What am I doing wrong! "Invalid Drive Specification"

[raz]

Ok, here's the problem. We're trying to put a system together. We got the m/b, memory, CPU, floppy, CD-ROM, and HD installed. We got the BIOS all set where we think it should be: boot to A,C,SCSI; primary master and secondary master set to AUTO; etc. The hard drive is formatted and partitioned using MaxBlast Plus. Now the problem...we boot up using a Win98 boot disc (actually we've tried several different boot disks to see if there was a problem with the disk itself) and it loads the CD-ROM drivers and takes us to the A: prompt (everything's normal up to this point). But when we try to go to the D: prompt to run the setup for Win98 we get "Invalid Drive Specification." We try every letter in the alphabet but to no avail. We even get the same message when we try to go to C: prompt. We've looked at the cables and everything's ok. We have the HD on IDE 1 and set to master. We've formatted and partioned using both MaxBlast and DOS. The jumper on the back of the HD is set right (master).
We've run out of ideas. Here's the specs:

AMD k6-2 350
Epox MVP3G5
64mb PC100
Maxtor 6g
Pioneer ~12x

Thanks

[knucklebusted]

When Windows 98 boots from a emergency/setup disk, it will usually tell you what letter the CD ROM is. Win98 will usually set the RAM drive to the next letter above the HD(s) and then the CDROM above that.

Try this, boot up as you normally do and then run FDISK and select 4 partition info and it will show you what, if any, drive letter(s) the harddisk is using.

Another thing, for some reason the CD ROM may not be getting MSCDEX loaded. Run it and see if it complains that it is already loading.

Let me know how this goes.

[foth]

Did bios hdd autodetect detect your hard drive? I'd check bios under integrated peripherals and make sure ide 1st & 2nd channels enabled.

Good luck,
foth