Hard Drive Problems

admeech29 · 02-02-2007, 08:03 PM

Well when I try to install Windows 98 on my other computer it says it can't because their are problems with the hard drive. What could it be?

Thank you,
Adam

Wycke · 02-02-2007, 10:00 PM

Ummm....could be a lot of things, but more than likely, if this hard drive is old enough that it originally came with 98 installed, it's likely near the end of it's life. What brand/model of computer is it? Some manufacturers (Dell, IBM, Compaq, HP, maybe Gateway and a few others) have a hard drive diagnostic that may have come with the computer on CD or that you can download & run from a CD or floppy. If you can get a hold of an older copy of Norton Disk Doctor, I've always found that to be very reliable at detected hard drive problems (and, more importantly, determining the extent of those problems and repairing those that are repairable).

Finally, is the drive making any weird noises? If so, it's almost definitely a hardware problem. No weird noises, it's probably some kind of corruption, partition damage or just too many dead sectors (some dead sectors are OK...pretty much every hard disk will have a few...but too many will cause problems).

MadCat · 02-02-2007, 11:09 PM

harddrives aren't that expensive these days. I bought a 160gb IDE harddrive (w/ 8m cache) at Best Buy for $70.

If you really want to keep that harddrive, I'd suggest wiping out all of the existing partitions and start over. Partition, format, keep fingers crossed. You don't want a shaky old harddrive as your main boot / system disk.

admeech29 · 02-03-2007, 12:12 AM

I know but the computer was totally free. I just need to make some money so I can get a decent hard drive. Anyone need anything made on the computer for a little money hahah

Thank you,
Adam

Wycke · 02-03-2007, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by admeech29

I know but the computer was totally free. I just need to make some money so I can get a decent hard drive. Anyone need anything made on the computer for a little money hahah

Thank you,
Adam

PM me your address. I've got a handful of old, but perfectly usable 10 Gb drives. If the compy's older than, say '97 or '98, it might need a BIOS update in order to recognize a drive larger than 8 Gb.

-Chad

supergeo · 02-03-2007, 05:24 PM

I still have one computer that came w/ '98. Upgraded to XP two years ago. It's still holding on, but will be replaced in a couple of months. Has 244 mb of memory, and an 11 GB harddrive. The memory just isn't enough for today, and the 11 GB harddrive is so full it won't let me do a defragment, so I downloaded a program from CNET and defragged (it won't do it the best possible way, but it will help.) the harddrive and use CLEANUP! to keep space in there, the first time I ran it cleaned up over 2 GIGS of temporary files, even though I regularly dump temp files and delete cookies. That stuff REALLY builds up over time.

Anyhow, it was a good computer then, and with two upgrades (I believe processor and XP home) you can keep the computer up for nine years or more! In reality I could upgrade memory and probably processor once more, along with harddrive, but the graphics card is old, and I don't know that the power supply would be big enough, so to get a completely up to date computer would be far too costly. With a new hard drive and new memory I could keep it up longer though.

Titus · 02-03-2007, 06:30 PM

All this talk of hard drive size brings me back to a time where I remember when my dad bought his first computer, it came with a 4gig hard drive. That was an upgrade to the stock 2gig it came with.

mike31c · 02-03-2007, 06:51 PM

how large is the HD?

Win98 does not recognize anything larger then 137gb.

On top of that, fdisk.exe and format.com that came w/ win98 & win98se does not recognize anything larger then 64gb.

Quote:

All this talk of hard drive size brings me back to a time where I remember when my dad bought his first computer, it came with a 4gig hard drive. That was an upgrade to the stock 2gig it came with.

meh, I remember my first hard drive... all 5 megabytes of it called the Apple ProFile...

admeech29 · 02-03-2007, 08:07 PM

Well I got it figured out. It was just a bad HDD so I put a different one on. It works now. thank you for your time.

Adam

Mirage · 02-04-2007, 10:35 PM

May we ask, why are you using windows 98?

02-02-2007, 08:03 PM	#1 (permalink)
admeech29 Active Member Join Date: Nov 2006	Hard Drive Problems Well when I try to install Windows 98 on my other computer it says it can't because their are problems with the hard drive. What could it be? Thank you, Adam

02-02-2007, 10:00 PM	#2 (permalink)
Wycke Supernatural Anaesthetist Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: The Plaines of Celestia	Ummm....could be a lot of things, but more than likely, if this hard drive is old enough that it originally came with 98 installed, it's likely near the end of it's life. What brand/model of computer is it? Some manufacturers (Dell, IBM, Compaq, HP, maybe Gateway and a few others) have a hard drive diagnostic that may have come with the computer on CD or that you can download & run from a CD or floppy. If you can get a hold of an older copy of Norton Disk Doctor, I've always found that to be very reliable at detected hard drive problems (and, more importantly, determining the extent of those problems and repairing those that are repairable). Finally, is the drive making any weird noises? If so, it's almost definitely a hardware problem. No weird noises, it's probably some kind of corruption, partition damage or just too many dead sectors (some dead sectors are OK...pretty much every hard disk will have a few...but too many will cause problems). __________________ Porch Monkey 4 Life! s'ok...I'm takin' it back... My Feedback Thread

02-04-2007, 10:35 PM	#10 (permalink)
Mirage Karma Enforcement Agency Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Waiting for the rainbows end...	May we ask, why are you using windows 98? __________________ Snow called water going violent Damn the end of the stream Too much cold in one place breaks That's why you might know what I mean Consider how small you are Compared to your scream The human dream Doesn't mean **** to a tree Feed Back\|\| Rogue Cell #1

02-02-2007, 11:09 PM	#3 (permalink)
MadCat But wait! There's more! Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	harddrives aren't that expensive these days. I bought a 160gb IDE harddrive (w/ 8m cache) at Best Buy for $70. If you really want to keep that harddrive, I'd suggest wiping out all of the existing partitions and start over. Partition, format, keep fingers crossed. You don't want a shaky old harddrive as your main boot / system disk.

02-03-2007, 12:12 AM	#4 (permalink)
admeech29 Active Member Join Date: Nov 2006	I know but the computer was totally free. I just need to make some money so I can get a decent hard drive. Anyone need anything made on the computer for a little money hahah Thank you, Adam

02-03-2007, 06:30 PM	#7 (permalink)
Titus www.tituspb.com Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: The Group W Bench	All this talk of hard drive size brings me back to a time where I remember when my dad bought his first computer, it came with a 4gig hard drive. That was an upgrade to the stock 2gig it came with.

02-03-2007, 08:07 PM	#9 (permalink)
admeech29 Active Member Join Date: Nov 2006	Well I got it figured out. It was just a bad HDD so I put a different one on. It works now. thank you for your time. Adam