[derekg]

Ok to lay alot of what its doin in depth, i looked around in questions b4 posting, basically its what it says it jus wont boot up , its a hp8665c 512 ram(added a yr ago) and the 38 gig hard drive it came with, the problem i am recieving is when i boot the computer up, it will start with the hp blue screen then go to a black screen with blinkiing curser top left, this had happened to me a month ago and the weird thing about it is i did the auto disk clean up then rebooted and it took me to black screen with curser blink top left, but how i fixed this was i put the win98 cd in booted it up ran from cd and re installed over top hoping to fix it and it was successful only losin a few drivers that i had to re install main from my own personal uses like ulead picturing and just minor things so no big deal,, the problem i have now is the weirdest thing to me because everything was workin 100 perc. i was in the process of finishing a few downloads on limewire and my wireless net froze up on me so i couldnt do anything but pull the plug and plug it back in, i turn the power on and again i get this black screen with curser top left.,.noww when i try do the re install it says windows setup requires 7340032 bytes available on your c: drive ,, i looked made sure everything was snug in the pc box,, tried each ram individually,,, and i dont know if this helps but i had a 8 gig drive with win98se that was jus lyin around also so i unhooked my 38 gig drive and plugged the 8 gig drive in and it booted up just fine so would that mean the motherboarding is ok?not many who post this prob have access to another drive to try so jus tryin to weed out things,, i have some very important stuff i need that i dont have another copy of or back up of so i was wondering is it possible to save this stuff and could it be some minor problem that the average computer user such as myself cant figure out,, i tried with a 3 and a half floppy disk, and it takes it further than the blinking screen, but i do not know the commands to get it running if it can go further, i was about to perform a scandisk and it was error free,, if there are any suggestions i would greatly apreciate it and hope i narrowed down everything what it has been doin , thankyou

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Hi Derekg
Welcome to G2G
It sounds like your 38gig drive might be getting full.
Having the 8gig puts you in the best place(in my opion).
I would set the drive on the 8 gig to be a master with a slave, Then set the 38gig as a slave. You do this via jumper settings. If you do not know how to do this then give me the make and model of both drives.
This will allow you to have just windows on the 8gig and all your data on the 32gig. We would then just remove the windows install of the 38gig once everything is up and running.
The benefit of this is that if you get any windows problems or virus then your data should remain safe on the other disc.
The only snag with this is you have to have your original programs to reload(office etc) as they are in the old windows setup. If you do have the programs then I would advise this as the best option
Cheers
peterm

Edited by peterm, 25 October 2007 - 01:50 AM.

[peterm]

Hi Derekg
Welcome to G2G
It sounds like your 38gig drive might be getting full.
Having the 8gig puts you in the best place(in my opion).
I would set the drive on the 8 gig to be a master with a slave, Then set the 38gig as a slave. You do this via jumper settings. If you do not know how to do this then give me the make and model of both drives.
This will allow you to have just windows on the 8gig and all your data on the 32gig. We would then just remove the windows install of the 38gig once everything is up and running.
The benefit of this is that if you get any windows problems or virus then your data should remain safe on the other disc.
The only snag with this is you have to have your original programs to reload(office etc) as they are in the old windows setup. If you do have the programs then I would advise this as the best option
Cheers
peterm

Edited by peterm, 25 October 2007 - 01:50 AM.

[derekg]

thank you peterm for responding , yes my 38 gig drive is getting a little full might only have about 4ish gig left, when it shown me that mesage that windows need about 7340032 bytes avail on c: drive in order to let the win 98 install over itself again i somehow found in tinkerin there was about 3759261 byts avail. something around there,,i was hopin to be able to try delete something so the cd could go ahead with install but with basic tinkerings i was un successfull, could this be a registry problem? i was told that you get your boot disk wich i have a tru boot disk 98se from the 8 gig i used to test out to see if my computer would run that, and it does just fine,, i once in these troubles, had put the little clip on master or primary of the 8 gig and i doubt that i put a clip on the 38 for slave,but it said operating system not found but i had thought it was pullin the info from the 8 gig so it would work, i unplug the 38 then the 8 gig worked,, i will give u the model #s as u had asked and do you think its possible to save anything on the 38 gig? you had mentioned that having the 8 gig in your opinion puts me in the best place, i dont know if it was helpful or not having that extra 8 gig lying around, i assume so because nothing seems to be wrong on it , here is the information that you requested
8 gig info is Seagate U4 model st38421A(this 8 gig came from another hp)
38 gig(shows on it 40 but only comes up as 38) western digital wd400, model wd400eb-oocpfo, hope this helps, (both drives show the jumper settings on them) the 40 shows single or master with nothing clipped in, then master with slave present,, then slave is second slot from right,, also says a j8 jumper setting wich is the far right wich im not sure what it is for i didnt see this on the 8 gig,,,,,just checked the 8, nope, well hope this helps, i try lay out all the info so that hopefully saves some question and answer time, thankyou once again

[derekg]

quickly, i just looked at the 8 gig at it shows primary or master,,, drive is slave,then shows cable select, but i think this is the one u were talking about , master with a non-ata compatible slave(not sure what non ata compatable means but it shows the 2 left pin slots both have a clip out of the 4 sets shown

[derekg]

quick update,
i plugged 2 clips on the 2 left pin sets on the 8 gig,for master with a non-ata slave then thn plugged the 38 gig in as slave wich is the second right clip not sure if i was suppose to use j8 jumper setting but the 8 gig will boot up with the 38 gig plugged in but in my computer it doesnt show the 38 gig present,, but i restarted and went to bios setup utility and it shows the primary master as the 8 gig and the 38 gig as the primary slave, i was hopin i was able to boot up and then access files, i should have known that is not the case just yet

[peterm]

Try master on 8 gig (not master with non ata)
and 38gig as slave

[derekg]

hello, i have tried the 8 gig on master, and on the master with a non -ATA.. and both times the 38 gig on slave, the 8 gig with the windows 98 se will boot up just fine but in the my computer where it shows the c drive, the cd rom drive and control panel area it only shows the 8 gig cd drive,,,, so i restarted got to the bios mode and it shown the 8 gig as master and the 38 gig as slave,,, so it shows the 38 gig as a slave its just not showing it when you boot up the computer and look in the my computer section,,,,,is there any other ways that might be gone about reading the 38 gig drive wich is the main drive that ive always used with alll my information on,, or to clear enough space to perfom the win 98 disc install, im not too sure on what else to try to get both drives read,im sure its probably something simple, like the only thing we havent tried,lol, thankyou again for your time

[peterm]

This is very odd - should just pop straight up as a second drive( I do this a lot)
Is your cd drive showing up as D drive?
if your cd is showing as D go to the dos prompt type in E: enter does it then show a prompt for E if yes
dir enter what happens.
If it is showing up as a slave in the bios then it should show as a drive in my computer - Lets see what dos shows us.
If all else fails
Reinstall 98 and keep data
Cheers
peterm

[derekg]

hello, thankyou for your reply, along the ways of my tinkering with the floppy boot disc and with just the 38 gig alone without the 8 gig in the picture,,,, i have got it to do several scans of scandisk and i do recall it telling me twice that something was pushed down 1-2 letters they even mentiond a letter F drive so im wondering maybe did something get pushed down a letter or so and its trying to read it from its original letter but if its not under that letter then it might not boot, throught my attempts i frequently get the messge saying that the tools were successfully loaded to drive D , also the process you just told me to do was that with the 38 gig alone without the 8 gig or how should i go about that process because if the 8 gig is a master it jus boots right up on me but with the 38 gig as master well thats when i can get to all the prompts, sorry for dropping this one on you its quite a case but was so easily fixed by running the win98 cd install but i cannot even try that because it keeps telling me windows needs that 7340032 bytes to install windows, thankyou again for your time

[derekg]

----- OK---- i have tried another route, i got my friends windows xp computer here and hooked my drive up as slave and i go into my computer and it reads theyre xp drive as c: and mine as drive e: so now my 38 gig is read by his computer the only thing is i dont know where to go from there, i tried doin back up and looking at how much space is avail. all it says about my drive is everything at 0 but im sure its got all my info on it, it even asked me if i wanted to format it, so here i am wondering if maybe bringing this xp computer and hooking my drive(win98) up to it as slave and it actually reads it, if theres anything we can do from here

[peterm]

Can you see any files on the 98 from the xp or only the drive?
If you can see the files then make a folder on the xp and move files off the 98
If you can't see the files then put the 38 back in your machine as a master and follow the steps I gave a link to in
Post 8
Cheers
Peterm

[derekg]

hello, thankyou for all your replies, maybe this troubleshooting i have will be a little more easier to get going, wel im not too much knowledged with those steps and thought i would get my friend to read your replies so that i might have a chance to recover my stuff, he said nothing would and can b recoverd and he said the only option was to reformat it , i thought still things could have been accessed but now i am left weith a fresh reformatted drive and a fresh windows install of 98se but i cant do nuthing everything is in 16 colours theres no other options,, win 98 i looked up on this loaner does not offer supports,, and and sure now soe how i need the drivers for my ethernet card, is there a way of getting these updates still ? like explorer and the 24 colors , im not sure about how to get or if i have too get the ethernet driver unless it just read it,

[peterm]

I am Sorry you had trouble understanding my replies. You should have said and i would have looked at rewording them. I still think it is best to put the 8gig in and the 40gig as a second drive. We may still be able to get some data back even though you have reformatted.
Step 1)Set the jumper onn the 8 gig drive to be Master with slave.
Step 2) Set the Jumper on the 40gig as slave.
Step3) Check the bios is set to auto detect both drives.
Step 4) Start the computer and check in my computer do you now see both drives(since the reformat)
Cheers
Peterm

[derekg]

Hello, well i have progress now, the 8gig win98 is set as slave and the 38gig win98(fresh reformat) is now shown when you go to my computer, it is read as drive Y , unfortanatly no info could be salvaged its all clean, wich i guess isnt too bad fresh drive in a sense, but, i am not familiar with running 2 drives if i can have some assistance, for example the main things like the desktop and files are from the 8 gig, and meaning how do i go about using this 38 frive known as Y as a second drive to put my files, how would you recommend when i install things like limewire,games,,um, ulead photo shop for my pictures off my camera wich drive and how to properly store them,,,.also, the 38 is a fresh drive it only has 2 colours and 16 colours, everthing is fresh , how in the world do i now get this drive up to date, or i dont, i juse use it as storage ? if i install like limewire on the 8 gig from movies and songs it will b full in no time as i alone in limewire alm use 15 gig for that, hope to hear for your input on my questions, thankyou once again

[peterm]

No No No
We want the 8gig Drive to Be the MASTER and the 40gig Drive to Be Slave
Please Make the Jumper setting on the 8gig MASTER and the 40gig SLAVE
This is the best way for your computer
We want the 8gig to have windows on it NOT the 40gig
The 40gig will hold the photos, documents and other stuff