Replacing Hard Drive, BIOS Woes etc (long)

Hi,
I am in the process of finding out by "trial and error" the cause of whining
noise coming from my mini tower.It's not the PSU fan or CPU fan so I assume
it's either the PSU or hard disk at fault.

I have replacements for both coming and the hard disk will be an exact model
swap. My main concern is tracing the origin of the "noise" and I'm hoping I
won't have to enter the BIOS ,by this I mean my computer will think it still
has the old disk in situ, although of course it will be blank.

Now the complicated part. I have never used a Windows (98) startup disk
before and I am concerned about what I would need to enter at the DOS prompt
after I had manually connected the drive and inserted the sartup disk.
As the replacement hard disk is blank would the CD ROM
drivers still be available ?

My usual method of formatting and reinstalling Windows is:
Windows98 CD in drive
Restart
Select boot from CD Drive
Start with CD Rom Support
At the "A" prompt D:\WIN98\FORMAT C
Agree to format
Enter blank volume label
Ctrl+Alt+Del
Select to boot from CD Rom disk, "Start Win'98 Setup" etc.

What would I need to do instead ? I have tried searching on Web for info on
BIOS screens etc without success also start up disk info but I've found this
leaves readers in limbo at the "A" prompt.

If you are still with me I would be pleased for any info you can add.
Thanks.

Mike.

"Michael" wrote in message ...
Hi,
I am in the process of finding out by "trial and error" the cause of whining
noise coming from my mini tower.It's not the PSU fan or CPU fan so I assume
it's either the PSU or hard disk at fault.

I have replacements for both coming and the hard disk will be an exact model
swap. My main concern is tracing the origin of the "noise" and I'm hoping I
won't have to enter the BIOS ,by this I mean my computer will think it still
has the old disk in situ, although of course it will be blank.

Pls read my reply in your other post about isolating the source of the
noise.


Now the complicated part. I have never used a Windows (98) startup disk
before and I am concerned about what I would need to enter at the DOS prompt
after I had manually connected the drive and inserted the sartup disk.
As the replacement hard disk is blank would the CD ROM
drivers still be available ?

When your computer boots from the Win98 startup disk, you'll be
offered the option of booting with CD-ROM support. The startup disk
contains a basic CD-ROM driver.


My usual method of formatting and reinstalling Windows is:
Windows98 CD in drive
Restart
Select boot from CD Drive
Start with CD Rom Support
At the "A" prompt D:\WIN98\FORMAT C
Agree to format
Enter blank volume label
Ctrl+Alt+Del
Select to boot from CD Rom disk, "Start Win'98 Setup" etc.

What would I need to do instead ? I have tried searching on Web for info on
BIOS screens etc without success also start up disk info but I've found this
leaves readers in limbo at the "A" prompt.

The A prompt lets you partition your blank HD with the "FDISK"
command. If you can boot with the startup disk and your hard disk is
detected, it's not essential to go into the BIOS unless you want to
change some settings.


If you are still with me I would be pleased for any info you can add.
Thanks.

Mike.

"Michael" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I am in the process of finding out by "trial and error" the cause of
whining
noise coming from my mini tower.It's not the PSU fan or CPU fan so I
assume
it's either the PSU or hard disk at fault.

I have replacements for both coming and the hard disk will be an exact
model
swap. My main concern is tracing the origin of the "noise" and I'm hoping
I
won't have to enter the BIOS ,by this I mean my computer will think it
still
has the old disk in situ, although of course it will be blank.

Now the complicated part. I have never used a Windows (98) startup disk
before and I am concerned about what I would need to enter at the DOS
prompt
after I had manually connected the drive and inserted the sartup disk.
As the replacement hard disk is blank would the CD ROM
drivers still be available ?

My usual method of formatting and reinstalling Windows is:
Windows98 CD in drive
Restart
Select boot from CD Drive
Start with CD Rom Support
At the "A" prompt D:\WIN98\FORMAT C
Agree to format
Enter blank volume label
Ctrl+Alt+Del
Select to boot from CD Rom disk, "Start Win'98 Setup" etc.

What would I need to do instead ? I have tried searching on Web for info
on
BIOS screens etc without success also start up disk info but I've found
this
leaves readers in limbo at the "A" prompt.

If you are still with me I would be pleased for any info you can add.
Thanks.

Mike.




Why not take a look at the (free) utility software that your hard drive
manufacturer will either provide with your new hard drive or you can
download it from their website for free?

I recently replaced an old Maxtor with a newer Seagate hard drive.
I downloaded Seagate's Disc Wizard utility and installed it on the pc -
before making any changes.
I set the Disc Wizard's various options - telling it i wanted to replace the
Maxtor (boot drive) with the Seagate.
I installed the Seagate as slave and Disc Wizard copied the Maxtor drive
contents to it.
I shutdown the pc, removed the old Maxtor and replaced it with the Seagate.
I then rebooted and hey presto!
The OS (WinXP) booted first time and the pc worked perfectly.

Martin.

"Michael" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I am in the process of finding out by "trial and error" the cause of whining
noise coming from my mini tower.It's not the PSU fan or CPU fan so I assume
it's either the PSU or hard disk at fault.

I have replacements for both coming and the hard disk will be an exact model
swap. My main concern is tracing the origin of the "noise" and I'm hoping I
won't have to enter the BIOS ,by this I mean my computer will think it still
has the old disk in situ, although of course it will be blank.

Now the complicated part. I have never used a Windows (98) startup disk
before and I am concerned about what I would need to enter at the DOS prompt
after I had manually connected the drive and inserted the sartup disk.
As the replacement hard disk is blank would the CD ROM
drivers still be available ?

My usual method of formatting and reinstalling Windows is:
Windows98 CD in drive
Restart
Select boot from CD Drive
Start with CD Rom Support
At the "A" prompt D:\WIN98\FORMAT C
Agree to format
Enter blank volume label
Ctrl+Alt+Del
Select to boot from CD Rom disk, "Start Win'98 Setup" etc.

What would I need to do instead ? I have tried searching on Web for info on
BIOS screens etc without success also start up disk info but I've found this
leaves readers in limbo at the "A" prompt.

If you are still with me I would be pleased for any info you can add.
Thanks.

Mike.

If your installing a new hard disk then your procedure will not work. You
do not format disk drives you format partitions and your disk will not have
one unless you run FDISK first to create it. You can then FORMAT the
partition. I know my windows 98se disk is bootable but I don't know about
98 first edition, you didn't say which you have.
Worse case would be to go to bootdisk.com and download and create a bootable
floppy with cdrom support. Many people like to create a win98 directory on
the new disk and then do a copy of everything off the cdrom to it and then
install from the hard disk.