Setting up a new PC - question regarding the HDD

Lemming

I've just slapped together a new machine.

Since my floppy drive isn't working correctly, I had to boot from CD and install win98se.

Now .. I didn't get near fdisk to partition the HDD before this (HDD is an IBM "Ericson" 41.1GB, rpm7200, ata-100). As a result, win98 created one big partition (C:) - which wasn't waht I wanted.

So what I did was boot into dos mode (hitting F8 at boot to select it), where I called fdisk, and promptly deleted the existing partition. I then reset the primary partition, and set it as active. I then created an extended partition and created logical drives within that.

Then I was told to restart the machine (and this is where the problems start)

Upon rebooting, the machine got to the "Verifying DMI pool data ......... " line where it seems to just be waiting for something. THe next action should be to check for boot devices.

Any ideas on what its doing (and more importantly, how to rectify it!) ??

Mountjoy Mugger

According to MS, it's down to a hardware problem. See http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q287553 .

Have you tried disabling the floppy drive in the BIOS and taking it from there?

strat

Upon rebooting, the machine got to the "Verifying DMI pool data ......... " line where it seems to just be waiting for something. THe next action should be to check for boot devices.

i got that when assembling my pc ther a few wekes ago - turns out it was looking for a floppy drive which it thoguht was there but i hadnt installed - i disabled it on the bios as theres still no floppy drive in my pc and now its fine -

Lemming

Originally posted by Mountjoy Mugger
According to MS, it's down to a hardware problem. See http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q287553 .

Have you tried disabling the floppy drive in the BIOS and taking it from there?

Thanx Mugger. So far, the machine has completely ignored the Floppy Drive anyway, but I shall try that.

Typical M$ though ... they give you an explaination which is rather sparse on information. The whole mess started after I used fdisk, which would be a software issue, no??.

I dunno!

seamus

If disabling the aul floppy doesn't work, format your primary partition and reinstall 98se. I did this a few weeks ago. Had 2 partitions, formatted both, and reinstalled. 98 only installed itself on the primary partition and didn't overwrite the partitions, leaving me with c: and d: (and e:) working fine. But being microsoft reliability is a variable in any equation

Lemming

Originally posted by seamus
If disabling the aul floppy doesn't work, format your primary partition and reinstall 98se. I did this a few weeks ago. Had 2 partitions, formatted both, and reinstalled. 98 only installed itself on the primary partition and didn't overwrite the partitions, leaving me with c: and d: (and e:) working fine. But being microsoft reliability is a variable in any equation

If I could get to some sort of state of boot, I wouldn't have started the thread

The problem seems to be that after I get the "Verifying DMI pool data ... " message (just after the BIOS POST), it seems to be waitinfg for something.

The next action *should* be the boot sequence, but it doesn't even seem to get that far.

ARRRGHH *lol*

Thanx all the same though Seamus - appreciated

seamus

Will the BIOS not let you change the boot sequence? Tell it to look for boot data from the CDROM first, before looking at the HD or Floppy. If it won't let ya do that, either I'd be fuxored or your comp is fuxored

Lemming

Originally posted by seamus
Will the BIOS not let you change the boot sequence? Tell it to look for boot data from the CDROM first, before looking at the HD or Floppy. If it won't let ya do that, either I'd be fuxored or your comp is fuxored

I sincerely hope the comp ain't busted ,..... evertying is brand-spankin' new!!!
I could change the BIOS settings, but what seems to happen is that its not getting as far as looking for boot devices (it's stopping just short of that), so I'm not sure what effect t'would have on things. All taken aboard though, and I'll be trying it pretty quick smart when I get home *lol*

seamus

Nah your comp's not broken I'm just confused . If the BIOS has trouble, I'd reset it jumper-style but that's not for the faint-hearted

Lemming

Originally posted by seamus
If the BIOS has trouble, I'd reset it jumper-style but that's not for the faint-hearted

EEP!!!!:eek:

That most dreaded of suggestions .... those 3 words that inspire fear!

"Reset"+"the"+"jumpers"

bonkey

I dont know how the system booted before and is causing problems now.

The most likely cause is that the BIOS boot-order is :

FD / HD / CD

Typically, there can be BIOS problems when the FD is listed first but when your FD is busted / missing / not plugged in correctly.

As an aside, once you fdisk your HD using standard DOS fdisk, there is not software left on the disk - only partitions. Therefore, it is not an MS software problem.....which is why I'm confused that it ever worked.

jc

Lemming

Originally posted by bonkey
I dont know how the system booted before and is causing problems now.

The most likely cause is that the BIOS boot-order is :

FD / HD / CD

Typically, there can be BIOS problems when the FD is listed first but when your FD is busted / missing / not plugged in correctly.

As an aside, once you fdisk your HD using standard DOS fdisk, there is not software left on the disk - only partitions. Therefore, it is not an MS software problem.....which is why I'm confused that it ever worked.

jc

As far as I'm aware ... the reason why fdisk worked is cause it is small enough to reside completely inside primary memory. But you're absolutely correct, there should be no software left on the disk. Yet, all the problems started after I changed the partition info, using software (namely fdisk)

Lemming

Hmmm .. that was a strange experience

I changed the boot sequence order to fd/cd/hd and it worked rather nicely

Now all I need to figure out now is why my floppy drive is being recognised by the bios, has the green light on permenantly, and isn't working. I've tried 3 floppy drives .. 1 of them DEFINITELY works!!

oh what fun

SickBoy

Make sure you have the floppy cable inserted correctly. If the cable is plugged in backwards/arseways it will cause the drive light to be constantly on.