Installing New HD, partition problems

[kstringham1952]

Hello,
I am attempting to install a new 40Gig HD into ThinkPad 390x. The install disk asked if I wanted to format the disk, which I answered yes. What it did was great a Primary patition with 7M in it and an extended partition with the remaining space. Then the installer tried to install the OS and it reported the Primary partition was too small for the installation of Win98SE.

 

[Zoron]

You'll have to explain what you mean by "install disk". Is this a factory disk that came with the laptop or is it another disk entirely? It sounds like you've formatted the drive to NTFS, which will be completely incompatible with Win9x. You should be booting from the Windows 98 CD and using FDISK to create partitions for 98. If that install disk was designed for XP, then it won't work with 98.

 

[sudeshc]

Thats right as said by Zoron, NTFS is of no use to 9x windows, try to boot from windows 9x cd rom and the delete all the partitions and redo partition as desired.

 

[kstringham1952]

You'll have to explain what you mean by "install disk". Is this a factory disk that came with the laptop or is it another disk entirely? It sounds like you've formatted the drive to NTFS, which will be completely incompatible with Win9x. You should be booting from the Windows 98 CD and using FDISK to create partitions for 98. If that install disk was designed for XP, then it won't work with 98.

I was using a Win98SE install disk, but I did try to install WinXP by mistake prior to installing Win98SE.

The ThinkPad I have does not have the most upto date BIOS in it and my system indicates that even a new battery does not have sufficient charge to permit the installation of the new BIOS. This has prevented me from installing Xp or Ubuntu 10.04 on this new disk drive.

Are you trying to tell me that the disk may have been formatted from the factory as an NTFS drive? I have tried to create new partitions. I can not eliminate the primary or the extended partitions already on the disk.

Ken

 

[Zoron]

Battery charge is irrelevant if the system is plugged in... does the system recognize that it's connected to AC power? All manufaturers recommend that you have your laptop on AC power anyway before updating the BIOS. If you cannot update your BIOS on AC power, then you have an issue with the AC adapter or battery circuitry.

You say you tried to install XP... did you create / format partitions using the XP install? If so, your drive is NTFS and Win9x won't know what to do with it. Best thing is to boot up with an XP disc and wipe all partitions (do NOT format or create new partitions, just delete the existing ones) and start with Win 98 again. FDISK should allow you to create and format your partitions to FAT32.

If that doesn't work, use a utility like DBAN to completely wipe the drive. Once that is done, if you still cannot create partitions with FDISK, then something else is wrong.

 

[kstringham1952]

Battery charge is irrelevant if the system is plugged in... does the system recognize that it's connected to AC power? All manufaturers recommend that you have your laptop on AC power anyway before updating the BIOS. If you cannot update your BIOS on AC power, then you have an issue with the AC adapter or battery circuitry.

You say you tried to install XP... did you create / format partitions using the XP install? If so, your drive is NTFS and Win9x won't know what to do with it. Best thing is to boot up with an XP disc and wipe all partitions (do NOT format or create new partitions, just delete the existing ones) and start with Win 98 again. FDISK should allow you to create and format your partitions to FAT32.

If that doesn't work, use a utility like DBAN to completely wipe the drive. Once that is done, if you still cannot create partitions with FDISK, then something else is wrong.

Thank you for the information. I downloaded DBAN, but I can't seem to get it to boot this application. What do I need to do to make this disk boot able? The ThinkPad does not seem to recognize the DBAN CD with ISO file on it or the .zip version.

 

[Zoron]

Don't burn the .ISO file to a disc... you must use the ISO to create your bootable media. You need burning software that will take the ISO image and create a disc from the image... not simply burn the file to the disk.