Installing Win98 on old OS-less computer.

[Miguel92119]

Hello, I have a problem installing Win98 on this old K6-III Pc.

First of all, the computer has already been formatted and partitioned. It has two Hard Disks. I only formatted 1 disk which is the largest. It is 20 gigs and it is the master drive.

The other disk is not formatted, I didn't need to. Or so I think. This is my first time formatting any PC.

I formatted it because it was giving me troubles. It was most likely my master drive because that is where most of my files were.

My slave drive has nothing but pictures and documents. It is 2 gigs.

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Now, my problem. I first tried to install windows by booting from the CD-Rom drive.

Then my computer told me to remove the disk. I assumed it was the CD-Rom drive. I removed but and pressed any key, but nothing happened so I restarted and booted from a floppy.

The floppy is a start up disk that I made the last time I installed Win98.

I restarted and went to the menu from the diskette and choose option 1. Which is to use CD-Rom support.

Everytime I try to type any command related to the CD-Rom, I receive an error that tells me that it can't do anything with the CD-Rom.

It is the Win98 cd.

Thing is I don't even know how to install Windows this way.
I need help. I'd be really thankful.

Thanks

[pcmechanic]

From your description of the problem it would appear that your CDROM drive is unable to read the CDROM. For example in your first attempt to boot of the CDROM you said the computer told you to remove your drive. I suspect that it was referring to your CDROM as it probably could not read it.

Your second attempt at using the floppy and loading the CDROM driver to use the CDROM also failed to access the CDROM.

You could try another CDROM drive, if you have access to another one.

Another option (which sometimes works) is to open the cdrom and without disrupting the read laser blow away any accumulated dust. That has sometimes worked for me long enough to be able to use the CDROM to install windows.

If it is the CDROM drive then the best thing to do is replace it. In fact for about £30 you can buy a CD Re-Writer these days which may be a better idea if you have not already got one.

When you booted using the floppy and selecting the CDROM option were you able to access any file on the CDROM? For example was an attempt to read the contents using dir e: (or whatever the drive letter of your CDROM is) successfull?

If you can access your CDROM then if booting from floppy with CDROM driver loaded you should be able to type the following at the a:> prompt to kick off the windows install:

A:> e:/win98/setup.exe
where e: is the drive letter of your CDROM drive

You could also try and disconnect (for now) the other hard drive until you have successfully installed Windows 98 so you know it is not involved in any problem that you are perceiving or seeing.

Hope this helps.

[Miguel92119]

Thanks man! The problem was that the disk was in the wrong CD drive. I have 2 of them. A 24X regular one and a CD burner.

All had to do was move the CD to another Drive.

But thanks for giving me the right command.

[pcmechanic]

Glad to have helped