Sounds like leftover boot sector code.

EdmondDantes wrote:

Did I mess something up by messing with the drive in linux?

The best way to check would be to re-format the partiton using Windows 98's own version of Format.com. You can also try "fdisk /mbr" with the Windows 98 version of fdisk, or maybe "sys c:".

I agree with Jorpho. Nuke that drive with DBAN and then partition and format using the Win98 boot floppy or CDROM.

Some folks report problems with 80GB drives, but I've never had one. What motherboard are you using? Some, such as my ABIT BH6, require a BIOS update to work correctly with drives 40GB and larger. If you're unsure, create a 4GB primary partition just to install the OS and make sure everything is working OK, then move on from there.

I bought an old computer some years ago that turned out to have an old version of Linux on it. After using fdisk to delete partitions and install DOS 6.22 on it, it surprised me by rebooting to grub instead of DOS. I ended up using aefdisk or delpart (I forget which) from bootdisk.com to get rid of the Linux remnants. After that it booted to DOS normally.
http://bootdisk.com/dostools.htm
I can't remember if I tried fdisk /mbr

The motherboard is an Epox-8KTA (2, possibly)

And actually, this is the hard drive I've been using since the PC was built, so I know for a fact it works. There's an entire long sequence of events which led me to this point tho. I better relate a as-condensed-as-possible version.

Awhile ago I was trying to fix sound issues in a game that led me to trying to uninstall DirectX 9 (which I had tried to see if it would make another game work on Win98... it didn't) but in doing so I wound up messing something up and getting an invalid VxD bluescreen every time I booted up, which the BSOD itself said reinstall, and all the info I found on that issue online basically confirmed.

So I did, and THAT reinstall went fine. However then a few days ago the comp developed an issue of constantly rebooting or, if I started up in safe mode, giving me "Windows Protection Error, restart your computer" which I tried all sorts of things and eventually figured the install must be faulty and formatted the drive again before realizing the problem was that somehow the memory had become unseated (which I realized due to running memtest86 from a floppy... at first, it found errors every five nanoseconds, but after re-seating the memory it reported no problems. But the HD was formatted by this time).

Part of the reason this happened at all though is because, due to it being 80gb, I can only scandisk and defrag the drive by physically removing it and hooking it up (via adapters) to a USB slot on my Windows 7 laptop. It was after a round of this that the constant rebootings started, so this time around I went into that version of Linux and tried partitioning the drive (using Gparted) so it read as two smaller drives, but after that failed I tried different configs, most recently (just before making this post) I had tried allocating just 30gb and leaving the rest unallocated to see how that would work.

Not only did I still get the Disk I/O thing but... well, now its gotten worse.

So I went back into Linux, but now... well, its being weird with regards to the hard drive. The BIOS says its there, and Linux kinda-sorta says its there. But it says it isn't really. And now it won't let me change anything--gives me an error every time I try and says "See Details" but the "details" just consist of saying what it tried to do with an icon at the end that tells me freaking NOTHING.

I'm afraid I may have just borked this hard drive and now have to order a new one. =(

The theory I had intended to test was that maybe the partition had to be made with fdisk, so I had been intending to make a single 10gb partition that fdisk could handle, but this might have put the kibosh on that unless I can save it.

I'll try out this "DBAN" thing, I've also heard that there's a better version of Fdisk that isn't as stupid or limited.

I actually use a much older drive wiping tool, but DBAN does the same thing.

I always use the Win98SE boot floppy or CDROMs based on it for partitioning and formatting my Win9x systems. To me, using something else is inviting trouble. I don't understand why you seem unwilling to use it. True, it does have have some problems with larger disks, but I've even used it successfully with 120GB drives. The trick is to select partition sizes using percentages instead of values. Example: "50%" will get you a 40GB primary partition. Use "50%" rather than 40000.

Ummm, exactly what partitioning tool are you talking about, KT7AGuy? The only partitioning tool with Win98SE I'm even aware of is fdisk, and the reason I don't use it is because it refuses to see my hard drive as being bigger than 10gb. If there's another one, then none of the readmes or other text files on the CD mention it.

You're correct. I'm referring to fdisk that comes with the Win98SE boot floppy and CDROM. You're also correct that it won't show the correct size of your drive. Ignore that. It's normal. When you're choosing a partition size, use a percentage instead of a hard number. For example, with your 80GB drive you would type "50%" to get a 40GB partition.

My advice to fix this problem:

1 - Use DBAN or some other drive wiping tool to delete all data, partitions, and boot records.

2 - Boot with the Win98SE floppy or CDROM and use fdisk to partition.

3 - When selecting a size for your primary partition, choose "12%" for a slightly less than 10GB partition.

4 - Set the partition as active.

5 - Reboot and try installing Win98SE.

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! It seems nuking it with DBAN did the trick. I've now got Win98SE installed AND I have the drives partitioned the way I wanted (I'm hoping this means Scandisk and Defrag will work without issue now--at the very least, the Scandisk that runs when you install the OS--which I know how to skip but which I allowed to run this time--seemed to go off without a hitch).

As far as I can tell, things are hunky-dorey, though I'll update if something else goes wrong (I doubt anything will tho--this comp is pretty stable when nothing's unplugged and I'm not being an idiot)