Bad Partition Table???

[bryman]

im on webtv as you can tell.. i cant download anything.. i have the automagic windows 95/98 boot/rcovery disc system.for my pc
okay this is what happened.. i ccp`d my floppy to my second drive (which was more than likely a mistake cause im green in the computer things) my first drive crashed..it would not recognize the hard drives or cd rom.. i put in a new c drive and i disconnected the second drive and now it recognizes the c:/ drive and the cd rom.... im on a 95 ibm aptiva .. i tried mirrorring the first and second drives.. i flopped the drives around.. hoping this would reboot the first drive .. no success.. this is what i have now
Aptiva Recovery Program Version 5.0
(C) Copyright IBM Corporation 1995.
All Rights Reserved

5 - Bad partition table
A;\>

so now were do i go from here.. how do i get the cd-rom to kick in to read the aptiva recovery cd that came with the computer.. how do i get rid of the bad partition table.. so i can reinstall both drives together .. or what do i need to type so that the computer recognizes the floppys from the automagic cd
right now im also getting "invalid system disc" from the auto magic floppies.. i do not have the auto magic cd in the cd rom lol.. but im still getting this error.. any expert programming advice on how to fix this.. could someone possibly ccp me a fix on what i need to type in so the system will re-boot the win 95.. basically its like im starting with nothing trying to get my system to reboot.. i love my win95 companion cd (sarcasm)..
well any advicxe would be helpful thanks bryan..

[Rat]

I'm sort of cofused about your post, so let's start with a F-disk and Format.
Did you Fdisk and Format the new hard drive? The new hard drive needs to be Fdisked and Formatted before you can do anything with it, you need the Win95 or Win98 boot disk to do this; it's a floppy that will be labeled "CD-ROM Setup Boot Disk" or something of that nature. If you don't have one, you can make one from any of your friends' computers with Win98 on it (since you can't download from the net using web TV). Go into the control panel, open "Add/Remove Programs" and click on the "Startup Disk" tab, click on the "Create Disk" button. Once that is made, put the floppy in the floppy drive of your computer and turn it on (make sure the new hard drive is hooked up and the jumpers are set to Single or CSL) once you get an A: prompt, type in: FDISK. the first thing it will ask is if you want to enable large disk support, answer Y. Then follow the promts to Fdisk the drive, first Delete any partitons that are on the drive (I think it's selection 5 from the list). You will then create a logical drive, then make it active, you will have to restart the computer, then format the drive you just partitioned. leave the floppy in when you reboot and type: FORMAT C: when the A: prompt shows up again. After that, pull out the floppy and put your recovery disk in and reboot the computer, the CD should Auto start and off you go. There is a help file on the Floppy that you can read to help you out, I believ you hit F1 key to bring it up.

Rat...

[This message has been edited by Rat (edited 01-14-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Rat (edited 01-14-2001).]

[surrealchereal]

Ah aint these boxes great things to learn about?? http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

I didn't read your post as Rat read it, I though you are saying you replaced the hard drive (C) then unplugged the D drive. But you also have the recovery software that came with the aptiva?

.. i put in a new c drive and i disconnected the second drive and now it recognizes the c:/ drive and the cd rom....

Now what recognizes the c drive and CD rom?
Are you gettin a dos prompt C:\> ? How do you know it recognizes the C drive?
If you don't have a working boot disk hit the key that will get you into your setup when the computer starts. Flip the switch off then back on and when it is doing the test where it counts the ram (POST) and press the Delete key or which ever one (it will say press ___ to run setup) it uses, then in the setup it will list the order and to which drives it boots. Usually the computer will boot to either the C: drive then A: drive, or vice versa. Tell it to boot to the drive that is the CD (D,E). Make sure you have the recovery CD in the Drive and Restart it again with the switch, it should boot to the CD, and run the restore program. If you get dos prompt or any other errors let us know. The "invalid system disk" is because it is trying to boot to the A: drive and it looks on the floppy for the sys. file to give it system info. If you don't have a good boot disk, or if you are using the wrong disc, It can't find the sys file, and says its an invalid disk. I have not seen a computer that uses 2 boot disks, (maybe one is drivers?) or are you are using the wrong one? Maybe the disk is bad, If nothing is working let us know, also if you moved cables make sure every thing is back on right, and tight. Hope you have everything backed up.....

[This message has been edited by surrealchereal (edited 01-14-2001).]

who seems to be brain dead this mornig...

[This message has been edited by surrealchereal (edited 01-14-2001).]

[bryman]

hey thanks for the help .. one of my freinds came over took everything out and it rebooted up again lol... even with that old fried drive...you believe it ... well thanks again bryman