RUNNING SCANDISK/Installing Win 98

[maclost]

Well seems like drives are working but now...I keep trying to install Win 98 and it says it is going to scan disk before installin. I keep getting all kinds of files not right and need to be fixed which it seems to fix but this onw it will not fix.

It says Scandisk is now checking the following areas of the C drive:

Scandisk detected an invaled LONG FILENAME ENTRY on this drive but was unable to fix it.

To fix this problem run scandisk for Windows.

I have been using an original boot and setup floppy and have also tried windows 98 CD which tells me the same thing.

Can you also tell me how I can download a HD wipe. I have tried Boot & Nuke but it seems like it did not download correctly. I did try to unzip on another computer.

Thanks for all the help.

[Wainui]

Do you have a Windows 98 Startup disk ?
If you haven't you can create one by going into the Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs - Startup disk tab.

Insert the Startup disk in the floppy drive and power up your computer.
The floppy disk should kick in and bring up the Startup Menu.
Choose Command Prompt
At the A:\ prompt type Scandisk C: and hit enter.
Scandisk does a check to test the file structure of your hard disk drive.
It will then ask you if you want to perform a Surface scan, Choose Yes. This will take longer and at the end Scandisk will then give you a report on the state of your HDD. If you have too many "Bad Clusters" then you hard drive is shot.

[tetonbob]

Say, maclost-

One thing I would add is that if you could continue your posting in one thread, it would help others help you by keeping all the references together.

In other words, as you continue through the process of this issue, just keep replying in the same thread until all problems are solved. I don't know about the others, but I've been having a hard time trying to go back and forth between your various posts on what seems like related issues on the same PC.

Thanks,

Bob

[maclost]

Wasn't sure how to post. But I sure will post back here now.

Oh and the computer won't start from anything but the WINS98 floppy or Wins 98 CD. So I guess I'll try again.

Thank You

[tetonbob]

Cool-

So where do you stand? Can you please restate your problem and what you have attempted so far to fix it?

Have you tried what Wainui suggested in his last post?

Have you performed a sucessful format on this sytem yet? It seems from the responses you're getting that you are reinstalling, as opposed to installing clean on a formatted drive.

Were you able to access your BIOS yet? The 1762 error given earlier is often indicative of an incorrect setting in the startup order.

[maclost]

Well Tetonbob, I did try to do what Wainui said to do. But when I tried to do a "delete a partition" it says "no logical DOS drive to delete". So I went to Delete Primary DOS Partition and is said it did it. Then I went to create a partition and it did it.Then I went to format and it said

"checking existing disk format"
Recording current bad clusters
Complete
Verifying 2,441.21M
Invalid media or Track 0 bad
disk unusable
Format terminated

Then I tried again and it said
Checking existiing disk format
Recording current bad clusters
Complete
Verifying 2,441.21M
TRYING TO RECOVER ALLOCATION UNIT (and it kept running numbers, it went up 7,441 and I stopped it).

So what does this all mean?

Also I really can not figure out how to change my BIOS setting. I can get to it by using the startup floppy using F1 to get to system setup, but do not know where/what to do from there.

I quess you should also know that the computer will only start w/ the startup floppy or the wins 98 CD.

Also before when I was trying to reinstall wins 98 it would not do it because it would say can not install because you have a compression device. So I went into the tower and unplug the ZIP drive that is attached to it. This did not seem to help. The Hard Drive and the ZIP were connected so I recable them to have there own IDE. HD on the primary IDE and CD-Rom on the second IDE.

Also I did a scandisk before and it kept saying alot of different problems and to fix it. I believe most were in the directories.

So I think this is where we are with this.

Thanks for your help.

[tetonbob]

Hi maclost-

When track 0 is reported bad, it is usually a sign of a defective/corrupt HD. Wainui was thinking this way a couple of posts ago.

When you tried format again, I believe it was attempting to assess and recover corrupt clusters. Do this again, don't stop it. It will take a while.

You might consider trying a manufacturer's diagnostic floppy. You would need to go to the manufacturer's site (of your HD, there should be a label on it with Make and Model number) and download this program. It is a bootable floppy.

As to accessing your BIOS, without a bootdisk, when you see the logo, press F1. This takes you to the BIOS setup screen. There should be directions on the screen for how to nav around the page. Quite often one uses the arrow keys or the page up/page down keys, or the tab keys. Once there, ensure that your HD is in the boot order list. It would be helpful if you posted the model number of your Aptiva, if you can find it.

The reference to a compression device may have been that your C drive was a compressed drive. OSs should not be installed while drive compression is enabled. Your deletion of the DOS partition will have solved this issue.

Have you performed a scandisk /surface yet? This is much more involved, as it checks the physical drive for defects.

That's all I have for now. A new HD is around $60

Bob

[maclost]

Thanks Tetonbob. I'll try these things. It won't be till Monday so I'll let you know what happens. Also the scandisk nevers get to the scan surface part it always stops from errors.

Thank You

[maclost]

Well just wanted to tell you I tried everything and errors when trying to format HD kept coming up, sooo I give up. Just have to get a new one.
Thank you all so very kindly for all your help. :wave: