Users are warned to use an operating system specific version of
'fdisk' when manipulating hard drive partition information. I've a
situation where this is not possible.
I have a hard drive whose primary partition #1 is a DOS partition, or
it was the last time I as able to boot Win98 from the drive. I booted
using a Win98 boot floppy and discovered using fdisk that DOS was
unaware of the partition type; it was labeled 'Unknown'. DOS fdisk
provides no mechanism for modifying the partition type to correct the
situation.
I tried several things none of which was successful and eventually
arrived at a situation where it is now impossible to boot Windows or
even DOS using a floppy as long as the hard drive is installed(single,
master, or slave). Somewhere in the boot process the system hangs.
I can boot Linux using boot and root floppies.
Choosing the print option in fdisk results in:
Disk /dev/hda : 255 heads, 63 sectors, 1027 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 bytes
Device Boot Begin Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 1 1 511 4104576 66 Unknown
Linux also is having a problem with the drive since it is a 13.6 GB
Western Digital Drive.
Is there any way from Linux to restore the hard drive to a condition
where I can at least boot using an MS-DOS boot floppy? I'd prefer not
to reformat so I can avoid installing all my Applications. Is there
any hope?
Thanks.
bigoli