Re: aarGH was NO ROM BASIC, System halted

"Ali" <ali.on.usenet@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Xns983ABDA13DC52314159265358@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Sun, 10 Sep 2006 23:47:44 GMT, pmj commented
"Ali" <ali.on.usenet@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Xns983AB2B57D5C5314159265358@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<snip>
... but I have got a functional system once again.

Good!
:-)

Well nearly, Windows insists that there's an error on one of my
data drives, and launches scandisk in surface scan mode at every
boot.

How about adding the Line

AutoScan=1

into MSDOS.SYS - that will at least make it Prompt before Running
ScanDisk, so you can choose not to Run it, rather than it Running
Automatically every time (or make the Value "0", so it doesn't Prompt
or Run at all at BootUp)

Doh! I did that on the other drive, why didn't I think of it for
this one?

I dunno!
:-)

Maybe cos you have done a fair amount (for which read "a lot"!)
of Fiddling & faffing around recently, with it all, so things like
that are easy to forget to do, when you are keeping on swapping
things around?

It was already set to 1, but the prompt was basically, press any
key to run a surface scan. No obvious opt out.

I can't remember what the Prompt is like & what Options it has,
so I can't suggest what to do there, sorry.

Hang on - I'll Boot up a Virtual PC Image of a PC Running w98
& Add in that "AutoScan=1" Line to the MSDOS.SYS File & then Crash
it/Close it down (without Exiting or Shutting down windoze properly),
so it tries Prompts to Run ScanDisk & see if I can find a way to say...

"No thanks, don't Run it this time (but still Prompt me again next
time, in case I *do* want to Run ScanDisk then)"...

Oh!
That Line (AutoScan=1) was already in there!
& this is a (basically) fresh Install of w98SE on the Virtual PC
I haven't changed the MSDOS.SYS File

Now to Crash it (so that it Prompts to Run ScanDisk when it ReBoots)...

Doh!

How come w98 doesn't Crash when you are trying to make it Crash,
yet it always seems to Crash, when you *don't* want it to (or expect
it to)?

Well, I *eventually* Managed to make it Crash...
Actually I just did a "ReSet" on the Virtual Machine so it reBooted,
without Shutting down windoze properly.

But when it ReBooted (even with the "AutoScan=1" Line in the MSDOS.SYS
File), the (MSDOS) ScanDisk just Ran straight away! - There was an
<Exit> thing on the Screen, showing, while it was doing its stuff,
counting through the Sectors, which meant I could Exit out of it,
but there was no Prompt before it Ran.

But changing the "AutoScan=" Line to "0" stopped ScanDisk from Running
at BootUp, after an "Improper" Shutdown.

Now, you've got me thinking & wondering why it didn't Prompt!!!...

... Unfortunately if I let it run it stops at 178,669 clusters,
out of over 2 million, and the Windows version has stopped
there too.

So it sounds like the Disk *is* on its way out?
Or at least has a (or some) Bad Sector(s)?

But this is the new (2yo), 160GB drive, not the old 30GB drive.

AH!
Oh yes!
Sorry I was getting a bit mixed up & Confuzzled over which one was
which & what stage you had reached.

OK, so it may be an idea to leave ScanDisk Running for some time on it?

Are you doing a "(/) Thorough" ScanDisk on it?
& have you Ticked "[/] Automatically Fix Errors?

& what about the various other Options in the [Options...] Button?
& also in the [Advanced...] Button?

What have you got them all Set to?

& what about trying a CHKDSK /f on it?

Though you may find that it won't run CHKDSK from within windoze
& just tells you to use ScanDisk

So it might be an idea to try Running CHKDSK /f when it's Booted
into MSDOS, but apparently, the windoze ScanDisk is more thorough
than the MSDOS CHKDSK

And still to come is re-connecting to old drive, and seeing if
it wants to boot - must change boot sequence again.

& you could make the Partition on that Drive not "Marked as Active"

FDisk will only Mark a Partition as Active - it won't let you
*UN*Mark a Partition as "Active" (at least not without Marking
another Partition (on the same Hard Disk) as being "Active"), but
PTEDIT (from PowerQuest - now owned by Symantec) will let you
directly Edit the Partition Table & Set (or UnSet) any of the
(Primary) Partitions as "Active" ("Active" in this Context means
that it is Marked as being Bootable & the BIOS will try to Boot
from it)

I think I stil have that from two years ago - Yes, I have.
Thanks again

No, thank *you* for giving me the opportunity to brush up on & practice
a bit on (& with) some of what I have found out over a period of time!
:-)

A very handy thing, this Virtual PC (& the similar VMWare) thing is!
:-)

--
pmj


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