[tbjatw]

This is a rather lengthy question. My parents computer is having some major issues (blue screens, freezing, programs not opening) and I think that rather than spending time trying the solve the problem (it may be a combination of things), I will just format the hardrive and reinstall everything. Their computer is 6 years old, so it is probably time I did this anyway!!

So I have a couple of questions:

1) Could somebody walk me through the DOS commands that I will have to use to format the hardrive? After it has been formatted, what should I reinstall first?
2) What software and drivers do I need during the reinstall? I have copies of the following on disk:

Windows
Office
McAfee
Printer software
Mouse
Modem software
Sound Blaster
CD ROM drivers
IDE Bus Master Drivers
Video Burst Caching Driver
Matrox Video Driver

3) Their computer is currently running Win95, and I was thinking of upgrading to Win98. Do you think it can handle it? The computer is a Pentium Pro200, 32meg RAM, 4 meg Video Card, 2gig HD.

Thanks!!

 

[Volt-Schwibe]

well

you will need to make a startup floppy disk, i think you can go to the windows add/remove windows components. or i think you can stick the cd in and it can make a satartup floppy also.

then you start the machine from the floppy, and when you get a c:/ prompt, then type format c:

that will start the format...

when it is done, you run the windows setup from the cd.

as far as if your machine can handle 98,

i have had 98 running on a 80486 dx-4 100mhz non pentium with 8 megs of ram and a 2 meg video card, and two 300 meg hard drives.

so i would say it can handle it....

the only issues ive ever heard of with 98 is getting it to install on a system slower than 66mhz....

or less than 8 megs of ram.....

or less than 500 megs total hard disk...

but other than that, i see no issues.

~BoB~

 

[tbjatw]

Woohoo...it works!!!

Thanks for the help...I did a clean install of Win98, and it is running perfectly! The only problem that I encountered was when the CDROM drive decided to quit half way through the install. But after blowing out the dust and some persuasion with my fist, it worked again. Phew!

I am really surprised how fast it is running...I think I will go reinstall windows on my laptop and see if it makes it faster as well.

 

[Volt-Schwibe]

hehe

yeah, im not surprised that it seems to be faster, i use 98se only, and as i have said in other posts nothing runs like a clean install. your comment supports that statement. you shouldnt have any problems with it, but if you do get some odd problem, come back to us with it. as far as your laptop goes, i think some of them use special drivers, so that things like the battery guage will work. i am not sure about the one you have though. some do just fine without anything special.

but i would suspect they are alot like pc's in respect to how much nicer a clean install will run.

im glad it worked out for you.

let us know if anything else comes up...

~BoB~