mark_667
asked on
Delete virtual B drive
Hi,
I have a old Windows 98 machine that I am in the middle of upgrading. It originally had Win 95 on, so I installed 98 over it, but I recently had to install Win 98 on top of itself because I was having some stability troubles.
This did not work, but when I was using setup it mentioned something about creating a virtual drive at the time, I just let it do it. However, when I next started up normally, I found that I had a normal A drive as well as an additional 5 1/2" B drive. After changing a registry key I changed it to a normal 3 1/2" drive, but also noticed that the B drive only worked to access floppys, not the A drive (which instead came up wit a error stating the device cannot be found). It is still very unstable, so I tried starting from a EBD hoping to re-formatt it and do a clean install, which can often work better. However, it will not boot from floppy. It has done previously (with the same disk), and I think the virtual drive could be affecting it somehow. The POST screen only lists the A drive as having anything attached. Also, before everytone starts suggesting it, I cannot start from CD for somereason, and this is no use as I want to re-format the drive anyway, which is simple enough to do from a floppy. . . . How can I return control to the A drive and delete the B drive in order to start from disk reformat the C drive, and do a clean install 98?
Any ideas appreciated,
Mark_667
I have a old Windows 98 machine that I am in the middle of upgrading. It originally had Win 95 on, so I installed 98 over it, but I recently had to install Win 98 on top of itself because I was having some stability troubles.
This did not work, but when I was using setup it mentioned something about creating a virtual drive at the time, I just let it do it. However, when I next started up normally, I found that I had a normal A drive as well as an additional 5 1/2" B drive. After changing a registry key I changed it to a normal 3 1/2" drive, but also noticed that the B drive only worked to access floppys, not the A drive (which instead came up wit a error stating the device cannot be found). It is still very unstable, so I tried starting from a EBD hoping to re-formatt it and do a clean install, which can often work better. However, it will not boot from floppy. It has done previously (with the same disk), and I think the virtual drive could be affecting it somehow. The POST screen only lists the A drive as having anything attached. Also, before everytone starts suggesting it, I cannot start from CD for somereason, and this is no use as I want to re-format the drive anyway, which is simple enough to do from a floppy. . . . How can I return control to the A drive and delete the B drive in order to start from disk reformat the C drive, and do a clean install 98?
Any ideas appreciated,
Mark_667
check the bios to make sure they are listed correctly in there
However, it will not boot from floppy
more indication the bios is not set correctly
booting from a floppy is independant of any OS, and is a bios issue
more indication the bios is not set correctly
booting from a floppy is independant of any OS, and is a bios issue
choose the boot devices in the bios, make sure it's set to a: first
ASKER
The A drive is already set first in BIOS and drives are listed correctly there. Would it be a good idea to try a additional floppy drive?
ASKER
Hi,
The reason it coulden't boot from a floppy was because of an error in the config.sys file that Windows is using. i.e. there is not a single line of code in it. I copied and pasted one I found in the directory C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\EBD this worked in that I can now boot from a floppy.
As for the virtual drive, if I went to the System control panel and clicked the performance tab, I get a message 'A drive is using DOS compatibility mode file system' according to the help file this is usually related to a driver listed the config.sys file - sound familiar? I looked at the file and it looked OK to me, I've seen (and sucessfully edited) similar files on Boot floppy disks.
The reason it coulden't boot from a floppy was because of an error in the config.sys file that Windows is using. i.e. there is not a single line of code in it. I copied and pasted one I found in the directory C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\EBD this worked in that I can now boot from a floppy.
As for the virtual drive, if I went to the System control panel and clicked the performance tab, I get a message 'A drive is using DOS compatibility mode file system' according to the help file this is usually related to a driver listed the config.sys file - sound familiar? I looked at the file and it looked OK to me, I've seen (and sucessfully edited) similar files on Boot floppy disks.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
ASKER
Hi,
I found that if I attached the floppy drive to the end connector on the drive ribbon instead of the first (�there are two) I can now boot from a floppy (d'oh!). I could already read from the drive normally in Windows, as mentioned above, and BIOS read it fine, but not boot. I had recently disconnected it temporarily inorder to get at the HD connection below it (don't ask why), which the ribbon was in the way of. If anything I thought it wouldn't have made a difference.
As for the virtual drive, if found that if I went to the System control panel and clicked the performance tab, I got the message 'A drive is using DOS compatibility mode file system' according to the help file this is usually related to a driver listed in the config.sys file. I still don't know how to get around this virtual drive thing, but that doesn't matter now as I wanted to do a clean install anyway to sort out some major stability bugs.
thanks anyway,
Mark_667
I found that if I attached the floppy drive to the end connector on the drive ribbon instead of the first (�there are two) I can now boot from a floppy (d'oh!). I could already read from the drive normally in Windows, as mentioned above, and BIOS read it fine, but not boot. I had recently disconnected it temporarily inorder to get at the HD connection below it (don't ask why), which the ribbon was in the way of. If anything I thought it wouldn't have made a difference.
As for the virtual drive, if found that if I went to the System control panel and clicked the performance tab, I got the message 'A drive is using DOS compatibility mode file system' according to the help file this is usually related to a driver listed in the config.sys file. I still don't know how to get around this virtual drive thing, but that doesn't matter now as I wanted to do a clean install anyway to sort out some major stability bugs.
thanks anyway,
Mark_667
mark_667:
This old question needs to be finalized -- accept an answer, split points, or get a refund. For information on your options, please click here-> http:/help/closing.jsp#1
EXPERTS:
Post your closing recommendations! No comment means you don't care.
This old question needs to be finalized -- accept an answer, split points, or get a refund. For information on your options, please click here-> http:/help/closing.jsp#1
EXPERTS:
Post your closing recommendations! No comment means you don't care.
ASKER
Sorry CleanupPing, I have been meaning to review these. I'm still not entirely sure how the points system works anyway. Oh well, thanks stevenlewis :)