Win98 dual boot

[saturndude]

Hello,

Forgive me if this should be in "hardware hangout". I've got an 80 GB Samsung SP0842N, 3.5-inch desktop IDE drive. It isn't detected when it is a slave to another drive*, so I thought I would put it in a machine (in the basement) by itself. I put it in a DFI AD-77 Infinity, KT400 North bridge, VT8235 south bridge. One Kingston 512 MB 400MHz, and one 256 MB Kingston 400 MHz. Stock speeds and timings, stock CPU fan, it should work, except that the floppy controller has failed.

* (Some IDE drives used to be incompatible with other IDEs, forcing you to buy from one company only, but I thought drive makers stopped doing that around 1995. Maybe I was wrong.)

When I install 98, and/or 98SE Updates, I can no longer boot Mandriva 2006. Then after I boot from the Mandriva CD, I can "restore" the dual-boot loader to the MBR. Linux works, but if I choose to boot Win98, I get the following:

"This is not a bootable disk. Please insert a bootable floppy and press any key to try again ..."

But of course I can't, the floppy controller has died. I can see the drive if I plug it in to the main / upstairs computer (ABIT KV7 or KV7-V, KT600 North bridge, Athlon 2900 from TigerDirect, two 512-MB Kingston 400 MHz, stock timings). It must be on the secondary channel with a CD-RW, becuase it behaves like a spoiled child if it has to "share" the channel with another IDE HD.

Here's what I've tried so far that did not work:

1. Make it the primary master (only drive present) on the main (upstairs) computer, and use fdisk /MBR from a 98 boot floppy (floppy controller works on this one).

2. Make it the primary master upstairs, and use sys.com from Windows 98.

3. Make it the primary master upstairs, and use the "Ultimate Boot CD" (ubcd.com) or other "rescue" CD or freeware "boot-chooser in MBR" utility. But since Mandriva starts outside the 1024 cylinder boundary, these may fail.

EDIT: at one point, the first primary partition (Win98) became hidden. After un-hiding, I still got the error message when choosing Win98 at the dual-boot screen. Go figure. <END of edit>

Possible future approaches:

A. I could put it on the secondary channel upstairs, so that XP (including Partition Magic 8.01) and Mandriva 2006 can see it, and use some tool or other to fix things, somehow.

B. Put it back in the downstairs PC and reinstall 98 YET AGAIN. This time, install Windows-based boot utility. (If I tried Partition Magic boot-chooser, I would need another license. Also, from experience, it only recognizes linux if linux dual-boot utility is installed in the linux partition, not MBR. But it is a possibility).

C. Put 98 on a spare hard drive (primary master, upstairs computer) and install Norton Utilities 2001. Put the problem Samsung sa the secondary master, see what Norton can do. (Booting from NU 2001 CD and using "emergency programs" only gives me a basic undelete program and a hex editor, not useful to me.)

I can understand the Samsung behaving like a spoiled brat, like a 340 MB incompatible drive from 1993, but why does Win98 fail to start, even when it is the only HD in the machine**? Is this a hardware problem or a software problem? I'll check, but I believe there are no BIOS updates that will fix this. Should I give up on 98 and make this a pure linux box?

** This is the reason I put this post here instead of the "hardware hangout".

I have a copy of Windows 2000 Professional, but no license / COA, so that clearly cannot be a solution (dual-boot or single-boot).

Any ideas? All help greatly appreciated.

Edited April 5, 2007 by saturndude

[jaclaz]

You are failing to specify exactly how the machine is partitioned/which filesystem(s) you are using, also which bootloader are you using for mandriva (possibly GRUB?).

The idea should be that you install Mandriva first, putting Grub in the MBR, then you install windows 98 (overwriting the MBR), then you boot from the linux CD restoring the Grub MBR, then again you add an entry in the Grub menu.lst for Win98.

Another possible option can be using grub4dos (that can boot directly IO.SYS) but it shouldn't be needed if the partitioning is correct.

Finally make yourself a bootable CD with DOS on it, or get this:

http://ebcd.pcministry.com/

if your floppy doesn't work.

jaclaz

[saturndude]

Here's what I've got:

80 GB Samsung:

1. Win98, first primary partition, 8 GB

2. Linux ext3, second primary partition (all except /home), 8 GB

3. Extended partition takes the rest of the drive, thusly:

First, Linux ext3 (/home), 8 GB

Second, FAT32 (all the rest of the extended partition / drive)

THANK YOU for the link! At one point, Windows complained about "XMS Cache problem", but the message flew past quickly*. Memtest (on the link you provided) revealed bad memory in my 256 MB module (it was only PC-2100 / 266 MHz, not 400 MHz like I said earlier. But the mobo was set correctly, 133 MHz * 11.5 = 1530 MHz, which is correct for Athlon 1800). I'll get an RMA from Kingston next week.

* Perhaps Windows 98FE setup cannot handle 768 MB at the initial install in addition to the faulty RAM problem?

Anyway, I put 98SE on (with the 512 RAM module that's proven good), and I'm reinstalling Linux right now. Putting the Linux boot loader in the ext3 partition (second primary) instead of the MBR should keep me out of trouble. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks!

Edited April 5, 2007 by saturndude