Reinstalling win 98 again.... I need help

[yak]

I'm trying to reinstall win 98 on my old computer, again.
I did it once long time ago and I don't remember how I did it.

Here is the problem.
When I turn the PC on, the machine has to go through safe mode and now it refused to go to window screen.

When I put the master disk in, it said,

one moment please...

and doesn't do anything. I reformated win 98 with paid call line, spending $120 for a simple procedure last time. I just can't remember how I did it.
Packard Bell help is totally useless. No tech help unless you have to pay. That's what I did last time. I had the same issue and tech guy told me to press few bottons and I was able to reformat. I refuse to spend another $100.

Do I put 3.5 master disk and recovery CD rom at the same time?

I can't even go into PC to retrieve the info so can't give you a specific info.

Packard Bell multimedia 730
M II 266 MMX
4.3 GB hard drive
40 MB syncDRAM

Thank you for your help.

[Cricket]

If it came with a floppy and CD, you have to boot to the floppy first and then follow the instructions on screen. I think it'll tell you when to put the CD in the CD-ROM drive.

Cricket

[yak]

Thanks for your reply.
However, when I put Master restore disk, it doesn't do anything other than saying, "wait please."

No matter what I do, it does nothing. I see the yellow light on, but I can remove the disk and doesn't change anything. I've waited at least 30 min just to see if anything else happens. Nothing.

When I tried to run window, this errors are what I get;

cannot find a device file
z:vvinesd.386
or
cannot start windows because VMM32.VXD not found or damaged.

The last time the machine was doing okay, I was messing with networking/LAN stuff. I also installed Zip external hard drive.
TIA.

[not important]

Are you booting from the Master restore disk? The last machine I had with a restore disk required that the machine be booted from that disk. If I put the disk in while the machine was running i would get the "Please Wait" thing.

[yak]

I put the diskette in before turning the machine on.

I wish I could remember how I did it the last time. I think I might of typed something but I just can not remember what I did. Packard Bell doesn't even have tech e-mail. I went to their website and it redirects to some UK site.

[RE2]

Get into bios settings and select boot from floppy or a:\ drive first, cd-rom second, hdd 0 third.

[colossalnerd]

If it comes down to it and you have the use of another computer you could always just take the hard drive out of the computer that you are trying to fix, install it into the ide socket that your cd-rom drive is plugged into.. From there boot up your computer, goto my computer, right click on the newly installed drive and format it that way. Next re-install it into your other computer as it was.. Then you should be able to do a new installation of windows no problems asked.

[yak]

I'm lost. I'm definitely not a tech guy and only thing I know is to goto BIOS screen. Don't even know DOS so I have no idea how to type A:\ to start.

You can forget about switching hd to another computer. I don't wish to risk a working computer with my total lack of knowledge.

But how do I go about BIOS setup? Thanks for your help.

ps
I've tried to read to find out more but I'm lika a 10 year old kid and asked to drive 16 wheel truck. No idea what to do.

[Cricket]

Are you sure the floppy drive works properly. Maybe it needs to be cleaned.

Cricket

[yak]

I'm pretty much sure it works.
I'm fairly sure the last time I went to safe mode then typed something to bring up CD menu.


colossalnerd,

If you put the bad hd to working pc by putting in ide socket from CD drive, how can you format from that point?

[Cricket]

Originally posted by yak If you put the bad hd to working pc by putting in ide socket from CD drive, how can you format from that point?

If you do choose to do this method, here's what you do. With the hard drive transferred to the other PC (make sure the hard drive jumper is set properly), start the computer up and go into BIOS to be sure the drive is recognized by the system. If it isn't, you need to run AUTO DETECT. If the hard drive is found and recognized, Save and Exit the BIOS and the system will reboot. If the system doesn't find the hard drive it may be jumpered wrong. Make the necessary change and then start the system up. When it reaches the Windows desktop, open Windows Explorer, find the drive letter that represents the Packard Bell hard drive and right click on it. In the Menu that comes up, click on Format. Make absolutely sure that you choose the correct drive before you format or you could format the wrong hard drive.

Cricket

[Karnevil9]

To get into the bios you usually hit the delete key during the start-up screen process. It could be a different key on some systems. Shut down your computer and then restart. When the boot (start-up) screen comes up, it should give you a prompt saying "Hit Delete key (or whatever key) to enter set-up." That takes you to the Bios. In the Bios you should find a section that gives you a boot up order. HDD or hard drive, A:/ or floppy or removable device (as on my Dell) and CD-Rom. It will also tell you how to change values, either by using up and down keys or by hitting -/+ keys. Set for your floppy or A drive first, CD second and Hardrive third. Then you can save changes (usually by pressing F-10 key) and exit. Use the floppy to start the boot up and it should tell you when to put CD in drive or ask you if you want to boot from CD. Then you can put the CD in.

I just installed 98 on my PCII Dell this weekend after removing 2000 from it. I set up the boot sequence this way and had both the Floppy and CD in when I restarted the computer and it worked without a hitch. If it installs this way, don't forget to go back into bios later and change the boot order back to HDD first. I don't think it matters what you have as second and third boot device from that point, but I usually set the CD as second and floppy as third.

[yak]

Thank you everyone for your input.

I've changed BIOS setting; unfortunately, it didn't work.
The recovery floppy disk is not prompting to go to the next step. Blue screen with "Please Wait..." appears then nothing happens. Green light from floppy drive is on but you can remove the disk without changing anything.

My problem might sound vague because the problem occurred about 1 yr ago. Gave up but now trying again. Just can't remember how I fixed the last time (as I kept saying again and again). Same problem with blue screen with Please wait happened before and I somehow fixed it. With some help from a tech guy, costing me $100.
Again, thank you.

[yak]

I've tried to open up Packard Bell, it's impossibly to open it without destroying plastic casing. Who designed this? There's absolutely no way I can remove HD without damaging either the casing or some other components.

Basically, removing HD is out of the quesstion.

I need to somehow fixed it without disassembling the PC.
Does anyone know Packard Bell has e-mail address or website for US costumers? www.paarkardbell.com only has Asia/Europe option. Unbelievable.

[bailey]

right
they went out of busness here

too many people found out about there pc's

there has to be a easy way to open the case
some of them here had a screw in the bacl at the top cover that had to be removed

then a row of screws on one side on the bottom
after the top is removed
then one side can be removed

so look for any screws that you can get out

[yak]

Unbelievable.

Yeah, I unscrewed everything and was able to open up one side but there's no way I could remove other parts. I've already snapped couple of plastic hinges no way closer to remove anything from inside.

No wonder that freaking company went out of business. I try not to get angry at this but it's not easy. I'm afraid I might have to resort to using their help(?!) line...

[OoklaTheMok]

I would say that 1st thing to try would be a new Win98 boot disk. Can be made on any computer with win98 by going to add/remove programs in the control panel and clicking on "startup disk" tab at top. Or may be able to find one at http://www.bootdisk.com.
Once ya have that, boot the computer w/boot disk in the drive & choose the option "start with cd rom support" This will take ya to a dos window. Type in D:\setup and hit enter. Hopefully you should be good to go. If not, ya may have to use fdisk and format - heres a good site on how to do so... http://hardwarehell.com/fdisk.htm. Good luck

[yak]

Tried with with new win98 boot disk. Didn't work. Kept asking to remove the disk.

http://hardwarehell.com/fdisk.htm site is dead and couldn't get any info regarding fdisk.

Thank you anyway. This is getting depressing. Two things I've learn so far; don't buy PC from Packard Bell and visit this site more to learn.

[Karnevil9]

Are you sure this computer is worth the frustration, or is it the challange. Perhaps it is time to open a window and see if it can fly

[yak]

Now it became the challenge.

[Xaqut]

Have you tried...scanreg/restore from the comand line?

[yak]

Originally posted by Xaqut Have you tried...scanreg/restore from the comand line?

I'm sorry. I do not understand. Could you explain a bit further if possible? Thank you.

[Xaqut]

Well when you start your machine hold down the f8 key or ctap on it what ever......that should give u the option of getting safe mode...comand prompt...loading selective drivers etc...select comand prompt...Type @ the C: scanreg/restore This will scan the registry for errors then promt you to restore the registry from a previous version that was good... hope it works for ya....Was also reading the other sugestions & you should be able to reload windows from a boot disk pretty easily if the registry fix doesnt work.I have done this many times..more times than I would like to have...Can also like was suggested by others boot win 98 from the cd...you just have to make it the fisrt boot device in the bios....

[yak]

C: scanreg/restore

Tried this way but more I restore more slots with
Not Started..... rb000.cab
not started......rb004.cab and so on

and continued to get cannot find a device file z:vvinesd.386

Xaqut, you said you 've done reformatting with boot disk many times. Is there some kind of trick tha you can 'encourage' a boot diskette to prompt the next step?
Whenver, I put the master restore disk, all it does is aske me to 'please wait...'

[mike breck]

Tell me, is the Recovery Bootdisk Write Protected?

Check the little tab on the floppy. If the hole is showing then it is Write Protected. If so, move the tab so the hole is closed.

Make sure the Boot sequence in the BIOS is set to Floppy Drive first. Also make sure your floppy drive is detected properly in the BIOS. It should be listed as a 3.5" 1.44 MB floppy drive.

Then reboot with the Recovery Bootdisk and your PB Master CD in the CD-Rom drive.

Anything?

If it doesn't work, can you try a standard Win98 Startup Disk. If that doesn't boot the system to the A: prompt then it may be that the floppy cable is loose or damaged or the floppy drive is faulty.

While in Safe mode, can you try accessing a floppy disk to see if you can view the data in Windows Explorer.

[yak]

Boot disk was not protected.
BIOS setting was correct.
Boot sequence was set up as; a, cd-rom, c
nothing happened.

a: dir in DOS to check the floppy disk directory and it worked.
so I don't think the floppy drive is faulty.

Can't even go into safe mode to reach window desktop screen. I could see the logo ms windows 98 but it would stop and display;

cannot find a device file z:vvinesd.386


I feel that the solution is right near but don't know how to reach it. Is there some way I could manually type in a drive to boot up the disk? Thank you for your help.

[yak]

More bad news.
When I tried to change the drive from C:\>
all the letters corresponded as Invalid drive specification.

I could only change to a and b.
D through Z did not respond as valid drive. Now I can't even find CD drive.

[bailey]

I have run into that same symptions as you are getting now, had to replace the motherboard

[yak]

I'm not replacing mobo for this piece of junk. Oh no.
I might just do what Karnevil9 suggested earlier and see if this thing could fly.

[bailey]

they do

after you remove the hard drive , floppy drive , and the cdrom.
these could be used on a new build

oh and the sound card, and if it has one the vid card too