Can't format, can't fdisk, can't understand what is going on!

[robp]

Hello!
I was using the Windows 98SE Upgrade, and near the end of the whole upgrading process (from Win98), the program froze. So I rebooted, than got a nasty error saying something along the lines of "Cannot Boot by CD-ROM, stick in emergency disk". So I made a boot disk from another computer, stuck it in, and tried to:

A) Load Windows. Obviously a no go.
B) 'dir'-> Volume in drive C is MS-RAMDRIVE
C) Format-> Format not supported on disk C.
D)fdisk ->no fixed disks present.

I am really out of ideas on what to do, any help would be REALLY appretiated!

Thanks!

 

[ZZZZZZ]

Sounds like the HD is not reporting. Try removing the HD and putting it back in then redetect it in the BIOS. Possible the HD died

 

[Viper0329]

Hopefully it is not dying.

Try and move slots, and like he said, see if the BIOS reports it.

 

[robp]

I did just that and the bios still detects it.

 

[spanky]

r u sure the bios detected it? meaning...is it on auto-detect, or did u manually plug in the specs? also, when the machine POST's, does it recognize the hd being there? when u power the machine up, does the hd spin? maybe try to plug the hd into another machine and see if it can be recognized. if its still not showing, then u can be fairly sure there is something wrong with the drive.

 

[robp]

It is on auto-detect, and yep it detects it.
on POST, it is detected
The LED for the HD lightens up as well.

 

[spanky]

hmm...dunno what to tell ya. do u have another machine putzing around the house u can stick this hd in? maybe try another ide cable?

what really stumps me is fdisk tells ya there is no fixed disk present, but the bios detects it? wierd...

 

[lowtech1]

Try boot using Win9.x boot floppy, then FDISK /MBR , then FDISK , then DEL Non DOS Partition.

If the above don't do it then try Linux FDISK.

 

[robp]

fdisk /mbr
worked!

Thanks for all the help guys!

 

[spanky]

good call lowtech 🙂