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I bought a 200 MHZ compter without an OS installed. I tried sys c: and format c: /s but the error message is "Invalid Drive Specification" How do I get the hard drive going?
The hard disk could have died.
Hit delete during bootup and access the system bios. There should be a number of options there including (usually!) Hard Disk Auto-Detect. Try it and see. If the bios can't detect the disk, you're not going to get anywhere with using the other dos commands like SYS, FORMAT and FDISK.
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The cmos settings is on auto and there are numbers for the drive shown. i opened the case and the numbers on the drive 4092 16 63 do not match the auto detect 520 ? ? . i dids a fdisk and then the message is something like invalid media
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Clear out the cmos drive numbers, then run auto detect again to see if the right ones are picked up, rebooting in between.
OR manually set the C H S numbers in CMOS and save settings, to try to get it right.Also check the master/ slave jumper settings , some one may have tried to make this drive workable and set things wrong or missed settings completely.
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If FDISK gave you an invalid drive specification, you have no hard drive and are accessing the CD-ROM or you have the ribbon cable on reversed. Try to access C: with a CD-ROM in the drive. Is that C:? IF not check the jumper on the drive is set to master and that the ribbon cable is on correctly.
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Two possibilities:
1) Your hard disk is dead. End .....
2) The bios settings are corrupted or wrong etc.
Pull the cmos battery out and leave it for a time - a few minutes should be enough. But be generous and wait a couple of hours. Why not?
This will re-set all the cmos settings back to their default state.
Do a reboot. Get straight into the bios and select the "Hard Disk Auto Detect" option.
If the bios can't find the hard drive, then your hard drive is definately dead. Sorry ...
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i have a 486 when i hit delete to go into setup it tells me to enter current password
and i dont have a password i bought a computer on rummage sale what can i do or howto get into setup it wont let me into setup.
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