I have a Compaq Presario with Windows 98. It was only booting Windows intermittently. Finally, it gave me a message that it couldn't find the operating system. I can get it into DOS with the MS Startup Disk. I have run all the tests I can. It says that there are problems with file damage. I ran a Compaq Restore disk but no improvement. I ran the DOS help utility and even tried to reformat and setup a new copy of W98.
It prompts me to run Scandisk but each time, it gets about 8% into the FAT32 scan and says "error writing to FAT; Scandisk can't fix." It also says "cannot continue Setup until disc repaired." So, I don't seem to be getting anywhere, and MS Support pages don't seem to cover the way out of this clearly.
My question is: Is this a physical or structural problem, i.e. is the hard drive no good OR is this a formatting problem that requires some utility that I need to download from somewhere?
Thanks in advance for any advice offered.

I'm pretty sure your harddisk is nearly dead. If you had another one to try that would cinch the diagnosis. You don't have too much to lose if you just went to the store and got another HD.

Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif

Given what you are describing, it could be either hardware or software. The fact that the system failed over time suggests that the hard drive may have died, but it could also reflect files being corrupted and just reaching the point of no return.

If you know the maker of your hard drive, it may be worthwhile to download and run diagnostic software to see if the HD is still working.
If you are willing to start over, you can also use these utilities to write zeros on your hard drive and start over. Or you can use fdisk from the Win98 Startup disk to remove partitions, repartition and reformat.

If you want to fix the HD without that drastic an intervention, hang on and other ideas will follow.

Budfred

Well, it says: "Western Digital Caviar 100BA" and I know that it was partitioned into c: (7.5 GB) and d: (1.5 GB).
I know I tried Scandisk a number of times and am pretty sure I also tried FDISK. When I S(kipped) the FAT error in C:, it kept prompting me that each of a number of files was damaged and that it would move the damaged parts to a different cluster (if I remember correctly).

Western Digital has some excellent utilities to test and diagnose problems on their drives. I urge you to download those and run them to see if the hard drive is the problem. Let us know what you find out.

http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp

Budfred

I went to the WD website and found two utilities. The first, more comprehensive, one was written with 1.41 MB of information. Every floppy I tried has 1.40 MB available after format. Maybe the programmer had a twisted sense of humor?? The second one (dlgdiag10.zip), I downloaded to a floppy. But it's been fifteen years since I opened a DOS book, so I don't know what to do with it. I used the MS Startup Disk to get me to the A prompt, then put this thing in and tried 'setup', 'run', 'extract' etc., but couldn't get it to do anything. If I could get it to run, the WD page says it does a "low-level format", which apparently deals with FAT problems. :confused:

I believe the first one is a self extracing disk image, so it is already formatted, and contains all the programs etc ready to run, once the installer is run.

Use Data Lifeguard v.10 downloaded from the site below.

http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp#dlgtools

It is 1.185 MB. Double click on the program after the download. It will write the tools to a boot floppy that will load the Data Lifeguard program automatically when you boot from it.

Originally posted by gncarlo
The second one (dlgdiag10.zip), I downloaded to a floppy. But it's been fifteen years since I opened a DOS book, so I don't know what to do with it. I used the MS Startup Disk to get me to the A prompt, then put this thing in and tried 'setup', 'run', 'extract' etc., but couldn't get it to do anything.

It's usually a good idea to read the instructions :)

On the webpage where you downloaded DLG Diagnostic (dlgdiag10.zip) it says:

"These utilities are individual components that make up the Data Lifeguard Tools Ver. 10. They may be downloaded and extracted on systems running Windows 98, 2000, ME, and XP. However, the files contained in the zip files must be extracted and copied to a bootable floppy for use." (emphasis added).

1. On a working system, open dlgdiag10.zip with WinZip or some other zip file utility;
2. Extract the contents to a temporary folder;
3. If there is a .txt or .doc file there, read it;
4. Copy the extracted files to a bootable floppy disk;
5. Follow the instructions (#3);
6. You probably run a .exe or .com file on the floppy. I'd wager it's called something like dlgdiag.exe (but that's only a guess).

"When all else fails, read the instructions". :o Thanks, Guys, I'll try some of this stuff and let you know what works.

I finally figured out how to run the diagnostic (when all else fails, read the instructions!) dlginstall_10_0.exe. The results were: WD100BA S/N WD-WMA001019334. For the quick test, which I ran twice, it said: "Error/Status Code 0005 Electrical Element Failure". Oddly enough, when I ran the Extended Test, it said "no errors found." I wonder what this contradiction means?

I would send Western Digital an email asking them what that means. It doesn't sound promising though.

Budfred

I did, and am awaiting their reply ???

It's been over two weeks since I emailed Western Digital tech assistance. Still no reply. So, I bought another hard drive. Someone is sending me a copy of something called "Driveworks" to troubleshoot the old one, should I ever try to use it again. The new one (100GB)seems to work well with only one quirk: about two out of three times I start the computer, I get to the Windows 98 desktop, but the icons (shortcuts) are dead. I have to reboot once or twice until they are working. NortonSysworks says there is nothing wrong with Windows or the registry. Strange!

WD also has toll free support if the drive is still under warranty, you may want to give them a call and find out what that message means and if you can replace the drive.

On the new drive, is that a clean install or did you copy from backup files. If you are having strange errors on a clean install it suggests that something else is wrong with your hardware, possibly a BIOS problem. If it is a backup install, you may have a problem in your backups and may need to consider a clean install and starting from scratch on rebuilding your configuration.

Budfred

I used a Compaq Quick Restore Disk to install it. BTW as soon as it was up and running, I installed Norton SysWorks which said there were 31 Registry errors that it had to fix! How can that be in a new install? Surely Compaq wouldn't put out a Restore CD without debugging it first. I went into the HD Bios, but it didn't give many options. Just a couple of things (which I don't recall at the moment) where the choices were "enable/disable". I messed with those settings a little, but it made no difference, so I left it at the default.

Maybe the registry errors are because of a change in the hardware configuration of your computer since it was first built. Or maybe the errors were there originally.

It probably doesn't matter. You could let Norton fix them or ignore them. As long as the system works as it is supposed to, I wouldn't worry.

If you have the Windows installation disk and all the driver disks for your system, you could reformat the HD and start from scratch, but this is probably just asking for more problems - especially if the current configuration works.

Did the non working hard drive come with the computer? If it did you may have to get technical support from compaq. Sometimes WD does not provide support for these HDs.

Norton Systemworks can be a little aggressive in what it identifies as errors, so I would be very cautious about letting it fix them unless you know what they are.

Budfred

I bought the computer from a liquidator, so I don't know if it was a store return, from a bankruptcy, or just something put together in the back room by the liquidator's resident geek. The defective drive is dated January 2000, Western Digital 10 GB.
The registry errors on the new HD could only have come from the Quick Restore CD or a defective BIOS because the new drive is NEW, right out of the box. Anyway, Norton fixed them. The desktop shortcuts only work about every third boot. .333 is not a bad average, if you're playing baseball. I think I'll just let it run all the time. Now, back to the immediate problem: trying to determine why, despite the same MSOE configurations, I can't find my email on the new computer. No rest for the wicked!

That explains why your original hard drive died, the warranty just expired. WD's drives had a 3 year warranty until just recently....

"Fixing" your registry errors could be the cause of some of your problems. You may need to restore them.

Budfred

...or your e-mail program?

The messages and address book if in Windows OE (and?), are still on your older hard-drive. If you ever get to view your older drive, these are things you need to copy right away.

When the keyboard shortcuts don't work, is everything dead- keyboard, mouse, start menu?

This sounds like a driver problem. You might try booting repeatedly to the safe mode. You can do that by pressing F8 repeatedly after the memory count during boot. If the desktop shortcuts work all the time in the safe mode that would pretty much clinch the diagnosis of a driver problem.

Here's what I think. When the computer was new, the restore CD worked fine. But since then, alterations have been made to the hardware - new video, modem, sound card, LAN - something has changed. This would produce registry errors when you tried to restore and also would require drivers for the new hardware to be loaded in addition to or in place of the restored drives.

Look in your device manager also and make sure everything is working there.

"When the keyboard shortcuts don't work, is everything dead- keyboard, mouse, start menu?"
I get a cursor I can move around. If I click on Start, I get the main menu and can shut the computer down or restart it. Nothing else on the main menu or Desktop works. Also there is a Norton System Monitor that starts with the computer. I can still click on that and get into Norton Utilities, but it detects no problems with any software or hardware.

Have you tried to disable Norton's System Works? Might be worth a shot. Even better, uninstall it completely.

Did you try booting to safe mode?

No, it was acting the same way before installing SysWorks. Started it twice in safe mode and everything worked. So, I'm batting 1.000 there, about .333 in regular mode. I just went back and did another Norton system check. Once again, it indicates registry errors. It says something like: " ActiveX/Com controls in Registry have errors which may cause applications to load improperly or not at all." I know about as much about "ActiveX/Com controls" as I do about flying a 747 i.e. nada.

I believe GW is right about the Restore drivers not being quite right for the current setup. In fact, although I have it up and running now, the screen I am looking at looks as bad as the screen in "safe mode," barely readable. That will be another project for later tonight, seeing if I can find downloadable drivers for this Viewsonic A70 monitor. I have also resolved the email transfer issue, as I will explain at the thread on Internet stuff.

It sounds more like video card drivers, not monitor drivers that are causing your display problems. So look for updated drivers for your vid card.

Actually it might be a good idea to look for update drivers for all your hardware.

You were right about that, Dude. After trying different monitors (and monitor drivers) to no avail, I spent a couple of hours tracking down the right video card driver at www.driverguide.com . It took a long time to install it with Windows continually warning me that I was installing the wrong driver and that it might not run right, or run at all. I figured, as bad as the picture was, I didn't have much to lose.
But now, voila, I have a great picture AND sound. I'm as happy as a pig in mud!