HD problems on a IBM Aptiva

[Jeronimo]

Hi. I have some troubles. Í´ve tried to install W98SE on a 1,2 Gb HD that was running W95 in a IBM Aptiva the same way I´ve done it many times in PC´s whit no brand (i guess that was my mistake). First thing i wanted to do was format and install, but i couldn´t do it because i´d boot the machine with the boot disk of W98 and the HD unit wasn´t valid. "Maybe the partition of the disk is not DOS", i thinked. So i have re-partitioned the HD and then i could format it and could also proceed to install W98se untill the system boot it self like normally do at a point of the intallation. But...
When the system boot, the first screen of W98 appears, and after this a message ask me to input a path. The message also have an example "(c:\windows\command.com)"
I´ve tried many different paths, but really I dont know what is exactly the thing i have to do.
¿Does IBM Aptiva work only with disk partitioned on a specific format?
Help, please!!

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I´m learning english, so be indulgent with the muchacho.

[mjc]

I would open up the case and look at the manufacturer of the hard drive and go grab the diagnostics for it from the manufacturers website....it could be that your drive has a problem, you can also try and run a DOS scandisk with surface scan...Scandisk Command Line Switches (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q199557)

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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.

[locksmiff]

Try pointing to he floppy just to get it past the boot, the floppy should have a command.com on it, boot one that is

[Jeronimo]

Thanks for your replies, but the disk was working good before I re-partitioned it, and the boot files was also copied on the HD, so thats not the issue neither.
I`ve read on the IBM site that the disk must be IBM compatible. Regarding that this HD was running properly on a IBM Aptiva, i guess that it is compatible. Now I`m aiming to the partition format. You know, DOS mode, etc..
what`s the partition mode of IBM???
Any othr clue??

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I´m learning english, so be indulgent with the muchacho.

[mjc]

What you describe as your problem is one of the symptoms of damaged sectors, especially in the area where the mbr is located...the first sector, or some of the other low numbered ones that are commonly used for the system files.

Even if it was working before the first thing that needs to be done is a surface analysis of the drive...use the bootdisk and run scandisk /surface at the prompt....yes you may be able to get fdisk to work and even format the drive with surface damage (sometimes) but when you install anything to the damaged area it will fail to run. Also another thing to try is fdisk_/mbr at the a:\> prompt., in case there are "leftovers" of the previous mbr (unlikely but...)

Also when you partitioned the drive did you set at least one partition active (if there is only one then you should have to...)

Win9x can only run on DOS partitions (FAT16 and FAT32, depending on the versions of Windows).

Is the drive set to autodetect in the BIOS?

Do you have the original disks for this machine?


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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.