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Many thanks to all who responded. It turns out that I have a bad motherboard (some of you suspected bad hardware). I don't think it's worth the trouble to try to find and install a new one. Thanks again.

Many thanks to all who replied. I can't seem to get anything to work. I've tried everything you've collectively suggested, and more. It could very well be that I don't know what I'm doing. I located a NEW, replacement hard drive on ebay for $50+ and am going to simply replace it. Mark

Sorry to create yet another thread, but I can't fdisk my hard drive. I run fdisk and when I check the partitions, none are there. I've used fdisk /mbr, aefdisk /mbr, low-level formatters, such as Drive Fitness, PowerMax, etc., to no avail. However, Drive Fitness and PowerMax report that the...

What exactly do the following error messages mean: "boot sector doesn't have valid information" and "invalid partition signature table"? These messages appear together. And, how do I fix the problem(s)? Thanks, mark

What is a drive overlay? And is there a way to deal with any problems it could cause?

Peter et al., For those of you who are are familiar with Powermax, I get the following error (E08) - failed drive read/writer bugger test. I've contacted maxtor, but I haven't heard back What should I do? Thanks, Mark

Ed, Sorry, but this is new territory for me. If I do have a boot virus like the one you mentioned, will a low-level/zero-fill format get rid of it? If not, is there a virus program (hopefully free) that can be run from a bootable floppy? Many thanks, Mark

I have a Dell Latitude CPiR series laptop. I've been trying to cleanly reinstall win98SE. I am able to fdisk and format the hard drive and then to load win98, all seemingly successfully. However, and here's the problem, when I restart the computer after its been turned off, I get a message...

I'm sorry to be such a dolt. In "Display partition information," the "System" field is not blank, but acutally says "UNKNOWN"

One thing I forgot to mention. Whenever I fdisk and check fdisk status, the SYSTEM field is blank; it doesn't say FAT or FAT32 - it's just blank. What if anything does that mean? Mark

One last question: It seems that I lose a bootable partition when I turn off the computer. When I turn it back on, it's gone, as if I never fdisk'ed and formatted. Does this clarify anything? If not, I think I'm giving up and will turn it over to someone more knowledgeable than I. Thanks, Mark

OK, I've been able to fdisk and format my hard drive (a couple of times). Then, I seem to successfully load win98. However, and here's the problem, after I turn off the laptop and/or reboot for whatever reason, I get a message saying that there's no bootable sector on the hard drive; F1 to try...

One last question: what is & how do you do a zero fill/low level format and fdisk? Thanks. Mark

The partition is not there before I reboot; it's like it doesn't "take." How can I can if fdisk and format are the same version? Mark

I'm trying to FDISK and format my hard drive, but everytime I reboot after running FDISK, the active primary disappears, preventing me from formatting it. Any ideas? Many thanks, Mark

Marcs41, Can you change the boot sequence w/o access to the BIOS? Mark

Thanks Ed. Actually, I don't need the w98 boot disk to get a c prompt to access fdisk and format. Windows tries to load and can't; I get a message "file too big to load" and then I'm given a c prompt. I think I basically understand what your suggesting, but could you go into more...

Thanks Matt, but the cdrom drive is not recognized at the c prompt using the cd command. The only drives to which I have access are a (floppy) and c. Mark

John, I don't know why I can't. When I turn on the computer, windows begins to load, but then I get a message "this file is too big to load" and then the c command prompt. While windows is trying to load (only for about 2-3 seconds), I repeatedly press the F1 (setup) key, but...

I have a variation on this problem. I have a licensed copy of Win98SE, but I can't access the bios to change the boot sequence. Complicating an already bad situation, I'm using a Dell Latitude laptop that has only one hot-swap drive. So, I can have the CDROM or the floppy drive, but not both...