Problem with MBR?

[arcon]

Hi. Hope this is the right forum.
I have a problem with my Dell.

I recently decided to clean up the hard drive and, after being a good boy nd copying some files I wanted to keep,I formated the drive.
When I tried to reload win98 however, I experienced some problems.

I can run the setup files OK, untill the first time it attempts to restart. At that point the setup goes back to the start of the program, ad infinitum.

Ican accessthe bios which recognises the hard drive. The other settings appear to be OK.

A couple of points:
My a drive doesn't work (never has apparently).A replacement failed to kick into action also.
The hard drive has previously been partioned.

Do I have a problem with the MBR? Please help if you can.

[ski]

How did you format the HD?

[gwallen4]

You might try to repartition the hard drive before you format it.

[GreetingsNerdlings]

don't take this the wrong way, but, did you remove the installation cd after it was done... ie. when it said setup was complete and it was going to reboot your computer?

i only ask because i've done that before, and instaled windows twice. granted i was getting drunk in another room, but it happens if you dont take the cd out when the installation is done. just watch for on screen prompts, it should tell you to remove the installation disk.

[gwallen4]

Nerdling,

I usually drink, too, when I have to reinstall Windows. But I never had a problem leaving the Windows 98 CD in. If you use a Startup floppy to start the computer prior to Windows installation, you can't leave that in. Maybe ME, XP, or 2000 is different.

[GreetingsNerdlings]

gwallen,
your sarcasm is much appreciated... but really, who wants to sit in front of the installation screen watching one progress bar creep by when you can get two for the price of a six-pack.

seriously, if i remember correctly, it was windows 98, then again, it was a bundled software crapage from packard bell. or quite possibly it was 2000, i can't say for sure.

also, maybe your drive boot sequence is different? is that possible or am i delusional?

[Paleo Pete]

This one sounds strange...I've installed win98 quite a few times, never removed the CD until it was finished, and usually after I'd rebooted it myself a few times, and I've never seen it install twice. I usuallyu copy the installation files to the hard drive, but with smaller drives I go straight off the CD and it works great.

You might check BIOS and see if you have the machine set to boot from CD, that might do it, I'm not sure. Otherwise, I'd suspect something out of whack with the hard drive, or the system is not reading it correctly.

The floppy problem doesn't sound good, if another (new?) floppy drive didn't work either I would first check BIOS settings, and if those are OK I'd change the floppy cable, then I'd start looking at motherboards. If the floppy doesn't work chances are the controller is fried, the only cure I know of is a new motherboard. Controller cards have been made for floppies in the past but I'm not sure if they can still be found...

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Arcon,
I was having an identical problem as yours with a recent install.Although by your description, this may not be your case but I'll mention anyway.

When the install of 98 would come to it's first reboot, it would pop up a screen of 'boot disk failure'. Well after 3 formats and fdisks, I tried removing the jumper pin from cable select to 'none'. New Caviar 40Gig JB series. It finally worked that way.

Have you put a new drive in?

[gwallen4]

This is why Paleo Pete makes the big bucks. Of course he's right. If floppy isn't working and you are set to boot from CD, Win98 will autorun and start setup over again. You would have to set BIOS to boot from HD after the initial setup.

Or maybe that's not it.

---------------------
Edit: Oops, I just tried it and I couldn't get Windows to autorun Setup.exe from the CD boot. It just ran Windows. So - - never mind.
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One more thought, if the MBR is screwed up, you could probably fix it by repartitioning, and if that doesn't work, you could get the HD manufacturer's installation disk and start completely over with partition and format.

[arcon]

Thanks guys for your input

I've got a few pointers to follow up. I'll let you know how I fair.

[Sylvander]

Usually when setup restarts it detects, configures and initialises the hardware and if it hits a problem it will hang. You're then expected [with Windows 95 anyway] to hit F3 or the "cancel" button or switch off and switch back on; you should then be prompted to select "safe recovery" and it will skip the problem item and carry on where it left off. You do this as many times as necessary.
This is not happening though.

Perhaps during the "Analyzing The Computer" stage you should specify that you want to "Modify The Hardware List" and tell it to skip detection of the Floppy Disk Controller etc, since the floppy does not work.

Is the "Onboard Floppy Disk Controller" enabled in the BIOS Setup's hardware configuration settings?

[arcon]

OK. Got it sorted. When I formated the hard drive omitted to /s. System disk. Hey I don't mind telling the world I'm a NURD. Big thanks to everyone for trying to help. Regards.

[Sylvander]

You never did answer Ski's question arcon.

How did you manage to format your HDD when yor floppy drive doesn't work!

[With or without the "/s" parameter is by the way]