Formatting & loading OS problem

[VeRetired]

I've hit a problem trying to format a HDD and I hope someone can help me to overcome it.
The PC is very old (so is its owner), It had a 1GB HDD, the OS was Windows 98. As expected the hard drive was full to the extent that an additional 3 lines of text would crash the system.
I bought a 8.4 Gb HDD from a car-boot and tried to install and format.
Halfway through fdisk it showed that it was NTFS (1st problem) so I had to go to Seagate and d'load a 'Disk Wizard' application. That worked fine, it changed NTFS back to FAT 32. Win9* & NTFS are incompatible.
Once I had changed the filing system I thought everything would fall into place and loading the OS would be a breeze. Well I was wrong (2nd Problem) because after the reformatting the HDD, the Operating System won't load.
Here's how I was taught to reformat a HDD. maybe someone can see a
glaring mistake:

Create boot disk, insert in Arive and boot up.
Select option 'start computer with CD support'
At the A:\ prompt, type in, fdisk
when asked if you want to enable large disk support, type in, Y and hit Enter
Select to create a Primary DOS partition
The prog will ask you if you want to all the disk space for the Primary DOS partition.Type Y and hit Enter
Press ESC key to exit fdisk and restart the computer using Ctrl+Alt+Del.
After restarting type in, format C: at the A:\ prompt. When you confirm that you want to clean everything of the disk by entering Y the process will remove all data.
Restart the computer when the formatting is complete.
Insert the OS Disk and at the A:\ prompt type in, E: I've tried D, F,G, nor will it accept, setup to start loding OS
This is where I get warnings such as 'Bad command or file name' and I cannot get passed it, so reformatting is incomplete.
I've tried to help the owner sort out the problem and he can't accept that the machine might have problems throughout system. BTW. I am not charging him a brass farthing for doing the work, in fact I'm out of pocket because I paid for the HDD and 64Mgb of memory. I'm not saying that for a pat on the back, it's just that I've pulled my tripe out on this heap of junk and I don't want to pay for the privilege of being called an Ar**hole by him.
All help appreciated

 

[Igorian]

The formatting bit is ok. I am assuming you are loading from CD? If so, you will need a boot disk with some CDROM drivers. You can get them from here. Also, see this thread.

 

[VeRetired]

Thanks for the reply Igorian, it looks like you've nailed the problem. I see a warning saying; 'OEMCD0001; No valid CD-ROM drivers were found.
I went to the site that you advised and d'loaded the boot disk, but that didn't work, I followed the instructions but I kept on getting the 'Insert disk' even though the floppy was in and engaged. I give up on that and went to the archive site of Creative Labs, tracked and downloaded the correct driver for the CD-ROM. It is now installed on a floppy but I cannot feed it into the system to enable a boot up. I'm now at an impasse and until I get a fix or my patience runs out the 'HEAP' will stay put until the binmen come on Tuesday.
I'd appreciate a walk through on this because there are words being used by the Computer and the boot disk creator that can mean different things e.g. insert System Disk; does this mean a Windows boot-up disk or the specialist disk from Bootdisk.com.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Igorian]

Ok, no probs.

1) Download this bootdisk image program, run the program on a working PC and let it create the bootable floppy.

2) Insert floppy into drive of machine you are going to load up and boot it up. You will see a menu displayed. Make sure the Windows CD is in the drive and select the option to install. Windows setup should now start.

 

[VeRetired]

Alas, that didn't work. I inserted the floppy and put the Win 98SE in the tray but the system booted up with the 'Start Computer with CD-ROM Support' menu. There weren't any options such as Install.
It does persist in telling me that ATAPI CD-ROM Device Driver 'MSCD001'
no drives found: abhorting installation, which takes me back to your original diagnosis.
How do I transfer the d'loaded CD-ROM driver from the floppy during setup to enable OS installation?
When I get;
A:\
What do I have to do to get the floppy recognized?
I'm thinking that you're close to resolving this problem, Igorian, so please stick with me on this one, (at least until Tuesday)

 

[Igorian]

Strange, must be a really old CD drive.

Ok, let's try another approach. You will need to reformat your hard drive to make it bootable. Using the floppy that you originally formatted it with, and from the A:\ prompt, type

FORMAT C: /S

This will format and transfer the system files. If this is successful, you should be able to remove the floppy and boot to the C drive.

Next, insert the floppy with the correct CD drivers you downloaded earlier. Is there an install program on it? If so, run it and the drivers should install.

Let me know what happens.

 

[VeRetired]

Things went OK part of the way.
Formatting went OK and I got a C:\ prompt but I don't know what command to key in to transfer the drivers, other than the E: or setup and they don't activate anything.
I haven't seen an install prog included with the d'loaded files.

Thanks,
Tony

 

[Igorian]

What files are included in the download from creative? I thought u put them on floppy (A:\)?

 

[VeRetired]

This is the contents of the floppy;
SBIDE-95
CREATIVE SOFTWARE LICENSE
SPIDE.MPD file SBIDE.MPD v1.07 - updated miniport driver for Windows 95. This device driver improves transfer rate under Windows 95.

Includes SBIDE.INF file. To install thisdriver, goto Control-Panel - Add New Hardware - Choose 'No' To Search For New Hardware - Click On CD ROM Controllers -Click On 'Have Disk' Button - Specify The Drive Where This Driver Is.

FILE I.D.This device driver supports Creative
CD220E, CD420E, CD620E, NEC CDR271/272/273
Mitsumi FX400, FX400D, MKE CR574, CR581B,
CR581M,
SBIDE Setup information

Do you think the CD-ROM is wheezing?

 

[Igorian]

Sounds like it. The setup disk I mentioned should have worked. Have you got a spare CD drive? If so, swap it to test it.

Another thought. Can you check the BIOS to see if the CD is enabled?

 

[olly_k]

Here's how I was taught to reformat a HDD. maybe someone can see a
glaring mistake:

Create boot disk, insert in Arive and boot up.
Select option 'start computer with CD support'
At the A:\ prompt, type in, fdisk
when asked if you want to enable large disk support, type in, Y and hit Enter
Select to create a Primary DOS partition
The prog will ask you if you want to all the disk space for the Primary DOS partition.Type Y and hit Enter
Press ESC key to exit fdisk and restart the computer using Ctrl+Alt+Del.
After restarting type in, format C: at the A:\ prompt. When you confirm that you want to clean everything of the disk by entering Y the process will remove all data.
Restart the computer when the formatting is complete.

Lets step back a bit this has to be somthing real silly - as most puter probs are! Did you leave the win98 'startup disk' in the drive for the startup during exact above action - At this point even if you 'format c: /s' you are only copying basic system files to c: NOT startup files! Leave 98 startup disk in drive and select 'with cdrom support'.

The way you explain above you took disk out after formatting thinking the computer was ready to restart into dos by itself - if so it wasn't!

 

[Igorian]

Here's how I was taught to reformat a HDD. maybe someone can see a
glaring mistake:

Create boot disk, insert in Arive and boot up.
Select option 'start computer with CD support'
At the A:\ prompt, type in, fdisk
when asked if you want to enable large disk support, type in, Y and hit Enter
Select to create a Primary DOS partition
The prog will ask you if you want to all the disk space for the Primary DOS partition.Type Y and hit Enter
Press ESC key to exit fdisk and restart the computer using Ctrl+Alt+Del.
After restarting type in, format C: at the A:\ prompt. When you confirm that you want to clean everything of the disk by entering Y the process will remove all data.
Restart the computer when the formatting is complete.

Lets step back a bit this has to be somthing real silly - as most puter probs are! Did you leave the win98 'startup disk' in the drive for the startup during exact above action - At this point even if you 'format c: /s' you are only copying basic system files to c: NOT startup files! Leave 98 startup disk in drive and select 'with cdrom support'.

The way you explain above you took disk out after formatting thinking the computer was ready to restart into dos by itself - if so it wasn't!

No, the problem is that the CD ROM is not being recognised

It does persist in telling me that ATAPI CD-ROM Device Driver 'MSCD001'
no drives found: abhorting installation

Did u get any joy with the BIOS? You might want to check the data cable and drive jumpers are correct.

 

[olly_k]

Here's how I was taught to reformat a HDD. maybe someone can see a
glaring mistake:

Create boot disk, insert in Arive and boot up.
Select option 'start computer with CD support'
At the A:\ prompt, type in, fdisk
when asked if you want to enable large disk support, type in, Y and hit Enter
Select to create a Primary DOS partition
The prog will ask you if you want to all the disk space for the Primary DOS partition.Type Y and hit Enter
Press ESC key to exit fdisk and restart the computer using Ctrl+Alt+Del.
After restarting type in, format C: at the A:\ prompt. When you confirm that you want to clean everything of the disk by entering Y the process will remove all data.
Restart the computer when the formatting is complete.

Lets step back a bit this has to be somthing real silly - as most puter probs are! Did you leave the win98 'startup disk' in the drive for the startup during exact above action - At this point even if you 'format c: /s' you are only copying basic system files to c: NOT startup files! Leave 98 startup disk in drive and select 'with cdrom support'.

The way you explain above you took disk out after formatting thinking the computer was ready to restart into dos by itself - if so it wasn't!

No, the problem is that the CD ROM is not being recognised

It does persist in telling me that ATAPI CD-ROM Device Driver 'MSCD001'
no drives found: abhorting installation

Did u get any joy with the BIOS? You might want to check the data cable and drive jumpers are correct.

Am I to assume that we had the same problems earlier then? (highlighted bold)

 

[VeRetired]

Well Olly, Thanks for having a go at resolving the problem, but the answer to question is; No, I didn't take the 'start up disk' out of the drive. I would have done that when I was about to install Win 98.

Igorian,
1st, The jumper is set to slave
2nd, I'm sure the data ribbon is OK, because the PC, as old as it may be, was working when it was passed over to me.
3rd, eerrmmm, I think the CD ROM is being recognized. Because I've changed the priority's a couple of times when booting up e.g. first boot ; Floppy, Second boot CD-ROM etc. in the bios. If that is wrong then you've identified the possible cause, and directions would appreciated.
I've just been to my daughters and 'borrowed' her CD/ DVD-ROM so I'm going to start from the beginning.
Thanks for your help,
P.S. Don't go out, or have a drink or do anything that will distract you from the task in hand. Oh yes, I nearly forgot, stay away from your Wife/Girlfriend. Well just for tonight.

Thanks again,
Tony

 

[VeRetired]

Igorian go to the top of the class.
I swapped CD drives and the OS is loading and going through the installation process.
My next task is to find the drivers for the chipsets and onboard Audio/Video. I did make a note of them so I shouldn't have too much of a problem.

Thanks again
Tony