Hard Drive Problem

My computer crashed. The only way that I can reboot is with a start up disk.
I get this message " Windows 98 has detected that drive C does not contain a valid FAT or Fat32 partition. The tools that are on the start up disk seem to load to the hard drive but I can not get any of them to work. At the DOS prompt when I enter SYS C I get the error message "no fixed disk present".

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks.
David

It would appear that the Master Partition Table (MPT) part of the MBR or the partition's Boot sector is bad.

They can normally be repaired with "testdisk" Be sure to read the How-TO use first. You will need to download the dos/98 version of program,once the zip file you downloaded is extracted, find testdisk.exe and copy it to a floppy to run. (boot comp with your boot floppy, then put in the testdisk floppy)

Thanks for the information. Unfortunately I have done something as I am no longer able to boot from the start up floppy. I have set the BIOS to read the floppy first and the floppy drives seems to work but nothing happens. Do you have any suggestions on what I have changed to cause the system to not boot up from the floppy?

Thanks

Did you do any thing inside of the comp ?
Did you change any setting in the bios except the boot order ?
Does the floppy light turn on ?
Can you tell it the floppy tries to read the disk ? (by sound)

If the 3rd or 4th items it is very likely the floppy diskette is bad and you need to make a new one.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
I see that I did not post testdisk web site .

The hard drive that I am having problems with is a replacement 80GB for a old 30GB hard drive. I tried to install the old drive as a master and the problem drive as a slave hoping that I could use the operating system on the old drive to fix the problem drive. Having no success in that approach, I restored the default setting for the BIOS. I removed the problem drive leaving the old drive and used the floppy to start up the system. I also tried another boot floppy thinking that I did not have a complete start up disk. The floppy drive makes a sound like it is going to boot up the computer. The light on the floppy drives stays on but the disk stops making any sound.The floppy was made with the 80GB installed which has a Western Digital Data Lifeguard tools installed. When I was trying the Master/Slave thing I could not enter the setup parameters cylinders, heads, sectors/tracks and etc. but in the information displayed during startup for the BIOS the drive is shown as the correct size. Should the information on the floppy be displayed even if the hard drive is dead? I found the website and created a "testdisk" but never got the chance to use it.

I appreciate your concern.

David

"Should the information on the floppy be displayed even if the hard drive is dead?" Not sure what you are asking. The comp should boot with no hdd installed.

When you were replacing hdd, did you remove the power cord form comp , outlet or if the power supply has a switch turned it off there ? If not, you could have damaged the mother board.

It is possible that a power or data connector was knock loose from a hdd/cd or floppy causing your new problem. Also check the memory modules are not out of place.

"When I was trying the Master/Slave thing I could not enter the setup parameters cylinders, heads, sectors/tracks and etc."
Not a problem , I can can not with my comp.

Can you test the boot floppy on a different comp ?

I can remove the hard drive with the problem and replace it with the old drive and the computer boots and runs as it should. After I had reinstalled the old drive and everything worked okay, I tried booting the computer with the floppy to be sure that I did not have a problem with the floppy drive or the start up disk. The computer worked okay. At some point during the boot process I had to choose with or without CD support and it also gave me an option for "Help". I then removed the old drive and reinstall the hard drive with a problem and attempt to start the computer with a floppy. The BIOS recognized the hard drive specs but did not get to the point of giving me a choice of with or without CD support or "Help". This is where I get confused. Is the choice of with or without CD support and the help section on the floppy or the hard drive? If it is on the floppy why is it not displayed during the start up using the problem drive?

I apologize for the lack of computer knowledge but there are some files I would like to recover.

Thanks for your help.

David

It is thge boot menu from the floppy.

That is the big question. I can only make a guess. The MPT (master partition table) defines where a partition starts , its size ,and type (fat16/fat32 ect.) . The first sectors of each partition also has needed info about it's partition. Each of the above is needed for DOS to mount the partition and it would seem that the info is so far out of agreement DOS gets stuck.

Try waiting longer be for you give up on the boot, try pressing "enter".

You may have to download a live linux or a live rescue cd , but there may be a problem with an older comp or the amount of memory in the comp. If you are on slow dial up it would take hours. I do use linux but not to knowledgeable.

Using a start up disk that I made with the old hard drive up and running here is what I see on the screen:
Phoenix Bios Version 4.05 M55Hi-Plus 2M 09b Copyright 1985-1995 Phoenix Technologies LTD all rights reserved.

Micron Electronics Inc.

CPU=Pentuim-R W MMX 200 MHZ
0000640K System Ram Passed
0097280K Extended Ram Passed
EDU Memory Detected
0512K Cache SRAM Passed
System BIOS Shadowed
Video BIOS Shadowed
Fixed Disk 0: Fast PIO Mode 4 WDC WD800JB-00JJCO
PS/2 Mouse Initialized

The cusor is blinking, the floppy drive light is on, and the hard drive to the touch feels like it is running. I do not get any response from the keyboard. With no communication being established with the hard drive, how would I use a recovery CD or Linuk? I am using DSL and have another computer that I can download anything that you might think would help.

I have a bootable DOS disk, a floppy disk that came with a new computer(not this computer) and several different start up disk. Using all of them I get the same results. I have tried waiting an hour before giving up on the start up.

Any thoughts?

Thanks a million.

David

UPDATE:

With no hard drive in the computer and using the start up disk, the option to proceed with or without CD support and "Help" is displayed. I selected the choice to proceed without the CD support and got the A prompt . From the A prompt I typed SYS C:\ and pressed enter. I received an error message "Invalid parameter". At the A prompt I typed C:\ which changed it to a C: prompt. I typed in dir and got a directory stating "Volume in drive C is MS-Ramdrive". The directory displays 15 files. Are the files shown as MS-Ramdrive on the floppy?