Try running "FDISK /MBR " to rewrite the master boot record.

Make sure that you got your boot order configured correctly in the BIOS.

Maybe run F-prot to look for viruses? https://archive.org/details/fprot_dos_316f

You fdisked & formatted after selecting the geometry yes?

Ahh, I reread things. Using LBA with dos 622 might be difficult. Try Normal or large, drop the partitions, and start again.

Did you use MS-DOS 6.22 to partition the drive?

MikeSG wrote on 2024-09-19, 13:38:

Did you use MS-DOS 6.22 to partition the drive?

Yes, I did.

douglar wrote on 2024-09-19, 12:32:

Try running "FDISK /MBR " to rewrite the master boot record. […]
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Try running "FDISK /MBR " to rewrite the master boot record.

Make sure that you got your boot order configured correctly in the BIOS.

Maybe run F-prot to look for viruses? https://archive.org/details/fprot_dos_316f

You fdisked & formatted after selecting the geometry yes?

Yes, I used fdisk /mbr to set the drive and formatted it all in MS-DOS 6.22.

I also tried it into Windows 11 machine for good measure to see if that made a difference, and it didn't.

"Format /s" can also install a boot record

Otherwise the LBA factor might be conflicting somehow with MS-DOS 6.22

OnTrack Disk Manager is another option to try. Runs from a boot disk and installs a drive overlay/boot manager on the CF card: https://www.philscomputerlab.com/ontrack-disk-manager.html

gladders wrote on 2024-09-19, 15:25:

I also tried it into Windows 11 machine for good measure to see if that made a difference, and it didn't.

It isn't clear that DOS 622 works with LBA addressing for all BIOS INT 13h handlers. In other words, there could be a bug in your BIOS disk routines.

It's probably worthwhile to try EZ Drive http://vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=1899 or XUB https://www.xtideuniversalbios.org/

Or you could set the drive to Standard or Large and then repartition and reformat.

As two other guys here told You, i also think that problem is LBA!!! Try with large first (as i can see this is 8gb CF, right?), and if that won't work, try with normal. Of course, every time between trying, You need to format CF again with FDISK/MBR 😀

butjer1010 wrote on 2024-09-19, 18:18:

As two other guys here told You, i also think that problem is LBA!!! Try with large first (as i can see this is 8gb CF, right?), and if that won't work, try with normal. Of course, every time between trying, You need to format CF again with FDISK/MBR 😀

Yeah it’s 8GB. Okay, next time I get to it I’ll try the LARGE setting with a 2GB partition. Fingers crossed…

I had a 486 vlb board that worked reliably for years and yesterday started acting odd when I tried to do a new build. “Missing operating system” after partioningand formatting /s. Swapped cables, compact fash devices, controllers, added XUB. Tried 512MB devices and 2Gb devices . Win95b and win98se. Gave some very curious errors if I tried to kick off the win98se installer from the A: complaining about HPFS or NTFS. So that’s today’s project. Figure out what I started doing wrong.

I did the following:
1) Put the 2GB CF in a windows 11 computer, Ran diskpart.exe, selected the CF, and did a CLEAN command
2) Attached the CF into the WinTech MV008 with MRBIOS 1.60 (OPTI4BH) and checked the Drive Config

3) Booted from a Win95B boot disk with an XUB ROM on a NIC and the disk showed up as 91MB. Never saw that before. My bad, I grabbed a a custom version of XUB I created for testing a 100GB drive.

4) Yanked the NIC with the XUB ROM, reran FDISK but it only saw 512MB. In hindsight, I could have forgotten to select "Y" when starting Fdisk to do the large partitions
5) But what actually happened was I went to the BIOS, changed the drive config to Translate = "y", rebooted, deleted the partition, recreated at 2GB, formatted /s and I was able to successfully boot from the CF:

6) Took the CF back to the windows 11 computer, copied over the base files, then returned to the retro PC, booted off the CF and started the scripted Win98SE install

gladders wrote on 2024-09-19, 23:27:

butjer1010 wrote on 2024-09-19, 18:18:

As two other guys here told You, i also think that problem is LBA!!! Try with large first (as i can see this is 8gb CF, right?), and if that won't work, try with normal. Of course, every time between trying, You need to format CF again with FDISK/MBR 😀

Yeah it’s 8GB. Okay, next time I get to it I’ll try the LARGE setting with a 2GB partition. Fingers crossed…

Did You managed to make it work?

butjer1010 wrote on 2024-09-27, 22:28:

Did You managed to make it work?

I did!...but I have no idea how. I was at my wit's end, plugging it in every way it could and suddenly it started behaving. I don't know what I did differently - I hadn't changed the settings, but it just fired up and behaved. It caused me so much grief I've been unwilling to tinker with it further.

Willing to go into BIOS and report on the settings as they stand though.

gladders wrote on 2025-05-26, 22:56:

butjer1010 wrote on 2024-09-27, 22:28:

Did You managed to make it work?

I did!...but I have no idea how. I was at my wit's end, plugging it in every way it could and suddenly it started behaving. I don't know what I did differently - I hadn't changed the settings, but it just fired up and behaved. It caused me so much grief I've been unwilling to tinker with it further.

Willing to go into BIOS and report on the settings as they stand though.

Hehe, after rain, there comes a sun 😉
Nice to hear that every thing is working as it should!