MS-DOS Upgrade

[hootie1]

I'm trying to revive my old Dell laptop that crashed ( Latitude Xpi ). It doesn't have a CDrom drive only a floppy. I tried to install a copy of Windows 95 that I had on floppy disks but I get a message that this version does not run on DOS 7.0 or below. How can I upgrade my DOS?

[glc]

The floppy disk version of Windows 95 will only install on a hard drive that's been partitioned and formatted FAT 16. FAT 16 has a 2 gb partition size limit.

[hootie1]

Thanks GLC ! How do I find if my hard drive is partitioned to FAT 16 and if not what can I do?

[glc]

http://1gighost.com/ed/cindy/boot95a.exe

Put a blank formatted floppy in the drive and run the file - this will make a 95a bootdisk. Boot with it and run FDISK. Delete all partitions then create a new one.

[hootie1]

OK ! I FDisked the hdd and I wan't to put WINDOWS 95 in it. I have the adapter and a Windows 95 CD . How do I hook it up to a Desktop to load from the CD? I Have three desktops to choose from , #1- AMD , Athlon with Windows XP, #2- Pentium 4 w/WINDOWS XP and a Toshiba Celeron w/ windows 98 the last time I tried it I screwed up and reprogrammed both drives. ( The Toshiba and the laptop HDD )

[glc]

Do you have a IDE or USB adapter for the laptop hard drive? What exact version is your 95 CD? How big is the laptop hard drive?

[hootie1]

I have the IDE adapter, the laptop harddrive is 2.1 gigabyte . I 'll have to get back to you on the version of 95 I have.

[hootie1]

OK the WINDOWS 95 disk is Version 4.00.950

[glc]

Okay - that's 95 original.

FDISK the drive with the bootdisk I asked you to download before. Make sure all it has is one "primary DOS" partition. Then you need to format it with the /s switch (format c: /s) - I *believe* the bootdisk has format.com on it.

Remove the drive and put it in another computer. Make a folder on it called win95. Now, copy all the files from the win9x folder on the CD into that folder - but no need to copy the subfolders. Replace the hard drive into the laptop and boot to it. At the C prompt, type the following:

copy con c:\config.sys (enter)
device=c:\win95\himem.sys
dos=high

Then hit Ctrl+Z and enter.

Reboot.

At the C prompt, type:

cd win95 (enter)
setup

Proceed as with a normal installation.

[hootie1]

To GLC . Thanks for the reply , sorry to waste your time but I am new to this stuff and I don't know a folder from a hole in the ground much less how to make one. When I follow your instructions will I be in DOS or what? All I know is to stick the WINDOWS CD in the CD drive and to follow the prompts. When I tried to put the laptop drive in my desktop it locked up . So right now I'm looking at the DELL drive on my desk with the adapter attached and wondering if I should just toss it. Thanks again for your help .