Help !!!! Disaster On My Harddrive

photoworks · #1 10-28-2002, 10:09 PM

have just bought a second hand custom made computer made with Windows 98.
I tried upgrade to windows XP on it but it failed, tellin me that there must be some hardware or software not compatible with XP.

i have done what i should not do. First what i forgot to tell is that the disk was partitionned. so when i tried to install xp, i started to convert one partition in ntfs. of course the attempt to install xp failed and i have got a message telling me to disable caching and shadowin in the bios.
when i restarted my computer, the xp installation files were still present.
and when windows 98 launched, i realised that the partition where i wanted to put xp has disapeared. I tried to access the partition by fdisk but i did not get it. So in a desperatge act, i formated the windows98 partition.

now when i start again, it ask me for my boot disk and when i insert it , it tells me that it cannot access to the disk.

Do i need to have the original windows 98 that was installed on my machine ?

As i said, there was two partitioons on the harddisk : c:\ where windows 98 was installed which is now formatted and D:\ which windows xp converted in ntfs and which is not accessible.

What can i do and what do i need to recover my harddisk ?

Disk_Contented · #2 10-29-2002, 10:12 AM

Fdisk will show the partition. You should delete the "non dos" partition. In cases like this, i would allways clear the hard drive of all partitions, then recreate them.
Subsequent formats will finish the job.

Grendel · #3 10-29-2002, 07:05 PM

Best thing to do is to boot from the XP CD.

When you do hit Enter to install; then F8 to agree to the EULA.

NExt it will scan your computer for previous Windows installations, this only happens if you have the Upgrade version of XP. If you do, it will ask for a previous disk, in your case 98. Put the 98 disk in and continue.
On the next screen you can delet and make partitions.
On the next screen you can format them; and it will then ask you for the XP disk, and format and install XP.

If you have any problems after that, it usually points to incompatible hardware.

michel_76 · #4 10-29-2002, 07:17 PM

a week or so ago it had that same problem on its support page

Edit: Stop Spamming

Disk_Contented · #5 10-29-2002, 08:15 PM

As you formatted the Win98 partition, yes you will need an install CD. (assuming you still want Win98 of course). For XP only, boot from XP CD as Grendel suggested
You can't see the other partition because Win98 doesn't understand NTFS.

photoworks · #6 10-29-2002, 11:54 PM

two more precisions

when i type fdisk, it tells me no fix disk

i cannot boot from xp because xp is not installed, it failed to install before i formated the hard drive. and unfortunately it made a partition in ntfs.

So the pb is :
- i don't have the win98 cd
- i can't boot from the xp cd, it refuses to boot from it

Does it mean that there is no way out fo my problem ?

Grendel · #7 10-30-2002, 06:40 AM

Go into your BIOS and look for anything called boot, boot device, or boot order.

That will hav ea list on it, on the the list are items that the compauter can boot from, floppy, cd-rom, hard drive, etc..

Make sure the cd-rom drive with the XP disk in it is the first item on the list.

THen reboot, and you should see "To boot from CD press any key"
whenyou see that, press a key; that should boot from the disk.