[Numb Remxed]

Hi, I was playing around with my old computer and trying to install another internal harddrive. I guess I screwed up a bit because now the computer cant seem to find the operating system even when i uplug the second harddrive. I get an error message on a black screen saying "missing operating system" after the boot screen.

I have several gigabytes of data that can't lose. Is there anyway to recover this system or at least get the data out so i cant reinstall win98?

Thanks!

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Hi Numb Remxed,

You should make sure that the harddrive jumpers have been set correctly.
If you have one handy look at the label it should give an illustration of how to set it to Master or Slave.
There sometimes a setting for Cable Select or CS but you should set the harddrive you want to boot to as Master.

- Pseudopath.

Edited by Pseudopath, 10 September 2006 - 11:30 AM.

[Pseudopath]

Hi Numb Remxed,

You should make sure that the harddrive jumpers have been set correctly.
If you have one handy look at the label it should give an illustration of how to set it to Master or Slave.
There sometimes a setting for Cable Select or CS but you should set the harddrive you want to boot to as Master.

- Pseudopath.

Edited by Pseudopath, 10 September 2006 - 11:30 AM.

[Numb Remxed]

thanks for the reply. I kept all the cables as they were before i tried to add a second internal harddrive, which worked before.

I've attached 2 pics just in case i did something wrong. the first one is just the error message and the second one is my harddrive. I've already taken the second harddrive out. Now it's just the original drive and the floppy drive.

[Pseudopath]

thanks for the reply. I kept all the cables as they were before i tried to add a second internal harddrive, which worked before.

I've attached 2 pics just in case i did something wrong. the first one is just the error message and the second one is my harddrive. I've already taken the second harddrive out. Now it's just the original drive and the floppy drive.

They connections seem okay.

Have you a Floopy Startup Disk?

- Pseudopath.

[Numb Remxed]

yes I do have the windows 98 SE floppy disk and the CD as well. The problem is I'm not really familiar with 98 so I dont really know what to do.

I've loaded it and it has the option to load with or without CD support. And I dont know what to do afterwards.

[Pseudopath]

yes I do have the windows 98 SE floppy disk and the CD as well. The problem is I'm not really familiar with 98 so I dont really know what to do.

I've loaded it and it has the option to load with or without CD support. And I dont know what to do afterwards.

Okay, can you access the harddrive using the floppy? (just boot with it and try "dir C:\")

- Pseudopath.

[Numb Remxed]

alright so when i load the boot disk, i got a black screen with

A:\>

and then i type in "dir C:\"

and it gives me an error message "Invalid media type reading C"

[Pseudopath]

alright so when i load the boot disk, i got a black screen with

A:\>

and then i type in "dir C:\"

and it gives me an error message "Invalid media type reading C"

Okay that's bad news I'm afraid.
It means at the least you've got a corrupt MasterBootRecord (its a pointer basically) at the worst you might have a trashed harddrive.

You said earlier that you have another computer, is this working and whay windows is it?

- Pseudopath.

[Numb Remxed]

ya, the problem is on my old computer (Windows 98 SE). I'm at my regular home computer at the moment. It's windows XP sp2.

[Pseudopath]

ya, the problem is on my old computer (Windows 98 SE). I'm at my regular home computer at the moment. It's windows XP sp2.

There are a couple of things you could do.
You could add the drive that appears broken to your XP machine (you WOULD have to make sure the dodgy harddrive was set as a slave though) and see if you can see it in "My Computer".
Obviously power down your system first and take electrostatic discharge precautions.
If that works you can just copy the files if not we could try recreating the MasterBootRecord.

Let me know how you get on.

- Pseudopath.

[Numb Remxed]

well there's a slight problem with that. I have an hp pavilion so the case is pretty small. I dont have an extra slot to add another drive on my xp machine.

[Pseudopath]

well there's a slight problem with that. I have an hp pavilion so the case is pretty small. I dont have an extra slot to add another drive on my xp machine.

Okay, I know the type but have you the right connectors available?
(you might be able to connect the drive but not close the PCs box - risky but possible)
I leave it up to you!

- Pseudopath.

[Numb Remxed]

i'm not sure. I already have 4 drives in the case right now (cd, dvd, floppy, and harddrive). And last time, i had to open it up to replace the power supply and I was barely able to close it. lol

Edited by Numb Remxed, 10 September 2006 - 01:47 PM.

[Pseudopath]

i'm not sure. I already have 4 drives in the case right now (cd, dvd, floppy, and harddrive). And last time, i had to open it up to replace the power supply and I was barely able to close it. lol

Okay, last thing to do is attempt to restore the MBR (MasterBootRecord).
Use the startup disk and when you get to the "A:\" prompt type this "fdisk /mbr" and press enter.
This might not solve the problem if the drive is to use the technical term "knackered"

Hopefully though it will allow you to boot Win98.

See how you get on.

- Pseudopath.

[Numb Remxed]

well i tried it and it didn't do anything. After I entered "fdisk /mbr" the disk made some noise and it just gave me another A:\>

so does this mean that the harddrive is completely trashed, even if i try to do a clean reinstall of windows 98?