HDD woes

[Ki-tat Chung]

ok, i want to install my old HDD from my 486, with win95 installed, but i need some assurance before i start (this is my dad's pc we're talkin about here!). I have 2 western dig cariar drives, with 6 pin jumper selectors for master, slave or cable select (MA - 5+6, SL - 3+4, CS - 1+2).

 

https://support.wdc.com/images/drives/jumpers/jumpers.gif

 

right now, the installed HDD is set on neutral (5, 3). i need to know if i am supposed to set HDD1 (the installed HDD) to master and HDD2 (486 HDD) to slave. i assume so, but i just need some assurance, like i said before. also, since my 486 is busted (it won't start) i can't format/erase anything. and i want to keep the data that was already in it. if i set it to slave, it won't run win95, right? another BIG problem is that HDD2 is compressed. because it only has 425mb, i compressed it. is there any way to mount/uncompress it with win98?

 

ok, HDD woes aside, my current PC (the one im writing with right now) is having some crash problems. in my login (mainly) and sometimes in CAP's and my dad's login, the comp crashes unexpecadtly. there are 3 types of crashes, all coming randomly:

 

1. it just freezes. the mouse stops moving, no keystrokes respond (in other words, no CTRL-ALT-DEL).

2. the screen turns black. it is still receiving a signal, as in the moniter still has a green light as oppsoed to an orange one. not sure if keys resopnd, but i can't shut down by doing CTRL-ALT-DEL and ALT-S.

3. Blue screen of death. orror says that OR has cause some exception in some VxD in some number.

 

help would be appreciated...

[MicahDG]

Yep, you've got it right about having the hdd1 set as master, and the 486 drive set as slave. That will make the computer boot in win98. I am not sure whether you'll have problems accessing the compressed drive. Win98 might find it. If not, switch the jumpers to make the 486 hd the master drive, boot from it, and copy all the data you want off onto the other hd, or copy off enough to be able to decompress the drive.

 

For the BSoD errors, I would do a quick reload of windows. I do not mean erasing the old windows, simply run windows setup and get windows to copy over the original drivers, then reinstall all your other drivers again (such as video and sound card drivers). That usually works for me and it not that big of a pain.

[BladeFireLight]

Windows 98 should detect the compressed drive status and mount the volume.

 

The crashes are comen in 98, expecialy if the system has been around awile, IE not formated and reinstalled..

 

The most commeon cause of crashes in 98 is incompatible .dll's (or dll he11) this is caused by one program overwriteing a .dll with one that is orlder. (win xp does not suffer this issue)

 

on some versions of 98 there is a program called system file checker that tryes to verrify that no impotant system .dll files are corupte or have been replaced.. If your system has this you can run it using START > run and type in SFC then click run

 

another common cause of 98 crashes is to many background programs runing. If you want to insure the best performance and cut down on crashes. after starting the computer, use the CTRL + ALT + DEL to get the task list and kill all but "Explorer" and "Systray".

 

 

-Blade FireLight

 

ps. make sure your BIOS is set to autodetect on Primary SLAVE... usualy the default... but if it is set to NONE your drive will dont detect, even if the jumpers are right.

[Ki-tat Chung]

ive tried sfc....nothing. ive tried everything: sfc, anti-virus, disk doctor/scan disk, speed disk/defrag, windoctor (all three i just mentioned are from notron). nothing.

 

MicahDG, could u please elaborate a bit more on that?

 

BladeFireLight, ive tried closing all the programs ( or atleast most of them) and it still crashes. that was actually one of the first things i tried. do u think i sould copy down the error no.s? would it help?

 

edit: oh yeah, thanks for the advice on the frive. ill try it soon. got school....btw, what would u rate my problems as? bigginner, intermediate or advanced? i wanna write to a mag and maybe win some prizes.... :devil: :devil:

[BladeFireLight]

ive tried sfc....nothing. ive tried everything: sfc, anti-virus, disk doctor/scan disk, speed disk/defrag, windoctor (all three i just mentioned are from notron). nothing.

sound's like you have norton system works... if that includes crash guard, it may be the sorce of your problems.

 

For some reason Norton system works causes more problems then it fixes. I dont recoment it.

 

The only other sugestion I have is to backup - format - reinstall. then if the clean OS is unstable, you have a hardware issue.

 

I know formating is a pain (as moste people do not have the cd for half os the software) But I do it every 6 to 12 months just to keep my systems runing at there best.

[Ki-tat Chung]

nope. no crash gaurd. sofar, i have had no problems with norton sysworks. i have with firewall tho .i havn't tried antivirus, as i already use quick heal. its pretty good. better than norton (i think...). well, i need to format anyways. stupid windows did something with the network setup and i can't get more than one network device up at anyone time...but thats something different. about that formating every half year, it does make it a little harder as im still in year 9, but it si feasable. just havta to it in the holidays. would having ghost backup windows in its "clean" form (as in just installed with device frivers) work as a sub for format?

 

edit: yep, windows definatly has a problem. for the last couple of days, the only way (in my login as i know...) ive been able to get on the web is though my computer. internet explorer dows not open by itself (ie i can't run iexplore.exe). also, the print settings are stuffed. i have lost the margins and the headers/footers which make ti very annoying as everything keeps getting chopped off.