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Computer not starting, confusing instructions from W98 Startup disk
A friend's Windows 98 SE at start made clicking sounds from hard drive, then said startup disk was needed. Startup disk was inserted. Screen said: Pri Master HDD Error Run Setup Press F1 to resume Then it said Start computer with CD Rom support or Without CD-Rom support We didn't know which to choose so we went with CD Rom support Then it said PCI Bus Scan completed C drive does not contain FAT or FAT 32 partition Drive may need to be partitioned Run Fdisk from DOS prompt But there was only a prompt for the A drive, and we couldn't get it to change to the C drive, so we did HELP. Help said a lot of stuff about loading CDRom Driver and RamDrive but it was hard to understand was not telling us what to do next. It also mentioned starting up in Safe Mode, but we would have no idea what to do once we got into safe mode. Questions: Should we have chosen the option with or without CD Rom support? Does this look like something fixable or something more seirous If the partitioning of the C drive has been lost, does that mean all the data, programs, etc. has been lost? Is this something that Dell tech support can walk us through? Thanks for any help, Larry |
#2
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Computer not starting, confusing instructions from W98 Startup disk
Run the Dell Diagnostics that are either on the hard drive or on the Drivers and
Utilities disk. Depending on your specific model may determine how to run the diagnostics. One way for Dell is: Boot the machine and press F12 as soon as you see the Dell logo. If you wait to long to press it and it boots to windows you will need to reboot and try again. If you get a message that no diagnostic utility partition was found you'll need the Drivers and Utilities disk. If you get the Boot Device menu, select the "Boot to Utility Partition" and press Enter. When the diagnostic menu appears select the test you want to run. If you use the Drivers and Utilities disk: Boot the machine with the disk in the drive and press F12 as soon as you see the Dell logo. At the Boot Device menu select "IDE CD-ROM Device" and press Enter. Select the "IDE CD-ROM device option from the CD boot menu. Select to "Boot from CD-ROM". Type 1 to start the resource cd menu. Type 2 to start the diagnostics. Select "Run the 32 bit diagnostics". When the diagnostic menu appears select the test you want to run. Or look up the instructions for the specific model he http://support.dell.com/ -- Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User } Conflicts start where information lacks. http://basconotw.mvps.org/ Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375 "Larry" wrote in message ... A friend's Windows 98 SE at start made clicking sounds from hard drive, then said startup disk was needed. Startup disk was inserted. Screen said: Pri Master HDD Error Run Setup Press F1 to resume Then it said Start computer with CD Rom support or Without CD-Rom support We didn't know which to choose so we went with CD Rom support Then it said PCI Bus Scan completed C drive does not contain FAT or FAT 32 partition Drive may need to be partitioned Run Fdisk from DOS prompt But there was only a prompt for the A drive, and we couldn't get it to change to the C drive, so we did HELP. Help said a lot of stuff about loading CDRom Driver and RamDrive but it was hard to understand was not telling us what to do next. It also mentioned starting up in Safe Mode, but we would have no idea what to do once we got into safe mode. Questions: Should we have chosen the option with or without CD Rom support? Does this look like something fixable or something more seirous If the partitioning of the C drive has been lost, does that mean all the data, programs, etc. has been lost? Is this something that Dell tech support can walk us through? Thanks for any help, Larry |
#3
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Computer not starting, confusing instructions from W98 Startup disk
"Larry" wrote in message ...
A friend's Windows 98 SE at start made clicking sounds from hard drive, then said startup disk was needed. Startup disk was inserted. snip Open the case and remove and reseat the cable that connects the drive to the motherboard. If this doesn't help, most hard drive manufacturers have diagnostic software available for download. Maxtor and Seagate http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/ Western Digital http://support.wdc.com/download/inde...n&pid=999&swid Ben |
#4
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Computer not starting, confusing instructions from W98 Startup disk
We did everything we could do. I ran scandisk.exe (or scandisk /all) from
the A prompt (which was suggested in the Help document off of the Startup disk) and it was weird--it completed the job in about one second and said it detected no errors. We found the Dell Resource Diagnostic CD and started up the computer with that, but when I followed the instructions to type in the drive letter of the CD drive "x:" and press enter, it said that wasn't correct; it wouldn't take any drive letters. So we couldn't even get to the diagnostics menu. So I tried booting to safe mode, holding down ctrl, but it said I needed to use the boot disk, meaning we can't even boot to safe mode. Larry "Brian A." gonefish'n@afarawaylake wrote in message ... Run the Dell Diagnostics that are either on the hard drive or on the Drivers and Utilities disk. Depending on your specific model may determine how to run the diagnostics. One way for Dell is: Boot the machine and press F12 as soon as you see the Dell logo. If you wait to long to press it and it boots to windows you will need to reboot and try again. If you get a message that no diagnostic utility partition was found you'll need the Drivers and Utilities disk. If you get the Boot Device menu, select the "Boot to Utility Partition" and press Enter. When the diagnostic menu appears select the test you want to run. If you use the Drivers and Utilities disk: Boot the machine with the disk in the drive and press F12 as soon as you see the Dell logo. At the Boot Device menu select "IDE CD-ROM Device" and press Enter. Select the "IDE CD-ROM device option from the CD boot menu. Select to "Boot from CD-ROM". Type 1 to start the resource cd menu. Type 2 to start the diagnostics. Select "Run the 32 bit diagnostics". When the diagnostic menu appears select the test you want to run. Or look up the instructions for the specific model he http://support.dell.com/ -- Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User } Conflicts start where information lacks. http://basconotw.mvps.org/ Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375 "Larry" wrote in message ... A friend's Windows 98 SE at start made clicking sounds from hard drive, then said startup disk was needed. Startup disk was inserted. Screen said: Pri Master HDD Error Run Setup Press F1 to resume Then it said Start computer with CD Rom support or Without CD-Rom support We didn't know which to choose so we went with CD Rom support Then it said PCI Bus Scan completed C drive does not contain FAT or FAT 32 partition Drive may need to be partitioned Run Fdisk from DOS prompt But there was only a prompt for the A drive, and we couldn't get it to change to the C drive, so we did HELP. Help said a lot of stuff about loading CDRom Driver and RamDrive but it was hard to understand was not telling us what to do next. It also mentioned starting up in Safe Mode, but we would have no idea what to do once we got into safe mode. Questions: Should we have chosen the option with or without CD Rom support? Does this look like something fixable or something more seirous If the partitioning of the C drive has been lost, does that mean all the data, programs, etc. has been lost? Is this something that Dell tech support can walk us through? Thanks for any help, Larry |
#5
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Computer not starting, confusing instructions from W98 Startup disk
This is all pointing to a hard disk drive fault, or perhaps, by now,
complete failure. You will not be able to run scandisk or boot to safe mode if the hard disk drive isn't working, and by the sound of it the Dell CD you are using also requires a working hard disk drive in order to install the and run the diagnostics. Get some hard disk drive diagnostic software from the hard disk drive manufacturer and put it on a floppy. Boot to the floppy to run the diagnostic. For a good description of the process Google the following and choose the PCToday article (it should be first in the list). pctoday hard disk drive diagnostic -- Jeff Richards MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User) "Larry" wrote in message ... We did everything we could do. I ran scandisk.exe (or scandisk /all) from the A prompt (which was suggested in the Help document off of the Startup disk) and it was weird--it completed the job in about one second and said it detected no errors. We found the Dell Resource Diagnostic CD and started up the computer with that, but when I followed the instructions to type in the drive letter of the CD drive "x:" and press enter, it said that wasn't correct; it wouldn't take any drive letters. So we couldn't even get to the diagnostics menu. So I tried booting to safe mode, holding down ctrl, but it said I needed to use the boot disk, meaning we can't even boot to safe mode. Larry "Brian A." gonefish'n@afarawaylake wrote in message ... Run the Dell Diagnostics that are either on the hard drive or on the Drivers and Utilities disk. Depending on your specific model may determine how to run the diagnostics. One way for Dell is: Boot the machine and press F12 as soon as you see the Dell logo. If you wait to long to press it and it boots to windows you will need to reboot and try again. If you get a message that no diagnostic utility partition was found you'll need the Drivers and Utilities disk. If you get the Boot Device menu, select the "Boot to Utility Partition" and press Enter. When the diagnostic menu appears select the test you want to run. If you use the Drivers and Utilities disk: Boot the machine with the disk in the drive and press F12 as soon as you see the Dell logo. At the Boot Device menu select "IDE CD-ROM Device" and press Enter. Select the "IDE CD-ROM device option from the CD boot menu. Select to "Boot from CD-ROM". Type 1 to start the resource cd menu. Type 2 to start the diagnostics. Select "Run the 32 bit diagnostics". When the diagnostic menu appears select the test you want to run. Or look up the instructions for the specific model he http://support.dell.com/ -- Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User } Conflicts start where information lacks. http://basconotw.mvps.org/ Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375 "Larry" wrote in message ... A friend's Windows 98 SE at start made clicking sounds from hard drive, then said startup disk was needed. Startup disk was inserted. Screen said: Pri Master HDD Error Run Setup Press F1 to resume Then it said Start computer with CD Rom support or Without CD-Rom support We didn't know which to choose so we went with CD Rom support Then it said PCI Bus Scan completed C drive does not contain FAT or FAT 32 partition Drive may need to be partitioned Run Fdisk from DOS prompt But there was only a prompt for the A drive, and we couldn't get it to change to the C drive, so we did HELP. Help said a lot of stuff about loading CDRom Driver and RamDrive but it was hard to understand was not telling us what to do next. It also mentioned starting up in Safe Mode, but we would have no idea what to do once we got into safe mode. Questions: Should we have chosen the option with or without CD Rom support? Does this look like something fixable or something more seirous If the partitioning of the C drive has been lost, does that mean all the data, programs, etc. has been lost? Is this something that Dell tech support can walk us through? Thanks for any help, Larry |
#6
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Computer not starting, confusing instructions from W98 Startup disk
The drive is slagged,
take the pc to a reputable local store, not a big box chain store, and have them assess the amount of damage to the hard drive, determine whether to replace or repair it -- -- -- -- -- -- Adaware http://www.lavasoft.de spybot http://www.safer-networking.org AVG free antivirus http://free.grisoft.com/ Etrust/Vet/CA.online Antivirus scan http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/virusinfo/scan.aspx Super Antispyware http://www.superantispyware.com/ Panda online AntiVirus scan http://www.activescan.com Panda online AntiSpyware Scan http://www.pandasoftware.com/virus_info/spyware/test/ Catalog of removal tools (1) http://www.pandasoftware.com/download/utilities/ Catalog of removal tools (2) http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/n...aspx?CID=40387 Trouble Shooting guide to Windows http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/ Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts file http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm links provided as a courtesy, read all instructions on the pages before use Grateful thanks to the authors/webmasters _ "Larry" wrote in message ... A friend's Windows 98 SE at start made clicking sounds from hard drive, then said startup disk was needed. Startup disk was inserted. Screen said: Pri Master HDD Error Run Setup Press F1 to resume Then it said Start computer with CD Rom support or Without CD-Rom support We didn't know which to choose so we went with CD Rom support Then it said PCI Bus Scan completed C drive does not contain FAT or FAT 32 partition Drive may need to be partitioned Run Fdisk from DOS prompt But there was only a prompt for the A drive, and we couldn't get it to change to the C drive, so we did HELP. Help said a lot of stuff about loading CDRom Driver and RamDrive but it was hard to understand was not telling us what to do next. It also mentioned starting up in Safe Mode, but we would have no idea what to do once we got into safe mode. Questions: Should we have chosen the option with or without CD Rom support? Does this look like something fixable or something more seirous If the partitioning of the C drive has been lost, does that mean all the data, programs, etc. has been lost? Is this something that Dell tech support can walk us through? Thanks for any help, Larry |
#7
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Computer not starting, confusing instructions from W98 Startup disk
Thanks to everyone for the feedback.
Larry "AlmostBob" wrote in message ... The drive is slagged, take the pc to a reputable local store, not a big box chain store, and have them assess the amount of damage to the hard drive, determine whether to replace or repair it -- -- -- -- -- -- Adaware http://www.lavasoft.de spybot http://www.safer-networking.org AVG free antivirus http://free.grisoft.com/ Etrust/Vet/CA.online Antivirus scan http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/virusinfo/scan.aspx Super Antispyware http://www.superantispyware.com/ Panda online AntiVirus scan http://www.activescan.com Panda online AntiSpyware Scan http://www.pandasoftware.com/virus_info/spyware/test/ Catalog of removal tools (1) http://www.pandasoftware.com/download/utilities/ Catalog of removal tools (2) http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/n...aspx?CID=40387 Trouble Shooting guide to Windows http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/ Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts file http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm links provided as a courtesy, read all instructions on the pages before use Grateful thanks to the authors/webmasters _ "Larry" wrote in message ... A friend's Windows 98 SE at start made clicking sounds from hard drive, then said startup disk was needed. Startup disk was inserted. Screen said: Pri Master HDD Error Run Setup Press F1 to resume Then it said Start computer with CD Rom support or Without CD-Rom support We didn't know which to choose so we went with CD Rom support Then it said PCI Bus Scan completed C drive does not contain FAT or FAT 32 partition Drive may need to be partitioned Run Fdisk from DOS prompt But there was only a prompt for the A drive, and we couldn't get it to change to the C drive, so we did HELP. Help said a lot of stuff about loading CDRom Driver and RamDrive but it was hard to understand was not telling us what to do next. It also mentioned starting up in Safe Mode, but we would have no idea what to do once we got into safe mode. Questions: Should we have chosen the option with or without CD Rom support? Does this look like something fixable or something more seirous If the partitioning of the C drive has been lost, does that mean all the data, programs, etc. has been lost? Is this something that Dell tech support can walk us through? Thanks for any help, Larry |
#8
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Computer not starting, confusing instructions from W98 Startup
Thanks for putting it so clearly for Larry, Ben --- best post in this group
yet imo. "Ben Myers" wrote: "Larry" wrote in message ... A friend's Windows 98 SE at start made clicking sounds from hard drive, then said startup disk was needed. Startup disk was inserted. snip Open the case and remove and reseat the cable that connects the drive to the motherboard. If this doesn't help, most hard drive manufacturers have diagnostic software available for download. Maxtor and Seagate http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/ Western Digital http://support.wdc.com/download/inde...n&pid=999&swid Ben |
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