Need help reading schematic

I was able to save it, but it still just opens to a blank screen with a mouse icon in the center, though I can move the icon. I restarted it and the computer said the system was busy. After restarting it, I'm just waiting, and nothing is happening. It has been too long since I did a Win98 install, so I'm not sure if I'm supposed to see anything or not.

 

Did you do a full install of 98? If you used the ghost image, it may well be there is no GUI. If I remember correctly, the instructions for the salvation program instruct you to boot to command prompt only mode and run the application from there.

 

This may be a HDD problem. I decided to use Partition Magic to delete the partition and then start over, but when I entered PM, I got the 110 error, implying that the volume labels don't match. It would be nice if I had a good HDD to work with. Maybe I'll open up the other HDDs I have that were frozen and see if I can manually free them.

 

I borrowed a HDD from a friend and did fdisk, format and installed compact Win98. All loaded fine, now that I know to change from 2gb RAM to 512mb RAM before doing it. I did install it using FAT32, rather than FAT. I'm not sure if that is an issue.
I ran setup.bat, but it never asked me to select "Y" but did say that all was set up.
I connected the com port cable to the computer and the yellow lead to pin #4, the black lead to pin #7 and the red lead to pin #3 and connected power to the Seagate drive, leaving the IDE cable disconnected from it.
I installed mouse.com in c:\ and c:\windows.
I restarted the computer and opened it in 6. safe mode command prompt only.
I typed mouse at the prompt, then enter, and was informed that the mouse was installed.
I typed k7demo.bat, then enter and the k7demo screen popped up, immediately.

Unfortunately, the mouse doesn't work, neither does the alt-X and there was no window that either states Err or Load OK. It just appears as a frozen screen.

What have I done wrong, and what can I do to correct it?

 

There was no need for you to copy mouse.com anywhere, the setup.bat did that for you. When setup.bat finished it took you to the C:\SLABSOFT\SEG> prompt, at which point you should have typed k7demo.bat instead of rebooting.

So, start the computer in safe mode command prompt only.
At the C:\> prompt type the following and hit enter after each line.

CD SLABSOFT
CD SEG
MOUSE
K7DEMO.EXE

 

That took me back to the same results, with just a few more steps. I still have a frozen screen with no mouse. Do you think it may have something to do with the difference between FAT and FAT32? It seems to me that if I messed up on the COM Port Cable, I would have gotten a working program with an error message. I ran setup.bat from my desktop. The rest I ran from safe mode with prompts. Should I have run it from the safe mode prompts, also? It would have been so easy for them to just give step-by-step instructions that make sense.

 

Maybe it is being fussy about Fat32 vs Fat ...... you should get 'Load OK' or 'Err' after a short wait.

 

Maybe I'll just start over and set it up on FAT.

 

I used Partition Magic to set up the FAT. I didn't realize that you can't do it directly. I had to format as FAT32 first and then convert it to FAT. It also limits the size of the partition to about 2gb. I set up the 2gb FAT as active and then the remaining 4gb as hidden NTFS. I'm installing Win98 on the FAT partition now. We'll see what the results are.

 

The result from FAT was the same as FAT32. What do you suggest now? Should I install Win98 on a FAT32 D partition and then the Ghost ISO onto a FAT C partition?

 

I guess I would try connecting a different drive up and see what the program does. It may be the drive you're trying to salvage is just too far gone and there's nothing for the program to 'read'. What was/is wrong with the drive that got you started on this project?

 

The drive I borrowed is a good drive. It works perfectly. We haven't even gotten to the drive I'm attempting to salvage. Do you feel that if I disconnect that drive that the program will work and just give me an error message? The drive I'm attempting to salvage was working fine, when, all of a sudden, windows could no longer read the partitions. Partition Magic still shows that they exist, and, for a while, I was able to access the partitions, before Windows wouldn't read it at all. I understand that this is a common problem with this particular drive. Seagate offers a fix of this firmware problem for $100, but this Salvation Data program does the same job, supposedly.

 

I was referring to disconnecting the drive you're trying to salvage, the one connected to the power supply and COM port cable, then try connecting a different drive and run the program. The drive you formatted, installed 98 on , and installed the salvation software is obviously OK ........ it boots up, it starts the K7 program. Either there is absolutely nothing for the K7 program to read (dead drive attached or no power) or the program itself is faulty.

 

I'm leaning to a bad K7 program, as I did disconnect the other drive and restarted the computer and the results were the same. Somehow, the K7 program just isn't loading properly. I don't know if it is something I am doing or something with the program.

 

I'd be firing off another email too. I'm sure they will be able to give you more credible answers of what the problem is, or could be.

Just so you know, I don't currently have a 98 or Fat formatted test box, but I did boot an XP NTFS machine to safe mode command prompt and tried to start the K7 program. It quickly told me it couldn't initialize the Com port and offered to exit. Maybe I should have connected something, heh?

Sorry I couldn't have been of more assistance.

 

I would love to say that Salvation Data responds to my emails, but it is a rare occasion when I actually get a response from them, and, unfortunately, the response is usually that they can't offer anything other than what is already written in the program. I'll keep sending them emails, and going through their tech support online, and let you know when I get a response. Thanks for all your help.

 

Just curious ........ did you ever noticed if the hard drive powered up while attached? Should have been able to hear or feel it spinning.

Still looking for alternatives, but here's something to check out.

http://www.hdd-tools.com/products/rrs/drives/

Attach that drive to your XP computer and with the software installed, run a diagnostics on it.

 

The Seagate drive does power up, but won't load. Seagate admits that it is a design flaw in their firmware. I can't understand how a company could continue to sell a product that they know has a great likelihood of failing without offering the fix at no charge to people who purchase that drive (especially since they have the ability to easily fix it). I guess, because it isn't a safety recall, they feel no responsibility. They fixed the problem in newer models, but I believe that they still sell the older ones. I've seen reviews on their terabyte HDD and hear it blows its competition away. Seagate offers a freeware version of their program to fix this drive, and it reveals everything on the drive. It just won't allow you to access or copy anything unless you send them the money. I have used this freeware, so know that everything is still there. My son does a lot of very creative artwork on his computer, so there is a lot there that can't be easily reproduced. Luckily, he did save most of his work. The AFF program you sent a link to probably fixes the drive like either Salvation Data or Seagate. Seagate's program is cheaper for multiple recoveries, at $100 for the program, while AFF offers theirs for 1/2 that for 1 recovery, but it jumps to $190+ for more recoveries. Salvation Data, on the other hand, offers their program to fix this particular drive for free.

 

Have you tried booting with a Knoppix Live CD to see if you could access that Seagate HDD and access the data?

 

I haven't tried the Knoppix yet, but that is a good idea. I think I'll try to get this HD operational, first, if possible. I'm going to partition the 6gb FAT HD into 3 partitions, 2gb of FAT, 2gb of FAT32 and 2gb of NTSF. I'll install Win98 on the FAT32 D partition and then install the Ghost ISO on the FAT C partition. I was thinking that maybe Salvation Data added something to the ISO that might be necessary to run this program.