What're we doing wrong?..."Invalid Drive Specification."

[raz]

Ok, here's the problem. We're trying to put a system together. We got the m/b, memory, CPU, floppy, CD-ROM, and HD installed. We got the BIOS all set where we think it should be: boot to A,C,SCSI; primary master and secondary master set to AUTO; etc. The hard drive is formatted and partitioned using MaxBlast Plus. Now the problem...we boot up using a Win98 boot disc (actually we've tried several different boot disks to see if there was a problem with the disk itself) and it loads the CD-ROM drivers and takes us to the A: prompt (everything's normal up to this point). But when we try to go to the D: prompt to run the setup for Win98 we get "Invalid Drive Specification." We try every letter in the alphabet but to no avail. We even get the same message when we try to go to C: prompt. We've looked at the cables and everything's ok. We have the HD on IDE 1 and set to master. We've formatted and partioned using both MaxBlast and DOS. The jumper on the back of the HD is set right (master).
We've run out of ideas. Here's the specs:

AMD k6-2 350
Epox MVP3G5
64mb PC100
Maxtor 6g
Pioneer ~12x

I'd like to keep my "most computer savvy family member" status so please include 'You probably already know this but,' in your response.

 

[Bartman39]

Possible: have you set either drive as "active"??? (in Fdisk) have you used Fdisk also??? Very strange indeed...

 

[raz]

Tried to get to every letter of the alphabet (C: to Z and every time I got "Invalid Drive Specification".

When we format and partition we only do 1 big partition. We've tried to give it 3 smaller partitions...to no avail.

No SCSI device installed.

Tried different power leads coming from the power supply...no help.

Both IDE channels are set to AUTO.

When the computer is doing it's POST it sees the hard drive (we only have 1) on primary master channel and the CD-ROM on secondary master channel, but after it boots (and we're at the A: prompt) it won't let us go to either the HD or the CD-ROM. (Invalid Drive Specification)

The funny thing is is that this is basically all the components I used when this was my old system. (I gave all the components to my step-dad as kind of a Xmas day project). The only thing different is it's a different hard drive. I thought maybe the hard drive was bad but would that prevent us from accessing the CD-ROM drive? Also, if the HD was bad would we still be able to format and partition it?

Bartman - we don't need to use Fdisk when we format and partition using Maxtor's MaxBlast, do we? Also we were able to get to the C: prompt one time and we used Format and Fdisk, but it still wouldn't let us access the CD-ROM after that. When it let us into the C: drive the one time after using the Win98 boot disk we checked the directory of the hard drive (DIR) and the only file listed was Command.com - is that common?

***we're at our wits end here ***

 

[AC]

did u install the drive overlay utility or not?

 

[Bleep]

Try this:
Enter BIOS change the boot sequence to CDROM first. Save and exit. Shut down machine put win 98 cd in cdr, turn on machine you will get a screen that will ask if you want to start with cdrom support check yes. Follow prompts and windows 98 will install. just about forgot, after win is installed dont forget to go back into BIOS and reset to boot from C:
Bleep

 

[Edski]

When you boot your system up with nothing in the floppy drive, do you see on your monitor at anytime the following message: "EZBIOS initializing"? If you do, immediatly hit the CTRL key (I think, it should tell you)as soon as you see it. It should tell you to Press A to boot from floppy or C to boot from hard drive, press A. Then put your 98 startup disk in and procede with a normal boot up.