Can I fix my damaged Win98se disk?

[angelsewell]

Hi all,

I have a Dell pc using Win 98se. My hard drive died, and as I could not afford a new one, my brother gave me one from his IBM pc. Problem is that the Dell pc won't read the IBM recovery disk, and the Dell win98se disk is too scratched to work. As I also cannot afford to get a new Win98 disk, any ideas that might work would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks.

[cHiNgY1788]

try a cd cleaner or cd repair kit
thats all i can think of without buying a new windows cd

[Murf]

Dell OEM disks are proprietary will only install on a DELL. Same with IBM.

You could put the drive back into the Dell, load Windows, when all done put the drive in the IBM. If you try this once booted immediately get into SETUP (1st screen tells you what to use -usually Del key or a "F" key).

Once in there set to system defaults, save and exit.

As suggested you can try and use a good cd cleaner, may fix it.

[angelsewell]

No luck with anything I tried, so I got a loan and purchased Win XP. Long story short..both my Hard Drives work in my sisters pc. In my Dell they are not recognized. Keep getting message that there is no HD. Tried new cables, didn't work, still not detected even in BIOS. What I don't understand is why one HD works, but gives a warning to backup my files and install a new HD.

Also added more RAM and am having a problem with that being recognized. On every boot up I get the message...memory size changed. It either goes up or down in size from what I have installed. Sometimes it's right on, but not many times. Thanks.

[Murray S.]

Howdy:

How old is your system and have you ever changed the CMOS battery?

Murray

[angelsewell]

It's approx 6 years old. Nope, never changed the CMOS battery. Should I try that?

[Murray S.]

Yep.. then, as soon as you have it changed, boot into BIOS and reset your clock and date and make sure all IDE devices are set to "Auto"..

Murray

[angelsewell]

How do I know what size/type battery to buy? Many thanks for your help! I'll post back as soon as I replace the battery with the results. Thanks again.

[Murf]

They are the SAME, number should be on the Battery:

CR2032

[angelsewell]

ok...changed battery. HD is now listed in the BIOS. Still getting error message with each boot up. Message reads..."Primary EIDE controller is operating outside of normal specifications" Also getting message "warning case has been opened", and "memory size has been changed"

After I put in a new battery I was getting "no CD ROM attached"(fixed that finally) and Windows missing drivers errors. Took me about a dozen tries before Windows would reinstall and run.

It's like I have several errors taking turns interupting my PC. But one thing is for sure, each time I boot up I always get the message ..."Primary EIDE controller is operating outside of normal specifications" Would love to know what that means and what to do next. Your help is greatly appreciated!

[Murf]

You probably need to reinstall the motherboard drivers. Have you run "Windows Update" yet, which will find the drivers and install them.

[angelsewell]

reinstalled the motherboard drivers using Windows Update...no change, still getting the same error messages. Added second HD as a slave drive, and it is listed in BIOS, and it works! Have 320mb RAM installed, and when PC boots up I am still getting the message about "memory change" and that it's decreasing the memory size.

The only way Windows will load after a reboot is if I turn it off for a few minutes. If I don't, then I get the message about missing drivers. Can't quite remember it, but something about FASTFAT.