Fdisk blues

Try a different harddrive to make sure that it is indeed the harddrive with the problem. If it is the harddrive, get a new one. You still have a cheap computer to practice with and you will still have the new harddrive to use in your next computer as a primary or a slave.

Make sure that the CD-ROM is working and in your CMOS settings (BIOS) Choose to boot From you CD-ROM and then exit and save. When it promps you, Tell it to Load Windows. And it will format the drive to FAT16 or FAT32 depending on how big the driveis.
If this doesnt work then I would Replace the hard drive.

First off, go to the website of the HD manufacturer, they should have some diagnostic tools. Just about everybody does. It will create a boot disk that will let you inspect and repair the drive. Then I would go to http://www.bootdisk.com and download an appropriate bootdisk for the OS. Always start with CD support. You may have to fake out the BIOS to staart the install. If the drive is still good this should do the trick.

Tracey,

It sounds like you are using a windows setup disk to partition the drive. Try using a generic MSDOS bootable disk with system files. (W/ FDISK, FORMAT etc.) Try wiping out all partitions, re-partition and format.

Good Luck

If you get the same response with or without a boot disk I would question if the system is even seeking the floppy on boot up. Check your BIOS and make sure the boot sequence is A: C: and not C: A: and that the seek floppy on boot is enabled. Is the floppy light coming on when you boot? Is the disk being accessed? Is the cable on correctly?
Also if the A: is the first boot option already, try disconnecting the HD completely and try booting. If it still doesn't boot you have a different type of problem. If this is a Packard Bell computer they have some of the system BIOS written onto the HD and it is a real pain to work with when upgrading OS or Hard drives.
One more thing...if this "dead computer" is not at least a pentium processor, you may be having a conflict using Win 98. Try a Win 95 boot disk and see if you can get to DOS with that. Good luck.

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See answer 4 as well!
You are using a Windows 98 Emergency Repair Disk to start the machine, This creates a RAMDisk with various tools installed on it a message will say Diagnostic tools were loaded onto drive ?:
Switch to this drive and assuming your CD Drive is working run FDISK and partition your HD as required. (If you get a error message from FDISK then start checking hardware.) Restart the machine when prompted,
using the same floppy but use F8 to get a boot menu a opt for Prompt for each command. Do not load the ramdrive but allow everything else, the switch to your cd drive usually D:, Then CD to WIN98 and format your HD,
now make a install directory on c: with
MD C:\WIN98
CD C:\WIN98
COPY *.* c: (note NO PATHS)
C:
SETUP
this will run windows 98 setup from the hard drive (much much quicker) and you will never be prompted to insert your windows disk again
you can also make this folder hidden and read only windows will find it but the casual user will not (if you can't see it you can't delete it).
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