What to do about "Invalid media type"

Question

I have an old PC with a HDD that was using Double Space. Since I do not need the extra space, and want to minimise the system use of RAM, I attempted to re-format the drive normally.

After typing fdisk c:, which (IIRC) did not produce any errors, the drive is now responding "Invalid media type" to any attempt to use it. I have tried format c:, fdisk /mbr, just fdisk, with identical results, "Invalid media type reading drive C". It is MS-DOS 5.0.

Any simple solutions? Which Norton tool should I use?

According to the BIOS diagnostics the drive is ok.

Clarification: I have never booted from this drive, always from flash cards in A: or C: (with no HD installed). All the slots A-D are PCMCIA. It is a HP Omnibook.

More clarification: the reason I mentioned DS is that I first tried to just format the drive, but it said I needed to use a DS-command (cannot remember the name), so I tried fdisk instead, which seemed to work, but after that it has been "invalid media type" at any mention of C:.

Also, there is only 4MB of RAM, so Norton Disk Doctor and some other Norton tools I tried do not run.

Addition: please note that this problem is solved. Thanks to all who replied.

Answer 1

to solve your memory problem take a look at this SO/SE QA:

• Run Turbo C++ in Freedos

My bet is you did not use highmem.sys or you are not loading lh what you can eating up Your base memory.

now There are few reasons for wrong media type I can think of...

1. BOOT sector protection

   some BIOSes have protection of boot sector (from viruses) messing up formating and partitioning. In the case a warning message Y/N should appear but I saw few times it did not happen or even if pressed Y the format was corrupted. So check BIOS and temporarily disable this feature if you Enabled.

2. Your system is infected by Virus

   There where some nasty boot sect viruses back in the days which may interfere with the formating/partitioning process causeing your problem. make sure you boot from virus free floppy/stick and do not run/scan files from HDD or stuff.

   IIRC There where also some Viruses that hides in the BIOS or loads from LAN on boot so just in case unplug LAN cables.

   Also Do not trust anything without proper scan. I got some infected pressed CD's from motherboards directly from manufactors. At that time the viruses where not recognized yet but after decade+ I got surprised when searching for old drivers ... :)

3. Incompatible fdisk or format utility

   What OS you have (MS-DOS 6.22)? What FS (FAT16)? If yo mix MS-DOS 7+ utilities with older MS-DOS then you can run into similar problems. Make sure you got FAT16 and do not crossing any barriers (In such case use EZ-drive I think).

   IIRC FAT32 was only for the newer MS-DOS versions which where not a really MS-DOS like the old ones and not all programs runs in it properly.

4. physical drive error

   BIOS drive test is unreliable for "newer" IDE discs. That was usable for the old MFM and on new IDE it was not doing anything reasonable. Do not use HDD format utility from BIOS as IIRC some IDE HDD could be permanently damaged by it

   To diagnose and remedy your drive try PQ magick I Think PQ 8.0 and earlier where meant for MS-DOS.

   Also each IDE manufactor at that time had its own HDD format utility to make a low level HDD format You can try that as a last resort.... They usually work like FDD image you format an floppy with it and boot from it ... They sometimes helped in case of no real physical damage is present but just magnetical one.

Answer 2

Is it an OmniBook 300 or 425? Then you are in luck, because I've done precisely that with my 300. This is an official support document from HP explaining how to configure a 425 (or 300) without disk compression, and remove both the DoubleSpace and MS Flash Filesystem drivers from RAM. I forget how much conventional memory you end up with, but it's well over 500 KB.

HP OMNIBOOK 425 - MAXIMIZING DOS CONVENTIONAL MEMORY BY REMOVING
DOUBLESPACE AND FLASH FILE SYSTEM

  ISSUE:HP OmniBook 425 - running MS Windows while freeing up a
              maximum of 590 KB of DOS memory.

  SOLUTION:To free up the DOS memory, two device drivers have to
              be disabled, DoubleSpace and the Flash File System.
              Disabling DoubleSpace will reduce the capacity of the
              hard drive to 40 MB and disabling the Flash File System
              will disable your access to drive D and the HP OmniBook
              425 Communication ROM card.  If access to either of
              these is necessary after following this procedure, see
              "Reinstalling the Flash File System" below.  This
              process should only be used with the hard disk version
              of the HP OmniBook 425 because the Flash File System
              will be disabled.  The following process describes
              copying the required files to drive C and editing DOS
              and Windows startup files.

  REFORMATTING THE HARD DRIVE

          CAUTION:ALL EXISTING DATA ON DRIVE C WILL BE
                    LOST.  ALL DATA SHOULD BE BACKED UP
                    BEFORE CONTINUING.

              1. Exit Windows.
              2. Type FDISK C:and press [Enter].
              3. Answer YES to the "Proceed with FDISK (Y/N)? [N]"
                 prompt and press [Enter].
              4. Press any key to the "Press any key when ready . . .
                 " prompt to reboot the HP OmniBook 425.
              5. Answer NO to the "Do you want to format drive C:and
                 copy required files to it (Y/N)? [Y]" prompt and
                 press [Enter].
              6. At the D:prompt, type FORMAT C:and press [Enter].
                 Answer YES to the
                 "Proceed with Format (Y/N)?" prompt and press
                 [Enter].
              7. When prompted for a volume label, type OMNIBOOK and
                 press [Enter].

  COPYING REQUIRED FILES TO DRIVE C

              1. At the DOS prompt, type D:\OBSETUP /F and press
                 [Enter].  This will copy most of the required files
                 from drive D to drive C.  Reboot the HP OmniBook
                 425.
              2. Once the HP OmniBook 425 has rebooted, start File
                 Manager and open one window for drive C and one
                 window for drive D.
              3. In the window that displays drive C, select the C:\
                 icon to make the root directory active.  If a
                 replace prompt is displayed when performing the
                 following steps, answer YES.
              4. Copy the OMNIBOOK directory on drive D to drive C.
              5. Copy the WINDOWS directory on drive D to drive C.
              6. Copy the WINWORD directory on drive D to drive C.
              7. Copy the files in the TSI directory on drive D to
                 the WINDOWS\SYSTEM subdirectory on drive C.
              8. Copy all of the files in the root of drive D to the
                 root of drive C.
              9. Change the window that displays drive D to display
                 drive C and select the OMNIBOOK directory.  Move
                 OBMGMEXE.EXE  to C:\WINDOWS directory.
              10.     Change one window to display the
                 C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory and the other window to
                 display the C:\TSI directory.  Move LLRSTS.EXE in
                 the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM subdirectory to the C:\TSI
                 subdirectory.
              11.     Change one window to display C:\OMNIBOOK and
                 the other to display C:.  Move OBCIC.EXE in the
                 OMNIBOOK directory to root of drive C.
              12.     Delete WIN.BAT in the root of drive C.
              13.     Copy C:\AUTOEXEC.DOS to C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT.
              14.     Exit File Manager.

  EDITING REQUIRED FILES

              1. Use Microsoft (R) Word and edit C:\CONFIG.DOS.
              2. Type REM at the beginning of the line listed below.

                    DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.SYS NOEMS X=D000-DFFF

              3. Save the file as CONFIG.SYS and again as CONFIG.WIN.
              4. Edit C:\WINDOWS\CONTROL.INI. and use Edit-Replace to
                 replace all occurrences of D:with C:.  If a replace
                 prompt is displayed, when performing these steps,
                 answer "YES".
              5. Save the file.
              6. Edit C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI and replace all
                 occurrences of D:with C:.
              7. Save the file.
              8. Edit C:\WINDOWS\WIN.INI  and replace all occurrences
                 of D:with C:.
              9. Save the file and exit Microsoft Word.
              10.     Select the HP Financial Calculator icon in
                 Windows Main group.  Press Alt+Enter to display the
                 Program Item Properties and change the command line
                 to read "C:\HPCALC.EXE".
              11.     Select the LapLink RA On/Off icon in the
                 Windows Main group.  Press Alt+Enter to display the
                 Program Item Properties and change the command line
                 to read "C:\TSI\LLRSTS.EXE /S".
              12.     Exit Windows.

  REBOOTING THE HP OMNIBOOK 425

              1. At the DOS prompt, type OBBOOT 3.  This will reboot
                 the HP OmniBook 425 and disable DoubleSpace and the
                 Flash File System.
              2. To start Windows, type MSWIN and press [Enter].

  OPTIONAL -- CREATE A BATCH FILE TO START LAPLINK REMOTE AND MS
  WINDOWS

              1. Start Windows by typing MSWIN and pressing [Enter].
              2. Start Notepad and type the following lines.

                    C:\LLREMOTE
                    C:\WINDOWS\MSWIN
                    C:\LLREMOTE /U

              3. Save the file as C:\WIN.BAT.
              4. Modify AUTOEXEC.BAT and AUTOEXEC.WIN files to use
                 this batch file.

  REINSTALLING THE FLASH FILE SYSTEM

              1. Exit Windows.
              2. Type OBBOOT 2 and press [Enter] at the DOS prompt.
              3. To disable the Flash File System again, type OBBOOT
                 3 at the DOS prompt.

                  Copyright  Hewlett-Packard Co. 1996
       This information is subject to change without notice and
                 is provided "as is" with no warranty.
          Hewlett-Packard shall not be liable for any direct,
        indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages
             in connection with the use of this material.

Answer 3

FIPS is another disk partitioning utility for MS-DOS.

Although FIPS is primarily intended for altering partitions on an existing, formatted HDD, it can create new partitions from scratch. In my experience it is well worth trying as an alternative method of getting recalcitrant hard drives working again.

If you don't have FIPS.EXE, it is available from several download locations. It is normally supplied with Linux distros, as it is used to set up the HDD partitions before installing Linux alongside an existing OS. If you have a Linux install CD/DVD lying around, you will have a copy.

You will of course need to boot MS-DOS from floppy and then run FIPS from a floppy.

The included instructions will take you through the steps necessary. An online guide can be found here.

Once you have your partition(s) back, then reboot MS-DOS from floppy and issue format c: as normal.