Installing windows on reformatted drive

Got into BIOS last night (CTRL/ALT/ESC) and drives, boot order are fine.
Date/time were right, too, so doesn't that indicate CMOS battery OK? I get
'keyboard error or missing keyboard" when I unplug the keyboard. Read
somewhere that a startup disk won't work if NTFS was on drive. I don't know
anything about computer before I got it -- not what OS was installed, how
drive formatted, or anything else. It just seems like it's working, just
waiting for something...........

"PattyL" wrote:

Something that I like even better than unplugging the keyboard is to lay
your forearm across the keyboard pressing down several keys at once.
Generally (if the boot is getting that far), you will get a Keyboard error
message that tells you what key or key combination to press to enter setup
or F1 to continue. In this case, you actually can do it. g

PattyL


"Hugh Candlin" wrote in message
...

"ssb" wrote in message
...
Held the F10 but didn't get anything different, not even the 2 beeps.

Power it off.

Unplug the keyboard.

Power on again.

See if you get the infamous

"Keyboard not found. Press F1 to continue" message.

Think about installing a fresh CMOS backup battery.

"PattyL" wrote in message
...
Something that I like even better than unplugging the keyboard is to lay
your forearm across the keyboard pressing down several keys at once.
Generally (if the boot is getting that far), you will get a Keyboard error
message that tells you what key or key combination to press to enter setup
or F1 to continue. In this case, you actually can do it. g


I would have suggested that, but, as I recommended,
he held down the F10 key while the PC booted.

That should have at least initiated the BIOS Setup program,
and, failing that, should have given him a keyboard error.

It did neither, suggesting that your "method" would not have
worked either, even though there is nothing wrong with it.

PattyL


"Hugh Candlin" wrote in message
...

"ssb" wrote in message
...
Held the F10 but didn't get anything different, not even the 2 beeps.

Power it off.

Unplug the keyboard.

Power on again.

See if you get the infamous

"Keyboard not found. Press F1 to continue" message.

Think about installing a fresh CMOS backup battery.

Startup disk will work fine no matter what the hard drive has on it. If
the HD has NTFS partitions on it, it will need to be repartitioned and
reformatted, and FDISK will see NTFS as an unknown partition, but it
will otherwise work fine.

Going back to the original problem--if your boot progression doesn't get
past memory check, your hardware *is* the problem. If all you see is the
memory check, and then a black screen (with or without a blinking
cursor) and you are certain that all drive connectors and jumpers are
properly configured, then you should pull all cards except the video and
disconnect any peripherals except keyboard (yes, disconnect mouse, too.)
If that doesn't change anything, your motherboard is probably fried.
Might try a different keyboard and video card, just to make sure.

You might also try updating ESCD. See
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/res/pnpESCD-c.html for more details.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"ssb" wrote in message
...
Got into BIOS last night (CTRL/ALT/ESC) and drives, boot order are
fine.
Date/time were right, too, so doesn't that indicate CMOS battery OK?
I get
'keyboard error or missing keyboard" when I unplug the keyboard. Read
somewhere that a startup disk won't work if NTFS was on drive. I
don't know
anything about computer before I got it -- not what OS was installed,
how
drive formatted, or anything else. It just seems like it's working,
just
waiting for something...........

"PattyL" wrote:

Something that I like even better than unplugging the keyboard is to
lay
your forearm across the keyboard pressing down several keys at once.
Generally (if the boot is getting that far), you will get a Keyboard
error
message that tells you what key or key combination to press to enter
setup
or F1 to continue. In this case, you actually can do it. g

PattyL


"Hugh Candlin" wrote in message
...

"ssb" wrote in message
...
Held the F10 but didn't get anything different, not even the 2
beeps.

Power it off.

Unplug the keyboard.

Power on again.

See if you get the infamous

"Keyboard not found. Press F1 to continue" message.

Think about installing a fresh CMOS backup battery.

"ssb" wrote in message
...
Got into BIOS last night (CTRL/ALT/ESC) and drives, boot order are fine.

How is the boot order set up?
Are the drives set to Auto detect, or are the parameters set manually.
If set to auto detect, the drives, as you say, should be fine.
If set manually, the drive itself could be dead.

Try this. Start the boot process, then wait.
If the drive is defunct, the BIOS may try for a very long time
to detect it. Half an hour should do it.
Believe me, I have first-hand experience with such a delay.

Date/time were right, too, so doesn't that indicate CMOS battery OK?

Probably. However, as it is a $2 part, and the machine is probably
5 years old, it won't hurt to replace it while you have the case off anyway.

I get 'keyboard error or missing keyboard" when I unplug the keyboard.

Natch. At least that proves that the BIOS is apparently functioning
normally.

Read somewhere that a startup disk won't work if NTFS was on drive. I
don't know
anything about computer before I got it -- not what OS was installed, how
drive formatted, or anything else. It just seems like it's working, just
waiting for something..........

I would set the boot order to Floppy. Period. Take the hard drive
and CDROM out of the equation altogether. See what happens.

What OS was the boot floppy created on?
Not that it really matters at this stage. Just curious.

Left running and eventually a 'Serial port conflict, equipment config' error
displayed. Changed serial port settings, and now will eventually go through
POST and display system menu at top of screen with an 'illegal system disk,
replace disk and press any key' error.

(Takes maybe 30 minutes from power on to do this. Sits with same screen
(not black, has ACER logo, memory message, etc.) as before and flashing
cursor during the wait)

The a: lights every so often and the 'illegal system disk' error redisplays.
(Am using the Win98 startup disk, but have downloaded and tried Win95, WinMe)

Could the a: be bad even if light comes on?

I'll remove unnecessary cards and change boot to a: drive. Will provide
that update later....

"Hugh Candlin" wrote:


"PattyL" wrote in message
...
Something that I like even better than unplugging the keyboard is to lay
your forearm across the keyboard pressing down several keys at once.
Generally (if the boot is getting that far), you will get a Keyboard error
message that tells you what key or key combination to press to enter setup
or F1 to continue. In this case, you actually can do it. g


I would have suggested that, but, as I recommended,
he held down the F10 key while the PC booted.

That should have at least initiated the BIOS Setup program,
and, failing that, should have given him a keyboard error.

It did neither, suggesting that your "method" would not have
worked either, even though there is nothing wrong with it.

PattyL


"Hugh Candlin" wrote in message
...

"ssb" wrote in message
...
Held the F10 but didn't get anything different, not even the 2 beeps.

Power it off.

Unplug the keyboard.

Power on again.

See if you get the infamous

"Keyboard not found. Press F1 to continue" message.

Think about installing a fresh CMOS backup battery.

Removing the cards made no difference.

I removed the 'master' jumper on the hard drive. Now the system goes right
through POST on power up, but still comes up w/ 'invalid system disk,
replace disk and press any key' error (when boot order is A, then C) or
'insert system disk and press enter to reboot' (when boot order is only A).
I tried using just a system disk w/ fdisk, format and sys rather than the
startup disk but still didn't execute. I've tried swapping the floppy drive
w/ another -- didn't help.

"ssb" wrote:

Left running and eventually a 'Serial port conflict, equipment config' error
displayed. Changed serial port settings, and now will eventually go through
POST and display system menu at top of screen with an 'illegal system disk,
replace disk and press any key' error.

(Takes maybe 30 minutes from power on to do this. Sits with same screen
(not black, has ACER logo, memory message, etc.) as before and flashing
cursor during the wait)

The a: lights every so often and the 'illegal system disk' error redisplays.
(Am using the Win98 startup disk, but have downloaded and tried Win95, WinMe)

Could the a: be bad even if light comes on?

I'll remove unnecessary cards and change boot to a: drive. Will provide
that update later....

"Hugh Candlin" wrote:


"PattyL" wrote in message
...
Something that I like even better than unplugging the keyboard is to lay
your forearm across the keyboard pressing down several keys at once.
Generally (if the boot is getting that far), you will get a Keyboard error
message that tells you what key or key combination to press to enter setup
or F1 to continue. In this case, you actually can do it. g


I would have suggested that, but, as I recommended,
he held down the F10 key while the PC booted.

That should have at least initiated the BIOS Setup program,
and, failing that, should have given him a keyboard error.

It did neither, suggesting that your "method" would not have
worked either, even though there is nothing wrong with it.

PattyL


"Hugh Candlin" wrote in message
...

"ssb" wrote in message
...
Held the F10 but didn't get anything different, not even the 2 beeps.

Power it off.

Unplug the keyboard.

Power on again.

See if you get the infamous

"Keyboard not found. Press F1 to continue" message.

Think about installing a fresh CMOS backup battery.

"ssb" wrote in message
...
Removing the cards made no difference.

I removed the 'master' jumper on the hard drive. Now the system goes
right
through POST on power up, but still comes up w/ 'invalid system disk,
replace disk and press any key' error (when boot order is A, then C) or
'insert system disk and press enter to reboot' (when boot order is only
A).
I tried using just a system disk w/ fdisk, format and sys rather than the
startup disk but still didn't execute. I've tried swapping the floppy
drive
w/ another -- didn't help.

Check the floppy cable.

Make sure that the twist is closest to the drive end,
not the motherboard end.

Make sure that you use the connecter AFTER the twist,
as that is the one associated with the A drive.

Make sure that the colored edge goes to pin 1
on the drive connector and at the motherboard.

As you have two drives, I surmise that you also have
2 cables. So try the other cable also.

Just thought that I'd mention that I tested holding the F10 key during the
boot on the three systems we have here and on the laptop and one desktop,
there was no effect. The systems booted normally.

On the other desktop (an HP), it started the system recovery. Oops! When I
cancelled the system recovery, I did get a message to press the F1 to run
setup or F10 to run recovery.

So your theory that holding the F10 key should initiate the BIOS setup is
not valid on all systems.

PattyL


"Hugh Candlin" wrote in message
...

"PattyL" wrote in message
...
Something that I like even better than unplugging the keyboard is to lay
your forearm across the keyboard pressing down several keys at once.
Generally (if the boot is getting that far), you will get a Keyboard
error
message that tells you what key or key combination to press to enter
setup
or F1 to continue. In this case, you actually can do it. g


I would have suggested that, but, as I recommended,
he held down the F10 key while the PC booted.

That should have at least initiated the BIOS Setup program,
and, failing that, should have given him a keyboard error.

It did neither, suggesting that your "method" would not have
worked either, even though there is nothing wrong with it.

PattyL


"Hugh Candlin" wrote in message
...

"ssb" wrote in message
...
Held the F10 but didn't get anything different, not even the 2 beeps.

Power it off.

Unplug the keyboard.

Power on again.

See if you get the infamous

"Keyboard not found. Press F1 to continue" message.

Think about installing a fresh CMOS backup battery.

"PattyL" wrote in message
...
Just thought that I'd mention that I tested holding the F10 key during the
boot on the three systems we have here and on the laptop and one desktop,
there was no effect. The systems booted normally.

On the other desktop (an HP), it started the system recovery. Oops! When
I
cancelled the system recovery, I did get a message to press the F1 to run
setup or F10 to run recovery.

So your theory that holding the F10 key should initiate the BIOS setup is
not valid on all systems.

The OP identified his computer as an Acer brand.
My research and response was predicated on that fact.

If you jumped into the middle of a thread and read a post
which contained advice to FORMAT C:, would you do it?

Here is what I have for that...

Enter BIOS Setup & jot down your settings.

You must press a key at boot to enter BIOS Setup. If you don't know the
key to press, try "Esc" at the manufacturer's logo. Then, the key to
press to enter BIOS setup will show up. Quickly press it. For this
Compaq, it is F10.

In BIOS, use TAB & the arrow keys to navigate, & ENTER to select. (Well,
there may be a legend showing your keys are different.)

While in there, you'd better go through all the menus & jot down the
settings. If they are not set to defaults, and somehow, someday, they
are cleared, all these settings will have to be input again.

......Quote of Candlin about...............
......keystrokes to get to BIOS Setup....
Usually DEL, but F1, F2, F10 are also common.

Other keystrokes which might work a

AMI BIOS: Del key during the POST
DTK BIOS: Esc key during the POST
Award BIOS: Ctrl-Alt-Esc
Misc BIOS: Ctrl-Esc
Phoenix BIOS: Ctrl-Alt-Esc or Ctrl-Alt-S
IBM PS/2 BIOS: Ctrl-Alt-Ins after Ctrl-Alt-Del

If all else fails, shut down, power off, unplug the keyboard,
and power up again, as some older systems will default
to the CMOS Setup if a keyboard is not found.
.......End of Quote............................


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"PattyL" wrote in message
...
| Just thought that I'd mention that I tested holding the F10 key during
the
| boot on the three systems we have here and on the laptop and one
desktop,
| there was no effect. The systems booted normally.
|
| On the other desktop (an HP), it started the system recovery. Oops!
When I
| cancelled the system recovery, I did get a message to press the F1 to
run
| setup or F10 to run recovery.
|
| So your theory that holding the F10 key should initiate the BIOS setup
is
| not valid on all systems.
|
| PattyL
|
|
| "Hugh Candlin" wrote in message
| ...
|
| "PattyL" wrote in message
| ...
| Something that I like even better than unplugging the keyboard is
to lay
| your forearm across the keyboard pressing down several keys at
once.
| Generally (if the boot is getting that far), you will get a
Keyboard
| error
| message that tells you what key or key combination to press to
enter
| setup
| or F1 to continue. In this case, you actually can do it. g
|
|
| I would have suggested that, but, as I recommended,
| he held down the F10 key while the PC booted.
|
| That should have at least initiated the BIOS Setup program,
| and, failing that, should have given him a keyboard error.
|
| It did neither, suggesting that your "method" would not have
| worked either, even though there is nothing wrong with it.
|
| PattyL
|
|
| "Hugh Candlin" wrote in message
| ...
|
| "ssb" wrote in message
| ...
| Held the F10 but didn't get anything different, not even the 2
beeps.
|
| Power it off.
|
| Unplug the keyboard.
|
| Power on again.
|
| See if you get the infamous
|
| "Keyboard not found. Press F1 to continue" message.
|
| Think about installing a fresh CMOS backup battery.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|