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I have an old Seagate 4.3 GB Hard Drive from an old Pentium 1 computer. The other day i tried formatting the HD and installing a fresh copy of Windows 98. I turned on the system with the restore cd in its drive and it began formatting. Soon it asked for a needed floppy disk to be inserted. Thats when i remembered that i had lost the floppy disk a very long time ago. So since there was absolutly nothing i could do, i turned off the comp and turned it back on. Now everytime i turn it on it does its normal start-up routine but before it starts loading up the OS (which is no longer on the HD), it gives me a black screen that says "Invalid system disk", "Replace the disk, and then press any key." I have tried every single thing possible to get that HD running, but i have failed every time. Is there anyway i could format it and then install an OS onto it? I have tried inserting the old HD into my new computer by putting it into the 2nd HD slot, but when i turn on my new comp, it gives an error message. Any ideas?
You killed Kenny! You b---tard!
If you are putting the drive in the '2nd HD slot' you have to make sure you set the jumpers on the drive to the 'slave' position. This is what's causing your error message, ntthing to do with it not being formatted.
Also, you can create a floppy boot disk on your new machine by putting a blank disk in the floppy drive, in Windows explorer, right click the 'A' drive, choose 'format' & choose 'create an MS startup disk'. You can use this to format the drive in your old machine."I know that I'm mad - I've always been mad..."
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No No No, U have understood me completly wrong. I am still going to be using the HD in the main slot of my old computer. When i said i inserted it into my new computers 2nd slot, i was just going to test it to see if there would be any difference when i use it on my new comp.. I am still going to be using it in my old computer. i just need to know how can i format it because there is no OS on it and it is corrupted (carefully read my main post please)
You killed Kenny! You b---tard!
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BTW i tried doing what u told me to do by making the start-up disk and using it on my old HD, but it wont work. I still get the same error message. P.S. when it says "invalid system disk", i think its talking about the HD, not a floppy.
You killed Kenny! You b---tard!
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TripleA, I think you `might' be using the wrong terminology.
Format means deleting all the programs and data on the hard drive.
To get the operating system on the drive you `install' windows.
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All i am trying to do is completly wipe out everything and install a fresh new comp of windows onto it. Im sorry if i was using the wrong terminology.
You killed Kenny! You b---tard!
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Sorry i wrote "fresh new comp" i meant to say "fresh new copy" BTW i am really having alot of trouble and i dont know what that error message means (probably that its corrupted because when i was restoring it, i didnt have the required floppy disk)
You killed Kenny! You b---tard!
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Well, a few questions
What kind of '98 cd do you have, that is, what does it say on the cd?
Have you tried the '98 cd in your other machine to see if the CD will boot?
Do you know how to get into the bios of your old machine, and set the "boot order?"
If so, is there an option for floppy, CD, etc?
Can you make a '98 startup disk?
or download one from www.bootdisk.com, or
the '98 cd may be bootable.
If the CD is not bootable, your working machine may not help you, you would at that point (I believe) need a startup floppy.
IF you are using XP in your working machine, and IF it has the NTFS file system, I do NOT believe that you could format the second hdd from within Windows XP.
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Hmmmmmm....... Go into the BIOS Setup, and set your FIRST Boot device as the CD ROM Drive. [Make sire its thr righ CD drive that the disk is in] Possibly the win 98 CD is bootable, if it isn't then you are going to need to get a bootable Floppy for win 98
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Heh, sry my spelling was pretty bad.
Read this instead.
Hmmmmmm....... Go into the BIOS Setup, and set your FIRST Boot device as the CD ROM Drive. [Make sure its the right CD drive that the disk is in] Possibly the windows 98 CD is bootable, if it isn't then you are going to need to get a bootable Floppy disk for windows 98.Thats better
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I am sorry but none of this is helping. I am going to try and explain as best as i can. My old computer was giving me problems... Decided to restore it using the CD it came with when i bought it. ***IT IS WINDOWS 95, I AM SORRY THAT I WROTE WINDOWS 98.*** I inserted the cd, and it began the restoration process. After about 5 min, it asked me to insert a floppy disk that also came with my comp and is needed to completly restore the system. Thats when i remembered i had lost the floppy disc. So i turned off my comp in the middle of the restoration process (only thing i could do), and i turned it back on. Now everytime i turn it on, it says "Invalid system disk", "Replace the disk, and then press any key."
1. Inserting the Restore CD does nothting (still get the same error message)
2. Inserting a Start-Up Disk i made using my new comp does nothing (still get the same error message)
3. Changing the the order in which the devices boot does nothing (still get the same error message)
H-E-L-P - P-L-E-A-S-EYou killed Kenny! You b---tard!
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If the restore process is a proprietary software, (ie, Compaq, gateway, dell), and it's asking for a proprietary disk that you lost, and you want a way around that, the answer is no. You need the disc from the manufacturer.
If you want to just use a Win95 CD to install the OS, that should work, aside from the fact it won't load any of your drivers for your hardware.
MCSE, MCSA Messaging, baby!
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Ok im gonna try buying a new HDD but i have some questions.
Does it have to be 4.3 GB like my current one?
Does it have to be a specific make or model?
If it doesnt come with an OS pre-installed, how do i install one?
You killed Kenny! You b---tard!
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If you buy a HD brand new it wont have a OS on it. You will need to find a copy of the OS you wish to install. Also. I believe you can no longer buy 4.5 Gig Hard drives.. I think the lowest you can go brand new would be 20 or 40 Gigs. You can look on ebay or something for a older HD. And if I am wrong on anything. Someone please correct me.
P4 2.6 Ghz
40 GB HD
256 MBs of DDR 333 RAM
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Can i download a copy of windows 98 se and burn it onto a cd and install the os like that?
You killed Kenny! You b---tard!
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Yes... But that is a bit.. illegal.. and its rather difficult to find a place to get the download at.. But lets not speak of this on the forum since I believe they eat the posts involing ilegal things..
P4 2.6 Ghz
40 GB HD
256 MBs of DDR 333 RAM
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on a working pc, go to www.bootdisk.com
insert a blank floppy and create a Win 95 bootdisk
boot the dead machine from this floppy
at the a:\ prompt, type format c: /s
then insert your Win 95 CD and run the setup.exe, or reboot your machine and boot from the 95 CD (you may need to change the boot order in BIOS).
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You could also put the drive in your new machine and simply format it as a slave by going to my computer and click on format. If you wanted to install xp on it then put it in the old machine as master and with a win 98 startup disk remove partitions by typing fdisk at the prompt, you need to choose startup without cd rom support, remove partitions set boot order to cd , save and exit bios remove startup disk, & have xp disk in the rom , reboot system , windows xp will format drive and create partitions if required.
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