Struggling with formatting

Hello,

My son's PC was coming up with all sorts of error messages and freezing up for no apparent reason so I decided to wipe the system clean and start again (using the FDISK road). It was all going very well until we had a power cut half way through the reinstallation of windows 98.

When the power went back on, the PC wouldn't boot at all and / or would just freeze. I tried to boot it up with and without start up disk to no avail.

I also tried to start up on save mode by holding Ctrl key down with no luck, it just blocks on 'verifying DMI pool data' and that's it.

Can anyone here give me some advice, it would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Axelle

 

I'd probably just start over...reformat and start the 98 install again. It was only halfway through and trying at this point to repair a corrupt install is most likely just going to be nothing but problems down the road.

Investing the $50 to $75 in a good UPS wouldn't be a bad idea, either. If power outages aren't unusual then you need one. It could very well be that the original problems with your son's computer were due to small, recurring power surges that you don't notice...but computers sure do. A good UPS will clean up the power going into the computer.

 

" When the power went back on, the PC wouldn't boot at all and / or would just freeze. I tried to boot it up with and without start up disk to no avail. "

Did you try inserting the boot disk BEFORE turning pc on?

 

Try going into the BIOS, by pressing the DEL [maybe different with yours] key when booting. Have it autodetect the hard drive. Then select it to setup defaults and save it.

 

Oops...sorry...I didn't let the information about "won't boot at all with or without the start up disk" penetrate my brain.

If the power outage didn't fry anything when it came back on...it's that return surge that'll kill ya'...then markp62's advice should get things working again.

 

This may well require something such as Norton DiskDoctor run from DOS ( from the 98 Startup disk ) with Surface check to repair damage done by by the power cut off.

In this case there was actual usage of the HD going on when the power went off.

I had this happen once and it did cause damage the HD but NDD fixed it.

BillyBob

 

If it won't boot at all - with or without a startup disk - then you have to pull the case off. locate the CMOS jumper (3 pins with a little jumper currently on pin 1 & 2), disconnect your power cable from the motherboard, move the jumper to pins 2 & 3 for about 5 seconds, put the jumper back on pins 1 & 2, reconnect the power cord on the motherboard and then follow MarkP62's instructions when you attempt to restart the computer.

 

Verifying DMI Pool Data in Windows 95/98

http://www.dewassoc.com/support/win98/verify_dmi_data.htm

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000474.htm