NT setup

I am rebuilding a NT wkstn and am having a bit of trouble getting past the three boot floppies. My process starts with a win95 boot disk to fdisk, delete and recreate the partitions etc. Then it goes to format where it copies some boot files to the hard drive. It reboots with a NT 4 floppie boot disk and proceeds with setup. It detects the hardware, mass storage etc., but then says (on the third disk) that it cannot read the partition(which is FAt 16) and ends the setup procedure. Is there something wrong with my process? Please advise. Thank you.

 

You shouldn't have to recreate the partitions with Fdisk, that can be done in the NT Setup.
If you have to create a partition, the best way to do it is to use a Win 98 boot disk as it creates a FAT32 partition which should be recognised by NT.
Do you have the 3 boot disks for NT (not the win95)?
If you use them instead, and manage to get past the mass storage devices you can then add or remove partitions that will be recognised by NT. You can either make a FAT partiton or NTFS.

For your problems it may be easier to leave your system with no partitions created and create them with the NT boot disk as you should not receive the error about the FAT16 partition.

I hope that helps

 

Thanks Jo for your timely response. I do have the three setup floppies for NT and from now on, I'll be changing my setup procedures. Does NT (after creating partitions) format the drive and install a clean copy of the OS? Also if you happen to know how to install NT wkstn on previous win98 machines over an NT 4 server? Please and thank you for any information or point me in the right direction for the answer.

 

Hi Jo,
My NT workstation failed to boot. I use 3 boot disks for NT to proceed with setup. It detects the hardware, mass storage etc., but then says (on the third disk) fail to recognize the 18 GB SCSI boot up hard disk .

I use 3 boot disks for DOS 6.22, it recognized the hard drive and setup successfully to boot for DOS.

I erase all the DOS by IBM hardrive setup disk and try a couple times to set up with the 3 boot disks for NT but still have the same problem. Please, tell me what I have to do.
Thanks

 

To answer Goosed question: Yes, once you create the partiton in the NT setup, it does format the partition for you then it asks which partition you want the OS copied to. You can also create two partitions and leave one unformatted and format it later using Disk adminstrator if you like.
Are you talking about adding NT workstation on machines that used to be Win 98 and then connect them to a server?

To Answer htd29 question: You didn't tell me if you loaded the SCSI drivers. When you get the mass storage devices option you have to say S - to specify additional Mass storage devices.
Load the SCSI drivers from Floppy disk. If it worked it should say that the SCSI hard drive has been detected or it will say it can't find any hardware. If you don't do this and you are using a SCSI hard drive, it will try to copy the system files across but will believe a hard drive doesn't exist.

I hope that helps

 

Hi Joe, I have win98 machines that I would like to install NT wkstn 4 on them as the only operating system. I was wondering if one could do that on the network server? Thanks.

 

You can put NT on Win 98 machines, just remove the 98 partition in the NT setup.
For a server you need to put Windows NT Server software on it. It is not in use?
The setup is slight different for the Server, boot disks have to be Windows NT Server boot disks not workstation. In the setup it asks things like, do you want it to be a Primary Domain Controller or Backup Domain Controller etc. The rest of the setup is pretty much the same. If you need any help just ask.

 

wonders why ya all are not using bootable CDs?? Allow for 4Gig partition or Use SP4 drivers so you can get achive 7.5Gig Root Drive

 

Thanks Jo for quick response.
In the NT setup, it says that the AHA-2940X SCSI controller drive has been detected but it still says it couldn't recognise the hard drive.
I go back to DOS diskette, it creates the boot partition right away. I don't khow what to do now.
Thanks again

 

Yeah!
My system goes back to work after I found the right driver for one of 3 SCSI controllers (boot controller) .
Thanks again jo. You're the man.

 

Your welcome. I'm pleased it worked. I have come across the same problem before that is why I knew the solution to it.