Can't see partitions after windows re-install

[Firus]

I'm not sure if this belongs in this forum or not...feel free to toss this post to another if need be...

My buddy just did a fresh install of windows 98 on his old computer, he didn't do any re-partitioning or anything like that. Previously he had a D: and E: partition as a data and programs partitions and now Windows will not see them. He said the first startup they were there and then he rebooted again and they disappeared. I'm not entirely sure what he has installed since the re-install, but I know he does usually run much more than winamp and word processing stuff...any ideas off the tops of your heads as to why this may be? I don't really know...I told him to try using fdisk to see if that can even see them, but he doesn't even know what fdisk is, so he's gonna leave that for now...I'm trying to help over the phone, which is always fun...thanks in advance.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Have him use the boot menu (F8 during bootup) to get to a DOS prompt (safe mode command prompt only). Then have him try switching drive letters. If he can't, then he'll need to use fdisk to look at what partitions exist. If fdisk can't see them, nothing else will (except something like Partition Magic that can see other formats).

Either he did format whether he thinks he did or not (presume he didn't format as well as not partitioning), or the drive was corrupted.

 

[Firus]

Haha, it turns out he didn't have the IDE cable plugged in all the way. Figures