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  #1  
Old July 15th, 2005, 12:28 PM
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pc died

I need some help I killed my pc. I can not get my pc to bootup it keeps telling me on bootup that PRI MASTER NOT DETECTED and it will not bootup with the bootup disk any help out their?
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  #2  
Old July 15th, 2005, 12:47 PM
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When you say "I killed my pc" does that mean you did something you think caused the problem? If so, what was it?

"Pri master not detected" means it can't find the harddrive. Have you checked to make sure all the connections on the harddrive are correct (you have to open the case to check them)?

Did you add any hardware or software right before the problem occurred? If so, what was it?
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  #3  
Old July 16th, 2005, 02:57 PM
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Well I think that I may be the problem I changed the hard drive and tryed to reformat it to the new pc but could not get it to work so I put it back into the pc that I took it out of but now it will not work it will not boot up with or without the boot disk.
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Old July 16th, 2005, 04:55 PM
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First check all the connections to the harddrive. Make sure the ribbon cable is firmly seated and is oriented correctly. Make sure the power plug is firmly seated.

When you say the formatting attempt didn't work, how far did it get? If the drive got partially formatted, you'll probably have to format it again and then install Windows.
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  #5  
Old July 16th, 2005, 11:32 PM
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I am not sure of what I did, I think that I some how got into the step - by - step setup by mistake and did not know how to get out and answered most of the questions with a [Y] I just turned it back on am abole to get the DOS prompt but it tells me that [no fixed disk present] and still will not boot to fdisk so now what do I do? I know one thing when I get it up and running it will be some time before I go messing with it.
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  #6  
Old July 17th, 2005, 01:15 AM
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You'll probably need to get into the BIOS (also called Setup) to move the floppy drive up to first in the boot order. Once you do that, it will boot to the floppy.

Click Here for a step-by-step tutorial on how to fdisk, partition and format the drive and reinstall Windows.
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  #7  
Old July 17th, 2005, 02:11 PM
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Echo: Make sure your ribbon cable red line is on pin 1 of mobo and hard drive.
Or you can turn them around backwards as long as pin 1 goes to pin 1.
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  #8  
Old July 18th, 2005, 01:44 AM
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I tried the information that you gave me but no luck. I boot up as said type fdisk and then get the responce [no fixed disks present] will not go past this screen
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  #9  
Old July 18th, 2005, 03:36 AM
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Okay, to make sure we're on the same page.

You have a Windows 98 boot floppy disk. You put it into the floppy drive and turn the computer on. After some whirring and clicking, you get to a menu where you choose how you want it to boot up. You choose "With CD ROM support" and press the Enter key. After more whirring, you get a mostly black screen with an A prompt and that's where you type fidisk and press the enter key.

If that's the process you've been doing then the boot floppy apparently doesn't have what you need.

You can go to www.bootdisk.com, download a file to make a Windows 98 boot floppy. Don't put that file on the floppy. Put a blank, formatted floppy in the floppy drive and run the file you downloaded to make the boot disk.
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  #10  
Old July 18th, 2005, 05:52 AM
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Thank you for your help I did sean to have unpluged the ribbon from the mobo but not enough to tell that it was and that seamed to fix the problems that I was having I am now up and running again, I would like to install the winme defrag program that I have on flopy but I am not sure of how to get it to the right place any help with that would be appreciated
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  #11  
Old July 18th, 2005, 05:45 PM
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I have my pc up and running now it would seam that I unpluged the ribbon cable from the motherboard just enough to keep it from working as far as I can tell my hard drive is in good shape I did not damage it at all I really do apprecate your and everyone elses help their at CTH what would guys like us do with out you. I do have one thing that you might help me with I know that the winme defrag will run on the 98 but I need help downloading it, I have it on flopy but I do not know how to get to the windows file so that I can use it can you give me any help with that?
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  #12  
Old July 19th, 2005, 01:28 PM
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Find defrag.exe and rename it to defrag.sav. Look at properties to see what folder it is in. Now copy medefrag from flop to location on hard drive where defrag is/was and rename medefrag to defrag.exe. That's it.
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  #13  
Old July 20th, 2005, 07:21 PM
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Thanks for the information on how to copy the medefrag but I seamed to have run into a problem getting it to copy so that I can rename it, I have done as you said I found the defrag.exe renamed it sav. but now I can not for some reason get the medefrag to copy don't get me wrong it will copy but only from A:\ to A:\ it will not open up a window so that I can send it to the windows file where it needs to be so tell me what I am doing wrong?
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  #14  
Old July 21st, 2005, 12:48 AM
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WinMe_Defrag.exe
Download it right into your Windows after you have renamed renamed your
current version of DEFRAG.EXE to DEFRAG.OLD, then rename Win_Defrag.exe to Defrag.exe.
You can name the old defrag.exe to defrag.sav, defrag.old, or just about anything you want.

Last edited by Nick Grana; July 21st, 2005 at 12:54 AM.
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  #15  
Old July 21st, 2005, 02:54 AM
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I don't know I must be doing something wrong I for some reason cannot get the me defrag to move into the windows file everytime I try I just make a copy of the me defrag. Here is what I am doing, I open my computer then open the flopy drive I click on the defrag and then click on copy I get a busy indecator and the nothing I click on paste and the I get file transfer box but it is coping to

A:\ it doesn't give the option to send it anywhere so tell me what I am doing wrong.
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