I have a hard drive (Fat32) that I installed XP on and ALL WENT FINE. I then took that hard drive out of the xp machine and put it in an empty computer.

I then did an Fdisk and format and ALL WENT FINE. No errors at all!

I then install win98 on it and ALL GOES FINE all the way to the 100% of copying files (thanks from the dev team msg,etc.).

Then, when it reboots and goes to 'starting windows for the first time' i get the error message 'windows protection error, you must restart your computer'.

I have re-fdisked this drive like 5 times now. Each time, ALL of the above steps go just fine and then when it goes to 'load windows for the first time' i get the protection error.

Personally, I think windows XP did something at a low level to my hard drive that win98 now cant deal with, but why in the hell does an fdisk and format not make this hard drive 'just like it was off the shelf again'.

PLEASE HELP!

XP didn't do anything low level. You have to be missing something. Are you using a Win 98 boot disk? (I'm not sure if XP Fdisk is the same as Win 98's Fdisk). Go over it again slower this time.

Greg,

Try the microsoft link below.

Windows Protection Errors

Hope this Helps.

Good Day!
Mesich

Doesn't this have something to do with FAT32
and NTFS partitions?

Fdisk does not reformat the drive. You are a victim of data corruption. Try rebooting with your startup disk. On virtual drive D: there is a format utility. Type D:\format C: this should do a complete format of the drive. Try to reinstall after that. If that doesn't work try a third party software like Partition Magic. I've had the same problem.

Greg,Just a suggestion but try this command when you do the format on the HD: format c:/s

This will also copy the windows system files to the HD and may help you get by the errors your having.Good luck,Drewpy

I'm pretty sure this isn't the problem but just in case. Make sure the anti-virus option in the Bios is disabled.

Wow, what a lot of replies so quickly. THANKS to all of you for taking the time.

Let me see if I can respond to you all:

1. Jiminy, it is the Win98 boot disk and I went throught it 'slow' the 2nd through the 5th time.
2. Mesich, I tried microsofts help and it told me to extract the file msmouse.vxd from the cab files to correct the problem. That didnt work. (Even thought when I do a step-by-step-confirm it does appear that the loading of msmouse.vxd is where my error occurs).
3. Superyuts, I like your suggestion and am going to try the format from the ramdrive now. I also purchased partitionmagic 7.0 but can I run it from the 'system dos boot' rather than simply running it in windows (since I cant get into windows to install it)? I guess I should know this but help me understand please.
4. AntiVirus is disable in the bios.

THANKS again for the suggestions, ALL of you. I REALLY appreciate your time. I will check back here shortly for any other replies and to update you on whether that stuff worked or not.

Thanks,
Greg

dont panic you just use a partition manager program ranish partition or partition magic .first open your pc with a boot disk and put the partition manager disk ,run it and look your hard drive must be fat 32 or fat16 if not ,change it with partition manager and format your hard drive .your problem may partition collusion .after this processes .you can make fdisk again and format again .dont forget you must format your hard disk drive

ANd if all the above don't fix it, get Delpart.exe and really clean out the old partition info, then win98 fdisk, format and install.

OK.

Superyutz, the format from the ramdrive produced the same results (protection error during 'loading windows first time'). I now booted to my win98 disk, put the partition magic cd in and ran pqmagic from the CD in 'dos mode'.

I then checked the drive for errors, bad sectors, etc. ALL pqmagic tests came out perfectly fine. I then deleted the existing partition. APPLIED. Created new partition (Fat32). APPLIED. Formatted new partition. APPLIED. No Errors during any of the pqmagic stuff.

I am now performing another win98 installation and see how it goes....

more info to follow....

Thanks for all the suggestions (everyone)...

OK, that didnt work either. Partition Magic 7.0 partitioned/formatted just fine but got same error msg after installing windows.

Verified all bios settings and see nothing wrong.

Going to try delpart.exe now.

more info to come...

Greg

Well, the saga continues. Im almost at the givup point on this one. DelPart.exe deletes the partition fine. Then I reallocated one and formatted using pqmagic7.0. Again, no problems at all. Installed windows, no problems.

SURPRISE! WINDOWS PROTECTION ERROR! Man I've built like 30 machines in my life, installed various operating systems (including NT, 2000, 95, 98, ME, XP) probably a total of 100 times or more. I am so sick of this message I am about to throw the drive out the window.

My thoughts now are that is HAS to be a hardware problem (ie-BIOS setting). I only have a single card in the machine (pci video card) nothing else (except of course HD, floppy, cdrom)

I am now going to disconnect my wifes primary HD and hook this one up as the master on that machine. If I can install win98 with no problems, it must be bios related.

I will brb...hehe