Hard drive Errors

[Missing the point]

I made the Subject I/O error, but that is not the only problem, so I made a more universal topic:

When I use the WD 6.4 Har drive, it Posts, and all that Jazz, then after going through all the system, it says
"Disk I/O error
replace, and press any key"


When I use my WD Caviar 250 MB hard drive, it does the same thing, only now it says
"Invalid system disk
replace, and Press any key"


What the heck can I do to get this thing to work!?

My computer is as follows:

386 AMD processor
3 MB ram (can be 16, but takes too long to post)
Hard drives as described above
the Controller card is external from the Mobo
Peice of **** Video card

What is wrong? I want to make this computer work, then overclock it, then give it to my Aunt maybe, if she wants it.

Please help ASAP, I am in a hurry

[richamies]

Put the 250mb hard drive in it, and assuming there is nothing on it that you want, boot off a bootable floppy and do the following...

1. Make a primary partition that fills the hard drive, and ensure it is bootable.

2. Reboot, leave the floppy inserted and when it boots type "Format C: /s" (Without the quotes). If it all goes to plan then it will then boot up into DOS, and you can install win3.11 of whatever you intend to use.

Determined to use that 386 aint you? lol

[Missing the point]

You know, I would really like to do that, but my floppy rive seems to not work! That is why I get these errors, im gonna go down to the gerage, and try another floppy drive in it. Also, I just want to add a little wierd fact about this computer:
the Hard drive that came with it, uses the same power adaptor that a floppy drive uses! What the.... thats wierd! I can't use the original HD and the floppy drive at the same time!

I'll get back to ya, and tell ya what happens.......

[Missing the point]

ok. I've got some more info for all you people to ponder...

I tried another Floppy drive, 2 actually, and none of them, the green light comes on. Even when I set it in the BIOS to check A: before C:, it still says inalid system disk. I know that there is voltage, because I put the plug into the screwed up hard drive, and it spins up. What the heck could be wrong? This is getting annoying, and I REALLY DO WANT TO GET THIS THING WORKING!

[ram]

Can you clear the bois and set it to default?

[Missing the point]

yes I can, I'll try that, and I'll be back in a minute to tell you what happened
Thanks

ok, I just tried what you said. That helped, but it still says the same thing. But now, the green light comes on, and it says 128KB cache right before it says invalid system disk. I think I can get it to work, if I had a start up disk. How can you make a boot disk in Win 98?

-Missing the point

[This message has been edited by Missing the point (edited 03-05-2000).]

[Missing the point]

I need help here! My Aunt is coming over tonight, and she would like to take it home! Please help me! I'm weak and pathetic I know

[This message has been edited by Missing the point (edited 03-05-2000).]

[Missing the point]

It isn't fixed yet. This thing is pissing me off. It does the same thing no matter what I do. I made a Win 95 Boot disk, but it doesn't even attempt to read it. The green light comes on, checking to see if the drive is there, but nothing else happens,. It still says invalid system disk.

WHAT CAN I DO PLEASE HELP!

[AdamP]

Maybe the floppy drive you are using is a standard density drive and you using a HD floppy in it??

[jadison]

I HAD THE SAME PROB, TRY GOING INTO UR BIOS SETUP(im sure u know how 2 do that), THEN GO to STANDARD CMOS SETUP, then, where it says HALT ON:, put NO ERRORS---->AFTER THAT SAVE UR SETTINGS AND EXIT BIOS, RESTART, AND TRY TO BOOT UP USING UR WINDOWS BOOT-UP DISK!!

Try that and let me know if it works...Good luck!

[Missing the point]

Thanks Jadison, I'll try that.

[Missing the point]

Well, I tried your advice, but it still didn't work. It does the same thing. This thing is getting really annoying. Anyone have any other idea's? I will try anything!

[amicron]

Did you try the "EZ BIOS diskette that comes with Western Digital?
what it does?
you boot off that disk,
it uses its own bios to detect new your hard drive...follow the steps.."fully automatic
install"...then you can just copy the system
files from the original drive and presto..
note:you will be able to boot only if it is done off that original pc, you will be setting up....let us know!!

[Missing the point]

Sadly, I don't have a disk, because I got both of those Hard drives with an upgrade, and I never got the disk

[Missing the point]

YAAAAAAY I GOT IT TO WWORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I found out that the 5 1/2 drive was actually the A: drive, and I don't know how to change it. Luckily I found a 5 1/2 disk that has MSDOS on it. The C: drive still doesn't work, but I'll work on that tommorow.

Thanks to everyone's help!

[This message has been edited by Missing the point (edited 03-07-2000).]