Format Problem

[Ben Tupper]

I am trying to install W2k on a new drive, multi-boot with Linux and
MS-DOS. I preformated all the partitions using System Commander v.
7.01. When I went to install the W2k, it reported all the partitions
but the first as "damaged or unformatted." The first partition, into
which I had already installed MS-DOS, is 250 Mb and registers as "C" in
the partitiion table reported by the W2k install program. When I
selected the partition I wanted to install the OS into (12Gb), it tried
to reformat the C partition and install the W2k OS into that.

Any suggestions?

Ben

 

[philo]

I am trying to install W2k on a new drive, multi-boot with Linux and
MS-DOS. I preformated all the partitions using System Commander v.
7.01. When I went to install the W2k, it reported all the partitions
but the first as "damaged or unformatted." The first partition, into
which I had already installed MS-DOS, is 250 Mb and registers as "C" in
the partitiion table reported by the W2k install program. When I
selected the partition I wanted to install the OS into (12Gb), it tried
to reformat the C partition and install the W2k OS into that.

Any suggestions?

Ben

the 250 meg partition is probably too small or else it may simply be
that it's fat16...

although you can install win2k on any partition you like...
the 'boot files" must always be written to an active primary
partition... (viz: your C: drive)


I'd try again by making C: a fat32 partition and see what happens.
of course you will need to use a version of dos that can support fat32...
so msdos 6.22 and less won't be usable

 

[Ben Tupper]

the 250 meg partition is probably too small or else it may simply be
that it's fat16...

although you can install win2k on any partition you like...
the 'boot files" must always be written to an active primary
partition... (viz: your C: drive)

I'd try again by making C: a fat32 partition and see what happens.
of course you will need to use a version of dos that can support fat32...
so msdos 6.22 and less won't be usable

I have years of experience doiing this--have done exactly this same
configuration several dozen times in NT 3.51, NT4, and NT5 (aka W2k). I
have been using System/Partition Commander for this purpose since v. 1.03. I
typically install MS DOS 6.22 and Win3.x in the first partition of drive 0,
which is always FAT16, under 256 Mb for the sake of reasonable cluster
sizes. The NT boot files (ntldr, boot.ini, etc.) are installed into that
small FAT16 partition, then the OS (i386) is loaded into a larger NTFS
partition which begins within the first four Gb of the beginning of whichever
physical drive--any physical drive on the system one chooses.

This is the first time I have ever been unable to make this configuration
work this way. Wondering if it has something to do with the particular
mobo/BIOS, which in this case is an ASUS P5P800, set to Compatible Mode for
the sake of the legacy OS's. The HD I am installing on is a 300 Gb Seagate.
I did this exact same configuration less than a month ago on another system,
a different ASUS mobo (Socket A) on a 40 Gb Western Digital with no problems.

Ben

 

[philo]

This is the first time I have ever been unable to make this configuration
work this way. Wondering if it has something to do with the particular
mobo/BIOS, which in this case is an ASUS P5P800, set to Compatible Mode for
the sake of the legacy OS's. The HD I am installing on is a 300 Gb Seagate.
I did this exact same configuration less than a month ago on another system,
a different ASUS mobo (Socket A) on a 40 Gb Western Digital with no problems.

well if you have installed XP's boot files on a fat16 partition before...
then there must be soemthing odd about the way your mobo
detects the hd.

i guess the first thing i'd do is boot with a win9x floppy
and run scandisk on the C: drive
just to be sure it's ok

 

[Ben Tupper]

Problem solved: It was a corrupt MS DOS installation. When I reinstalled
DOS, all the partitions came alive, with their correct volume labels as
entered by Partition Commander, and Windows XP installed normally. Never
had this happen to me before.

Ben