Install win98 on laptop

[ssahl]

I was trying to install win98 on an old laptop that doesnt have a CD-ROM drive, I copied all the CAB files to the hdd using my 100MB zip drive (yes it took two trips) about half way through I get the message 'Setup has detected the following decoding error "corrupted setup(.CAB) file. setup will attempt to recover from this situation.' Needless to say it was unsuccessfull. My question is, since it doesnt tell me just what CAB file is corrupted, is there anything else that would cause this message and error aside from the zip disk I'm using is kind of old and has been reformated to many times? I was going to go buy a new zip disk, but I didnt want to spend $15 on one just to try and fix an old laptop that's not even mine, and then have the same problem happen again at the same place. Anyway, should I go ahead and buy a new zip disk? I hope that it's not the hdd. That would kind of suck.

[racerbrownn]

i've done this several different ways but not with a zip [probably cause i don't own one]
anyways, assuming there is still win 95 on the hdd, search the hdd for which cabs were successfully copied and delete those from the zip disc to save time.
if you are starting the copy without a op sys on the hdd, then your guess is as good as mine. same goes for 3.1 as i have never used it either.
keep in mind that win 98 does require 16 mb of ram if you do get the transfer to complete.
good luck and you might try recopying the cabs from the win98 source just to be safe.
also, can you reverse copy the cabs back to the source pc [use a different folder so as not to corrupt what you already have on the machine.

BOY, DID I MISREAD THAT ONE. ^ but still some of these ideas might help.....or not.