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After BIOS upgrade I can't install my operation system...

Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2003 8:09 pm
by Qbah
Hi! I've recently upgraded my BIOS for my Chaintech 6-btm motherboard. The problem is as follows: before the upgrade I could install any operation system (Win98,Win2k,WinXP). But now, I can only install Win98 :( I don't have to mention, that Win98 sucks. When I try to install Win2k or WinXP the problem is as follows: after the first run, when the installer downloads all the necessary files for installation and the computer restarts, a message "no operation system" is displayed! I tried to upgrade Win98 (because Win98 can be installed) to Win2k, but the same thing happens. After the first reset the message "no operation system" is displayed. Has this problem occured to someone? Or has someone a solution to it? I really could use some help. THX!

PS. Before each system installation I removed, created, activated and formatted the C drive with FDISK.

Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2003 8:54 pm
by soupy
Did you set your primary partition as active?

Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2003 9:55 pm
by Qbah
Yes I did. Win98 can be installed normally, only Win2k and WinXP seem to be affected by this problem.

Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2003 3:51 pm
by Denniss
Have you tried to use NTFS file system from W2K/XP ?
There should be a partition/format option within their Setup program

Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2003 4:15 pm
by Qbah
Yes, I tried that too! I did the following things:

1. No partitions on Primary Master, I launched the installer, created partition C using the Win2k/XP installer (the files were successfully copied onto the C drive). Hangs after first restart (just after the table with system components). No messages, eg. no operational system.

2. No partitions on primary master. I created a Primary partition (drive C) using fdisk (5GBs), activated it, then restart, the Win2k/XP installer launched, I chose to format the C drive using FAT32. Files copied successfully. Hangs in the same place (no messages);

3. The same as 2, but I chose NTFS format.

4. I installed Win98 on C drive (the partition for it was created just before the install using fdisk + restart and format). Then I put the Win2k CD into CD drive, the installer asked whether I want to upgrade to Win2k. I chose yes, it checked, if all components of my computer are compatible (or something like that). Everything was ok. Then the installer started to copy the files. When it finished, the system restarted. And this time a message after the tables occured (no operational system). I only tried this one with Win2k, because if it didn't work WinXP, I would become so angry, I could waste my computer! :twisted:

That's that. It is strange, that I can install Win98, but Win2k or WinXP NOT! This situation occured to me for the first time! I installed Win2k millions of times on many computers and there wasn't ever a single problem!

PS. Sorry I was so quiet, I couldn't access neither your page nor the forum... Dunno why :(

Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2003 4:22 pm
by Qbah
Eee, I know, why I couldn't access the forum, something with the sites' host change... It's working now, as You can read :D

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2003 4:16 am
by Qbah
Hey, people! If ya don't know, how to solve my problem, then write it (cause the problem seems illogical to me, but the fact, that it occurs is quite... eee... weird)! THX!

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2003 5:28 am
by soupy
Any possible remnants of Drive Overlay or Boot Manager software that could be left on the drive?

Is your HDD set to Auto/LBA?

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2003 2:18 pm
by Qbah
Err... Yes, my HDD is set to Auto/LBA. But sometimes in the table with the components, instead of LBA, there is CHS! What is this "CHS" anyway?? As far as the Boot Manager is concerned, I dunno! Everytime I try to install Win2k or WinXP I delete and create the primary partition, so I don't think, anything remains on it... And I don't know, what this "Drive Overlay" is :( All the things I do are written in a post or two before!

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2003 2:46 pm
by KachiWachi
LBA - Logical Block Addressing
CHS - Cylinders, Heads, Sectors
Drive Overlay - Program used to install the Hard Drive on systems that don't support the size of the drive natively in the BIOS

The first two are both are ways the BIOS can address the Hard Drive natively, with LBA being more recent and required for todays larger drives.

What size/make is your drive, and BIOS ID string, so that we can find out if your machine can support it natively. It shouldn't be switching back and forth between LBA and CHS. If not, depending who installed the drive, an Disk Overlay may be on there...

(Wouldn't FDISK remove that though???)

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2003 3:20 pm
by soupy
From what I've been reading, sometimes you have to zero a drive to get rid of drive overlay crap. :(

Heh, I just assumed his HDD was properly supported...I guess that's the first thing I should have asked,

Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2003 11:25 pm
by NickS
Qbah wrote:And I don't know, what this "Drive Overlay" is :( All the things I do are written in a post or two before!
The Drive Overlay is disk management software such as EZ-Drive, Disk Manager, Disk Wizard, etc. , which intercepts calls to the BIOS for HDD. When it is first installed it can tell the drive to report a smaller capacity to the BIOS which the BIOS can handle. It would normally be invoked by code in the Master Boot Record (MBR). FDISK /MBR might remove it, but otherwise use a small debug program or something like the IBM zap program or Disk WIzard Zero Fill
Seagate wrote:If you are still unable to read the full capacity of the drive, use
DiscWizard Starter Edition to run a Zero Fill on the drive. This will
write through the MBR with zero's to remove any remnants of the DDO.

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2003 12:31 am
by Qbah
Before the upgrade the BIOS was:

11/06/1998-i440BX-W977TF-2A69KC39C-00

I upgraded it using the bios provided by the manufacturer - Chaintech. I used the correct upgrade, I'm sure of that.

As far as the drive is concerned, it's a 60GBs Maxtor. Model: 6Y060L0.
The drive is NEW, it's three weeks old. The old BIOS hanged each time it tried to detect the drive. The new one seems to be ok. It detects the drive correctly, with the correct capacity (57,7 GBs or something like that).

The first time the drive was connected to a computer, it was at my friends' place (he's got an Asus motherboard with Celeron 500). The drive was detected succesfully. I divided it into one primary partition and one extended partition with 5 logical disks on it, using the Win2k Drive Manager. But some starge things happened:
- the system hanged up, when it was creating the last logical drive. After restart everything was ok though. all the drives were visible (this thing happened a few times, every time the last logical drive was created)
- a week ago, on my computer (the one with the chaintech motherboard)the WHOLE extended partition just disappeared!! Before the restart it was there and after it was GONE. Partition Magic wrote something like: "blah blah blah, it is recommended to delete all partitions, PM won't change anything with this disk" ( I'm using Partition Magic, because the stupid FDISK sees only 23GBs, dunno why... )

If anybody has any more questions, feel free to ask!

THX!

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2003 10:22 am
by robertM
FWIW_ whilst I am in trouble too - see my post-I have been where you are at.
so offer what worked for me. If you wanna box me in, I am a T0F
- Trendy 0ld Fart - so take what I say as experience, not knowledge!
From what I have read you have the classic pharked up arch. type
from a boot loader/manager.
To rectify you need these tools:
D0S v6 boot disk with FDISK
PQMAGIC V4 or 6 (D0S version)
ALL of this work is carried out in D0S - NOT a D0S window!
Boot into D0S with the BIOS MBR protection OFF.
LOAD PQmagic - Delete ALL existing partitions and hit APPLY.
CREATE 1 F32 Primary partition and set active - hit APPLY
Reboot using the boot disk
Run FDISK /mbr
Reboot using the boot disk
The drive and its boot record will now be cleaned
LOAD PQMAGIC and carve up your drive as you wish.

This message ""blah blah blah, it is recommended to delete
all partitions, PM won't change anything with this disk"
I have had as well. To rectify I have turned the machine off at the
power supply, rebooted with D0S boot disk and ran FDISK /MBR.
After rebooting with boot disk I then used PQM to invoke 3 operations.
Change the active partition to another primary partition
Apply
Change the active partition back to the original
Apply and reboot.
The PQM changes are possibly unecessary as the MBR write should clear
that error message. BUT sometimes It seeems PQM wants "ownership"
just like boot managers., so to shut it up I run it anyway. It works :-)
When all is done and working,,do not forget to turn MBR protection back ON
in the BIOS,,at the very least this provides a warning when you 0R
some vagrant script/program decides to poke around your MBR.

Hope That Helps..cheers

RM
btw..I have NEVER NEVER used the Windows GUI production of PQM
after my first experience with that bloated pig of a program..on the other hand
I would long ago have taken up WEB-TV if not for the D0S version.
A very usefull tool.

Posted: Fri Jan 17, 2003 3:54 pm
by Qbah
THX for all the help! I've sent a private message for robertM, if You didn't recive it, please let me know! THX!