[at-l] NOT trail related - computer geeks only read

[KD5XB@AMSAT.ORG (Earl Needham)]

At 02:00 PM 2/8/01 -0500, DaRedhead@aol.com blasted the following out into 
the ether:
><snip>
>I was very excited, like "Hey, I can copy some things to disk before I 
>wipe it all clean" . . . short lived, because while all my files are 
>THERE, and I can SEE them - I can't copy them anywhere because it's not 
>recognizing my a: drive.  SO . . .

      This sounds more like a BIOS problem.

>a few questions -
>a) If I just try reinstalling windows, will that also wipe my hard drive?

      No, the rest of the drive will stay the same.

>and b) if I had had a brain, and partitioned my hard drive, would I be in 
>this situation, and therefore, should I do so when I get my brand newly 
>slicked drive up and running? and

      How big is your hard drive?  Unless it's fairly large, you probably 
wouldn't want multiple partitions on it.  PLUS, if you partition it, the 
disk will be wiped clean -- all partitions on it, that is.

>c) Anyone know anything else I can try before I go the drastic 
>QuickRestore route?

      Yes!  Try this --

      When you turn the machine on, watch at the bottom of the screen for 
the "Starting Windows 98" (or 95) message, and when it shows up, press 
F8.  You should get a menu at the top.  Highlight the entry that says 
"command-line only" and it should boot to the DOS prompt.

      At this point, if your machine still doesn't recognize your A: drive, 
reboot and this time, use the DEL or F1 or whatever to get into your BIOS 
menu.  Once there, BE SURE not to change anything unnecessarily, but find 
the section that tells the machine how many and what kind of drives you 
have.  I usually set all mine to "AUTO" and it works for me.

      Let me know if you run into snags.

      Earl


Earl Needham, KD5XB    mailto:KD5XB@AMSAT.ORG
Clovis, New Mexico         DM84jk N34d 25.446m W103d 12.700m (or so)

Pet peeve: breath is a noun,  breathe is a verb (When you take a breath, 
you breathe...)