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koolrocksteady
11-12-2002, 10:12 PM
"invalid media type reading drive c" How do I correct this so I can load win98? Thanks
IFMU
11-12-2002, 10:19 PM
When does that happen? I recognize the error... but cant recall from what... Youve formatted? now tryin to reinstall right? Im thinkin its tryin to read the hard drive, which theres nothin there.. or the cd isnt bein read right?
koolrocksteady
11-12-2002, 10:24 PM
ok answer both questions..lol
I messed around with fdisk and think I might have screwed it up. I can install win2k on there with no problems but win98 can't. win2k is better but slower. it's on a 200mhz system with 96meg of ram
IFMU
11-12-2002, 10:27 PM
Ouch... ok so yea 98 is the better option to keep the system goin decently enough... Did you do an fdisk? if so, its pretty hard to mess it up. Just make sure you let it complete. After that, it should be ok. Ah wait, the wonderful world of 9x... ok, once you have done the fdisk, reboot, and format the drive using the 9x startup disk, or the 98 cd, whatever. But dont start to install. Format the drive. Then reboot again and try to install then. That should fix that.
Kurupt
11-12-2002, 10:39 PM
"Solution:

The hard disk drive does not have a valid format.

If you are receiving this message when your computer boots it is likely that it is unable to read the format on the hard disk drive.

Boot from a bootable floppy diskette
Once at the A:\> attempt to type C: and press enter.
If you do not receive this error message type the following:

A: <press enter>
fdisk /mbr <press enter>
Sys c: <press enter>
Once you have received the message System Transferred reboot the computer and your issue should be resolved.

If you receive the same Invalid Media Type reading type reading drive C: it is likely that the format on the hard disk drive is invalid and it is recommended that you re-format the hard disk drive. By typing the following after booting from a bootable floppy diskette:

Format c: <press enter>

This will erase all of your information on the hard disk drive however will recreate the format and should allow your hard disk drive to be read again. If during the format you receive messages about bad or missing sectors or allocation units refer to document CH000180
The hard disk drive has been fdisked but not formatted:

If you have recently fdisked and deleted and recreated the partition on the hard disk drive before the hard disk drive can be read you must format the hard disk drive by typing the following after booting from a bootable floppy diskette:

Format c: <press enter>

This will erase all of your information on the hard disk drive however will recreate the format and should allow your hard disk drive to be read again. If during the format you receive messages about bad or missing sectors or allocation units refer to document CH000180

The hard disk drive is bad:

If you have deleted and recreated the partition and then formatted the hard disk drive but did not receive any message about missing sectors or allocation units and continue to experience the same issue it is likely that the computer hard disk drive unfortunately is bad."
koolrocksteady
11-12-2002, 10:47 PM
thanks for your help
koolrocksteady
11-12-2002, 10:53 PM
ok I tried all of the about and it still say's

invalid media type
about,retry,fail

Yet win2k can install fine. maybe it's ntfs or hpfs?? that might have happened when the win2k install worked. I did it in ntfs but thought win98 start up disk would take care of all that.
IFMU
11-12-2002, 11:14 PM
Ok maybe thats the probs... 9x cant read ntfs partitions.. only fat
wdd1040
11-12-2002, 11:28 PM
Originally posted by koolrocksteady
ok I tried all of the about and it still say's

invalid media type
about,retry,fail

Yet win2k can install fine. maybe it's ntfs or hpfs?? that might have happened when the win2k install worked. I did it in ntfs but thought win98 start up disk would take care of all that.

If you FDISK and then reformat in FAT it should work. Try again... :confused:
Attitudx
11-13-2002, 05:05 AM
i would agree with the above i had a similar problem but I was trying to install xp on a linux formated harddrive adn that dont jive but yeah if you use the win 98 boot disk or cd you should be able to format it or if you had another machine you could put it in as a second drive and format it fat then
Marci
11-13-2002, 05:09 AM
open FDISK, delete all partitions, recreate new partition. Power Off. Reboot, boot off Win9x floppy. Format c: /s

done.

Win2k Will install fine as it deals with partitioning etc during the setup... 9x does not, all partitioning with 9x must be predefined using fdisk. 2k & xp both define partitions during setup and from within the OS, and changes are made realtime without need for reboot.