Trouble rebuilding win 98 on a Tiny Computers PC

[Powerman]

Hi all. A Tiny PC got corrupted so I cleaned it right back. Deleted pri partition using FDISK. created new partitions using Partitionmagic 6. 2 primary parts and one extended dos part. I Loaded Win98SE on both primaries. used Bootmagic as a bootmanager. Win98SE in 1st partition loaded up with faults. Not experienced this before on a clean system. Win98SE on 2nd partition loaded ok. no setup errors. but when I ran it. It crashed.. then wouldn't boot at all. Win 98 in 1st partition also became unusable. In the end. the only way to get the system up and running was using the original restore floppy and CD setup provided by TINY. This gives just one partition running WinME .. as original. Keep getting TINY logo when BIOS starts up (after seeing graphics Bios info). Is the BIOS causing problems. QUESTION: Can I only use TINY's setup CD on this computer ? WinME seems unstable (my experience with multimedia and games) so I want to set up multiple partitions using Win98 (one for games.. one for Office one for data ).. But ?? I've rebuilt many PCs and had no trouble. This is the first 'Proprietary' PC i've worked on. Any help would be appreciated.

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PC trouble... Phaaaaa.
Keep smiling :)

[Whyzman]

Hello Powerman,

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

While in the wait for others to reply, can you access a Tiny PC Tech-support site and pose the question directly to them?



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May all your dealings in life be win/win!

Whyzman

[Powerman]

Thanks for the reply.
Yup. I tried TINY. They say just use the boot floppy and restore CD to get back to original. They recommended using a DOS command ZIP_HDD to strip the system bare. Must remove all partitions and then start again. Does this clear the Master Boot Record. What about the NVRAM (CMOS I think.. supported by the motherboard battery). What I'd like to know is ...Where has TINY stored its brand logo which comes up when I start the PC. Most other PCs just show the Bios version. Processor type. Memory check. Drives found. Energy Star logo etc... then other screens showing system info. this PC just shows the TINY logo then straight into windows. So I can't even find out which motherboard it is to maybe flash the BIOS. Where could the logo be comming from ? is it part of the BIOS... or is it in NVRAM (probably not because this is so small.. 68 bytes ?). The logo I think must be in a boot sector on the hard drive (40Gb). But I didn't succeeded in deleting it when I used FDISK to delete primary partitions. So. What is going on that is preventing me from just doing anything I like. TINY must have fixed it so we can't play. And thats a challenge for people like me and you out there who are interested in PCs. If you reply then thanks. If you read this.. then.. I hope its interesting.
Cheers.

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PC trouble... Phaaaaa.
Keep smiling :)

[mjc]

First off, the Tiny logo is ontop of the info you are seeking, look in the BIOS setup for an option to enable boot time diagnostics. The logo is part of the BIOS (it takes the place of the EnergyStar logo)

Second, don't even think about flashing to a non-Tiny BIOS...unless you have some money to burn (like burning a new BIOS chip...if the chip is soldered in place that isn't even a practical option), most off-the-shelf systems are very proprietary and even if the motherboard looks like a regular retail unit, it probably has some modifications that will not enable the retail BIOS to work properly.



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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[Powerman]

Thanks MJC.

I Guess I need to get a new motherboard and rebuild the system if I want to use Win98 and partition as I've been trying to achieve.

The system is pretty good too.. Athlon 1.2 Ghz, 256 Mb PC133 sdram, Nvidia Geforce 2 MX 32 Mb, 40 Gb HDD, DVD, CD RW.. etc

Maybe I'll stick with WinME and TINY's restore setup for now.

Thanks again.

Powerman

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PC trouble... Phaaaaa.
Keep smiling :)

[ErnieK]

Don't know if this will work or not, so please wait for conformation or a direct no-no.

Using something like Partition Magic (I am sure there are trial versions on the web or possible freeware partitioning software available) partition your hard drive, Install Win98 as second operating System onto drive D, then delete contents (format) C. Would D then become C as it will be the only operating system on computer? If so, use PM to take up the free space and bingo Win98 installed.

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Ernie

[pentachris]

Won't work like that, Ernie. When you partition a hard drive into c: and d:, you are telling your computer that they are separate drives, even if they are both accessed on the (for example) primary master IDE interface. The C: drive will remain the C: drive and the D: will remain D: until you partition the hard drive otherwise.

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If my computer were the eighth dwarf, it would be Dumpy.
-Chris

[ErnieK]

Cheers Pentrachis. As I keep saying I do not have much knowledge but the only way I can learn is for me post with the undertanding that I am not sure of what I am writing, and wait for you good people to correct me without making me feel like a total idiot.
Thanks

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Ernie

[bassvax]

I'm really curious now...did you say you want Win 98 installed on 2 separate partitions? Can you not only have one primary partition and only one active partition...?

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Careful With That Axe, Eugene

Flush 'N' Forget (http://www2.apex.net/users/hwuswtp)

[Powerman]

Hi,

You can partition a hard drive to have up to 4 primary partitions. Each can have an operating system say Win98, WinME, WinNT & DOS. You use a Bootmanager to identify which partition you want to work in. The Bootmanager marks this partition active and thats the one you boot up in. You can't see the other 3 partitions which will be hidden. You only see the active partition you booted up in.

You could just set up 3 Primary partitions and one Extended DOS partition. inside the Extended partition you can set up several Logical partitions for storing data. I think 24 partitions is the limit for logical.. not too sure.

Whichever primary partition you boot up into will allow you to see all the Logical partitions. Logical partitions are usually used to store data or documents etc...

Partitionmagic is a great utility. You just load it into one of your primary partitions and it gives you lots of options to set up your system as you wish. It usually comes with BootMagic software which acts as a front end Boot manager. This loads up as soon as you switch on the PC. Just after BIOS setup. It gives you a menu. You choose where you want to go to. I use partitionmagic 6.0.. I think 7.0 is the latest.

On my PC I set up one partition for games and another for My wife who uses it for school work (she teaches). I have a data 'logical' partition too.

Cheers..

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PC trouble... Phaaaaa.
Keep smiling :)

[pentachris]

Help me out, here, Powerman...


The Bootmanager marks this partition active and thats the one you boot up in. You can't see the other 3 partitions which will be hidden. You only see the active partition you booted up in.


It's my understanding that a system installed on a FAT drive can't "see" a NTFS drive, but not vice-versa. In other words, 98 won't see the NT drive, but NT will see the 98 drive. Am I totally wrong? Or is this something boot manager does to help you keep your systems separated?

BTW, nice sig bassvax.

One of these days, I'm going to... come up with a cool sig like that of my own. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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If my computer were the eighth dwarf, it would be Dumpy.
-Chris

[This message has been edited by pentachris (edited 01-04-2002).]