hard disk format woops

[richardweights]

I formated the hardrive useing format c:/s before i did fdisk running win 95, to load win 98 se , anyway now i get both start up screens and then loading win 95 then error ntldr is missing press key to restart, all i get to is a c:\ promt ,and it wont load from a rescue disk, ? , any help would be welcome , thanks richard. also i,ve been reading the posts and and am stumped.

 

[Toejam31]

Look under the <b>Resolution</b> section on this <A HREF="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q314057" target="_new">page</A>.

Although this is about Win2K/WinXP and upgrading, the page has a series of commands for repairing the BPB, so this <i>might</i> work. But I can't make any promises.

If this doesn't fix the problem, then I'd suggest low level formatting the disk with a utility from the hard drive manufacturer, recreating the partitions with FDISK, and installing the OS with the Win98SE CD, which will give you the option of formatting the primary active DOS partition. If the Win98 disk is an upgrade, you can use the Win95 disk to verify that you already own a licensed copy of Windows, and then use the upgrade disk to install a full version of Win98. It isn't necessary to install Win95 again, just to upgrade.

Note: Preformat the system partition with the FORMAT command on the boot disk if the Win98SE CD is an upgrade disk. If the disk is a full version, this isn't necessary.

If you need it:

<A HREF="http://www.mirrors.org/archived_software/www.bootdisk.com/original.htm" target="_new">Windows Boot Disks</A>

<A HREF="http://fdisk.radified.com/" target="_new">FDISK Partitioning Guide</A>

You might also find this <A HREF="http://www.netpathway.com/~kramer/reinstall.html" target="_new">link</A> to be helpful. This <A HREF="http://www.thecomputernews.com/Tutorials/technicaltutorial/lesson13.shtml" target="_new">one</A>, too!

I also suggest using the FORMAT (driveletter): (space) /s command and switch when formatting so that the system files are transferred to the disk.

Toejam31

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[Bardic]

Toejam, have you ever used the Ranish Partition Manager? It is a very good alternative to Fdisk, and solves the need for a low level format in most cases.

 

[Toejam31]

No, sir ... I have not used this before. But thank you <i>very</i> much for bringing it to my attention, and I'm checking it out right now. The more tools, the better, as far as I'm concerned.

Have a great day!

... T

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<font color=red>Second Rig:</font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=15942" target="_new"><font color=green>Toey's Dynamite DDR Duron</font color=green></A>
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<font color=purple>"Some push the envelope. Some just lick it. And some can't find the flap."</font color=purple>