How to Repair Windows 98 SE Locked Up Hard Drives

The day that you sit down to start your computer, only to have the system shut down on you before you can enter the operating system, you will have armed yourself with the knowledge contained within this article. You will be able to bypass the operating system startup. You will learn to access the BIOS, binary operating system, and unlock that hard drive. You will be able to enter Windows 98 SE safely, without crashing your computer, by utilizing the safe-mode function.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Turn on your computer.

2. Hit the F2 function key on your keyboard before the OS begins to boot. Alternately, you may hit the Esc button to bring up the booting order menu, then arrow down to the last option, which should read “Enter BIOS.”

3. Arrow over to the tab for settings or system. It may be labeled differently on different computers. What you need to do is go through the tabs by pressing the right/left arrow keys, then press the up/down arrow keys to run through the lists of options.

4. Arrow down to the option that reads “Enable/Disable Hard Drive Auto-lock.” Hit "Enter" to change the status of your locked hard drive.

5. Hit Esc, then follow the prompt to "Exit" and "Save Settings." Your operating system will now load normally. If there are problems getting into your computer after changing the hard drive auto-lock, simply restart your computer by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del twice. Hit F3 when the operating system is loading. This will allow you to run the operating system in safe-mode.