WIN 98nd clean install

[cable guy]

I have a coomputer with WIN 95,I want to do a clean insall
with WIN 98nd.How do I do a clean install, never did one.

[jmatt]

This site can walk you through it .
http://www.geocities.com/~budallen/

[RJ]

Hello,

first of all: If you have data you don't want to loose, backup them (CD or disk).

Then switch into dos-mode and type in:
format C:

After C: is formatted, insert the Windows 98 CD, boot from it and install it (setup will show you what to do).

*note: if you can't boot from Windows 98 CD, you have to boot from startdisk. If you have access to a PC which already has Windows 98, go to control panel/software and make one. If you don't have access to a Win98 CD, you'll have to copy your cdrom drivers to disk.

After Windows 98 is installed, install all the drivers for your devices.

And when all drivers are installed, install your programs and copy your backup-data back. That was all.

Hope this helps.

RJ

[archie]

After the files to be kept are backed up, confirm that you can boot up to the Win98 CD before proceeding with format.
When installing, select the custom install ... it will give the option of which components to install.

[cable guy]

This computer is to be used by my oldest daughter, 3yrs,
for learning and games.There is not much that I think needs to be backed up.I would like to erase everything and start with a new install of win98 nd, then I will upgrade this to WIN ME.
Just finished a repair disc for win 95.

I am a little cautious about a new install,never erased an old operating system and installed a new one.

Just checked,I have all the discs for the software that
is currently installed on the computer.

[Edited by cable guy on 02-03-2001 at 02:23 PM]

[cable guy]

RJ,
When I tried "format C:" I received an error,

"Drive C: is currently in use by another process
Aborting Format"

What to do next?

[courto]

The most important thing to have on hand, in my opinion, is a start up disk with CD ROM support. A normal windows95 start up disk does not have CD ROM support, although your computer may have been supplied with a special start up disk with CD ROM support. A windows98 start up disk does have CD ROM support. As an alternative you can set your BIOS to boot off the windows 98 CD. You can download a windows 98 start up disk from http://www.bootdisk.com or you can make one on a machine that has windows 98 installed.
When you wish to format your hard drive, try booting from a start up floppy, and then format.
Its always a good idea to test your boot disk before you actually format, boot from the floppy and see if you have access to your CD ROM.
Chris.

[RJ]

Cable guy, did you switch to real-mode DOS or did you just open the DOS-Box under Windows.

You have to go to START > SHUT DOWN, then select START IN MS-DOS MODE.
There type in FORMAT C:

If that doesn't help:

Start your PC with your bootdisk or boot-cd (you'll need one of them later after the formatting), and then format the drive.

BTW, what is the real difference between a bootdisk from http://www.bootdisk.com and a bootdisk made by windows ? I'm just curious. . .

RJ

[cable guy]

I tried it through Programs.

Tried it in the shutdown menu,it is currently formating.

Formatting is complete,system is at "C:\>" .

Do I just install the new operatiog system after the formating is complete.



Thanks

[Edited by cable guy on 02-04-2001 at 04:43 PM]

[cable guy]

More problems,

I tried to boot off a ME repair disc, diskette read failure.

Tried to use my WIN 95 repair disc from the original setup,'
diskette read failure.

?????????????????

[glc]

Go get a Win98 system disk and boot with that - if it doesnt boot, your floppy drive has problems and you will have to fix that or set up the system to boot from the CD if that's an option in BIOS.

[cable guy]

Here are the latest problems:

Restarted without disc in,
"invalid system disc,replace the disc and try again"

Insatlled disc,
"Diskette read failure-
Press F1 to retry boot,F2 for setup"

How do I set it to boot from cd,I have the win98 nd cd.

[RJ]

Cable guy, you mean you have Win98 2nd Edition ?
Then it's possible that you can't boot from it (my Win98 SE CD is *not* bootable :mad: but all Win98 FE CDs I know are. . .)

But you should give it a try.

When starting up, press DEL and you get into BIOS.
In standard cmos setup, set all entries which are set to NONE to AUTO.
In advanced bios setup (or something similar, it varies from bios to bios), set the boot order to CDROM, then C:.

Look into your manual to get this information for your bios. It's different from bios to bios.

RJ

[kraken]

Cable Guy

System specs please.

To install win98SE you will need a boot disk (available off of the CD)

Insert boot disk when you power up the system.

This will give you all the utilities and your CDROM.

Format c: /s /u

cd (CDROM)

setup

you will now be able to install win98se (assuming you have the boot disk.)

F1 to retry and F2 for setup sounds like an IBM machine.

[cable guy]

I do not have any specs on the system other that it is a 486 and had win95 for an OS before formattting,computer has not been used for about a year.
The problem is that if I remove the disc and restart it will give me a disc errror to install the disc.When I install the disc and restart I get the "F1 to Retry or F2 to enter setup" error.

I downloaded a win98 boot disc and tried that,same results.

How much space on the hard drive does win98 require to boot,this drive is 500M.

[courto]

Well the first thing you need is a boot disk with cd rom support that works. Try the boot disk in another machine, at least you will know if its the boot disk or the machine itself. Maybe the floppy drive is not working as it should. Next thing how much RAM has this thing got? You might be better off to stick with Windows 95.

[Edited by courto on 02-05-2001 at 11:29 PM]

[glc]

Excuse me? You are trying to put Win 98 on a 486? First off, 98 FE *requires* a 486/66 with 16 megs ram *minimum* and SE requires a Pentium with 24 megs ram. These are absolute minimums - and a machine at minimums will perform like molasses in January in Alaska.

There is no way you are going to get a 486 BIOS to boot from a CD.

Do yourself a favor, fix your floppy drive, and put 95 back on it.

[archie]

Sounds like it could be that the boot sequence is set to 'c, a' in the BIOS. You'll know if the floppy is not being accessed upon bootup that this is the culprit. Change the boot sequence to 'a, c'. This will be needed regardless of which OS is used.
Consider putting Win 3.1 on this system if it is available. A three year old will not care which OS is used, just as long as it responds quickly.

[RJ]

Cable guy, glc is right. I tried Win98 when I had my Pentium 133 with 16 MB RAM. Well, not that good, so I put Win95A back, and half a year after upgrading to the Pentium II 333 I updated on Win98 SE.
And 500 MB, for Win98. . . well, about 300 MB will be used by Windows, so there's not so much space available for other things.

On a 486, I would recommend to keep Windows 95. Win 3.11 is not recommendable if you want to use actual programs (like Word 97 or such).

RJ

[cable guy]

I made a startup disc from win 95 on a 3 1/2 size and that would not boot.

Anyone know where I can get a MS DOS boot disc to try?

[RJ]

Try http://www.bootdisk.com

RJ

[kraken]

Cableguy

It is a total waste of time installing win 98 (any version) on that machine. Windows 95 will run on a 486 class computer with 8MB of RAM but that is minimum specifications.

At a dos prompt type "sys a:"(no quotes) and place a floppy in the A: drive. This will transfer the system files from the machine that you created it from.

Is the error a system configuration error. If so hit f2 and go to the advanced tab (assuming IBM machine). There should be an entry for reset configuration. change to yes and save and exit BIOS setup. Retry your win98 boot disk.

[sedu]

Before you proceed any further, read Albert Camus' "Myth of Sisyphus".

[cable guy]

sedu,
What is this,do you have a link to it?

[sedu]

To quote:

The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.

[cable guy]

Some luck,

"Starting Widows 95",using win 95 boot disc.

I am now at the "C" prompt,how do I get it to install a win 95 disc from my C

What is the DOS command to go from "C" to setup,
dos is ancient commands to me.

[glc]

You need a CD-Rom driver on the boot disk to access the CD drive to run Setup.......go to the bootdisk.com site and get one or use a Win98 startup floppy.

When you get this straightened out - from the A:> prompt, just type X: (enter) where X is the letter of your CD drive. Then type CD WIN95 (enter) then SETUP (enter).

[systempat]

When installing Win95 on a clean machine, I usually did it the old-fashioned way. Install MS-DOS 6.22 from floppy (only 3 discs), then install a DOS CD driver, then put the Win95 CD in and go. I had a couple discs of generic CD-rom drivers that usually did the trick.
I was working on a project for computers for schoolkids where we were using donated machines. All kinds of hardware and the HD was clean-formatted so no drivers. If systems were fairly similar we could use a DOS version of Laplink and a Laplink parallel cable to copy an image of the whole setup. Kind of a 486 version of ghosting.

[RJ]

systempat, did you have a Win95 upgrade cd ?
Long time ago I also tried to upgrade from DOS 6.22 to Win95A, but it was Win95 full version (not upgrade), and it refused the install.
Well, I did it anyway. It was a bit tricky (I don't remember how I did that), but it worked.

What I did for my own Windows in the past:

I copied the cdrom driver from cdrom driver disk to Windows 95 start disk and modified autoexec.bat and config.sys.

But if Win98 startdisk works (and it's supposed to word), then you can begin installation right after that.

RJ

[systempat]

RJ, didn't see your post until now.
Yes, it's a Win95 update version. I don't remember anything tricky about it. Although I have a set of Win 3.1 install *from FD* that I could use if it needed to verify.

[RJ]

Well, with the update there is no problem. With my full version, Win95 refused to install with the message that there is already an OS installed and I should get the update.
But fortunately I was able to overcome it :)

RJ