problem with windows98?

[nagolf]

Hi all. My friend wanted me to look at her computer. She said go ahead and format the hard disk if necessary. After turning on the computer, it instructs to put in the boot-disk and press any key. After getting to the startup menu, I went to "start computer with cd-rom support."
It goes to the A:\ prompt. I have tried the "format c:" and it comes up "bad command or file name." Can anyone out there tell me what the problem is and how to solve it?

Thanks.

[ktkendall]

I assume your using win98 boot floppy,, Yes?? Can you just type C: and then dir to see what files ore on the C drive?? If the partitioning has been screwed up on the C drive you may need to FDISK it and recreate the primary dos partition, reboot, then format. If your getting bad command error though, then it sounds like your simply typing the command wrong, try A:\> format help

[nagolf]

thanks ktkendall. yes, using win98 boot disk. typing a:\> format help comes up the same..bad command or file name. what command do you use to stop the computer when checking files in the dir? never used the fdisk before. does it guide you? thanks.

[ktkendall]

Sorry it's A:\> help format
I have my win98 disk out and whan I typed format help I got:
Invalid drive specification, so I think your win98 boot floppy is incomplete..
Also if the partition is shot that also is the same eror message you should get, you can boot form win98 cdrom and doo everything you want that way also, just chack BIOS to be sure cdrom is a boot option.. What is wrong with the PC???

[nagolf]

thanks ktkendall. i don't know what is wrong with the pc. that is why i'm asking questions. typing format help on the a: prompt comes up the same...bad command or file name. any other ideas?? thanks.

[ktkendall]

Originally Posted by nagolf thanks ktkendall. i don't know what is wrong with the pc. that is why i'm asking questions. typing format help on the a: prompt comes up the same...bad command or file name. any other ideas?? thanks.

Read my post, it's A:\> help format or just try A:\> help

Yes, but 2 things first, why did she ask you to look at this PC in the first palce?? What does the PC do or not do if you just try to let it boot itself from the internal HD?? Are you sure you went in on that boot floppy to either with or without cdrom support, because if you choose minimal boot you can't format when you choose that.. Can you get to C: prompt after boot floppy. I think your boot flopy is incomplete, and if you can not get make a new one and can not boot up from the harddrive, then boot up from the win98 cdrom and you can reformat and reinstall windows from there.. If she is like most PC users out there, the PC is probably so crammed full of spyware and or virus, and apps in the startup folder that it barely runs anymore and just needs a good cleaning out...

[glc]

Format.com is not on the root of the floppy, it expands onto the ramdrive, which is probably D. You have to watch the screen when the floppy is loading to verify what drive letter the ramdrive is. If you really do want to go through with the format from the floppy, when you get to the A prompt, you would do this, assuming D is the ramdrive:

d: (enter)
format c:

However, I would not do this without doing some further investigation first. I would run fdisk first and examine the partitions to make sure there are any.

[ktkendall]

I have win 98 boot floppy in right now and do not have to use the drive letter of the ram drive to utilize the format command, and I never have. format command works from A prompt on my win98 boot floppy, which is why his floppy is either incomplete or he choose minimal boot..

[Panama Red]

Here's a tutorial I've used when installing/reinstalling 98. It includes screen shots of both the boot floppy and CD Setup procedures.

[glc]

Originally Posted by ktkendall I have win 98 boot floppy in right now and do not have to use the drive letter of the ram drive to utilize the format command, and I never have. format command works from A prompt on my win98 boot floppy, which is why his floppy is either incomplete or he choose minimal boot..

MY floppy puts format.com on the ramdrive. Fdisk is on the root.

[ktkendall]

Mine probably does too, cause your right GLC, I don't see format.exe when i do a dir from A:, but even look at the link Panama posted.. the format command does work from A prompt if boot disk is loaded properly which as I remember if you choose minimal boot than it doesn't do the ramdrive thing and you can not format at all and you get the errors message he is getting, don't mean to ruffle your feathers or start an argument here but i did enough fdisking, formatting and loading windows in the win98 days to say with absolute certainty that format command does work from the A prompt, I never had to use D: prompt, and I have mine in right now and format works from A:

[nagolf]

thanks guys, i have formatted the hard disk. but there seems to be another problem. i am reloading windows98 and it is taking forever. it started out with 225 minutes to download!! any ideas why it is taking so long?? it has a 166mhz pentium processor with 2G hard drive space. thanks.

[glc]

How much ram?

[nagolf]

not sure glc, but probably not much. say it had 32mb, would it be taking this long?

[glc]

I've seen 98SE report 90 minutes on a machine that's at minimums, which is a P75 with 24mb ram, and running a 4x CD drive.

[ktkendall]

What was wrong witht he PC in the first place, why did she bring it to you?? Since you have not diagnosed the problem you may be simply reloading windows with problem device still in there. I don't just haphazardly reload their OS till I diagnose problem first, what was the problem you were having with the format command???

[glc]

Excessive times like that are indicative of bad ram, bad hard drive, or bad CD drive.

[nagolf]

glc, you're probably right. after downloading windows98, restarted it and nothing is happening. just a blank screen. bad everything??

[nagolf]

glc, what do you think is the problem? thanks.

[glc]

Well, I already gave you an opinion what might be wrong.

Time to replace the computer. You can find a better used computer than that thing that works for 50 bucks easily. I dig computers that work that are better than that one out of dumpsters. You aren't going to be able to troubleshoot that one without spare parts.