In my version of Win98, there are two different Safe Modes. One Safe
Mode boots into the Windows graphical interface. This no longer works
on my machine; the system hangs before it gets to the Safe Mode desktop.
The other Safe Mode goes into DOS. This is the one that boots.
BTW, it won't boot into the normal DOS Mode; that also hangs.
This plus the fact that both ScanDisk and ConfigSafe95 reported errors
when trying to write to the C partition make me feel that it's likely
that data on the C partition is corrupted.
It also seems likely that my Windows install (which is on the C
partition) is hosed. Even if it's not, I'm not sure how to recover from
the installation of the IDE driver which caused the problem, unless I
can get it to boot at least into Windows Safe Mode.
Hmm. The IDE driver's setup program does have a command line uninstall
option; perhaps I should boot into DOS Safe Mode and try that?
Anyway, the first thing I want to do is install the new hard drive,
partition and format it, and copy the old drive's D partition contents
to the new one. Then I will feel a little better about messing with the
old drive.
Alison
>I'm glad to see that things aren't as bad as they looked at first. If you
>can get a dir, and if Scandisk didn't mod anything on the D drive, your data
>won't be lost.
>However, this brings me to another thought - if I understand you correctly,
>the only real problem is under normal Windows mode. But you can boot into
>SafeMode, and there see the HD? I don't remember Win98 well enough to know
>wether there are two different Safe Modes, one which gets you into DOS, and
>one that starts a Windows GUI, but if the SafeMode you mention boots into a
>Windows' grafical user interface, then I'm pretty sure that not even your
>Windows installation is hosed. IMO this would indicate that it's really only
>the HD /chipset driver that gives you troubles.
>If this were the case, then I'd be pretty convinced that neither the
>Motherboard BIOS nor the HD BIOS cause any probs, in this case it would
>really only be a Windows driver problem.
>Apologies if my memory fails me and there is a SafeMode that only uses
>DOS...
>Achim
>> Thanks to Goy, Redline, Achim, Steve, and Steve for your suggestions!
>> Thanks especially for the link to my mobo on the Taiwan site, Redline!
>> I decided to take a day off from the computer yesterday and took the
>> Cobra to a car show down the street. It got as much attention as a
>> Lamborghini Diablo that was parked next to it!
>> Anyway... I can see the hard drive by booting, hitting F8, and selecting
>> DOS Safe Mode, so I am pretty sure I can also see it if I boot using a
>> Win98 boot floppy. Dir on both C and D partitions works.
>> Unfortunately I let Scandisk run before I read the posts from you guys,
>> and it had write errors on the C partition, so my Windows installation
>> is probably done for. But Scandisk didn't find any errors on the D
>> partition (it hung at 99%), so it seems like there's a good chance its
>> data is ok. If so, I should be able to get GPL off of it.
>> My plan at this point is to buy a new hard drive ($80 with rebates for
>> an 80 GB WD 7200 rpm from CompUSA; thanks Steve Smith!) and try to copy
>> the D partition from the old drive to a partition on the new drive.
>> If that works, I will be ok. All I'll need is to install Windows on the
>> C partition on the new drive, and reinstall a bunch of programs.
>> I've got a Cobra event this weekend, so I may not be able to put a lot
>> of time into this till next week.
>> Thanks again, guys! I'll keep you posted.
>> Alison
>> >Alison, DON'T PANIC !
>> >Can you boot with a Win98 startup disk and see your hard drive?
>> >Run Scandisk from a Win98 Startup Disk. If you can then your hard drive
>ain't too messed up.
>> >I sent a follow-up post that I guess got lost in the ether-realm. It'll
>probably appear in a couple of weeks.
>> >I found your KT7 mother board on the "Taiwan" Abit site. I was looking at
>the USA Abit site that only had the KT7A board.
>> >Your board at the Abit Taiwan site;
>> >http://www.racesimcentral.net/
>> >On the download page is probably the file that you need. It's called VIA
>Service Pack 4.29v.
>> >You probably have these on your motherboard installation CD, all though
>older.
>> >These are the VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller drivers
>> >Download Page;
>> >http://www.racesimcentral.net/
>> >Don't worry about this right now, this is for later when everything is
>booting.
>> >Now what you have done with this IDE tool is unknown to me, but I doubt
>if it's that serious. I just hope it didn't do
>> >something to the VIA chipset.
>> >If your motherboard Bio's is screwed up, just re-flash it from the boot
>floppy that you made for your previous bios
>> >flash.
>> >I hope that you did flash from a boot floppy???? You can do this without
>even having a hard drive hooked up.
>> >Then if you have a spare hard drive (ya must have a drive kicking around
>right? borrow?) install that alone into the
>> >computer and load a OS on it.
>> >Make sure the computer boots up and runs normally.
>> >Take your hard drive with all your GLP stuff on it and put it in computer
>as a slave to this new OS hard drive.
>> >Remember the correct jumper settings. Don't use "Cable Select". Use
>master & slave.
>> >See if everything boots up and you can see all your partitions.
>> >Run Scandisk on the problem drive. If everything is OK start backing up
>the drive to CDR's, CDRW or another hard drive.
>> >I have 8 drives for this box, 130gb is dedicated just for file & Mp3
>backups, plus incremental CDR & CDRW backups.
>> >I'm a former Macintosh user, and one thing about using a Mac is that you
>learn to backup your files daily if not hourly.
>> >Then you can run some more serious utilities on the drive. After you have
>backed it up, (if you can).
>> >Hope that 45 gigs ain't near it's capacity. Mirroring the drive to
>another BIG drive is the fastest and simplest.
>> >Western Digital hard drive tools is the first one to start with. You can
>use the disk that came with the hard drive when
>> >it was new or download a newer version at the WD website here;
>> >http://www.racesimcentral.net/
>> >These file may require you to build a boot floppy, read directions.
>> >When you run any of the diagnostics DON"T DO ANYTHING THAT WILL DESTROY
>DATA!
>> >If everything checks out OK, it probably will if you can see both
>partitions and backup the drive.
>> >The this IDE tool did something to the OS during the boot process that is
>giving you problems, which will take a little
>> >more to figure out.
>> >Let me know if you read this, I will also post this through my ISP's news
>service, but they have a UDP on them so...
>> >And I'll try to resend the follow up post again.
>> Alison
>> Remove the spam blocker NOSPAM to email me.
>> http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Remove the spam blocker NOSPAM to email me.
http://www.racesimcentral.net/