problem booting to win98se

[avery00]

I have a problem being able to boot my system to WIN98se.
It was pretty much a series of events that lead me into this problem.

It started when I inserted a WIN98 startup disc. When the computer loaded up it stated that I was in MSDOS compatibility mode and something about the Master Boot Record. Another major thing I noticed was that my 2 CD drives and Zip Drive weren't even recognized. I have GoBack in my system so I tried going back but the MSDOS compatibility mode kept coming back.

I looked in the internet and discovered something about a boot sector virus. It also posted this solution: fdisk/mbr on startup. I tried that solution and the problem got even worse.

Now when I load up the computer would show "Starting Windows 98..." then it says to type the command interpreter and it shows a>. I tried going to safe mode and the same thing happens!!

I suspect that the computer is trying to boot the operating system from the a: drive.

I made a new Win98se startup disc and load it into my computer. Then it says drive C is not a valid FAT or FAT32 drive and it shows the suggested reasons for it.

I also noticed that when I was in the DOS prompt that I couldn't get into my hard drive. I know that the connections are secure and BIOS recognized them.

I would really appreciate the help.

[mjc]

Ok, are your drives set to auto-detect in BIOS?

Have you added any new hardware?


You may have had a boot virus and it may have wiped out the drive or you could have just corrupted the partition table or one of several other things.......

Try downloading the drive manufacturer's diagnostics for the drive and giving it a run to see if there are any physical problems with the drive.

[slim]

Hi,

If the bios can see the drive(s) during bootup, the drives are connected properly to the system. But it may still be worthwhile downloading the diagnostic tools to verfiy the hard drive is ok. If the hard drive is not working correctly, it may have corrupted the files itself (hence the FAT error message).

If the hard dirve checks out ok, I tend to agree that the drive partitions are damaged or missing, have you tried running FDISK from the windows 98 boot disk to see the partition information.

Another idea, if you have more than one hard drive is the correct one set as the master?

If you still have problems, could you give a better idea of your system setup, so we can give a more acurate answer.


Slim

[Sylvander]

Read these
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/comp/hdd/failWin95-c.html
http://www.pcguide.com/opt/opt/osCompatibility-c.html
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/bios/bootSequence-c.html
http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/comp/cd/recogDriver-c.html

QUESTIONS
1. Did this problem occur when you used the startup disk or only when you next tried to boot to the C: drive?
2. Was the startup disk up-to-date and made on the problem PC.
3. Can you access your HDD using a startup disk and DOS commands?

[Sylvander]

If you have a system of backup with a "Disaster Recovery" diskette you should simply re-partition, re-format and re-store your backup.

If you haven't already done so:
Download a free copy of "AVG" anti-virus software from here,
http://www.grisoft.com/html/us_index.htm?session=aa6ecbbd0d3333430c81c325e068c 34f
make a "Rescue Disk" and backup your "Partition/Boot Sectors" So you can restore them also.

[avery00]

Thanks for replying!

This is my system setup:
Intel PentiumIII 800mhz
256mb RAM
Western Digital 20g (master) 1 partition
Seagate 80g 5 partitions
Creative DVD
Plextor CD-RW
Win98se

I used a drive diagnostic tool and it do not find any errors at all. So there are no physical problems with the drive.

The drives are set to auto-detect and I did not add any new hardware. And I am trying to boot into the master drive.

I do believe that it could be a boot virus, or damage to the partition table. To get rid of the MSDOS compatibility mode I did do fdisk/mbr on startup. I found out later that it would lead to data loss. This could be the problem.

I have a "universal" boot disc and I have a win98 startup disc. The win98 startup disc was made on another pc running win98. I could not access my hdd with the startup disc and dos command. It did not recognize the drive at all. My two CD drives do work.

I really don't know much about fdisk. I have a back-up of my files and programs onto the other hard drive. So I really have no problem formatting the drive, but how do I do that?

[avery00]

I am finally able to boot to Windows98 and MSDOS compatibility mode is gone!!

I went to fdisk and looked at the partition information. It says that the drive was a non-dos type. I deleted that partition and created a dos partition. Then I formatted the drive and reinstalled windows.

The only tedious thing is to reinstall my programs and drivers. Luckily all of my files on my second hard drive are intact.

Thanks for your suggestions.:D