Hard Drive Missing after format /Compaq Armada 1510 ! HELP !!!

[khael]

I made a clean format of my hard drive. When I boot up using a bootup disk in my floppy, I cant anymore access my hard drive (drive c It says invalid drive specification. I'm using a dos 6.22 bootup disk. Please help. Thanks !

khael

Compaq Armada 1510

[NESTIAM]

Here is a Microsoft Article that MAY apply to you.

http://support.microsoft.com/support.../Q134/7/08.asp

If this doesn't solve the problem you may look at the possibiltiy that you have removed the Dynamic Disk Overlay in your reformat process. Was there one being used on this hard drive? You may want to check with Compaq if your not sure. How old is the computer and how large is the hard drive?

[khael]

thanks for the reply and the link. it still did'nt solve the problem. I'm not sure if i removed the Disk Overlay or if it had one. I been on Compaq Website but i can't see a solution to my problem. I've got a 1.0 gig HardDrive in my 3 yr old Compaq Armada 1510. I lost the manual of it. I'm still looking for a driver for the Disk Overlay. Will it be safe to install the driver if in case it is not compatible with the hardisk ? Thanks.

khael

[NESTIAM]

In most cases, a three year old computer with a 1 gig hard drive would not use a disk overlay such as EZ-BIO's by Maxtor. You may want to concentrate on some other areas. Did you set the hard drive up in the BIOS after reformating? Is this bootup disk from your computer or a generic copy from a web site?

[khael]

i used generic bootup disk (DOS 6.22). I formatted it using that disk. I can't access my bios setup(if there's any).Will i consider that some internal connection (such as wiring to the hard disk) may be disconnected ? When i tried to access my harddrive message "INVALID DRIVE SPECIFICATION" appears. The link only refers to "INVALID SYSTEM DISK" error message. Are this two messages the same? Thanks again.

khael

[ul2m8*Barbie]

When you formatted your hard drive it sounds like you forgot to make it bootable. With the boot disk in the floppy from the a:\> type:
sys a: c:
If it doesn't do it, instead try:
format c: /s
Good luck.

[khael]

thanks barbie for the reply. I did what u said but still did not solve the problem. it's some kind of a "lost hard disk". I still can't access my hard drive.

carl

[ul2m8*Barbie]

Ok, how did you format your harddrive? From a dos prompt or a floppy? If you ran format from c:, is it possible your windows version was using fat32 - either win95b or win98? If the drive was a fat32 then the dos boot disk won't be able to read it. If you have access to a win98 or win95 (preferably same system 95 as was installed on your computer) startup disk, see if that will allow you access to your drive.
Otherwise it couldn't hurt to run
fdisk /mbr from the dos disk.
Good luck.

[NESTIAM]

Did UL2M8*Barbie's advice solve your problem?

If not, going back to your comment on 3 Nov 99, 10:05 PM, you mentioned you could not find the BIO'S setup. Do you have your computer manual? If so, instructions for entering the BIO'S setup should be in there. If not, USUALLY, when the system first starts-up it will show messages to the effect of (This assumes that there is not a logo screen covering the info, if so, hit ESC and you can look behind the screen) of Detecting RAM (usually a number runs up to show the amount installed), CD-ROM FOUND, MOUSE FOUND, and other similar messages. The last line, will USUALLY show a statement that says "TO Enter Setup Press" and it will usually be DEL or one of the F keys (i.e. F10). This is just before the system tries to enter Windows, you have about two seconds to hit the designated key and then the computer will enter the BIOS setup page (provided someone did not password protect the BIOS setup). If you can make it this far write back for further instructions.

Or, if the problem is solved let us know.

[khael]

Thank you all.I just solve my probelem. The problem is my boot disk. I was running 95b and my 95b boot disk is defective so i used my DOS bootdisk but did'nt work. It's all fine now. Thanks for the idea Barbie. And also to you Nestiam.

[John Runion]

If you fdisked the drive and removed all the partitions on it you removed the Compaq diagnostic partition this is where your system setup programs are. You will need to go to the Compaq web site and download 2 files that will make 2 floppies 1 the setup disk and 2 the diagnostic disk. Here is the site http://www.compaq.com/support/files/portables/us/2_97.html. The disk are bootable and will resetup your drive.

:-) JR