Reformatting

[Raven_Writer]

Ok, due to my stupidity, I have totally screwed up my computer. What happened was that I tried booting into Windows 98, and it gave me an "Enter the path to the command script (eg: C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM)" error, and the path I gave failed.

So then I tried running my recovery disk, and it failed to load it, giving me an error basically saying that I have to use FDISK. Now, whenever I startup my computer, it always shows a GNU grub screen (assuming due to the fact that I had SuSE installed).

This is all happening on a Windows 98 SE system, so does anyone have any way to fix this? I have also tried doing "format: c" instead of typing "fdisk" (w/o quotes), but it said something like: "Cannot reformat drive C:".

[Astronouth7303]

Do you have a working computer around? Try sticking the drive in that.

What happened before this? Did something go wrong, or did you just turn it on one morning?

Also check your startup disk; I'll send you an IMG of one of mine if you need it.

I think your drive is still good, but something went wrong and now WinLoader can't find command.com (it's also C:\command.com)

[Raven_Writer]

Originally Posted by Astronouth7303

Do you have a working computer around? Try sticking the drive in that.

What happened before this? Did something go wrong, or did you just turn it on one morning?

Also check your startup disk; I'll send you an IMG of one of mine if you need it.

I think your drive is still good, but something went wrong and now WinLoader can't find command.com (it's also C:\command.com)

1. Just this one.

2. Nothing. All I did was highlight the command.com file in my C: drive (while in SUSE), and attempted to reboot into Win98.

3. I only got a recovery CD, which won't load.

4. That's kinda/basically what Brandon said when I asked him about this.

Thanks also.

[Ryan M.]

Originally Posted by Raven_Writer

2. Nothing. All I did was highlight the command.com file in my C: drive (while in SUSE), and attempted to reboot into Win98.

Selected it while booted into Suse? I don't think you can do that...

On the GRUB screen, does it give you an option to choose between Windows or Linux?

[Raven_Writer]

Originally Posted by Texan

Selected it while booted into Suse? I don't think you can do that...

On the GRUB screen, does it give you an option to choose between Windows or Linux?

Nope, it doesn't. I restarted my computer, and instead of booting into Linux/SUSE, I chose Windows, and then it happened...

No, not that I'm aware of. Although I'm unsure right now becuase I reinstalled SUSE, and it seems to be working fine for now. I didn't see an option before though for it.

[Bharat Nain]

I've been helping Eric for a while now, he is having many problems and stuff. I have a question, if he boots up using knoppix(bootable linux), and then wants to format his C:, how should he do it? Go to Terminal and.... ? Can anybody give exact steps?
Thanks
-Bharat

[Joe Ross]

You can do your formatting from within QTParted.

[Raven_Writer]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

You can do your formatting from within QTParted.

I can't find that on SUSE, though I'm sure it's on Knoppix (which I'm gonna run now). Here's a way Tekno told me also:

mkfs.vfat

in a terminal window.

[Bharat Nain]

I am not so much into Linux so more research tomorrow, till then if by someone else can give steps to format using knoppix, it'd be great

The deal here is that he can't get into DOS while booting, we've tried almost all buttons. The floppy drive doesnt work. The windows recovery CD(s) wont work either, it says that it cant reformat for some odd reason. So i figured out we could use bootable linux(knoppix) or something, what do you experts say?

Also, I suggested he use Mandrake, because I've found it the easiest to install when it comes to dual-booting(atleast for me). I know its a matter of opinion and choice, but thats just my suggestion.

[Venkatesh]

The first thing I would try would be to boot with the recovery CD, but instead of letting the CD fully boot, hold down on F8 while the CD is starting. If the CD is based on some iteration of DOS, it will give you an option for "Safe Mode Command Prompt". This will give you a good old DOS prompt. Most system recovery CDs I have used (IBM and HP) have fdisk on the CD-ROM. I would then type "fdisk /status". This will tell you if DOS can see the hard drive and its partitions. After that, a good "fdisk /mbr" will remove GRUB (if thats what you want).

If the CD is not MS-DOS based, a Windows 95 or Windows 98 install cd will suffice for DOS.

Also you might want to try the GRUB command line. At the grub screen press C. Then you will get a prompt "grub>". At that prompt, type root (hd0,x), where x is the numerical partition on which Windows/DOS is installed. Then type "chainloader +1" and then type boot. You can find the number x thru experimentation or from a partition manager.

Good luck, and PM me if you need any help.

[Marc P.]

If you'd like to salvage just windows and forget about linux for now, boot up from a 98 boot disk (or CD), and from a dos prompt do:

fdisk /mbr

Then reboot. It should reset the master boot record to something windows likes. I was never a big fan of grub, so I can't help you much on getting the dual boot working. I'm a LILO user... It's easier to use and configure than grub IMHO.

[Raven_Writer]

Would running fixmbr work (given the fact that I'd be running it off a CD *recovery CD*)?

[Greg]

I have encountered this problem the first time I repartitioned the drive too I was really scared and wiped the drive. As I found out later I didnt have to... I think what you are experiencing is similar.

I used Partition Magic, but your software may support this too. Basically, the problem is that you cant' have more than 4 primary paritions. If you try to create more, some programs will "help out" and change the fs type of one of the partitions. To the program such a partition will appear as "hidden". To Windows it will appear to be garbage. Sometimes this change happens even with fewer than 4 partitions on the disk.

What can you do to fix this? In Partition Magic there is an option under "advanced" to "unhide" the partition. If you use some other program, there is probably something similar. If not, all you have to do is manually change the partition type in the partition table. There should be programs available for manual partition table editing.

This may also be a problem with your Grub configuration. It may help to take a look at the grub.conf file (it may also be called menu.lst).

[Raven_Writer]

Originally Posted by Greg

I have encountered this problem the first time I repartitioned the drive too I was really scared and wiped the drive. As I found out later I didnt have to... I think what you are experiencing is similar.

I used Partition Magic, but your software may support this too. Basically, the problem is that you cant' have more than 4 primary paritions. If you try to create more, some programs will "help out" and change the fs type of one of the partitions. To the program such a partition will appear as "hidden". To Windows it will appear to be garbage. Sometimes this change happens even with fewer than 4 partitions on the disk.

What can you do to fix this? In Partition Magic there is an option under "advanced" to "unhide" the partition. If you use some other program, there is probably something similar. If not, all you have to do is manually change the partition type in the partition table. There should be programs available for manual partition table editing.

This may also be a problem with your Grub configuration. It may help to take a look at the grub.conf file (it may also be called menu.lst).

I did use PartitionMagic. My problem is that I can't run it now (I tried, using WINE, and it said that it can't find or open some driver file).

[Greg]

Originally Posted by Raven_Writer

I did use PartitionMagic. My problem is that I can't run it now (I tried, using WINE, and it said that it can't find or open some driver file).

If you used Partition Magic, then this is (almost) certainly the problem you are having. Now to get into Partition Magic...

When you installed Partition Magic it asked you to make boot floppies. If you had those, you could boot into dos with a dos version of Partition Magic running. But i think you said you dont have a floppy drive. Try this. Have someone install Partition Magic and make the disks. Then burn a bootable cd with dos on it, and the contents of the PartitionMagic floppies. It might work. I have also seen a recovery cd image somewhere on the net that had partition magic on it. However, that would be illegal to use since you'd be getting a pirated copy But since you own a copy of partition magic anyway... Decide for yourself, im not going to advertise illegal software here