no command prompt on startup!!! boot disk wont read!!!?

Question

I am installing a new hd & its driving me crazy!!!
I set 1 to master & other to slave,
it reads both,
i changed the bios to read A: first.
drives have been partitiond but not formatted!
I CANNOT get a command prompt at startup
I have inserted win98/98se/2000/me/xp startup/boot disk & still no luck,
the computer was just fine with 1gb & win98,
then I deleted the partition & made it active & I can't get it to boot with the boot disk & I don't have an A: prompt or nothing,
I've done this plenty of times & have never had a problem until now!

PLEASE HELP!

ok....

the only messages I get on startup is the

(normal pentium details)
"floppy A: installed"
(shows the drives)

the floppy cable was messed around with the 1st time & I found that out,because it wasn';t reading,
so I turned the ide cable around to the motherboard & it started working,
but all it does is click,click,click,click (on the A:)
then it stops,,,nothing happens,
but i will test the boot disk/s on this computer,
this is my labtop & I'm working on my desktop,
thank you

Answer 1

If the drives have not been formatted, then you certainly can't boot with them.

You need to (1) partition, (2) set active partition, (3) format with system (format /s c: ) and that will put a boot sector on it. Then you would be able to boot.

However if you have a Windows boot disk, put it in the drive, but then you'll want to change your BIOS to boot from the CD-ROM first. Press F5 (or sometimes DEL or ESC, depending on your system) when it's firing up to get to the Setup menu, and then change it to look at the CD-ROM as a boot device, and to look at it before the hard drives.

Answer 2

You mention that you "Deleted the partition & made it active"

If you deleted the partition how did you make it active? If you mean you had a bootable partition on the drive, made another partition after it that you wanted to be bootable then you may be hitting your head against boundries ...

Some OSes (notably DOS and Win 9x) need to have their boot info in the 1st 2G of the hard drive.

OSes that use BIOS to boot up need the boot information to be in the 1st 1024 cylindars.

The partition itself can be larger, as long as the files needed to boot it are within these boundries.

If your partition starts past these points, using a program like partition magic to move it closer to the start of the hard disk should make it bootable.

Does the boot diskette boot the computer if all hard drives are disconnected? If not the problem is obviously the diskette.

Answer 3

A couple of questions:
1, do you get the normal beep codes and messages at startup?
2, does the floppy drive spin?

It is possible that you may have disturbed the cables to the floppy drive, make sure these are in properly.

Test you boot floppy on another computer to ensure it works.

Answer 4

Remove both make both as Master hook one at a time as master partition it and format it use floppy to boot up then use fdisk til you get to the partition delete the partition then create primary partition then press 2 to set it active then Esc to exit turn off computer then turn it on with the floppy still inside you get to a:\
a:\ format c:/s press Enter
and follow to the end. do the same for the other hard drive then after you done formatting one at a time make one master one slave. good luck
Adnan Sallam
Napa, California

Answer 5

Yeah, boot floppy discs don't have a great shelf life. I've had them stored safely and they were bad when I needed them. I've had them also go bad from handling roughly.
As stated, make sure you didn't disturb anything connected to the drive and make a fresh boot disc from another PC.

Answer 6

Many Toshiba laptops incorporate the generating unit application restoration photograph saved in a particular (hidden) section on the annoying disk. From this actual hidden photograph, you may restoration your computer to its production unit-clean application condition by using following those steps: to restoration the unique production unit application photograph on your computer shop on with those steps: a million. confirm the computer is became off ("close-down" from the abode windows initiate menu) 2. eliminate any peripherals such an exterior mouse, keyboard, video show, USB flashcontinual etc. 3. confirm the AC Adapter is plugged in and dealing. 4. Press and carry down the 0 (0) key on the keyboard collectively as powering on the computer. launch it whilst the restoration warning show looks. 5. If the restoration technique promises a selection of working structures, opt for the ideal one for you. 6. A warning show looks, pointing out that when the restoration is complete all archives would be deleted and rewritten. 7. click confident to proceed. 8. whilst the Toshiba restoration Wizard opens opt for "restoration of production unit application" or the ideal selection to your desires. 9. proceed to maintain on with the instructions restarting as mandatory. Please observe that the technique would selection slightly from gadget to gadget, which you would be asked to insert disks (multi-disk programs) and that the technique would take one to 2 hours to end. The restoration technique will require you to restart your computer countless situations. As you utilize the restoration technique you have countless strategies. one among those could be to create a custom length partition. shop on with the instructions on show for this and different strategies as triggered. whilst uncertain, it incredibly is often ultimate to settle for the default, or pre-chosen selection.