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Can't run FDISK...help?

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20 replies

by c3p0_2000

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I recently ran fdisk on my computer, and performed a fresh reinstall of Windows 98. I created an extended partition which included three logical drives. (It's a 13 Gig drive.) I then decided to experiment with Win98/Win2000 dual booting. I ran FDISK and deleted the logical drives, then the extended partition. This left me with Win98 on the Primary partition (3 Gig.) I then proceeded to install Win2000 on the extended partition thinking that I could further partition later. Stupid mistake;I should have known better. I want to start over, but when I run FDISK, it won't delete the extended partition because it sees logical drives. But when I try to delete the logical drives, there aren't any defined. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

20 replies

by dmiles

At the command prompt type fdisk /mbr,then type fdisk and view the drive information
if no logical drives are listed hit escape
select to delete non-dos partition
Now you have to do a process of elimination and delete each partition,hopefully when you reboot you will be able to run fdisk and partition the drive

by c3p0_2000

No logical drives are listed, but when I try to delete the partition, I still get the message: Cannot delete partition with logical drives.

by thechas

Are you running fdisk from:
Windows 98 (DOS box),
Windows 98 boot disk,
Windows 2000 boot disk?

When you installed W2K did you use FAT 32, or ntsf format?

If you are running the Windows 98 version of fdisk, it will have problems seeing any ntsf partitions.

There is a TechRebublic article on creating an ntsf capable boot disk.
Follow the instructions in the article, and you should be able to access your ntsf drives to delete them.

by sojournist

I've had the same issue before. You need to boot with a DOS 6.22 boot disk. The Win98 boot disk will not be able to remove the NTFS Logical Drive.

by katmandu1

I'm a very new Tech, so if this sounds dumb...please tell me. I had a similar problem...you removed the extended partition, so when you installed win2k you actually corrupted win98....at least that's what happened to me. unfortunately, the only way I was able to correct the problem was to reformat the disk and start from scratch. I wasn't able to run a fdisk even from a bootable floppy.

hope this makes sense.

by griz1975

THIS WILL WORK...

I've had this problem several times...

Boot from Win2K CD and begin like you are installing Windows 2000. If it asks to repair or fresh install, select fresh install.

Continue until you get to the Disk/Partitioning section. Here you can delete the logical/extended partition. Once you delete it in the install process, you can now exit (F3 Key) and then boot with Dos Disk to use FDisk utility. It will NOT install Windows 2000, you only deleted the partition/disk, and you exited prior to any new partition creation.

by phil.hall

I've seen this before. And sometimes even fdisk /mbr won't help. NT does wacky things sometimes... The stuff I present is the only thing that helped me.

(The following advice is from http://www.computerhope.com/rdebug.htm#4)

First, make a bootable disk with debug.exe on it. Then follow this procedure:

A:\>debug
-F 200 L1000 0
-A CS:100
xxxx:0100 MOV AX,301
xxxx:0103 MOV BX,200
xxxx:0106 MOV CX,1
xxxx:0109 MOV DX,80

(80 for hd 0 or 81 for hd 1 )

xxxx:010C INT 13
xxxx:010E INT 20
xxxx:0110
-g
Program terminated normally
-q

Once this debug routine is complete reboot computer and all partitions should be erased. Beforeanything can be installed back onto the computer you must run Fdisk and recreate the partition as well as format the hard disk drive.

by phil.hall

I should add at this point that my procedure will wipe out ALL partition information on that drive. Which is a bit extreme, I'll admit, but sometimes it's called for.

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