Win 9x on "Non-DOS" partition??

[jbob]

I'm trying to troubleshoot a 3.2 gig Maxtor. When I boot to the HD and run scandisk/surface, I get no errors. When I defrag, it won't finish because there are errors. I also get random "error writing to drive C". The files are not marked read only. I'm trying to RMA the drive, Maxtors powermax diagnostic program will not find any errors. I need the error code from the program to get an RMA#. I am also in the middle of slaving it to another machine, and running scandisk from another OS, to rule out scandisk not working.

This is the part that I'm having trouble with. When I slave the drive, the BIOS sees it, but windows will not. When I go into Fdisk, it says non-DOS partition. I know if you boot to the drive, it's fat32. What gives???

[shadow]

I'd take a look at the drive with Partition Magic, there may be something else on there...perhaps Win2K was once on it?

[jbob]

Win2k is not an option, It belongs to a senior citizen. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[BFlurie]

Only addressing one of the issues, but go to Start/ Shutdown/ Restart in MS DOS mode (assuming this is an option). Once there, type:
Scandisk C
After the file scan, have it scan the disk surface. DOS scandisk seems to be alittle better at sniffing out surface errors.

[This message has been edited by BFlurie (edited 11-15-2000).]

[jbob]

Did both DOS and Windoze scandisk. Both show no errors.

I did get partition magic to see the partition. It says it's a "Type 44". I'm in the process of looking on the website to find out what that means.


****.....GoBack is installed. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/frown.gif

[This message has been edited by jbob (edited 11-15-2000).]

[nunyadam]

if all else fails ,and your going the rma route. smack it while it's on . it will then go click ,click ,click tell them that's all it does when they ask for an error code . and they will give you an rma. I had a maxtor 4 gig that went bad all it would do is click. they sent me a new one. (I know it's not exactly ethical,but sometimes it seem's it's what ya got to do)

[SoopaStar]

My guess is the drive was setup with a partition manager like western digital's EZ Bios (maxtor has one as well). It will appear to FDISK as a unknown partition type if you do not have that program installed on your computer. Seen this a million times.

okay...so maybe not a million..but alot!

Paul

[phx]

if you're trying to wipe the entire drive goto www.download.com (http://www.download.com) and search for the program called aefdisk. it's shareware but it can remove any kind of particion and it's save my **** a couple times

[surrealchereal]

Ranish Partition Manager is very clear clean and simple, it has good documentation. You also just decide what size and type (win, dos, linux) of clusters you want and it does most of the work. http://www.users.intercom.com/~ranish/part/
It's share(freeware) send a post card if a student, or ten dollars within 10 years.

[CMonster]

What I am about to tell you is ...well... use your own judgement:

You want to RMA the drive? Put it in the microwave oven for about 5 seconds on high - after that try to boot the drive - should be nothing... presto!! -bad drive!

Now tell the good folks at Maxtor to RMA their POS!

[SoopaStar]

What kind of computer did the drive come out of? Did you use the Maxtor setup software? IT may also be the goback software that is installed on there. If you want a second opinion on the drive (before you nuke it in your microwave) get this software:
http://www.eurosoft-usa.com/pc_demo2.htm
Its called PC Check. The Air Force uses a version of it on their computers. It is VERY handy for determining problem areas. The memory test on this is very nice (demo version only checks up to 4 megs of extended tho). But it has a very nice set of tests for harddrives. Its a total of about 500 tests that fits onto ONE bootable floppy disk!

Paul

[jbob]

Thanks shadow for suggesting Partition Magic. That told me the type, and the website defined the type.

Goback is the culprit for the non DOS partition. Apparantly, when it's enabled, it messes with the partitioning a little. Partition Magic's website says a type 44 partition is in the hands of Goback. I just booted to the drive, when the message that said "If you are having problems with your computer, press the space bar now" came up, I did. there was a button in there to disable goback. I did. It now reads as a Fat 32 partition, and I lost no data. That's that.

I am going to try PC Check SoopaStar to see if that will find anything.

[shadow]

Good to hear you worked things out.
CMonster.....the microwave? Nasty

Good ol PMagic, no geek should be without it!