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Hi,
My friend's Dell dual boot pc crashed both OS's. I fixed it after a lot of work so that it works fine now with win98 only, which is fine with my friend.
However, there is still a big problem. The original specs on this computer state that it has 40 gb of hard drive.
The diagnostics now show that it has only a little more than 3 gb total on the hard drive. There is still an ntsf partition on the hard drive(there was a message that told me that) that is not accessible. I have not been able to get rid of the ntsf partition with fdisk, etc.
Anyway, I downloaded PartitionMagic, and copied the program to a CD, hoping it will correct this problem. I heard it will do wonders.
Looking at PartitionMagic's 'read me' file on my computer(before I try it on my friends)it looks very complex. However, running the application itself provides a simple looking list of choices -- "expand a partition, delete a partition---" etc.
I will need to delete the ntsf partition on my friends computer and convert it to FAT32, like the win 98 partition is now, thereby expanding the existing FAT32 partition to its proper size. Or, perhaps it is a matter of expanding the FAT32 partition to its max size? I don't want to keep the ntsf partition.
Does anyone have experience with PartitionMagic and can tell me if this is feasible and safe?Thank very much
Ron
Forget about partition magic. Download delpart instead. It's a small file you can probably add to your bootdisk. Anyway, boot up with your bootdisk and run delpart at the prompt.
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Also, you say it's a dual boot setup. Are you sure the NTFS partition doesn't contain the other OS--NT, 2000 or XP? Be careful what you delete.
If you go ahead and delete it, partition magic should be able to incorporate that now empty space into the existing partition containing win98. Or you can use fdisk and partition the space as an extended partition and then create a logical drive in that partition. That will show as drive D: in windows and your cdrom will be bumped up to E:
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It depends upon whether you want to save the contents of the NTSF partition. The preferable way would be to put the drive in a NTSF compatible system and copy the data off. Depending on the version of Partition Magic you may be able to convert NTFS to FAT32.
Otherwise delete the NTFS partition with fdisk, delpart or partition magic and either expand the partition or create an extended partitionand its logical volumes as needed.
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If you want to use Partition Magic, it's pretty simple.
Delete the NTFS partition.
Then expand the FAT32 partition.
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Hello again,
Thanks for all the good ideas!
I downloaded delpart, put it on a floppy, and loaded delpart from the c: prompt on MY computer. It looks easy enough: just indicate the partition to delete, and delete it. Great!
If I use this program on my son's computer (2 partitions should show up: FAT32 and NTSF) and it deletes the ntsf partition(we don't want to keep any of it) can I use partitionmagic to EXPAND the remaining fat32 partition? (We want one partition for win98 only).
Is there anything to format? eg. the space left when I delete the ntsf partition? How does this work?Thanks,
Ron
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Well, after a week, I have to give up on this one. My son and I are going shopping tomorrow for a new one. It's his birthday. He's 46.
The advice I received was accurate and useful--but the problem didn't go away.
I got win 98 installed on one, the smaller, partition(only 3 gigs), leaving the other 37 gigs untouched. Wn 98 worked perfectly on the small partition,and had a correct screen appearance, but 37 gigs on the NTSF partition were unusable.
Then I managed to merge the two partitions with Partition Magic, producing the correct 40 gig hard drive total. However, I lost the screen appearance. I could only get 16 colors. The same driver I had used previously would not work(?) Color depth was too narrow to run some programs and screen icons were too large and nothing would adjust.
I did everything I could think of to correct the problem, but nothing worked. Finally, I deleted the partitions again to start over, but new problems developed--unexpected ones. No matter what I tried, I could not get rid of the NTSF partition. Delpart would say it was deleted, but it wasn't the next time I checked. I finally did get it deleted with Partition Magic, but the total was still reported as only 3 gigs! I decided the problem was deeper than just the hard drive. The KillDisj program wold not load at all(?) It loaded and ran when I first started this job. I hate to give up on this but the problems are bigger than I am able to tackle. Thanks for all your help. I learned a lot.
Ron
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Before you exit delpart the partition changes need to be saved. When using the normal exit a box will open asking if you want the changes saved. If you just restart the computer without saving it then the partition will still be there.
Otherwise, check that the IDE cables are tightly attached.
On a normal functioning drive delpart will delete any partition.
I haven't used partition magic but you wouldn't be able to merge the partitions if one was a 98 dos partition and the other was NTFS. And of course if the NTFS partition had been removed and the empty space merged with the 3 gig partition, it wouldn't have shown up again. The problems with the screen colors indicate you probably lost the video drivers.
The manufacturer's installation disk will have a zero fill utility on it. Running that should erase everything. I imagine killdisk is another similar utility but I've never used it and couldn't speculate on why it wouldn't run.
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Daveincaps,
Right on! I discovered the SAVE function on delpart the 2nd time I ran it. Yes, it worked. Getting the partitions deleted and merged into one partition was great, but when I saw that I had lost the screen depth and color and couldn't get it back. (I tried the driver that had produced the correct screen previously, but it didn't work)I decided it wasn't going to work, no matter what.
We went to a computer store today and bought one that the store techs put together(I think)and it works fine. There is a problem, however, with transferring the DELL drives to it. The DELL drive that reads both cd's and dvd's is not compatible. Also the DELL drive that burns cd's is not compatible. I will l need to get a new drive for cd burning and dvd reading.
The DELL Dimension 8100 that we trashed was my son's. I'm sure I will not be buyng a DELL at anytime. The drives seem to be proprietary to DELL only.Thanks for you help,
Ron
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DVD and other cdrom devices are generic. The only 'incompatibility' I can think of is one of the computers was using SCSI drives and the other was using IDE drives. IDE drives have a 40-pin connection and SCSIs have a 50-pin connection. But very few PCs use SCSI.
Or maybe the cdrom faceplate had been removed so it'd fit right behind the Dell front cover and the new computer has open bays.
Dells are usually pretty good. Unless there was some physical problem with the HD you probably could have repartitioned, formatted and reinstall the OS with no problem. There's always the problem of hunting down drivers when you don't have the original disks. But that's something you experience with any system you're putting together.
Good luck with your new system.
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Whoops!
The Dell drives do work in the new computer. The problem was simply the master/slave jumpers were arranged wrong.
When they were corrected the Dell drive that reads both CD's and DVD's works fine. Also the DELL DVD drive works perfectly.(the DELL DVD software wouldn't work, but that was not a problem. I installed Power DVD, and it does the job.
The new computer is up and running now. The only remaining problem is that my son can't receive e-mails, but he can send them. He has Earthlink. I had Earthlink years ago but I have had Juno premium for the last 5 years and can't help him.
I have stuck with Juno because it does my E-mail and my Internet connection separately.Thanks again for your help.
Ron
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Have him make sure the modem is setup properly. Run the diagnostics from 'modems' in control panel. Otherwise he may need to reinstall the ISP software.
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