Harddisk problem?

Hi guys,
I have a problem with a h/disk-3.2gig seagate.The problem is this:When I start to install win98 it stops at about 12% and brings up a window which says SUWIN -has detected an internal fault and I have the choice of either closing it or ignore the fault.Needless to say I chose ignore..Then it goes on to 13% and up till a certain point where it stops altogether.I have partitioned the drive,reformatted it but to no avail.(about 5 times)

Is there someone who could maybe shed some lite on this?
Thanks in advance
vanman:)

does sound like the drive is dying, you could always try a full surface scan using a dos version of scandisk or some form of disk scanning program that doesnt require windows to run, boot from a floppy and try that

if you have a copy of dos you could install that to another machine or you may be able to do an install on this one and get scandisk to run and see what you get for a result

heres a link on how to make a suitable 'emergency' boot disk
http://tweakcentral.com/bootdisk_2.htm

i hope this can be of some help to you

If I did a unconditional format , shoudn't that mark the bad sectors to prevent data from being written to it?

i don't think u have a hard disk problem, it could be from thee PC components or the media.
anyway to prevent formating the HDD and setting up OS

try to use ghost as an image.
get an image of anyof ur systems and apply it to this HDD.

Thanks bimmer, I have ghost and I will let you guys know if it worked.
regards
v/man:)

no problem, hope i help in the right path and not to wast ur time.

this is a long shot
Try disableing the bios antivirus
This has happend to me before on an old pent 200
Hope this helps
Regards
Mike

just a tip if your planning on doing a surface scan on a damaged disk
if u got an old system that will support that hdd, chuck it in that set it up in a corner and let it go for a few hours (its how long it took me) and come back after youve done some work or gone shopping for a new hdd and it should be done :D

on a further note try booting it on another hdd and scanning thru a version of windows rather than dos (because of that annoying warning that comes up when a bad cluster is found)

i had this kind of problem when installing Windows 98 on 2 ocasions:

1. bad RAM
2. bad IDE cable...

of course a faulty HDD this could be causing this also...

checkAntivirus Protection in your BIOS. It must be disabled during the instalation of win 98

Hi vanman !

I used to have the same problem and had to say goodbye to the drive.However before you do anything , you need to download, SeaTools Suite 2002 disc drive diagnostic software , from http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/index.html.It will let you know exactly what's wrong, if thereis any ......

Good luck man vanman....


paladin

I know for a fact that my bios antivirus is disabled.Hope this could give you a better idea.
I will try all the other things you guys suggested when i get home tonight.
thanks again

vanman:)

Definetly bad RAM. "SUWIN -has detected an internal fault". That is a RAM error message. No need to ghost your hard drive.

look up your SUWIN error numbers here and it should tell you exactly what is wrong.

Hi guys,
Well since I got home late last night, I decided to have a quick go at it. The SUWIN error only came up once. I clicked on ignore and from there it never stopped until the setup program was finished. Then I did a surface scan, which did pick up errors and fixed them. Then I ran a virus scan, which also didn’t come up with anything. By the way my antiviral option was disabled in the cmos. What I want to do now is to check the ram which are 4x 8mb Sims 72pin.Is there a way or a program which you guys can recommend to test the ram individually to try and rule out the defective one.

The only other thing which happens now is that it brings up a blue screen every now and then saying:” your application caused an invalid page fault at address (can’t really remember it) something like 05ff…. etc. Sometimes vxd is also mentioned.
So I left it at that until I have some more time to pinpoint this thing.

Hope this can shed some light on the problem. Although I am beginning to suspect ram to be the culprit.

Regards
V/man:)

check this for more information bout such problems

http://members.lycos.co.uk/slacker55/index.htm

Thanks slacker_5, if only I could understand the language.

i had the same problem, the harddisk , most surely, has bad sectors.
You will have to block them with a software. That will, for sure, reduce on your disk space, but then the disk works superbly fine after that.

Get yourself new RAM because the ones you have are old. Stop wasteing your time with the hard disk. It is not your hard drive. Either hook it up to a motherboard with fairly new components and install the OS there or simply get new RAM.

As easy as that... Stop looking at boot problem documentation

Sounds like an old motherboard also if you are using SIMM sticks. MAybe drop $80.00 on a new motherboard.

Hi guys,
Well the good news is the problem was solved.It was the ram(tested with a ram tester).I took two of the simms out and the problem went away like it was never there.Nebuluswonderer and mark_ciel was the closest.

Thanks again everybody I appreciate it.That's what makes this site so wonderfull,problem solved within 24hours.Do we have great people or what?

regards
vanman:)

Quote:

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Originally posted here by slacker_5
check this for more information bout such problems

http://members.lycos.co.uk/slacker55/index.htm

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Quote:

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Originally posted here by vanman
Thanks slacker_5, if only I could understand the language.

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well , good that u can't read Arabic language .... coz'it's a hacking site

it says .. 10 lessons to be a pro hacker.

Well what I don't get is the fact that he knows that I would not understand it,so what is he really trying to tell me.Why does he not just stay out of it.

well,u can tell from the red roses on his sholder, although he still a newbie.

anyway if u need me to translate, just ask, i've been through all attached site, it's a good reference for networking, security, os etc. it give the basics, thats all

Make sure that your harddrive is not connected to a ATA adapter card. Windows ussualy has a problom instaling to a harddrive that is connected via a ATA adapter card. If it is connected to one disconnect it, attach it to you primery IDE port on your motherbord, make sure it is the Primery Master Drive in BIOS. Then Try again.

Go to setup at startup and try to load the defualt bios
try another copy of win98

my money would go on the motherboard being at fault (unless you have varified otherwise)

I had a Toshiba desktop infinia.......it was the second pc I had ever owned.
It sucked, a lot,150 watt power pack, 166mhz,s3 virge video card, normally all of these are usefull to me, but this system was the most disfunctional piece of crap...EVER......It REFUSED to install windows 98....it tried oh so hard to make sure nothing I did worked....The system pissed me off so much I finally ripped out the motherboard, soaked it in gasoline, and lit a match....I hate that computer....

Anyway...yeah...the board could be at fault....I've known seagate drives to be quite reliable.

Good luck, may you never have to use the toshiba infinia.

motherbord prob!!!!