Install Problems

[platinum]

I have a Cyrix 6x86 machine with a 3gig H/drive and i am trying to install NT4 for the first time. I have come across a few problems like the Format type which is FAT16 and the Lock Command which i got past aswell. All answers which i found on this site. Though one problem which i have not found an answer for is this, One all the install process has gone through the computer then restarts for the first time showing the windows NT kernel on a blue background then mine does a screen dump then says that it cannot access the boot sector. At the bottom of the screem it says run /crashrecovery which i can't find and have found no answers to this problem as of yet. I the fact that i am using a cryix machine a problem as i am trying to master NT4 but not suceeding. Many thanks to any replys.........

[dtiffany]

The system cannot find your setup files upon reboot. Did setup detect your mass storage devices correctly? Post your machine configuration here so we can get a better idea.

[platinum]

I have not got anything special on it just 3gig drive with a spacewalker board which is approx 2years old. An S3 trio video card, SB16 sound card. I am installing from the 3 disk which NT4 produced and have tried installing from them and using winnt /b as a diskless install both bring the sames results. I hope this is what you require to know from me. Thanks D!

[patweb]

Did you blow away any existing partitions prior to installing, or use the existing dos partition.

I would try that first.

I have NT on 3 Cyrix computers with no problem yet (180's).

[platinum]

I did have windows 98 on it. And Wiped that all off as far as i know. So would that have left anything behind. I did fdisk it and formatted if fat16 before putting on NT4. I can't help thinking i have done somthing realy silly which i might have missed. But i did read all other post and tried all other suggestions before posing my problem. Thanks for the reply pat!!

[LM-S]

Couple of ideas...

Somewhere - but I cannot recall where - I've seen references that suggest that NT doesn't like FAT16 partitions created/formatted using '98 boot-disk... It's not an issue I've seen much discussed, but it has ben raised 'somewhere; possibly it's 'duff' gen/info...'? I tend to use DOS 6.22 (with CDROM support) boot-disk for basic HD configuration - at least for FAT16 issues...

You definitely do have FAT16 C: system partition, within the limit of 2Gig (the max under FAT16)? If your C: system partition is greater than 2Gig then you must have set it to FAT32 (via '98 boot-disk...); and NT doesn't like FAT32 - and you can't 'easily' install NT in that situation...

That having said... you could use a DOS 6.22 boot-disk, reconfigure the drive to a C: system FAT16, either 2Gig max, and the balance (Extended area) as another FAT16 partition; and then have another go...

Personally I'd create a C: system area around 125Meg (FAT16); make it bootable; copy the i386 into it and install NT from there...

C;\i386\winnt /b /x /s:c:\i386

and press Enter is the command to install NT this way.

/b = floppy-ess install; /x = make no set-up floppies;
/s: = location < winnt.exe > (in this case /s: = c:\i386)

You then point NT to install into the extended area, and can make it either use the whole of the Extended area, or create two logical-drives (during NT set-up) and install NT system files (the OS) into D: and keep the second (E: ) for data...

Part of me is leaning towards the idea that you inadvertantly made a FAT32 single partition...?

[This message has been edited by LM-S (edited 09-15-2000).]

[dtiffany]

When you used FDISK, you probably saw a screen full of text asking you if you want to enable large disk access. You must answer 'No' to this question. Otherwise, you'll have a FAT32 partition regardless of how small it is. My suggestion is to use the three installation diskettes. Upon running setup, remove all partitions and have create a partition through NT setup.