Partition signature!55AA

[chappie39]

Hello, I wiped my 16gig ssd on the eeepc901 as it appeared to hve a virus and was corrupted. tried various repairs but will now not boot any disc. all prompt the message"partition signature!55aa

 

[tigsounds]

When you say "wiped" just what did you do to wipe it?

It seems you may have wiped the partition table out too.

 

[chappie39]

Yes i wiped the whole drive ie overwritten at least 3 times

 

[tigsounds]

Well, there ya go. You must initialize the drive again. Set partitions, format and then use it.

Do you have software to initialize a drive? If not, download THIS, burn ISO to CD, and boot with it in the computer with the wiped SSD.

File to download is an ISO image file, 19.3MB

 

[chappie39]

Many thanks, I will try that. I was waiting for an adapter to try and connect the wiped drive to the old 4 gig ssd with XP on and try to format it. I have a device for connecting/reading conventional sata drives but this should be quicker.

 

[tigsounds]

but this should be quicker

Oh yea, it's quicker. It will format your little drive in about 2 seconds.

 

[chappie39]

For speed I had more the dismanting of the computer and waiting for the post than using the software hi! Thanks again

 

[tigsounds]

For speed I had more the dismanting of the computer and waiting for the post than using the software hi! Thanks again

To avoid a long, drawn out explanation here, I sent you a PM.

 

[chappie39]

Hello, I wiped my 16gig ssd on the eeepc901 as it appeared to hve a virus and was corrupted. tried various repairs but will now not boot any disc. all prompt the message"partition signature!55aa

Down load would not boot either?

 

[tigsounds]

Down load would not boot either?

Burned ISO to CD using a burner program capable of burning an ISO image?

Is computer set to boot from CD?

 

[chappie39]

Not sure what an ISO image is need to look it up! It burns photos docs and music ok Yes Bios set to boot from cd rom. Rom tries to start but the partition message appears to halt everything on all disks. Ineed to read up more on this problem.

 

[tigsounds]

You can't just make a CD with the ISO file as what gets burned, leaving you with a CD with the hitachi.iso in the directory. It must be burned by a burner program that will re-make the original CD from the supplied ISO image file.

There are many free ISO burning programs out there, below I supplied one that should do the job.

Information and website, with download link.... HERE

Use this program to burn the ISO to CD. Boot with resulting CD.

 

[chappie39]

Almost worked but beginning to think something not right with the bios. Freezes the keyboard especially the letters even when in set up. some times works but not always. USB CDrom is 1st boot device.
With the ISO image get error messagesNo cd Rom, ide CD rom not installed and ending up with A:\NWCDE.exe reruires a drivername to be specied A:\>..... but cannot type a command anyway! can gat to the Atheros confogure but cannot see where that helps.

 

[chappie39]

On the last boot I can now type a command A:\> after the "requires a driver name"
Invalid name specified,
command or file name not recognised.

but not sure what to type?

 

[tigsounds]

You put it in the CD drive and boot the computer with it. That's all you do, it starts and loads and runs completely by itself. It cannot be started from Windows, DOS or any other method.

There is sometimes a problem with having more than one CD drive connected to the system.

 

[chappie39]

Then there is something else wrong as it stalls not recognizing the one and only 'generic' CD-Rom drive connected to the usb port
'Starts with CD-ROM Device Driver for IDE/ATPI Ver 1.5 rev.016
Copyright etc.....
**Error : No CD-ROM drive found,please check power or cable.
**Error : IDE CD-ROM device driver not installed!!

Caldera DR-DOS 7.05
Copyright etc.....

A:\>echo off
NWCDEX.EXE Version 2.81 CD-ROM file handler.
Copyright etc....
Driver not found: 'generic'
A:\NWCDEX.EXE requires a driver name to be specified.
Invalid drive specified
Command or file name not recognised
Command or file name not recognised
Command or file name not recognised
Command or file name not recognised
A:\>_

 

[tigsounds]

The program is looking for a CD drive connected directly to the mainboard as an IDE or SATA drive. You are using an external USB drive and it can't manage that. It makes a short-sighted assumption that you have a built-in CD drive. It works on a computers host drive only.

If you can connect a CD drive to the mainboard it will work.

 

[chappie39]

Thanks, not sure how to manage that but I think I realsed that but wondered if I needed aboot up disk with a DOD usb driver in it if such a thing exists.

 

[tigsounds]

It won't run from a startup disk. It boots or no go, However...

You can install it as a program in a system running Windows.

Put the CD you made in an operating machine, autorun will launch the install program, if it doesn't, open Explorer and navigate to the root of the CD and double-click "Chooser.exe" to install the program in Windows. It may warn you that your Windows cannot deal with drives over 137GB and ask if you want to install support for large drives. It is safe to choose yes, but the computer is going to re-boot without warning.

After computer starts up you can run the program and setup your hard drive. I seem to remember it will work on USB drives if they are already plugged in before launching the program.
Choose advanced installation and from there choose partition sizes (1 for that size drive?) as well as file system type. Best use NTFS from the start if you'll install Windows on the drive.

 

[chappie39]

You have lost me there! I've missed a step somewhere. Do you mean after the the operating computer has rebooted the created disc will beusable in the non operating computer? The eeepc has a SSD and no way to connect to the operating computer. There doesn't seem a device on the marked for connecting a mini e card to a usb device. I have one to read and format all other drives.

 

[tigsounds]

I read up a bit on that computer. You are not going to be able to use the CD you made from the ISO file you downloaded. It seems you have 2 SSD drives, 4 & 12 GB. You have no built-in CD ROM so a USB drive is your only option.

If you can make a bootable CD with fdisk.exe and format.exe on it you may be in business.

You'll boot that disk, run fdisk and set up a partition, make it primary, active, and DOS.
Format the drive.

Boot with the XP CD and do a new install. When it ask about formatting, choose to format using the NTFS file system and proceed to install XP.

Install chipset driver first, then all others.

 

[chappie39]

An update:I had an old 4gB drive with a reduced XP on it which I put back and made up a make up piece out of perspex to hold the wiped ssd in the longer second slot hoping to use fhe first to format the second. However the Bios did not see the second drive although the XP seemed boot up OK . Later I found that the XP is not working proprly clicking on the icons opens the properties but not the programms. another dead end in the one way system!I repaired the XP on the old 4 gig drive (no room to spare)and it worked ok. Still did not "see" the drive in the second slot so I dismantled again and put the wiped drive in the primary slot and the 4 gig in the slave slot.It booted up ok and in disc management both drives were visible, one formated and the master just healthy. Tried to format the wiped drive and it said it was successful Took the 4 gig out and tried to install XP but fails when set up requires a partition formatting seems to stall at the 100% mark. When I try to remove or install the partition set up is unable to complete. About to put the 4 gig back in the second slot and start again. Wonder if the wiped drive is damaged in some way.Neither XP nor Setup seem to be able to partition or delete a partition on the driveso I must conclude that the drive is damaged and perhaps try a replacement

 

[tigsounds]

Wow... That little computer is really giving you a run for your money.

Let's see here... you have a somewhat working XP, but no room. OK, delete stuff it can run without.
Make some room... you need about 14 MB free.

You get to 100% and the format dies? or something like that?

If you can run Xp on the old drive, and have disk manager "see" the SSD, then install the program from the CD you made from the ISO I supplied.... if it runs.. you said something about nothing runs..

If you can install the program (Chooser.exe on the CD), have that program partition and format the SSD. Maybe it will do a better job, worth a try, nothing to loose, nothing to buy, but you do need 14MB to install it.

Empty and then disable the recycle bin, that will help.

Track down the system temp folder and empty that too. It's buried in Docs & settings and is hidden (of course, thank you Microsoft [:tigsounds:1] )

The more I read about those little computers, the more I'll stay away from them. Some have 2 SSD's (4 & 12GB) and some have just 12GB and still some others have a single 16GB drive.. What are they thinking?