Random Unaccessable Partition

[LotusAstra]

i have just made disk into 5 parts...
6, 6, 6, 6 & 21gig parts...
the result of this is that this is NOT an issue regarding number of parts on the disk, all was working OK in dos and windows (no ms dos compatabily issues) for now with the last part bigger than 13gig (i'd imagine i'd probably get prob if i wrote more than 8gigs to this 21gig partition causing it to access the last >32gb part of the disk)

The next thing i shall try is 1 40gig part and 1 5gig part and in theory this should give me problems, this will tell us for sure hopefully what is going on.

i just checked following mosaics instructions and NO Q243450 ain't listed on mine either under win98se or win98. i'll try installing it after these few experiments.

I know what u mean about the lack of info for my PC, this is quite appalling for such a major manifacure init.

Thank you all for sticking with me, your help has been brilliant.

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HP Pavilion 8730uk with Athlon 850mhz, 512mb RAM, TNT2 Pro 32mb, SB Live 1024, LG CED-8083b CD-RW, Samsung SD-612 DVD-ROM, Quantum 30gb lct15-30 & Western Digital 45gb WD450AA HDD & Win98fe.

[LotusAstra]

Quote "The next thing i shall try is 1 40gig part and 1 5gig part and in theory this should give me problems, this will tell us for sure hopefully what is going on."

i tried this and we seem to be narowing it down a bit as when i done that the last part has ms dos compatability issues and would not hold format again after reboot.

I only have win98 first edition installed and was wondering if this issue was fixed with Win98se or winME so am gunna try winME now from my Norton Ghost Recovery CD, i'll let u know how it goes, should be done in 5 mins. I just like to try everything when it comes to a problem like this, as all i want is reliability, and to know exactly what caused it.

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HP Pavilion 8730uk with Athlon 850mhz, 512mb RAM, TNT2 Pro 32mb, SB Live 1024, LG CED-8083b CD-RW, Samsung SD-612 DVD-ROM, Quantum 30gb lct15-30 & Western Digital 45gb WD450AA HDD & Win98fe.

[LotusAstra]

ahhh...

i have just tried winME and it cured the problem, i guess that update is included with it, but i could not see the same info list in msinfo32.

I'll now try SE and see if the update is included.

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HP Pavilion 8730uk with Athlon 850mhz, 512mb RAM, TNT2 Pro 32mb, SB Live 1024, LG CED-8083b CD-RW, Samsung SD-612 DVD-ROM, Quantum 30gb lct15-30 & Western Digital 45gb WD450AA HDD & Win98fe.

[LotusAstra]

just tried win98se and that didn't come with the update as standard...i installed the update and this fixed the ms dos compatability problem

i'll let u know how it goes with first edition in a bit

Quoto "If you set up the hard drive with fewer partitions where the last partition starts before the 32gig limit will the partition function correctly without the update? Or would more problems arise later with use. I don't know the answer to this one."

i have tried this (i cant remember exactly what size partitions i tried now) and it all seemed ok all round, until i start copying stuff to the partition...this is where i first noticed i had a major prob however many partitions i used, this was where my first partition started to disapear on me, as this is what my 1st question relates to.

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HP Pavilion 8730uk with Athlon 850mhz, 512mb RAM, TNT2 Pro 32mb, SB Live 1024, LG CED-8083b CD-RW, Samsung SD-612 DVD-ROM, Quantum 30gb lct15-30 & Western Digital 45gb WD450AA HDD & Win98fe.

[This message has been edited by LotusAstra (edited 05-13-2001).]

[LotusAstra]

Thankyou, Thankyou, Thankyou...Without all your help i would have probabaly ended up paying a shop to fit the drive and learnt nothing.

I Ghosted my usual Win98 first edition back on the pc and then installed the update HERE again and sure enough it fixed the problem (ms dos compatability & need for reformating after reboot because of disapearing partition) completly.

I have copied the contents of a game directory (kingpin) onto the last partition which is 8gig then run scandisk afterwards and it found NO errors.

With my pc this update is needed with any version of win98 but not with WinME (prob cuz thas newer i guess)

I have learned a few things too during the process and now my drives are listed in a more logical order due to not having a primary partition on my slave drive.

I have copied the contents of a game directory (kingpin) onto the last partition which is 8gig then run scandisk afterwards and it found NO errors.

Thanx all, i find it hard to believe that all was needed was a little Update from MS in the end, hopefully now i won't get any more troubles with that drive. ppphhhheeeewwwww!

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HP Pavilion 8730uk with Athlon 850mhz, 512mb RAM, TNT2 Pro 32mb, SB Live 1024, LG CED-8083b CD-RW, Samsung SD-612 DVD-ROM, Quantum 30gb lct15-30 & Western Digital 45gb WD450AA HDD & Win98fe.

[This message has been edited by LotusAstra (edited 05-15-2001).]

[DrMDJ]

Sensational. Glad this all got resolved. Yes, the problem applies to Win98 Fe and SE. Though the update says it addresses a Scandisk problem, the problem is more widespread than that. WinME does not need any updates. It's a good thing you weren't using Win95, cause that can't handle drives greater than 32 gig period (and no fix).

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[LotusAstra]

Thanks alot DrMDJ you were great,

Yeah thats y i didn't try it earlier because it said it addressed ScanDisk so i didn't think it was relevent in my case. I'm glad to be proven wrong on that 1 tho.

Mosaic1 heres whats listed under software updates on my PC, but i guess it would be different on yours b'cuz you have Win98SE and I hav First Edition Still...

[Software Updates]

Updates = Year 2000 Update for Windows 98
Windows 98 Service Pack 1 = 4,10,0,2000

[W98]

[Windows 98 Q245729 Update]

[Windows 98 Q256015 Update]

[Windows 98 Q259728 Update]

[Windows 98 Q273991 Update]

[W98.SP1]

[Windows 98 Q168115 Update]

[Windows 98 Q238453 Update]

[Windows 98 Q243450 Update]

[Win98.SE]

[Windows 98 Q249973 Update]

[Windows 98 TELNET Update]

[Windows 98 Year 2000 Update 2]

I do visit the windows update page now and then...is this where your updates came from?

if so then i guess i'd be OK as far as updates go and the differences r b'cuz of Win98FE/SE...

Thanx

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HP Pavilion 8730uk with Athlon 850mhz, 512mb RAM, TNT2 Pro 32mb, SB Live 1024, LG CED-8083b CD-RW, Samsung SD-612 DVD-ROM, Quantum 30gb lct15-30 & Western Digital 45gb WD450AA HDD & Win98fe.

[DrMDJ]

Mosaic1,

You are right, that KB desciption of the fix is awfull. The problem isn't just a Phoenix bios or Scandisk issue. In fact, with all the drives >32gig around now I think MS should just put it as a update that everyone should apply. But...

PS. Thanks for your kind words before, but this was a combined effort. Your help should not be discounted and was appreciated.

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[LotusAstra]

i can't thank you all enough, i gotta agree with the comment about that KB description.

there is 1 other quick thing i noticed while in my BIOS...

my CD-RW has UDMA disabled and greyed out in BIOS could this be normal? or is this probably the reason why i can't write cd's directly on-the-fly without buffer underrun?

My DVD has UDMA Enabled, thats why i found this kinda wierd.

hopefully this will be a easyier 1 to resolve. this page is getting masive!

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HP Pavilion 8730uk with Athlon 850mhz, 512mb RAM, TNT2 Pro 32mb, SB Live 1024, LG CED-8083b CD-RW, Samsung SD-612 DVD-ROM, Quantum 30gb lct15-30 & Western Digital 45gb WD450AA HDD & Win98fe.

[This message has been edited by LotusAstra (edited 05-13-2001).]

[DrMDJ]

Ya might want to start another thread for that problem/issue.

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