Hard drive? Motherboard? or is it Linux?

[Theophylact]

Okay. I've set up a new machine (Athlon XP 2500+, 512 MB PC 2400 DDR, ASUS A7N8X motherboard). Everything boots fine, the drives are all recognized, but I can't install Windows (either 98 or XP) because they keep telling me there's no disk in the hard drive! Trying to run the DOS version of WD's drive utilities gives me a fatal error.

The HDD is a new WD 120GB. I had previously attempted an installation of Mandrake 8.1 on it (on an old Gateway); the installation looked fine, but then it wouldn't boot. (I think the BIOS or CPU is dead.)

If I run Knoppix from CD on the new machine, it recognizes the files that Mandrake had installed on the hard drive!

Can I fix this HDD so it will accept WinXP, or do I have to RMA it?

[Messiah89]

You restart the computer with the XP CD right?
It should automatically boot it up before it loads Linux.

[HeadBand]

make sure your cd rom is set to boot first

also it sounds like it may have a linux partition....you could go in and delete that with fdisk and let xp redo the partition for itself

[HeadBand]

sorry double post

[John Prophet]

whenever you mention "linux"...you go beyond my technical capabilities.....but it sounds related to a linux partition that is confusing windows

[Messiah89]

When you first boot up the PC and have the Windows disc in your drive it should load the Windows installer before it loads Linux.

If it doesn't, your boot sequence may be wrong.
You can correct that in your BIOS.

[elmers]

"but I can't install Windows (either 98 or XP) because they keep telling me there's no disk in the hard drive!"

Im assuming you boot from the cd ? Perhaps delete all the partitions and install winxp then linux ?

[Shawn711]

Maybe try running fdisk from the command prompt with an Windows 98/ME start up disk. Delete any partitions and then repartition the hard drive and set primary as active. That way, hard drive will be clean and fresh.............or try running WD data guard tools on it to make sure nothing is wrong with the drive.......

Shawn

[LeftCoast]

I'd wipe the HDD with an application like Killdisk. Writes zeros to the drive, essentially making it "like new". Here's a post from another thread:
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Killdisk is a nice free program that is not hard drive brand-specific; it'll work on all hard drives.


You can go to bootdisk.com to D/L a win98 boot disk and then copy the Killdisk program to it. Then boot up to dos, navigate to the floppy drive (probally will be "B:\" drive), type in "killdisk.exe" and follow the instructions. When in dos, navigate to the B drive and type in dir/w. If killdisk is listed there, you're in the right place to type the "killdisk.exe".

I apologize if I'm going into too much detail, but if you don't work much with dos it can be a little confusing.

Links:

http://bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm and click win98 OEM

http://killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm
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Also, I'd make sure your HDD is properly cabled, with the right jumper setting. Good luck.

[Theophylact]

(1) BIOS is set to boot from CDROM first.

(2) WD Data Lifeguard (v. 11.0 for DOS) reports a fatal error when I try to run it from a DOS-bootable diskette; it gets as far as the WD splash screen, shows an hourglass against a blank background, reports the error and tells me to remove thd diskette and reboot.

(3) BIOS reports a WD 1200JB as the primary master. So the cabling should be fine. (Besides, Knoppix reads the disk.)

(4) I did try to run fdisk from a Win98 setup disk, and it also failed; but that was on the old Gateway, so maybe I should try again.

Leftcoast, if I boot to DOS from a Win98 boot floppy that has killdisk on it, won't it recognize the floppy as the A (and only) drive?