fdisk reaches 4% then resets

I have an old 80Gb hard drive that I am trying to install on an old Compaq
DeskPro ENS. I have been trying to run fdisk so I can format and install an
OS. Using the Win 98 boot disk, I can get to most of the commands and they
seem to work, but when I try to create the Primary partition, etc. by
starting fdisk, it begins to check the drive integrity but only reaches 4%
before resetting itself many times. If I power down and then come back again,
I can see a primary partition (?) of 60000 Mb commited 100%. If I try to
partition an extended area for the remaining 20000 then I get to the same
"verifying integrity" situation and I can't get past it. I don't think I can
install Win98 or any OS due to this.
Am I beating a dead drive? (and MB for that matter)

It's the HD, not the mobo. Chuck it.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"Alberto" wrote in message
...
I have an old 80Gb hard drive that I am trying to install on an old Compaq
DeskPro ENS. I have been trying to run fdisk so I can format and install
an
OS. Using the Win 98 boot disk, I can get to most of the commands and they
seem to work, but when I try to create the Primary partition, etc. by
starting fdisk, it begins to check the drive integrity but only reaches 4%
before resetting itself many times. If I power down and then come back
again,
I can see a primary partition (?) of 60000 Mb commited 100%. If I try to
partition an extended area for the remaining 20000 then I get to the same
"verifying integrity" situation and I can't get past it. I don't think I
can
install Win98 or any OS due to this.
Am I beating a dead drive? (and MB for that matter)

You may be but one thing I would try before declaring the drive DOA is to
wipe the drive clean and then try using fdisk again. Zap or Wipe freeware
will remove all partition information so you can start over fresh with
FDisk. Download it he
http://www.digitalissues.co.uk/html/...-wipe-zap.html

--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP 1997 - 2007


"Alberto" wrote in message
...
I have an old 80Gb hard drive that I am trying to install on an old Compaq
DeskPro ENS. I have been trying to run fdisk so I can format and install
an
OS. Using the Win 98 boot disk, I can get to most of the commands and they
seem to work, but when I try to create the Primary partition, etc. by
starting fdisk, it begins to check the drive integrity but only reaches 4%
before resetting itself many times. If I power down and then come back
again,
I can see a primary partition (?) of 60000 Mb commited 100%. If I try to
partition an extended area for the remaining 20000 then I get to the same
"verifying integrity" situation and I can't get past it. I don't think I
can
install Win98 or any OS due to this.
Am I beating a dead drive? (and MB for that matter)

To add to advice already received from others, you should check that the
disk is properly identified and that its size is correctly reported in
the BIOS. Many older computers could not properly recognized large
drives without a BIOS upgrade, very often that is the cause of the
problem. Also, older fdisk versions had certain stumbling blocks or
barriers at certain disk sizes. I don't recall 60 GB as a specific
barrier but nonetheless you should make sure that you are using the
newest fdisk version available.

John

Alberto wrote:

I have an old 80Gb hard drive that I am trying to install on an old Compaq
DeskPro ENS. I have been trying to run fdisk so I can format and install an
OS. Using the Win 98 boot disk, I can get to most of the commands and they
seem to work, but when I try to create the Primary partition, etc. by
starting fdisk, it begins to check the drive integrity but only reaches 4%
before resetting itself many times. If I power down and then come back again,
I can see a primary partition (?) of 60000 Mb commited 100%. If I try to
partition an extended area for the remaining 20000 then I get to the same
"verifying integrity" situation and I can't get past it. I don't think I can
install Win98 or any OS due to this.
Am I beating a dead drive? (and MB for that matter)

Alberto wrote:
I have an old 80Gb hard drive that I am trying to install on an old Compaq
DeskPro ENS. I have been trying to run fdisk so I can format and install an
OS. Using the Win 98 boot disk, I can get to most of the commands and they
seem to work, but when I try to create the Primary partition, etc. by
starting fdisk, it begins to check the drive integrity but only reaches 4%
before resetting itself many times. If I power down and then come back again,
I can see a primary partition (?) of 60000 Mb commited 100%. If I try to
partition an extended area for the remaining 20000 then I get to the same
"verifying integrity" situation and I can't get past it. I don't think I can
install Win98 or any OS due to this.
Am I beating a dead drive? (and MB for that matter)

Alberto:

1. make sure the BIOS correctly identifies the drive as 80 Gig

2. make sure you are using the NEW version of fdisk referenced he

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/263044


HTH & GL

John
--
\\\||///
------------------o000----(o)(o)----000o----------------
----------------------------()--------------------------
'' Madness takes its toll - Please have exact change. ''

John Dulak - Gnomeway Services - http://tinyurl.com/2qs6o6

On Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:54:00 -0700, Alberto
put finger to keyboard and
composed:

I have an old 80Gb hard drive that I am trying to install on an old Compaq
DeskPro ENS. I have been trying to run fdisk so I can format and install an
OS. Using the Win 98 boot disk, I can get to most of the commands and they
seem to work, but when I try to create the Primary partition, etc. by
starting fdisk, it begins to check the drive integrity but only reaches 4%
before resetting itself many times. If I power down and then come back again,
I can see a primary partition (?) of 60000 Mb commited 100%. If I try to
partition an extended area for the remaining 20000 then I get to the same
"verifying integrity" situation and I can't get past it. I don't think I can
install Win98 or any OS due to this.
Am I beating a dead drive? (and MB for that matter)

Determine the manufacturer of your drive and download the respective
diagnostic software as described in this post:

http://groups.google.com/group/micro...97458a99f27983

Otherwise, you can bypass Fdisk's integrity checking by typing ...

fdisk /actok

Be sure to run Scandisk (DOS version) after formatting your
partitions. Enable a thorough surface scan.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

To you, Ron, and the other respondents: Seems to me that the fact that it
reaches 4% during the integrity check means that it isn't a parameter or
partitioning issue, but an actual defect... Or am I missing something (as
per usual)?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
You may be but one thing I would try before declaring the drive DOA is to
wipe the drive clean and then try using fdisk again. Zap or Wipe freeware
will remove all partition information so you can start over fresh with
FDisk. Download it he
http://www.digitalissues.co.uk/html/...-wipe-zap.html

--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP 1997 - 2007


"Alberto" wrote in message
...
I have an old 80Gb hard drive that I am trying to install on an old Compaq
DeskPro ENS. I have been trying to run fdisk so I can format and install
an
OS. Using the Win 98 boot disk, I can get to most of the commands and
they
seem to work, but when I try to create the Primary partition, etc. by
starting fdisk, it begins to check the drive integrity but only reaches
4%
before resetting itself many times. If I power down and then come back
again,
I can see a primary partition (?) of 60000 Mb commited 100%. If I try to
partition an extended area for the remaining 20000 then I get to the same
"verifying integrity" situation and I can't get past it. I don't think I
can
install Win98 or any OS due to this.
Am I beating a dead drive? (and MB for that matter)

I have used "Wipe" to clean it off, then tried the latest version of Fdisk
(has a 2007 date on the file) but I was still able to only get to 5% running
it overnight.
I will try the mfg's diagnostics next.

Thanks to all.

"Franc Zabkar" wrote:

On Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:54:00 -0700, Alberto
put finger to keyboard and
composed:

I have an old 80Gb hard drive that I am trying to install on an old Compaq
DeskPro ENS. I have been trying to run fdisk so I can format and install an
OS. Using the Win 98 boot disk, I can get to most of the commands and they
seem to work, but when I try to create the Primary partition, etc. by
starting fdisk, it begins to check the drive integrity but only reaches 4%
before resetting itself many times. If I power down and then come back again,
I can see a primary partition (?) of 60000 Mb commited 100%. If I try to
partition an extended area for the remaining 20000 then I get to the same
"verifying integrity" situation and I can't get past it. I don't think I can
install Win98 or any OS due to this.
Am I beating a dead drive? (and MB for that matter)

Determine the manufacturer of your drive and download the respective
diagnostic software as described in this post:

http://groups.google.com/group/micro...97458a99f27983

Otherwise, you can bypass Fdisk's integrity checking by typing ...

fdisk /actok

Be sure to run Scandisk (DOS version) after formatting your
partitions. Enable a thorough surface scan.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 19:37:21 -0700, "Gary S. Terhune" none put
finger to keyboard and composed:

To you, Ron, and the other respondents: Seems to me that the fact that it
reaches 4% during the integrity check means that it isn't a parameter or
partitioning issue, but an actual defect... Or am I missing something (as
per usual)?

I think you're right, it does look like a media fault. I'd still run
the manufacturer's diagnostics for absolute confirmation, and I'd look
at the raw SMART data, particularly the reallocated sector count and
the pending sector count. My old 13GB Seagate hard drive now has 120
reallocated sectors plus 1 pending reallocation. Two years ago it had
34 plus 1. I expect it to fail at any time, so I log the SMART report
every day.

BTW here is a DOS based SMART utility:
http://www.sysinfolab.com/files/smartudm.zip

Here is a sample SMART report:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/SmartUDM/13GB.RPT

Having said the above, it looks like the OP's HD may have exhausted
its spare sectors, so it's probably heading for the trash.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

"Alberto" wrote in message
news
I have used "Wipe" to clean it off, then tried the latest version of Fdisk
(has a 2007 date on the file) but I was still able to only get to 5%
running
it overnight.
I will try the mfg's diagnostics next.


No matter what the diagnostic says...
the drive is bad !