006)

okay thanks for the clarifcation..i will try this tomarrow after school..thanks agaiin


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## PC eye (Nov 16, 2006)

Believe me once you do this once or twice you will be shaking your head as to how easy it is to run the dos tools. I know the fdisk in the 98 downloads are not the updated fdisk at the other link due to having gone there for 98 some time back on the old case. When I dual booted 98 and Linux on an older build I ended up going there hoping it had the updated version. It didn't. Once in fdisk you will have to go back and forth a few times to select the correct numbered options for each thing. So get familiar with that a little.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 16, 2006)

well okay im trying to give this a shot, i downloaded the usa8.exe but when you said
"
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm is the second page where you will see two 98 ilnks or mirrors followed by two 98SE mirrors for downloading the self extracting zip file. When going down 1/3 of the page there you will also see "dos/95/NT/98/bios" all bunched together. The 98 link is for a regular zip file containing the needed dos files. If you have Winzip you are all set."

Imtotatally lost for what i need to download can you point me in the right direction thankss


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## PC eye (Nov 17, 2006)

"Windows 98SE -Custom, No Ramdrive [mirror]" is the one with the auto tool with the exe seen on the end. It's a small program that extracts the needed files directly to the floppy. You don't have to worry there about winzip or any other archive tool to open it. That will do the work for you. The "mscdex.exe" file is included there for ready access to the cd drive.

 Once the floppy is made by the utility there and you have renamed and copied the updated fdisk onto the disk you are ready to boot with it. Simply type fdisk at the A> prompt and have fun especially once you are in the fdisk utility. You will find yourself going back nad forth a few times trying to create the new partition after first trying to remove the current one. You'll get there sometime however.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 17, 2006)

some progress,but not enought =[
okay heres whats up . I did everything with floppy...deleted the files that werent needed and added the fdisk.exe 
put it in her pc and booted. it came up and idid what u said, deleted the old partation and created a fat32 one, right?
then after i exited and went to format with 
"format C; /s it didnt work, i think it kept saying invalid
so im stuck
thanks sooomuch for helping
let me know what to do next
thannks


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## PC eye (Nov 17, 2006)

You used the ";" semicolon instead of the ":" colon when entering the command. When entering a commend in dos you have enter it exactly letter or character as it is spelled. When at the prompt you type "C:" and press the enter to change to the C drive. But the /s is merely an optional switch to save one step there. You can easily type "format C:" and later type "sys C:" to transfer the dos system files to root of the hard drive.

 Once that is done you can boot to dos with the drive. To verify that the dos files are there after using the "sys c:" command just "C:" and press enter then type the directory command that lists all files with "dir/w *.*" and press enter. That will also show the total amount of drive space available in dos.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 19, 2006)

sorry i havent got back to you ive been working, well i just tryed the 
format C:
and i get the message
Invalid drive , orformat not supported
I nust have did something wrong


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## PC eye (Nov 20, 2006)

When you finished creating the new partition with the fdisk utility did you reboot the system? Before a reboot you will have to re-enter the fdisk utility and choose option #4 to verify that the drive was actually partitioned and ready to be formatted. Upon rebooting with the floppy then retry the format C: /s command or format C: /q for quick format. If you use that then you will need to use the sys C: command afterwards.

 What make and model is the drive? The dos command is correct there. Once the drive is formatted you may want to run "scandisk /all" at the dos prompt to see if the drive is not seeing a problem with bad sectors. A complete list of dos commands can be reviewed at http://www.computerhope.com/msdos.htm The list of dos commands for formatting a drive for 98 are seen at http://www.computerhope.com/formathl.htm#03 

 The first thing to be sure is that the drive is a stand alone and that you have unplugged the other drive. If you still continue to see error messages that would point at one of two things; either you have to move the jumper from the master setting to cable select as often seen in prebuilt systems or you possibly got a bad drive. Make sure the end connector is what is plugged in on the primary ide cable and the other drive you mentioned is completely unplugged from either that or the secondary and power.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 20, 2006)

well i rebooted and entered fdisk and the only options that show are
1)Create partition
2)Delete partition
3)select bootable partition
there no number 4

*also up it shows
No. 1
Drive C:
Start 0
End 1022
MB 8024.6
Status N
Type PRI DOS FAT32

The hard drive is a Western Digital 80GB EIDE hard drive
8MB CACHE/100MB/s


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 20, 2006)

well i though maybe the problem could be that i was useing a cd burner as my cd rom , which maybe can be causing it to be a problem, so i switched to the oem cd rom and left the burner disconnected. and i tryed a diffrent HD , a20GB one. well i used fdisk on it and deleted and created a new partition, then did a  format C: and it formatted, i was going crazy to see progress taking place. so i tryed the burned 98se disc and it didnt work. so i poped in a burned copy of Xp home ed. and it ran but when it came to the one part in setup after you agree its saying i need a windows98 disc or windows 2000 disc, i guess to show verification, because theres no windows os files. so my sister has no idea what she did with my oem 98se disc that i left in there a while back, so i guess im outta luck till i get either a REAL 98se disc or windows2000? My friend has a gateway 2000 recovery and reinstalliton disc from this pc that im tryin to get xp on.. should i ask him for it..will it work
Thanks a million PCeye this is sooo frustrating

Thanks your pc troubled friend, steve=]


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## PC eye (Nov 20, 2006)

You could always go for a full install disk and save a lot of headaches. You can get a full version of Home or Pro editions online for under $90 even less at this late date. I hope the new drive isn't a reject. But remember to cable select if you had it mastered on the end of the cable.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 20, 2006)

well igot windows xp home edition half way installed and i got to the part asking for the product key and the one i have that came with the torrent i downloaded isnt working..it keeps saying invalid. what should ido?thanks


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## Jet (Nov 20, 2006)

Get a genuine copy of Windows. Period. We are not here to help you do something illegal.


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## PcFreak14 (Nov 21, 2006)

Well guys im proud to announce that i had other pc towers layin around and parts so i threw a setup together and now i got my sister a pc running windows xp home edition, andi still have the other pc running 2000,, im soooooo happy!

** I would especially like to thank PCeye for all his help and contributions to this pc terror nightmare. I really appricate the time and help and so does my sister
THANKS again to PCeye and everyone else

Steve


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