DOS Compatibilty Mode

[thefossil]

Helped a friend put a new HD in his Compaq. It had a 3GB drive in 2 parts, a 2GB and the 1GB for system backup.

We put a 60GB in there, divided into 4 parts 8,2,25,25 (approx), copied everything and it worked just fine. System faster than ever, he said.

Well, then he wanted to upgrade to WinXP, collected all the necessary drivers, tried the upgrade but it didn't work. Tried to go back, wouldn't go back to Win98se, etc etc.

Reformatted drive and copied the old one again, but now the last partition F: is in DOS compatibility mode.

Fdisking that part off and on and reformatting didn't work. Zeroed out drive (all day project!) and setup up again with the latest MaxBlast software, copied old drive. Still F: is in DOS compatibilty mode.

I'm sure it wasn't doing this when we first put the drive in, I always check properties/performance after doing anything like this. Did XP do something to the BIOS? I haven't tried to get into the BIOS setup, on Compaq systems they're usually automatic.

Any ideas? I've checked all the microsoft support pages and we'll try some of the registry tweaks tonight after work, but most of those fix systems that don't see ANY of the HDs properly. On his system, C,D,E, are working fine, it's just the last one that's recalcitrant.

[BipolarBill]

Instead of upgrading to XP, try a dual-boot setup. When you start the upgrade, select "install to another location" and choose another drive. At that point, specify the "bad partition" and format it as NTFS. That kills two problems.

Update the BIOS (ROMPaq) from the Compaq downloads site for the PC in question too.

[SPEEDO]

Take a look here (http://asia.cnet.com/itmanager/tech/0,39006407,39084405,00.htm)..................;)

[thefossil]

Thanks guys, I'll try the registry fix and check for a newer compaq BIOS. I thought that maybe compaq had a limit of 3 partitions or something.

He's just trying to get Win98se back as it was, having returned (and been refunded for) the XP Upgrade. That's when I became involved again. The dual-boot idea is a good one, but alas... it is to late to give it a try. I don't think he's willing to chance it again.

I'll keep you posted as to our results.

[thefossil]

All good suggestions, but none fit the bill.

The registry thingie was fine. "NOIDE" was no where to be found.

BIOS is upgradable, but the upgrade doesn't address any harddrive issues. His is a model 5070 and...
Presario Models 5070, 5166, 5176, 5177, 5184, 5185, 5186
In this SoftPaq:
- Updated Video BIOS to 1.04.02.
- Fixes for minor mouse and keyboard problems, including mouse disabled in DOS.
- Floppy Japanese 3-mode and 720kb support fixes.
- F10 Setup enhancements and fixes.
- Fix for problem which caused the system to hang with a Tokenring card.
- ACPI fixes and updates for Windows 2000.
- Fix for Pioneer 6X DVD drive detection under Windows 98.
- Audio fixes for power up and restart to MS-DOS mode.

The DOS memory was cool. There is no drive overlay.

However, when we go to Device Manager, no apparent issues there but it says GENERIC HARD DRIVE or something like that, instead of MAXTOR like it does on mine. It says that it's working properly, but current drive letter assignment shows only C,D,E.... no "F" and the date of the driver is something/1998... A HA! Mine is a 1999 driver. But I also have an ATA100 card in my system, he has an SiS controller on the motherboard. Still, why would it assign C,D, and E but not "F" when they're all on the same physical drive? Did we try to "scroll" past the E on the list to see if "F" was there?... can't remember if we tried that.

Can I just download the latest .BIN file from Maxtor or DriverGuide and copy MY diskdrv.inf and ".pnf and ".cat and throw 'em on a floppy and click the update driver, have disk?

Or should I find out what SiS Controller rev. he's got and try to get the updated driver for THAT.

I know... BOTH, probably. Geez, a lot of questions on this one!

[BipolarBill]

The SiS IDE drivers don't allow for drive model recognition. The Intel Application Accelerator does this in Intel chipsets and 3rd-party IDE controller/drivers do it too. You'll never see a brand/model of HDD in that system without a Promise card or such.

I would suggest that you destroy and recreate the extra partition again or upgrade. Saying that the upgrade is not a valid fix is unfair - you didn't try it.

[thefossil]

We "destroyed" and annihilated that last partition. FDisked it out twice, reformatted 3 times, then we used the latest Maxtor utility to write zeroes to the whole drive (like Zap, I'm guessing).

Repartitioned and formatted the whole drive at the same time. Still comes up compatibility for just that last partition.

I acknowledged your dual-boot idea as a "good one" but he had already returned the XP Upgrade before I became involved again in his project, and I don't have any XP software because I'm a fossil and still use Win98se.

Of course it's not fair, I always tell my staff that life is NOT fair, get used to it. But we're still gonna try the on-line Windows driver update today.

If that doesn't work, I'll simply have to convince him to repurchase the XP Upgrade and give it a whirl. I know he would enjoy having both OSs on his system.

[BipolarBill]

Now you know why I always upgrade Partition Magic the first day that it's released. :cool:

[jmatt]

http://www.lurkhere.com/~nicefiles/index.html
Freeware .
WIPE OUT : as the name implies, this utility will absolutely WIPE your hard drive. For those
times when an industrial strength cleaner is needed to remove any pesky files Fdisk may have
left behind. A readme file is included in the zip file. WARNING...WIPE OUT will remove ALL data
from the Hard Drive.

DIRECTIONS

1- Unzip file
2- Copy WIPEOUT to a Win9x boot disk
3- Boot with Win9x disk
4- At the A:\> type "wipeout c: /nq /np" (no quotes)
/nq = no queries - you will not be asked if you are sure.
/np = no partitions - this will overwrite the MBR

Press Enter .

Now run fdisk to set up partitions .
When done reboot & format .

[thefossil]

Does WipeOut take a long time? When we used the new Maxtor 3 Utilities Disk to write zeroes to all sectors, it was about 8-9 HOURS to zero-out a 60GB drive.

Also, we looked again at the little drive letter window in device manager... F is not listed there no matter how hard we tried to scroll past C,D and E. I still think there's a limit in the BIOS to the number of partitions. We never did the fdisk /mbr after writing the zeroes.

Is it possible to create not one but two extended partitions?

Primary Partition = Drive C
Extended Partition = Drive D and E
2nd Extended partition = Drive F

Jus' wonderin' if that's an option. ô¿ô

[jmatt]

Once you put in the wipeout command & press Enter , it is instant .

As per previous posts , Partition Magic is the way to go .