wiped disk

[neilmacleod]

I received a Pentium I computer that has a wiped disk. I tried to load windows 3.1(i think) from a backed up old copy used on a laptop. So far MS-DOS Version 6.22 runs only if I have the boot up disk, even then when the computer starts I get this message,
"Failure Fixed Disk 1". Can anyone help me out?

[jtdoom]

hi

if that disk was wiped, fdisked and formatted on another machine, then chances are that it is not active

also, if you are unlucky, it was done in fat32, and dos6.22 cannot handle fat32

boot to your DOS floppy
fdisk /status
shows you how it is partitioned
esc

fdisk
4 (show details of partitions)
you have to see an A for Active... If you don't, then proceed to make the partition active.

if that info you got tells you it cannot see what filesystem was used, you should use a win98 start disk to do same.
that way you can find out wether it is using FAT32

if that is the case, wipe all partitions with the 98 startdisk or by using delpart.exe, and when that is done, start anew with your dos 6.22 floppy to create new partition.

delpart (from Microsoft's NT 3.51 )
http://russelltexas.com/delpart.htm


the tutorials you find at the top of our pages have instructions for fdisk and format, etc...
my byline points to a very very long thread about this subject.
one of the links in it is to murf's garage, which is is another source for info on this subject.

[neilmacleod]

I want to thank you for your help. I'm not the most computer literate person in the world but I managed to muddle through long enough to load MS Windows for Workgroups Version 3.11. My ongoing consternation now focuses on this message:
Missing HIMEM.SYS;
Make sure that the file is in your Windows directory and that its location is correctly specified in your config.sys file

This message occurs when I type the command to start windows from dos.
Any chance on continuing your advice?:)

[jtdoom]

hi

lets hope the following does the trick for you
boot to DOS, and run
memmaker

[neilmacleod]

It tried to run memmaker but it didn't run. I am curious, I thought if I could edit the config.sys file I could fix that problem. While I tried to figure out how to do this I noticed that when I checked my directory for C drive it only showed windows and not any other files except a command file, that is not DOS files. I do not understand how that could be.

very confused

[neilmacleod]

SUCCESS!!!!!!!!:)

I read my own message and thought I would try and re-install the DOS 6.22 program and what do you know? It initially told me I already had DOS running and recommended I exit, well I didn't listen to this recommendation and re-installed it. Amazingly, it asked me to run memmaker to optimize the system. I did and that was that. At least I can now type in the windows start command at the prompt and use windows.

I does however, bring me to one aspect of my original question, why does the computer (at start up) do the following?

80: Testing hard disk drives

THEN WITHIN 20 SECONDS THE FOLLOWING APPEARS

Failure Fixed Disk 1

It then asks me if I want to hit F1 and continue or F2 and enter setup. If I hit F1, I get MS-DOS running and everything appears to run fine.

Is this something I will simply have to live with? I don't mind that much but it is probably going to annoy me in the future.

[jtdoom]

hi again

first, look at the size of the disk that windows reports

then reboot, and hit F2 to enter BIOS setup.
standard CMOS setup page one tells you what BIOS settings you have for your hard disks

now, if you have something like 2Giga in windows, and 512 mega in BIOS, then there is something that was done wrong.

whatever you see in there, just make notes, do not change anything, exit BIOS setup and tell us what you saw in there. (and what windows tells you)

[neilmacleod]

The following is what is initially seen prior to having to hit F1

0000640k System RAM passed
0023552k Extended RAM passed
0256k Cache SRAM passed
System BIOS shadowed
Video BIOS shadowed
UMB upper limit segment address: F533
Mouse initialized
Failure Fixed Disk 1

After hitting F2 the following appears

System time: (what ever time it was)
System date: (correct)
Language: English
Diskette A: 1.44Mb, 3 1/2"
Diskette B: not installed
IDE Adapter 0 Master (C:426Mb)
IDE Adapter 0 Slave (D:270Mb)
IDE Adapter 1 Master (none)
IDE Adapter 1 Slave (none)
Video System: [EGA/VGA}
Memory and Cache
Boot Options
Keyboard Features
System Memory: 640Kb
Extended Memory: 23Mb

As for windows I can't find anything even remote allowing me to check the system (don't forget its ver 3.11)

I hope this helps you

[jtdoom]

hi
about that BIOS
these are drives it should detect no matter what.
I think you have to run hard disk detection in BIOS, and save the changes.

I was under the impression you had just ONE hard drive, but you have two hard disks in there.
One would think they are correctly jumpered because BIOS reports them,

but... it could still be a jumper issue
western didital drives was known for this.
they have a "single" jumpering, and when they are two on a ribbon, you could expect to see errors like yours.

if the error still comes up after the BIOS hard drive detection spiel, I would look at jumpering...

[neilmacleod]

Thank you for your assistance these past couple of weeks. I never knew I had a second hard drive. I don't know how to run hard disk detection in bios or anything about jumpers.:confused:

[jtdoom]

Hmmm
exit windows,
at the dosprompt

chkdsk C:

chkdsk D:

make notes of what you see

and now, real careful

fdisk /status (make notes)
esc
esc

win (gets you back into windows)

post what you saw

========
one wonders...
Just suppose that the previous owner had a drive die on him, and just suppose he added a new one without replacing the bust one....

on the other hand, just suppose that by transporting the machine, a ribbon got loose.

[neilmacleod]

Thanks again; here is what was displayed:

chkdsk c:

Volume MS-DOS_6 created 11-28-2002 8:32p
Volume Serial Number is 2D7C-A2E5
426,033,152 bytes total disk space
81,920 bytes in 2 hidden files
466,944 bytes in 56 directories
136,806,400 bytes in 1817 user files
288,677,888 bytes available on disk
8192 bytes in each allocation unit
52,006 total allocation units on disk
35239 bytes available allocation units on disk
655,360 total free bytes memory
632,800 bytes free

chkdsk d:

Invalid drive specification
2 invalid media type

fdisk /status

Disk Drv Mbytes Free Usage
1 407 0 100%

C 407

note: the first line shows disk as 1 and no drv specified
2nd line the letter c is under the drive column
(1 Mbyte = 1048576 bytes)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had opened my computer and looked inside. The reason I say this is that I pulled out a long piece of ribbon that did not seem to be attached to anything. I still have the ribbon.:D