Partitioning/Hard Drive problems

[stv_19_uk]

I wonder if anyone can help:

I have tried to partition my hard drive and have somehow managed to mess things up. When I start the computer, I get the following message:

Booting HD1/2 Error!
Booting HD1/

I'm not quite sure what I've done - and am also unsure as to what I should do now.

Would be grateful for any advice you can give!

Thanks.

[Xeroid]

What OS? Did you format it after you partitioned?

Welcome to TechIMO>

[Target]

Welcome to Techimo stv_19_uk. You've come to the right place to get answers. There is a very large group of talented, helpful, patient, and dedicated people here......I'm sure we'll be able to give you a hand.

Please explain exactly what you did, how you did it, and what you want to accomplish.

Knowing what you did will help us determine what went wrong, or what steps you left out. Knowing what you want to accomplish will make it easier to tell you how to do it.

[stv_19_uk]

I had Windows 98 on the computer before.

I haven't formatted the drive.

I was hoping to partition the drive and install a second operating system (Linux).

Does this help?

Thanks for your help so far.

OK, exactly what did you do and with what program? There are only a few programs that can non-destructively partition drives. If you partitioned with fdisk, it destroys the rest of the exsisting partitions.

So, what program did you use?

Cheers
Mick

[stv_19_uk]

I used a program called "fips" to create a new partition.

Ok, fips can non-destructively partition, if used right.

Now we need to determine what partitions you actually now have.

Have you got a boot floppy disk from win98? If so, boot from it, then type fdisk, and check what partitions you have using the 4th option (i think). Just make sure you don't delete any partitions!!

Let us know what the partition types and sizes are.

Cheers
Mick

[stv_19_uk]

I have a boot disk for Windows 98.

When I type "fdisk" it comes up with:

Bad Command of file name

Thanks.

Ok. Did you actually boot and get the a:\ prompt? Then type fdisk? If so, then your boot disk does not have the fdisk app on it.

Try downloading and making a win98 OEM boot disk from here.

Then you should have fdisk on it. Boot from that one you make.

Cheers
Mick

[stv_19_uk]

I have created a new boot disk and have run FDISK.

According to FDISK, I have one partition:

Partition: 1
Status: A
Type: PRI DOS
Mbytes: 1945
System: FAT32
Usage: 32%

Total Disk Space: 5143 Mbytes


Thanks for your help with this!