PCA Forums

okay drive had win 98 on it but then i decided to use the hardrive for the windows nt computer now i install nt and needed to restart in order to complete but now i only get boot scree and i get line blinking over and over and nothing loads how do you fix first time i ever expirience this

Is there an error message with the blue screen? IDE Drives? Which version of NT? Did you have the installation program format the HD? NTFS? and was there a drive overlay of some kind of the drive when running W98?

there is no blue screen. only black one with a line blinking no error message. i am attempting to install win nt 4.0 yes i had the installation program format the hd should i try booting it from win 98 bootdisk

I had some similar problems from 98 to XP. I downloaded the hd mfg test programs from their web site for running hd tests and they always have a low level format on it which is what I did. Takes a while but the hd is fresh then and you can start clean on your new OS.

Hope that helps

tried win 98 bootdisk nothing same line blinking as if waiting for something

This rings a tiny bell.. did the case get opened during this upgrade? Is the Vid card seated all the way down? memory? with nothing coming out the video feed I'd try that first... maybe try an older video card, see if you get any data showing during boot?

tried it on different pc's same thing i get blinking line on the screen and nothing weird???? i used win 98 bootdisk nothing. i try to install linux i get an error dont know what the heck is going on

oh yeah the video card is put in right it boots up and show this

333mhz celeron
64mb
fujitsu
cd-rom 52x

then the screen turns black and has like / blinking over and waiting for something

Oh, the system is booting? Then you might try

1: is HD set as single or master drive?
2: You said you tried W98 Boot disk. Floppy? If so, it should let you in far enough to run Fdisk, assuming you boot to A drive currently( or is it booting to C first? ). Does it let you get to an A prompt? FDisk will tell you if it can't access the HD in question.

If so, and if the drive was working just before, i agree with Blackhawk: sounds like it needs a low level format. Most brand name drive makers have them at their web sites.
The other thing that comes to mind ( just ran into this at work ) is how long are you waiting for a response from the system? I tried to put an oooooold 1 Gig Conner drive into a gift system: it would take about 4 minutes for Autodetect in CMOS to say there was nothing there.

If these thoughts can't help I've got a 2lb sledge hammer I can send you :kookoo

it boots this is what i get

333mhz celeron
64mb ram
fujitsu hd 4118
cd-rom 52-x


then after this shows up i get symbol like this / blinking on the screen as if ts waiting for something but it does not go.

i unplug hardrive and then i get this message no operating sytem found .

could it be old age hardrive is pretty old and its 4.6 gb hardrive by fujitsu do you where i can program to do low level format

Fuji hard drives are known to be troublesome, sorry.

A search at fujitsu.com found what you may need but it wasn't on the american portion of fuji's site but it is on Canada's fuji site.
http://www.fujitsu.ca/download/hard_drive.html

Looks like fuji's low level format is called Fuji erase utility.

I'd suggest to use the diagnostics for eide hard drives and see if it finds anything. If you use the erase utility then afterwards you'll need to fdisk and format again.



I had a similar problem before with just the blinking curser at the top left hand corner, waited and waited and still it just blinked. Eventually I tried about everything but what finally helped was reseating the video card and it took several attempts. You still might try that before trying the fuji software. Some mobo's and video cards can be a pain with getting the video card seated just right.

It sounds like you're booting to the C drive. Try going into CMOS with a W98 Boot ( not installation ) Diskette in the A drive and setting the boot sequence to A drive first.
What I read above says it shows the POST specs then goes to nothing... well, actually something damaged. If it couldn't find an OS it would give the message you posted today after unplugging the HD.
With the CMOS set to A drive and a good boot disk in A drive you should be able to see what's going on.
If I'm not being clear ( never happend b4, really! :lol ) I'd be happy to walk you through it today: cell phone is free for the weekend!


Paul

thx bluewhale hopefully the low level format will erase it. thx weird i had to create 4 win 98 bootdisk till system finally recognize it oh well will see after the low level format if it wants to install nt on it thx guys wish me luck

hard drive ran smooth after the low level format. first time this hardrive gave me this problem. thanks blade and bluewhale and everyone that contributed to solve problem