I picked up a a pc for refurb and I'm trying to install DOS 6.22 but I get hit with the "disk error was detected while writing a new boot record..." message. The BIOS is able to pick up the HDD and assign it to the C: but when I try to locate it with fdisk and create a new primary partition I get the not enough space response. Any ideas?
Have you tried with other OS (Windows boot disk or Linux)?
Maybe the OS is not the problem, and you have a defective hard disk.
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Make sure there is no option turned on in the BIOS called virus/boot sector protection.
I don't have any other OS' available to test unfortunately. I did check the BIOS for any virus/protection selections enabled, but nothing enabled on that front.
Assigning the drive in LBA doesn't work so the drive is set up in normal mode in the BIOS. I ran the fdisk /status command and it came back showing the disk was 504mb instead of 1gb and had 100% usage. When I fdisk to check the partitions there are 0 and it says there's no space when I try to create the primary dos partition.
Does anyone have a good disk utility that I can execute to format the drive? Also when I fdisk it doesn't let me select full usage of the HDD. Maybe this HDD was formatted outside of DOS and just thrown in at some point? One last thought...if this was formatted as NTFS, does anyone know of a diskutil that I can use to format it to FAT16/32 inside DOS 6.22?
Moving this to the correct forum...
I recently picked up a a pc for refurb and I'm trying to install DOS 6.22 but I've hit a brick wall with the HDD which through investigation I can see is FAT32. The BIOS is able to pick up the HDD and assign it to the C: (i can choose LBA, normal, large). So far I've tried the following:
1. fdisk - "error reading fixed disk"...presumably because it's FAT32
2. scandisk on c: - "cannot examine c:"...again presumably because it's FAT32
3. Tried to partition it using Part240, but I get an error with the MBR.
4. Tried to delete and write a new MBR with TestDisk utility, but again MBR issue.
I don't have any other OS' available to test unfortunately. I did check the BIOS for any virus/protection selections enabled, but nothing enabled on that front. Does anyone have a recommendation? Do I need to zero out the HDD and then try to format it?
You may have some old partition data on there that DOS can't handle. If that's the case https://www.lo-tech.co.uk/wiki/WipeDisk#Downloads (WipeDisk) might help to wipe it so you can start fresh.
Hook the drive up to a modern machine and test it. Sounds like track 0 might be bad
I just used the wipedisk util (thanks), but unfortunately even though it successfully erased I still can't format the drive.
It certainly looks like there's an issue with track 0...is there any util i can use to correct it? I tried using testdisk to do this to the first sector, but I get "can't write new MBR code". My only other PC is a modern build so I've just ordered an adapter cable to connect the HDD 🙁.
If track 0 is bad the drive is basically trash unfortunately
I'll try connecting it to windows 10 and try and repair/rebuild the MBR. Never tried it before so no idea if it will work. Have you ever had to do it before?
Why not just get a MSDos 7.1 boot disk? Like the CDU MSDos 7.1 from winworldpc.com for example. Boot that and just run fdisk/mbr? Then try to format it. It should tell if there is a track zero error.
A bit OT. I had a similar issue with one of my hdds a couple of decades ago. No OS would read/access it. As a last ditch effort I tried installing OS/2 v3. Somehow that sorted the disk out and it is still running fine today.
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wrote:I just used the wipedisk util (thanks), but unfortunately even though it successfully erased I still can't format the driv
It certainly looks like there's an issue with track 0...is there any util i can use to correct it? I tried using testdisk to do this to the first sector, but I get "can't write new MBR code". My only other PC is a modern build so I've just ordered an adapter cable to connect the HDD 🙁.
Maybe I'm hearing wrong or not getting the whole story. It sounds like you tried to format directly after WIPEDISK. You need to run FDISK after WIPEDISK to create a new partition before attempting a FORMAT. But you probably know that and didn't mention it.
First and foremost, make sure the HDD is OK.
You can eg. boot some Linux, and run something like:
badblocks -s -v -w /dev/hda
It writes (and reads back) several patterns to the entire drive, the last pattern is 00, so in the end the disk is absolutely clean.
And in some cases it may actually fix defects - multiple writes may force the drive's firmware to relocate bad sectors, provided, of course, there's not too many of them.
Żywotwór planetarny, jego gnijące błoto, jest świtem egzystencji, fazą wstępną, i wyłoni się z krwawych ciastomózgowych miedź miłująca...
wrote:First and foremost, make sure the HDD is OK. You can eg. boot some Linux, and run something like: […]
First and foremost, make sure the HDD is OK.
You can eg. boot some Linux, and run something like:badblocks -s -v -w /dev/hda
It writes (and reads back) several patterns to the entire drive, the last pattern is 00, so in the end the disk is absolutely clean.
And in some cases it may actually fix defects - multiple writes may force the drive's firmware to relocate bad sectors, provided, of course, there's not too many of them.
But will that tell the OP if track zero is bad? If it can't be partitioned and formatted, what good is it? If FDISK succeeds, then he should re-boot then run FDISK to see if the partition remains (often FDISK appears to succeed but after reboot no partition was actually created indicating a trashed drive). Then Format and run tests to find out if it will be reliable.
wrote:But will that tell the OP if track zero is bad?
Kind of.
Badblocks displays logical numbers of bad blocks, ie. single numbers, instead of CHS triples.
If it can't be partitioned and formatted, what good is it?
There may be at last two reasons:
- HDD defects
- some garbage in the MBR causing FDISK to exit with an error
Badblocks is good for HDD verification, and after all the write/read cycles there's nothing left on the HDD but zeroes.
Żywotwór planetarny, jego gnijące błoto, jest świtem egzystencji, fazą wstępną, i wyłoni się z krwawych ciastomózgowych miedź miłująca...
MHDD is a great option to check disks on older systems. You can download a bootable version that fits into a 1.44Mb disk, and do a surface test.
Also, it lets you erase the complete drive to do a fresh start.
I have traveled across the universe and through the years to find Her.
Sometimes going all the way is just a start...
Thank you for the suggestion everyone! I'll run through these tonight after work.
I did try to fdisk after wipedisk, but no luck sadly. I'll need to order some floppy disks today anyway, but can't try DOS 7.1 yet. I have a gotek, but the max file size per disc is 1.39mb
wrote:The BIOS is able to pick up the HDD and assign it to the C: (i can choose LBA, normal, large).
And what did you select here? "normal" won't work, as that is normal CHS limited to 504 MB. LBA should work, unless it's an early BIOS from 1994, where this was mostly buggy. Large is E-CHS and should work fine. Try alternating between LBA and "large" and check if it does make a difference. Also, run "fdisk /mbr" before you run fdisk.
It's currently set up as LBA in the BIOS, but I think I also tried it in large. I'll double check when I get home though. I previously tried "fdisk /mbr" and it was unable to execute, but I'll double check again on both just in case.
wrote:I previously tried "fdisk /mbr" and it was unable to execute, but I'll double check again on both just in case.
If that resulted in an error, let us know what the error was.
