-=> on 02-26-05 08:50, WAYNE CHIRNSIDE wrote to JEAN PARROT <=-

 ->  MM> Oh yes, Windows DOES do that!  :-((  If it fails to see the drive for
 ->  MM> any reason, it believes there is no data to be careful of and starts
 ->  MM> the installation with FDISK.

THAT is your _first_ problem.  I'd start with rechecking the ribbon
cable connections.  Maybe use a 40-wire cable for starters, as a check
on that 80-wire cable.  The 80-wire isn't needed until the drive starts
running in UDMA66 mode, which happens after the windows drivers for the
card are installed.

 ->         Windows does FDISK ?

 WC> The OEM CD does.

I think not in every case.  See what Tom Walker said, and I know that
the Upgrade version of Win98FE does not run FDISK in every case.  You
may well have something wrong in your Tomsrtbt Fdisk setup.  My guess is
that your OEM disc may have run FDISK because it didn't see your Winders
partition as C:.  You need to fix that, too.

Here's what I had to do to get HDD on Promise card here seen as C: -
Go into setup - disable onboard IDE controller _primary_ channel only.
See screen where it shows former HDD parameters - erase the CHS and
landzone parameters by toggling to NONE.  This last was required here in
order to even proceed thru POST.  Leave the onboard secondary channel
enabled, and use that to access your CDROM drive for software
installation. After I did that, the HDD on the Promise card is seen as
drive C:.

 ->  MM> If I read all of this correctly, Wayne's system now no longer 'sees'
 ->  MM> the drive at all.  If this is true, he will most likely have to put it
 ->  MM> on a newer system first that will 'see' the drive just to be able to
 ->  MM> zero the MBR.

That was my idea also.  I'd be glad to help you with that if I lived
nearby, and will do it for you if you finally give up on the drive and
want to ship it parcel post up here to me.  But I know you live near to
Ed Koon, and I'd bet he would be willing to give you a hand with it if
you ask him nicely, as I know he has been kind to you over the years.

 ->         Wayne has some hope for his HD as he said that he is keeping
 ->   it to install it as slave on another system. Then he would be able
 ->   to do an FDISK on his own and then format the HD again. That would
 ->   redo the MBR.

 WC> I was thinking Roy's advice might have some value in the
 WC> command line syntax he provided but on rethinking it
 WC> if fdisk /dev/hde doesn't see the drive his zeroing syntax
 WC> won't see it either :-(

Back up top to your _first_ problem.  You'll likely not get anywhere
until the HDD is autodetected by a BIOS attached to an IDE controller.
But (and I think this is important) is "hde" the equivalent of C: drive?
If not, maybe _that_ could be the reason your OEM Winders ran FDISK?

 WC> What Jim Holsonback fails to see is there's no inherent HARDWARE
 WC> ATAPI support for the CD drive in the Promise Ultra66 card.
 WC> Told he's looking at a system running Windows on the same type
 WC> promise card is meaningless as it's right there in the
 WC> documentation that Windows and Promise drivers are compatable
 WC> doesn't help in the least if your software is on a CD.

Sheesh!  Gimme a break, man.  You have no idea what I see and what
I fail to see.  I'm the one got the Promise card installed to
Windows and got the CDROM drive to working from it. But, one thing I
_do_ see it that there is no inherent HARDWARE ATAPI support for CDROM
drives in DOS mode, either. Driver (like Oakcdrom.sys) is required,
along with running MSCDEX.exe. The Promise card sees HDD just fine, and
loads Winders OK, with no drivers. I guess they didn't make DOS based
drivers for the card, so installing the windows drivers, _after_ windows
is installed, is required for CDROM and UDMA66 support. If you have read
the Q&A from the Promise website, you know this already.  The DOS-based
CDROM drivers on the Win98 startup diskette don't work for CDROM drive
attached to the Promise card because it doesn't use "standard
resources."

FWIW, after WinFE is installed, with onboard secondary channel still
enabled, I can jump the CDROM drive back and forth from the Promise
card secondary to the onboard controller secondary, with no additional
hardware detection and driver installation steps.  Win98FE just
recognizes and supports the drive, whichever controller it is
connected to.

Good luck.  I'm still thinking your HDD isn't dead, just needs some
CPR to get it ticking again.

- - -  JimH.

... "See The Amazing Randi - coming soon to a gay nightclub near you!"
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