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From: dwn on 7 Apr 2010 11:26
On Tue, 6 Apr 2010 21:56:38 +1200, "~misfit~" <sore_n_happy(a)nospamyahoo.com.au>
wrote:

Thanks, found out later in another NG where I posted. You really need to keep
pressing it F8 and after a few tries. BTW in Safe Mode I cannot do anything to
fix my present problem. I make another mistake, I thought I could get into Dot
Prompt to find and edit the hidden partition. NO! it's not Dot Prompt, it's
"Command Dot Prompt" and very slow.

Hey, I still remember you, you helped me with the wireless stuff, which I put on
hold. I am using wireless modem and it so SLOW (slower than Dialup 56K) as the
only available ISP in this location for the time. Thanks again.

>Somewhere on teh intarwebs dwn wrote:
>[snip]
>> Now, don't laugh which F key should press to start in safe mode?
>
>F8 just before Windows loads.

From: dwn on 7 Apr 2010 13:20
On Wed, 7 Apr 2010 07:27:20 -0500, "BillW50" <BillW50(a)aol.kom> wrote:

>>> And yes, a MS-DOS disk or a Windows 9x Startup disk will work if you
>>> run FDISK to set which partition you want to be set as active. These
>>> disks can't see inside of NTFS formatted partitions, but that is
>>> okay. And *most* recovery partitions are in FAT32 format. So you
>>> should be able to peek inside with DIR or something.

BTW, my HD is Hitachi 50Gb.

1st try

Bootup Win98SE.
fdisk

1 A non Dos 2330 4%
2 NTFS 54906 96%

Set 1 to A (active) check "C" Not ready reading drive C
Abort, retry, fail?

Boot up black screen nothing happen, except a "-" one screen.
------------------------------------------------

2nd try

Bootup Win98SE
fdisk

1 non Dos 2330 4%
2 A NTFS 54906 96%
fdisk

Set 2 drive to A (active) check "C" Not ready reading drive C
Abort, retry, fail?

Restart both times: 1st and 2nd. 1st try drive 1 make active window will not
start. Only 2st try with drive 2 set active, window will start.

>Yes it will happen here too. As there is very little you can run on the
>hard drive with a Windows 9x Startup Disk. Remember though, the only
>reason is to run FDISK from the startup disk. So you can toggle which
>partition is active. And to copy the three needed files on the recovery
>partition (if needed).

Somehow, the hidden partition is in the drive and cannot be access
using Win98SE diskette.

This is what I found out earlier. When I use Command Dot Prompt to check
the hidden partition, I have to depressed the "Administrative" button to access
the hidden partition (I dunno if I could add/edit this partition). If I depress
my user button, "access denial".

I will keep trying and in the meantime I'll get the recovery cd back.

Thinking back the hidden partition may have been corrupted after I installed the
new hardrive. On startup the three options on the lower left corner of the
screen, "F11 Recovery" is missing. I found a patched somewhere in IBM's website
and patched.

F1 Bio Utility setup
F11 Recovery
F12 Boot selection

What options do I have, beside get the 3 recovery CD?

Thanks.
>
>You don't need the startup disk to set the active partition if you have
>a partition manager (on a floppy, CD, or a flash drive) that can do the
>very same. Windows XP I believe can also set the active partition too,
>through diskmgmt.msc. But if you change it through diskmgmt.msc and you
>can't boot, then you need to have something else to toggle it back to
>the other partition as active.
>
>On your Windows XP partition, you may have an i386 folder inside of the
>Windows folder. If so, that Startup disk can run the Windows install by
>running Winnt.exe. But it can only do so if the partition is formatted
>in FAT, as DOS can't see anything in a NTFS partition. Now Winnt32.exe
>does the same, but can only be ran from Windows XP, WinPE, or even
>BartPE (you can make your own BartPE).
>
>You might have an i386 folder on the recovery partition too. You can
>think of an i386 folder as the Windows XP install disc.
>
>>> If you can see into the recovery partition under XP. Then the
>>> following might work too. Run XP in safe mode and run the recovery
>>> software (from the recovery partition) from XP in safe mode. Which
>>> folder and file it is I can't tell you offhand. But you maybe able
>>> to figure it out. I say run it in XP safe mode as XP normal mode
>>> might complain about running the recovery software. Say, now that I
>>> think about it, safe mode might complain too. But you have a better
>>> chance under safe mode than you would under normal mode.
>>>
>>> So there you go, try the first part first. If that fails, try that
>>> later trick.
>>
>> OK, I will try safe mode first. Should it fail I will make a trip
>> across town and find the diskettes, maybe the set of IBM recovery CD
>> in there too?
>> If it fail can we put a hold for a day or 2 and continue where we
>> left off?
>
>I haven't heard anything, so how is it going?
>
>> Now, don't laugh which F key should press to start in safe mode?
>
>As Shaun pointed out, it is the F8 key.

From: BillW50 on 7 Apr 2010 15:08
In news:hpiet702etu(a)news3.newsguy.com,
dwn typed on Wed, 07 Apr 2010 10:20:35 -0700:
> On Wed, 7 Apr 2010 07:27:20 -0500, "BillW50" <BillW50(a)aol.kom> wrote:
>
>>>> And yes, a MS-DOS disk or a Windows 9x Startup disk will work if
>>>> you run FDISK to set which partition you want to be set as active.
>>>> These disks can't see inside of NTFS formatted partitions, but
>>>> that is okay. And *most* recovery partitions are in FAT32 format.
>>>> So you should be able to peek inside with DIR or something.
>
> BTW, my HD is Hitachi 50Gb.
>
> 1st try
>
> Bootup Win98SE.
> fdisk
>
> 1 A non Dos 2330 4%
> 2 NTFS 54906 96%
>
> Set 1 to A (active) check "C" Not ready reading drive C
> Abort, retry, fail?
>
> Boot up black screen nothing happen, except a "-" one screen.
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> 2nd try
>
> Bootup Win98SE
> fdisk
>
> 1 non Dos 2330 4%
> 2 A NTFS 54906 96%
> fdisk
>
> Set 2 drive to A (active) check "C" Not ready reading drive C
> Abort, retry, fail?
>
> Restart both times: 1st and 2nd. 1st try drive 1 make active window
> will not start. Only 2st try with drive 2 set active, window will
> start.
>
>> Yes it will happen here too. As there is very little you can run on
>> the hard drive with a Windows 9x Startup Disk. Remember though, the
>> only reason is to run FDISK from the startup disk. So you can toggle
>> which partition is active. And to copy the three needed files on the
>> recovery partition (if needed).
>
> Somehow, the hidden partition is in the drive and cannot be access
> using Win98SE diskette.
>
> This is what I found out earlier. When I use Command Dot Prompt to
> check
> the hidden partition, I have to depressed the "Administrative" button
> to access the hidden partition (I dunno if I could add/edit this
> partition). If I depress my user button, "access denial".
>
> I will keep trying and in the meantime I'll get the recovery cd back.
>
> Thinking back the hidden partition may have been corrupted after I
> installed the new hardrive. On startup the three options on the lower
> left corner of the screen, "F11 Recovery" is missing. I found a
> patched somewhere in IBM's website and patched.
>
> F1 Bio Utility setup
> F11 Recovery
> F12 Boot selection
>
> What options do I have, beside get the 3 recovery CD?
>
> Thanks.

Okay here is what I would do. You say you see an i386 folder right? If
so, that will reinstall Windows XP from scratch. What it should do is to
rename your old Windows folder or delete it (you should get a choice of
one or the other or both).

The file you want to run from the i386 folder is Winnt32.exe (I would do
this from safe mode and try this first before using normal mode). This
will start the Windows install. You won't have any applications you
installed later and it might not even have all of the device drivers
either. Like video card, WiFi, sound, etc. So grab these drivers first
before you try to reinstall Windows XP once again.

Yes it sounds like the recovery partition might be corrupted. Or the
permission is set to keep you out of there.

It would be very nice if you could make a copy of the i386 folder and
save it to a CD, flash drive, or something before you start. As if the
Winnt.exe and Winnt32.exe files are there, it should contain a complete
Windows XP install. And if the worse happens, you could use the copy to
reinstall Windows XP once again.

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 1 of 3 - Windows XP SP2


From: dwn dwn on 7 Apr 2010 22:21
On Wed, 7 Apr 2010 14:08:35 -0500, "BillW50" <BillW50(a)aol.kom> wrote:

>Okay here is what I would do. You say you see an i386 folder right? If
>so, that will reinstall Windows XP from scratch. What it should do is to
>rename your old Windows folder or delete it (you should get a choice of
>one or the other or both).

I did see i386 when I was in "Command Dot Prompt", and in "Administer". I am not
sure if I am allow to rename or even delete all the files except i386",
Remember, I am not in Dot Prompt. I know it because, when I type "DIR/P" in "C"
partition. The screen showing the files and folders is in Window mode and not
what I know during the early days, using 16bits the you cannot even see any
files/folders as it speed bottom to top screen.

>The file you want to run from the i386 folder is Winnt32.exe (I would do
>this from safe mode and try this first before using normal mode). This
>will start the Windows install. You won't have any applications you
>installed later and it might not even have all of the device drivers
>either. Like video card, WiFi, sound, etc. So grab these drivers first
>before you try to reinstall Windows XP once again.

Using "Belarc" I had printed a copy of to know the hardware's, driver etc and
I have all (I hope) the drivers, patched copy into a USB flash stick. Will the
USB ports still usable in safe mold? I have not try or test before.

>Yes it sounds like the recovery partition might be corrupted. Or the
>permission is set to keep you out of there.
>
>It would be very nice if you could make a copy of the i386 folder and
>save it to a CD, flash drive, or something before you start. As if the
>Winnt.exe and Winnt32.exe files are there, it should contain a complete
>Windows XP install. And if the worse happens, you could use the copy to
>reinstall Windows XP once again.

Let me be clear, do you mean i386 folder in the hidden partitions contain
recovery files?

Thanks

From: BillW50 on 9 Apr 2010 10:51
dwn wrote:
> On Wed, 7 Apr 2010 14:08:35 -0500, "BillW50" <BillW50(a)aol.kom> wrote:
>
>> Okay here is what I would do. You say you see an i386 folder right? If
>> so, that will reinstall Windows XP from scratch. What it should do is to
>> rename your old Windows folder or delete it (you should get a choice of
>> one or the other or both).
>
> I did see i386 when I was in "Command Dot Prompt", and in "Administer". I am not
> sure if I am allow to rename or even delete all the files except i386",
> Remember, I am not in Dot Prompt. I know it because, when I type "DIR/P" in "C"
> partition. The screen showing the files and folders is in Window mode and not
> what I know during the early days, using 16bits the you cannot even see any
> files/folders as it speed bottom to top screen.

First I wouldn't delete anything. That i386 folder could be in your
Windows folder or on your recovery partition or both. This folder
contains the whole Windows XP install.

There are two ways to run the Windows XP install. From XP, WinPE, or
BartPE, run Winnt32. From DOS, run Winnt. Although the install files
can't be on a NTFS partition if you are using DOS. Plus you need to use
Smartdrv if you use DOS to install it. Otherwise it take like a day to
install XP.

And I wouldn't delete anything on your hard drive. Let the Windows
install do that. If you have enough room on the drive you should be
fine. Say 4GB to 6GB free should be plenty.

>> The file you want to run from the i386 folder is Winnt32.exe (I would do
>> this from safe mode and try this first before using normal mode). This
>> will start the Windows install. You won't have any applications you
>> installed later and it might not even have all of the device drivers
>> either. Like video card, WiFi, sound, etc. So grab these drivers first
>> before you try to reinstall Windows XP once again.
>
> Using "Belarc" I had printed a copy of to know the hardware's, driver etc and
> I have all (I hope) the drivers, patched copy into a USB flash stick. Will the
> USB ports still usable in safe mold? I have not try or test before.

USB ports should work fine from safe mode.

>> Yes it sounds like the recovery partition might be corrupted. Or the
>> permission is set to keep you out of there.
>>
>> It would be very nice if you could make a copy of the i386 folder and
>> save it to a CD, flash drive, or something before you start. As if the
>> Winnt.exe and Winnt32.exe files are there, it should contain a complete
>> Windows XP install. And if the worse happens, you could use the copy to
>> reinstall Windows XP once again.
>
> Let me be clear, do you mean i386 folder in the hidden partitions contain
> recovery files?
>
> Thanks
>

It is usually in the Windows folder. Although they could put it
anywhere. Even in the recovery partition.

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Xandros Linux (build 2007-10-19 13:03)
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