I/O Disk Error...Please help

[Monstermile]

Thanks Redwolf. Do I need to set this one as a master or can I just run it as a slave. I would rather not run it as a slave on the same IDE channel as my current hard drive in case it is corrupt. Strange things happen you know. I coould end up corrupting my current drive.

Also if I get it to scandisk should I attempt to FDISK??

[pyssdogg]

set the drive to either master or cable select

if you are having issues right now because it's set to master set it to cs

[T-32]

have you tried just a pure dos boot disk, only cotaining the files command. com/ msdos.sys/ io.sys. To make it from another comp.( type from the c:/windows/format -s a, I may be wrong with the switches and line format but that'll get you the files.

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[Monstermile]

Yes I said in the original post that I couldn't boot from the floppy. That is when I get the I/O Disk error. I formatted and partitioned using the WD utilities and went to start my OS install. When I tried to boot using the Win98 boot disk (floppy) all I get is that error. I also tried booting from the CD and got nothing either.

Funny thing is that my HD shows up on the CMOS settings page in the bios, but when I go to change the boot sequence, the only thing that shows up is the floppy.

Getting ready to try the HD in my old machine like suggested. Just haven't had a chance to do it yet.

[pyssdogg]

r u saying that u can put the WD utility floppy in and it'll start , but if you put in you win98 startup floppy all u get is an i/o error?

if so, use a standard dos bootdisk

http://geocities.com/pyssdogg/files/ <------- use this one

use undisker or winimage or something and write the *.img to a floppy

start your computer with this floppy, it should boot up to a dos command prompt --- from there either type D: to access the win98 disk in the cdrom drive and run oemsetup to wipe and format the drive --- type E: to access external cdrom drive --- if you don't need to access a cddrive then at the A: command prompt use either FDISK or ZAP to wipe the drive --- read the readme.txt if confused --- type EDIT readme.txt at the A: prompt for instructions

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[Monstermile]

Ok this is where I'm at. Today I took the new hd and put it in my old system. When trying to boot from the Win98 boot disk I get the same I/O disk error. I also took another hd from another system with an os already installed and tried it in the new system. Checked to see if i could access the floppy drive and I could. I put the new hd back into the new system and tried to boot from the Win98 CD. It let me do it. It actually let me start installation of Win98. But I realized that when I tried booting from the CD earlier and trying to run FDISK that I only put in one partition. So I went back out and tried to run the WD disk to repartition and format and now I get this:

Bad or missing command interperter
Please enter a vaild file name or hit enter to retry

Oh and the reason I can't fully partition and format from the CD is because it does not have the updated version of FDISK for larger hd support.

So where do I stand?? Is this a hd issue even though the diags come up with no errors?? Shold I still attempt to do the KNOPPIX ISO thing??

[Redwolf]

The error you got was die to either a corrupted or missing command.com file. Basically, in english., it means that there may be something wrong with the hard drive. Before you go to bed, put in the WD diagnostics disc (you shoudl have one. If not, go to www.westerndigital.com and get the Data Lifeguard tools). Do the extended diagnostics FIRST (second option). It will take from 10 mins to half an hour. If that passes, go to General diagnostics, and choose the long (extended?) option. It will take a VERY long time to finish this, so let it run thorugh overnight, whilst you catch some Zs.

Because your computer works fine with another drive, it has to be the hard drive. I'm not sure how, but it is. The thing above that I want you to do will scan it for errors.

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