Installing win 98 from DOS

[happyjackseven]

Hi,
I have purchased a reconditioned computer and am trying to install win 98.

I have made a boot disc and have booted the computer but at the prompt I type d:\win98\setup and get the response current drive no longer valid .
I have tried e:\win98\setup and get bad command or file name
Can anyone help me with this.

Thanks John

[HAL9000]

It sounds like your bootdisk doesn't have CD support. You can try to boot directly from the Win98 CD if the machine supports it, or you need a bootdisk with CD support.

[Cricket]

Hi happyjackseven,

You can make a really nice startup disk with the Win98 CD.

This is from the Bootdisk.com website: "To make a better Windows 98 bootdisk then the one that came with your Windows CD, put in your CD and seek out \tools\mtsutil\fat32ebd\fat32ebd.exe and double click on the file."

Cricket

[grasshopperbe]

and if im not mistaking, when you boot up from a diskette with cdrom support, go to your cdrom drive (usually E: or F: ) and just type setup, and not win98/setup
(the setup command being on the root of the disc i mean and not in the win98 folder. or am i wrong here?
you can also make a boot disk in win98
(if you can access another pc with win98)
in control panel, add/remove programs,
most right tab if my memory serves me right( currently on a win2000 machine)
if your mobo can boot from cdrom its a lot faster off course)

[happyjackseven]

Hi,
Thanks to the guys who have tried to help me with this problem.

Basically,I have a boot disc that I have copied from my own win 98 cd. It boots ok, I click with cd support and it loads the diagnostic tools to drive d. I then have the prompt A:\>

I type in D:\> and get not ready reading drive e abort,retry,fail.
I type e:\ and get cd 101 not ready reading drive e

I type in c:\dir I get volume in disc has no label

Anyway I think this computer is going out of the window.....

Thanks John

[Force Flow]

I think that path is x:\setup.exe.

Try typing "dir d:", "dir e:", and "dir f:" and see what you come up with.

Is the CD clean?

[GaryRouth]

HJ7

When you first turn your computer on, look for a banner message that reads "Press F1 (or DEL, F2, F10) to enter Setup". Press the key that your banner displays. This will get you to the Bios Setup screens. Be careful not to change things by accident, but if you do, you can choose "Exit without Saving Changes". While in Setup, look for a menu item like "Boot Device" or "Boot Order" - it will probably read "A, C, SCSI" or something like that. If you can select an option with "CDROM" as the 1st device, do that, and select "Exit Saving Changes". Reboot with the Windows CD in the drive, it should run Setup for you.
_______
Now, this is all assuming you have already set up the hard drive for Windows 98, if your Win98 disk is not an upgrade disk. If you have an upgrade disk, just start the computer with whatever OS is already on there & run the upgrade process.

If you want to do a clean install, but haven't reformatted the drive yet, you'll need to do that. Boot with the boot floppy, and run fdisk. Use option 4 to see what partitions already exist on the hard drive. If you see a Non-Dos partition and a regular DOS partition, leave the Non-Dos partition alone. Select the DOS partition, then delete it. Then Create a Primary Dos partition and mark it active. Then boot from the Win98 CD and let it format that partition with "Large Drive Support" (FAT32).

A non-Dos partition in fdisk is usually either a proprietary partition from a major OEM brand (like Compaq), or a partition created by a "disk overlay" program (like EZ-BIOS), that lets older motherboards work with larger drives.
_____
Post again if none of this helps
. . . Gary

[David_Jones]

I'd echo Gary's suggestion of looking for drive overlay software.

I had a PC with GoBack installed, and spent ages trying to work out why I couldn't access the HDD from a boot disk.

Having said that, if you cannot even see the boot disk drive (A:\ usually), then that is more serious.

Can you boot from the Win98 CD you have? If so, why not just install from there? It is fine as long as you have a separate licence for each installed copy of the OS.

HTH,

David.

[happyjackseven]

Hi Guys , Thanks for going to so much trouble to help me I really do appreciate it.

I have changed the BIOS to cd boot first and followed Gary's advice and created a primary dos partition, but it still refuses to boot from the cd drive. It says operating system missing and then I boot from the floppy. It leaves me back with the prompt A:>
Can I format the partition manually?

I think it's getting fairly terminal!!!!

Cheers John

[David_Jones]

Sure can format it yourself.

So, am I correct in assuming that you can at least boot to a diskette?

If so, you can format from there using the 'format' command.

Is the HDD totally empty (no data to lose)?

However, having said that, it will be a real pain to not have the CD-ROM drive working. Is it possible that the drive itself, or perhaps the cable, are broken?

David.

[GaryRouth]

Hmmm - - sounds like you're hitting a few rough spots on the way to computer fixup nirvana

Some questions:
1) Did you see any partitions in fdisk using option 4? (before you created your Primary DOS partition)
2) Was this once a major OEM model PC (Gateway, IBM, Dell, Compaq, Hp, etc.) ? [If so, what make/model]
3) On the same screen that you see at startup (that had the "press F1 to enter Setup" message), does it display a page of information showing how much system memory (RAM) has been detected, and all of the drives: hard drives, cd-drives, floppies? And do you see the Cd-rom listed?
4) If the drive isn't showing up on that list, try checking the cables, and perhaps going into Bios Setup again: and looking for a menu (usually the 1st one) that offers options of how to detect the hard drives and cd-drives on your IDE controllers. They will be labeled Primary & Secondary: try using the "AUTO" setting for the IDE port where the Cd-drive is connected.
5) Who did the "reconditioning"? If it was done in a hurry, they possibly could have overlooked something as simple as the correct jumper for the cd-drive. If you aren't sure about jumpers and IDE ports: we'll get to that if necessary (it's not rocket science). Don't worry, we'll keep it a step at a time.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[happyjackseven]

Hi Guys,
Yes David , I can boot to the diskette,and the hard disc is empty.

No Gary,I did not see any partitions.The computer is a Dell dimension 200a (an old lady i'm afraid ). It displayed base memory of 640k lists only the diskette ,1.2G hard drive

I have been back into BIOS
primary drive Auto
drive 1 none

Secondary auto nec
drive 1 none

I bought it from Ebay (MLS Computers). Not a lot of cash

I thought perhaps the generic driver on the floppy is wrong for this CD? . Although when switching on the computer it does briefly light up!

I think I may open it up not much to lose something to gain

Thanks boys

John

[GaryRouth]

Hi again

From the information you posted, it looks like you have an NEC model Cd-drive. Seems like a generic driver should do (such as the one on your Win98 installation CD). . . but it can't hurt to try a different bootdisk. Go to http://www.bootdisk.com & try one that matches the version of Win98 that you have.

What seems strange to me is that you said you got error messages ("error reading drive x") even when it was the RAM disk created by the boot floppy that it was supposed to be reading!

Try again with a different bootdisk & see what happens.

(and see if you can jot down the amount of memory after the 640k is displayed: that's the first section - a bit of the DOS legacy there - there should be another number just after that)

Intriguing
. . . Gary

[happyjackseven]

Hi Gary,

The amount of memory after 640 k is( extended memory 64512kb)

I have tried another disc from boot .com but the result is the same.

I am sure the boot disc is loading ok and installing the driver ok
But what I can't understand is that after the disc boots I am left with the prompt A:\.> and a flashing curser.
At which I type e:\win98\setup (because the cd rom drive may have gone to e) and I get cdr101 not reading drive e abort,retry,fail.

If I type D:\win98\setup I get bad command or file name
It will accept A: C: or D: but no attachments.

One glimmer of hope though a friend at work has win 95 on floppy disc and it will be interesting to see if that loads

It may of course be that the cd is broken

Cheers John, ( I think I'm losing the will to live with this computer)

[homey]

Hi,

Have you tried this?

At the prompt A:\> type d: and press enter.
At the prompt D:\> type cd\win98 and press enter.
At the prompt D:\win98> type setup and press enter.

[David_Jones]

Isn't setup in the root, not in the Win98 subfolder?

More speifically, if you type "D:" from the A:\ prompt (without quotes), press Enter, then type "Dir" (without quotes), what do you see on screen?

David.

[pointd]

Try Homey's suggestion only use E instead of D as the RAMDrive will be D.

[happyjackseven]

Hi Guys ,

Tried the above get bad command or file name
D: dir gives me
ATTRIB EXE
CHKDSK EXE
COMMAND.COM
DEBUGEXE
EDITEXE
EXTRACT EXE
FORMAT COM
HELP BAT
MSCDEX EXE
README TXT
RESTART COM
SCANDISK EXE
SYS COM

15 FILES
0 DIR

I have eliminated the cd by obtaining win 95 on floppy and have tried installing from them. I have a 95 start up boot it runs and then says wait while setup initializes
It then says cannot creat temp directory you need to create a MS boot partition to set up windows.....

I think I'm beat on this one boys

John

[GaryRouth]

The files you're seeing on the D drive are the RAM disk files from the floppy boot. These are tools to help you set up the computer - especially the hard drive - for the install. The reason Win95 won't load onto the hard drive might be if you already formatted it with FAT32 (Win95 can't read FAT32).

Try again from the beginning, only this time use your Win98 boot floppy, delete the current Primary Dos partition, and create a new Primary Dos partition: this time let fdisk format it with FAT32, reboot, try moving the prompt from A: to E: then move type cd \win98 and then see if E\win98:setup gets you going.

If you can't get to the E: prompt, there's likely a problem with the Cd drive. You might have friends who have an extra (they sometimes give them away as "loss leaders" [promos to get you in the store] at the local computer shops - [usually $20 up front, with a $20 rebate])

Never a dull moment
. . . Gary

[p.s. ...that second memory reading indicates you have 64mb of RAM altogether. That should be OK for a Win98 install ]

[p.s. #2: the "CDR101 error reading drive e" is normal if there's no disk in the drive - if it's happening with the disk in the drive, you can check to make sure the Win98 disk isn't horribly scratched - however if this was the case you'd notice this when trying to read it on other PCs]

[happyjackseven]

Him Gary,

Can't get past CDR 101 Error reading drive E.

The cd rom might be broken ,The win 98 cd is ok because it runs on this PC

It may be that the cd drive has been disabled as this machine has possibly come from an office. ( Jumpers and so on).

I'm going to ask in a computer shop near where I work, see what they say . I'll let you know .........

John...

In life somedays you must accept that you're a pigeon and somedays you are the statue ............

[happyjackseven]

Curioser,and curioser.......

Leaving the floppy out when booting with the cd I get the colour windows 98 screen for 1 second before it goes to the C:\> prompt!!............Tease,Tease.

John

[pointd]

If you used format c: /s and it can't boot from the floppy or CD then this is normal behaviour.

[happyjackseven]

Thanks , It looks like the cd then

john

[GaryRouth]

The interesting thing is that the cd-drive is detected in the Bios. From the Bios info you gave us earlier, the hard drive is the Master on the Primary IDE controller, and the Cd-drive is the Master on the Secondary IDE controller. You could take a quick peek in the drive's back, you might see a set of three pairs of pins
[something like : : : ] marked M S C [M=Master S=Slave C=Cable select]. See if there's a jumper on the two pins for the Master setting (there should be) - if not, pull the jumper from the pins it's currently on and place it on the two Master pins. If there's no jumper, see if a friend will lend you one.

You can try looking for a model # on the drive's sticker, and seeing if it's a really, really old model NEC that needs drivers (though I doubt it). You'd download them and add them to your boot disk. Or look for one of those $20 cd-drive giveaways at your local computer store (USD - not sure what that converts to in pounds). I'd try borrowing someone's extra Cd, too, before taking the machine to a shop, which might charge more to fix it than the entire computer is worth: let alone what a CD-rom reader is worth (very little).

The best case scenario would be to test with a known good cd-drive, and everything installs like a charm - then all you have to do is use that good one, or (if it's borrowed & needs to go back) get another drive. If a known good cd doesn't work, then it might be the controller on the motherboard - in that case, you could try moving the jumper to "Slave" and attaching it to the same cable as the hard drive.

. . . Gary

[p.s. - I don't know "MLS Computers", but if they had any guarantee or warranty, even if only a 30-day one, they should replace the CD drive at no charge - can't hurt to give them a call]

[happyjackseven]

Hi ,

I'd just like to thank everyone who replied to my question especialy Gary , who worked particualy hard.

I now have Windows installed.The problem was with the C D rom which was faulty

Thanks again

John