Hard Disk HELP!!!!

jublee · August 10th, 2003, 10:00 AM

Hi all,

I wanted to format an old hard drive i have and put it in a computer that i want to build, but get the following message:

Windows 98 has detected that drive c does not contain a vlid FAT or FAT32 partition on this drive.....then it goes on to give causes. drive needs to be partitioned/virus etc, i typed FDISK & FDISK/MBR but it says NO FIXED DISCS PRESENT.

Any Ideas??

Westy · August 10th, 2003, 10:59 AM

Is the drive available in the bios ?

also if you are running 98 try booting from a floppy and running fdisk from there

jublee · August 10th, 2003, 11:23 AM

It wont detect the hard drive in the bios i have tried 5 hard drives altogether, also it picks up the cd rom, so i've changed them over it still picks up cd rom but not hard drive.

I do start with win98 boot up disc...that's where it tells mr about the partition virus thingy, it wont let me fdisk...it says no fixed disks present.

Ady

Bill in SD, CA · August 10th, 2003, 11:50 AM

Until the drive is recognized in the BIOS you're stuck. Disconnect the CD and only work with the HDD. Make sure it is jumpered as master or cable select and then see if the BIOS detects it.

Bill

beppodmime · August 10th, 2003, 08:30 PM

Have you tried that hard drive in another computer? Does the drive spin up on boot at all? Sounds to me like a spent hard disk.

jesseejames · August 11th, 2003, 02:44 AM

have you tried clearing the bios I had this trouble once and clearing the bios solved it--also if you can test the drive in a working system

Siliconjunkie · August 11th, 2003, 02:56 AM

It is either dead or NTFS. A 3rd party partition tool should take care of it.

Front242 · August 11th, 2003, 04:15 AM

Have you checked to make sure your second HD is enabled in your CMOS settings. Also check to see if your current HD is set to CS or MA, if it is set to CS then set it to MA then set your second drive to SL. I know this might sound condescending but it is not meant to be. I just don't know your level of expertise.

jublee · August 11th, 2003, 04:29 AM

Thanks for all your replies,

First of all i haven't tried the drive in another computer i was thinking about doing just that but changed my mind, i haven't cleared the bios i'll give that a try when i get home later i think, how can i use a 3rd party partition tool? this is my 1st drive i don't have a second drive as it's a very old hard drive p.c, it's only a 2gb drive going into a p1 166mhz system.

Front242 · August 11th, 2003, 04:43 AM

partition Magic is bootable from floppy so you don't need the harddrive to boot but your HD does need to be recognized by the bios. If it is NTFS then partition magic should work, of course NTFS is usually recognized by fdisk.