Grub is installed to the master boot record.
You need to either wipe the entire drive, or rewrite the standard msdos master boot record with "FDISK /MBR".
DaveDDS wrote on 2026-02-19, 19:33:JKnightandKARR wrote on 2026-02-19, 04:22:... BUT left the system on ...
Have you left it on this long before? ... there are hardware problems that "get better" (sometimes permanently ... sometimes temporarily) when power has been applied for a more lengthy amount of time.
Only like 5-10 seconds. This was like maybe 30-40 seconds without timing... but it did come up pretty normal with omly 5 sec delay with no drive installed.
akimmet wrote on 2026-02-19, 20:06:Grub is installed to the master boot record.
You need to either wipe the entire drive, or rewrite the standard msdos master boot record with "FDISK /MBR".
That could be. I got 5-512Mb IDE DOMs off Ebay used, so could be. I'm going to remove the partition with my Win 11 system n try the Fdisk command. Thanks.
If you are not already aware, you will want to repartition from DOS. Modern Windows will align the partitions in ways incompatible with booting DOS.
akimmet wrote on 2026-02-20, 00:04:If you are not already aware, you will want to repartition from DOS. Modern Windows will align the partitions in ways incompatible with booting DOS.
I have DOS install disks, I can remove the partition using DIsk Manager, then DOS should just see an empty new drive.
JKnightandKARR wrote on 2026-02-19, 21:11:Only like 5-10 seconds. This was like maybe 30-40 seconds without timing... but it did come up pretty normal with omly 5 sec delay with no drive installed.
These kinds of time-related faults can be very "random" .. I've seen systems that worked after only few extra seconds to one that took minutes.
Probably work doing some testing - it it does fail at power-on time and somewhat reliably begin working after a "little while" this will help diagnose.
Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal
DaveDDS wrote on 2026-02-20, 00:54:JKnightandKARR wrote on 2026-02-19, 21:11:Only like 5-10 seconds. This was like maybe 30-40 seconds without timing... but it did come up pretty normal with omly 5 sec delay with no drive installed.
These kinds of time-related faults can be very "random" .. I've seen systems that worked after only few extra seconds to one that took minutes.
Probably work doing some testing - it it does fail at power-on time and somewhat reliably begin working after a "little while" this will help diagnose.
I've never had it do anything as far as delays, since I've had it, new idk, but might not hurt to do some power ons n time them to when the screen comes on or starts to boot or something.
OK, been a few days, but I have an update. I have the IDE DOM installed, and the system DOES see it, and sets it up automatically, but I have a small holdup that prevents me from using it. If I boot the system up using the Bootdisk, it DOES have C:\ so YAY!, HOWEVER..... I cleared the partition, or so I thought... I tried installing DOS 6.22, and the disks said the drive already had DOS installed, which, after clearing the partition, shouldn't have anything, and the system should see it as a new drive. It didn't even as about any partition setup, just went straight to where to install DOS. I got to Disk #3, after some issues which I got it to go past on Disk #2, and got to Command.com @ 99%, where the system seemed to freeze at, I tried rebooting, and got a "Missing O.S." message. So, going to try to redo the OS again after another attempt at deleting the partition. Sadly, I am unable to use my adapter since it doesn't seem to be working anymore. Tried multiple USB ports and 2 different systems, so it seems to be my 3-in-1 adapter. Also going to try to make new DOS disks, just need to get files from a friend of mine. Thanks again all, for the help on this. I've been trying to get this to work for like 2.5 yrs now, I think??... IDK.... The original drive fried on me, so got lucky n found a replacement, but who knows how long it'll work.
Did you write a new master boot record as Akimmet mentioned? Just to be sure.. Aaand, not to be "the guy" but maybe it is something totally else that is going. Bad RAM can give strange seemingly random errors. Old rusty boxes of electronics CAN have more than one issue at a time.
