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hard drive upgrade

smhartley
Grafter
Posts: 50
Registered: ‎26-01-2008

hard drive upgrade

Hi, wonder if anyone can help? I have an old pc running Windows 98 that I use only for my cctv cameras. The hard drive clapped out so I have bought another to replace it. Got a Western Digital Caviar 160GB from Novatech, installed it, but when I power up it goes through the initial post then I get a message - DISK BOOT FAILURE INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.
What is the system disk? and why am I getting this message?
I have tried checking all cables, jumpers etc, the drive is recognised in the bios so I am now just about at the end of my tether!
Can anyone help me please?
25 REPLIES 25
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: hard drive upgrade

This may be a very silly question but how many drives are in the machine - if there is only one and you replaced it you have removed the operating system and you will need to boot from the windows 98 setup disk and install it again.
If this is completely wrong I apologise and the only other suggestion I have is that the bios now thinks that the new disk is the boot disk not the old one.
smhartley
Grafter
Posts: 50
Registered: ‎26-01-2008

Re: hard drive upgrade

There were 2 disks before, The master was only 1GB and the slave (the clapped out one) was 20GB. I thought I would take both the old ones out as I was putting in a much bigger new one. I have tried putting the 98 disk in when it asks for system disk but it just comes up with the same message again. Do I need to have the 98 disk in the CD drive when I power on?
VileReynard
Hero
Posts: 12,616
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Registered: ‎01-09-2007

Re: hard drive upgrade

When you press the power on button, the PC has a soft-coded option to read the first 512 bytes of a peripheral - usually the hard disk but could be a CD or diskette etc.
You select the device via your BIOS settings.
The first 446 bytes are executed as a program - the boot loader.
If the first 512 bytes (the Master Boot Record - MBR) are not as expected then
a) It is not a system disk
b) You cannot boot from it.
Did you reinstall Windows 98? - that would recreate the MBR for you.
AFAIK The fdisk /s command will (re)-write a Windows MBR for you.

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

smhartley
Grafter
Posts: 50
Registered: ‎26-01-2008

Re: hard drive upgrade

Sorry mate, I didn't really understand that. I haven't reinstalled windows 'cos I cant get that far!
shutter
Community Veteran
Posts: 22,206
Thanks: 3,769
Fixes: 65
Registered: ‎06-11-2007

Re: hard drive upgrade

Try putting the original master (1gb) in as master, and put the new (160gb) in as slave.  Switch on (boot up) and hopefully it will find the OS  (operating system)  (windows 98) on the master.  You will then be able to install win 98  on the slave, and transfer any files you have from the old (C:/ drive) to your new (D:/ drive)
Hopefully Wink
smhartley
Grafter
Posts: 50
Registered: ‎26-01-2008

Re: hard drive upgrade

Thanks Shutter, never thought of that, I'll give it a go.
smhartley
Grafter
Posts: 50
Registered: ‎26-01-2008

Re: hard drive upgrade

Ok, I put the old drive back in, Made it master and the new drive slave. Attached them both to the same ribbon cable and attached the cd drive to a seperate slot on the mobo. All are detected. Windows has loaded. In my computer the new drive's properties show it as having 0 bytes and no free space - how is that? and when I click to open it I get an error box saying D:\ is not accessible, a device attached to the system is not accessible. What have I done wrong now?
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
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Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: hard drive upgrade

You need to format it and I can't remember how to do that in Windows 98
shutter
Community Veteran
Posts: 22,206
Thanks: 3,769
Fixes: 65
Registered: ‎06-11-2007

Re: hard drive upgrade

You got me there..... I would have expected it to be recognised. and then you could transfer everything after putting the win 98 cd in..... you could try going into the BIOS on boot up ..... depending on what your opening screen says. (when you switch on).....
As soon as you boot up, press Fn key and F2 or maybe F10 or F12 at same time.... one of these combinations should get into the setup / bios screen,   have a look there and see if there is a mention of D:/ drive, and its size, and if it is disabled or not....
Further than that, I am not sure.... possibly a faulty HDD but I doubt it...
Good luck.
Huh
shutter
Community Veteran
Posts: 22,206
Thanks: 3,769
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Registered: ‎06-11-2007

Re: hard drive upgrade

Just seen Old Jim`s response..... I think you have to give an instruction    format d:/      in the    run    box  on your start up listing (bottom left of screen) 
Roll_eyes  Please correct me if I am wrong here someone Roll_eyes
Bud
Grafter
Posts: 390
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Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: hard drive upgrade

If the machine is that old I suspect that the BIOS won't be able to handle a drive as large as 160GB, don't even know if windows98 would be able to deal with a hard drive that size either, I know I needed updated drivers and BIOS for my promise IDE card on my old XP machine.
Have you booted from the windows98 cd to install it?  Not all windows 98 cd's were bootable though so you might need to make a startup floppy to start the machine up so you can install windows on the new drive.
samuria
Grafter
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Registered: ‎13-04-2007

Re: hard drive upgrade

Do you know the version of win98 you are using as will effect the drive size etc?
You cant see the new drive as first you have to fdisk it and create a partition then format it.
While you have your old drive in create a bootable floppy from the control panel.
Put the new drive in on its own set in the bios to boot from cd first. Put the win98 cd into the drive turn on pc and it should boot from the cd and try and install 98.
It should create a partition for you and then format and install.
If that fails you can boot from the  floppy boot disk you made and type fdisk that will let you create a partition you will then have to reboot. Boot back to the floppy and type format c: /s.
Once you have done that the system can boot from the new drive be it into a c prompt only. From the floppy disk you can goto the cd and run setup to install 98
smhartley
Grafter
Posts: 50
Registered: ‎26-01-2008

Re: hard drive upgrade

Samuria, wish I had read your reply sooner - Oldjim mentioned format and I suddenly remembered some of where I was going wrong! Have done fdisk and partion and am just about to format - I didn't realise Win 98 would do it for me. Never mind, I seem to be getting somewhere now. Thanks for the help so far. I will be back to let you know how I am getting on.
smhartley
Grafter
Posts: 50
Registered: ‎26-01-2008

Re: hard drive upgrade

Right, so now I have a 1GB drive (C)set as master with Win 98SE already installed. I have a new 160GB slave drive (which is only showing 127GB because of the limitations) that is drive D. What do I do now to install Windows on drive D? Do I have to change the bios to boot in a different order? Or do I just remove the old drive and set the new one to master and power on with the Win 98 cd already in the drive?