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[Ryno]

could it be possible that a system running fine one day and not the next could have a bad MBR? system will boot only to safe mode win98. can i somehow start from scratch, that is erase everything like it was just purchased..no os, no nothing...and can the MBR be re-written? what about system bios?
all unnecessary cards are taken out, i am not worried about any information on the system...do not wish to save anything...has already been fdisked and formatted. here is what i can tell you about this system....
win 98 os (upgraded 95)
20 gb hdd
64 mb sdram
stick of 2x8 mb
socket 7...not sure about processor

[Chosen One]

If you think the MBR is corrupted. You say you have Win 98, use a Windows 98 boot disk, boot to a DOS prompt. Type fdisk mbr. If I remember correctly there's a slash. fdisk/mbr. Either way, that should solve the problem, if you have a messed up MBR.

[Papa Smurf]

As the Chosen One said fdisk /mbr will replace the boot record and leave all other stuff well alone.

Do you get any error messages?????

You might want to try doing a step-by-step boot up to see where windows falls over.

Check video/nic drivers.

I've also seen Kodak Digital camera s/ware cause the exact same fault, Unistalling this s/ware usually works OK.

Also if try the MS Knowledge base, theres usually a answer to most windows issues there.

Needless to say there are 101 different reasons for this problem.

Good luck
Papa Smurf

[Ryno]

thanks to both of you. i tried typing fdisk /mbr..that is with a space in between the k and /...before...will try it the right way this time. i've used the knowledge base at ms, however, they always suggest to boot to safe mode first, and try and solve the problem from there...hell...i want out of safe mode...
is there something else i can do to wipe clean the whole system? hdd, bios, whatever, doesn't matter. still think it might be a faulty mobo, or it got zapped without the owners knowledge........anyway..thanks again smurf and chosen one.

[Damned Angel]

First, check your drive for viruses. That is all I am seeing at my shop these days.

Now, if you want to "recondition" the drive back to factory specs, check the drive manufactures site. They will usually have a drive utility that will test your drive against defects. If you get lucky, your drive's software utility will also come with a zero write utility. This can be used to write 0's to every sector on the drive. Its all based on a program Ibm used to make called H-test that would wipe your drive completly, even taking out boot sector viruses

[Ryno]

just out of curiosity, i threw the hdd into a working computer with running the same os and it booted just fine, making minor changes such as time, and new hardware settings. no safe mode. oh man...whats wrong with this guys computer?
ok...so i know the hdd is fine, i have successfully upgraded to win 98(hoping that his problem fell with a problem in win95), boots fine on one of my machines, but will not on his...do i dare put my working hdd in that computer?
so what known problems could prevent a pc to even boot off a perfectly good hdd? i still suspect a bad mobo...but thats taking the easy way out.

[RH0RT]

Two daft questions, but

1) This drive isn't jumpered as a slave, is it?
2) The BIOS settings are set to include the HDD somewhere in the boot order, aren't they?

[Ryno]

both good questions, but the hdd is set as master one drive only, and boot order is A,C,SCSI.
it does boot up..but safe mode only on original machine...boots up no problem on my 98 machine.

[Ryno]

well...its official...the problem was a bad os disk. installed 98se, and works like a charm. would have never suspected the cdrom disk could cause such a problem...even said that it installed successfully...(win98). thanks to everyone who had some input lately, and on past thread..especially Myagi (sp?)
ryan