HDD not recognising itself!

[Psychobiker]

Hey,

after downloading a 98SE bootfloppy and running it, formatting the C:\ drive, it now tells me that the c:\ has a total capacity of 8mb! Odd, because in FDISK, I can see the other partition (38gB) but even when I set that as the active partition, it still won't recognise it in the prompt, telling me all I have is 8 MB

What to do?

L

 

[Vigilante]

8MB is about the size of a section of HDD space that XP leaves when it partitions a drive and uses NTFS.

You say you can see the "other partition". What is the other partition? If it's NTFS, you'll have to delete "non-dos" partition to get rid of it before you can create a new partition with FAT32. Otherwise you won't be able to format that partition. And 8mb is all you'll have left (assuming you have a 40gb HDD).

Again, before you can format, you have to create a new partition. Before doing that, you'll have to erase what is there. If it's NTFS (XP, 2000), you'll have to erase "non-dos" to free the space. This is, of course, if you're trying to delete everything on the drive.

 

[kol_indian]

u can do what vigilante suggested and if ur not sure downlaod and use a tool called partition magic it creates a couple of boot disk which u can use to boot and create view and delete the partion. :angel:

 

[Psychobiker]

Also, what file do I run when I have all the files copied from the XP disk?
Setup 'won't run under DOS'


L

 

[Vigilante]

When in DOS you should be able to run setup from:

"i386\winnt.exe"

This should be on your XP CD. There a multiple "setup" files on the XP CD. Winnt.exe should let you load it from DOS.

 

[Psychobiker]

OK,

I deleted all the partitions, and rebooted with a Win98SE floppy, got to the a:\ prompt, went to c:\ and typed format c:
and left it running. What format's it using, FAT32?

L

 

[Vigilante]

Should be FAT32 is you're using a Win98se boot floppy.

You should have also created NEW partitions after deleting the old ones, before formatting.

cheers

 

[Psychobiker]

well, it's going!I got a DOS interface, and am now copying the e:\i386 folder to the HDD - currently at 'p' lol
This should be right? I think the floppy created its own partition - a virtual d:

 

[Psychobiker]

Agh fcuk!
I copied the entire WinXP CD to the HDD - now when I do a dir command, I can see the directories i386 etc, but when I type 'cd I386', it tells me it's an 'invalid directory!' now what!

L

 

[kol_indian]

check

check the path?!!! :grinthumb

 

[Psychobiker]

seriously, I have. It is being plain obnoxious! lol. Usually DOS is fairly immediate with its 'invalid command or file name' message, but you type cd i386 and about a second later, it gives you an error message. I know the files are in there....it took half an hour to get them there

 

[Vigilante]

Also be sure you're on the right "drive" when you type "cd i386". If you copied the files to "c:" but you're on "a:" it won't do you any good.

Use the command "dir /p" to see what files are in the current drive.

use just "d:" or "c:" to change to another drive. Then type "dir /p" again.

You'll soon find the right directory to get into the i386 folder.

By the way, the floppy creates a "ram drive" which is just temporary space in main memory to hold files. Do not actually "use" this drive for anything. As it will go away as soon as you restart.

 

[Psychobiker]

typing winnt.exe makes it freeze

 

[Vigilante]

That's interresting.

I had a problem recently that was similar. You might follow my instructions in this thread:
https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic24158.html

see if that leads you anywhere.

cheers

 

[Psychobiker]

seriously, I've tried Winnt.exe and it WILL NOT start. I tried it from the CD, putting in the c:\i386 directory as where they're stored, but it tells me that 'a valid image of WinXP is not there'

HELP!

L

 

[puppetgrimm1]

did your hdd come with a driver disk? if not go to your manufacture to get it.

just a thought!
puppetgrimm1

 

[Vigilante]

Sorry but I think your copy of XP is just bad.

Not sure if you were able to get another one. But that would be good if you could make a copy of a real XP disk to use.

I know winnt.exe "works" to install XP from DOS, because I've done it myself and so has many other people here. So I still think something is wrong with your disk.

keep trying!

 

[Psychobiker]

It's a Dell setup disk I borrowed from a friend. will try to get a real copy ASAP

L

 

[Vigilante]

That might be the issue. Cause I had the same problem, only in reverse. I was loading a Dell with a normal disk. But it didn't work until I found a Dell setup disk.

Hope that does the trick.
Be sure to use the thread I posted as a guideline for getting your bootdisk and partitions in order.

 

[Psychobiker]

ta. getting a bootable Mandrake copy in the meantime.
Anywhere I can download XP? P2p?

L

 

[patio]

If you want to run WinXP you should get a legitimate copy of WinXP...
Half your problems will go away.

patio.

 

[Psychobiker]

*shakes fist* ugh. I thought as much.

 

[Vigilante]

Try calling around to every PC shop you have in your area. Even the home based ones, everybody.

Ask each one if you can get a copy of XP, "just the setup", because you have your own key but your disk is "trashed", "ruined", "lost", "won't work", whatever.

I know that's a tricky thing to do. And most companies won't, and shouldn't, do that for you. But I know even in my town, some have done just that.

You might also see if you can get a disk with just the i386 folder. I'm not sure, but you may be able to load XP without any of the other folders. This way, if someone burns you just the i386 folder, it wouldn't really be a "real" XP disk, just the setup files.
I can't be positive.

And you "could" get XP from a P2P app, but very risky and you'll probably just get virus infected in the process. Not a safe thing to try and do.

Your last option, which actually costs money is to buy XP Home Upgrade. Which is about the cheapest version you can get. Retail you can find it for about $100us. Online you can find the FULL XP Home for more like $89. Upgrade version for even cheaper.
This disk can be used exactly as a normal one, only at some point you need to stick in a disk that has 98 or ME on it.
You don't have to preload an older OS to use the upgrade disk. You just have to have the disk to the old version.

Good luck