[LostInTexas]

Well, I'm at it again. My kid got an OLD computer from a friend. It had Win95. I just happened to find a Win98 disk in a drawer and thought "what the hell, I'm not doing anything else right now". So, here I am, stuck again.

Using the instructions at ComputerHope.com, I formatted the drive. When I reboot with a floppy and try to switch to the CD-ROM drive, it says "bad command". It is my FIRST time to use DOS, but it seemed simple enough to type d:.

Anyhow, I went into the BIOS to see if the drive is listed on the boot order selection...it's not.

So what gives? How do I make this thing find that drive? By the way, when rebooted I still get a Win95 splash screen...Shouldn't that be gone since I just formatted?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[LostInTexas]

Is there a way to copy this 98 disk to a floppy?

 

[LostInTexas]

Never mind the copy-to-disk question...I just woke up.

 

[manic]

Dont fret. First you need a win98 boot disk. Floppy disk. If you dont have
one go to www.bootdisk.com download and create floppy.
Make sure bios is set to boot to floppy first, then harddrive..
Boot to the floppy created. When you get to the a: prompt type in
fdisk. Prior to this it will ask you if you want to install a cd rom driver, say
NO. When you get to fdisk delete the partition/partitions. Once this is
done you need to reboot. When it reboots keep floppy in drive and deny
the cdrom driver again, say yes to use lba, large block. Then go into fdisk
and select all 1's create logical, but be aware that you want to format
fat32, win 95 was probably fat16.
When this is finally done fdisked, formatted fat32. Boot to floppy and
agree to cdrom support with lba.at the arompt type in setup.
Open cdrom door place win98 cd in tray. When you close tray wait 2
seconds and hit enter. Then you should be on your way to setting up
win98. Gawd Im long winded, if you have a problem post back,,,

 

[LostInTexas]

Which version?

There are several versions of 98 boot disk to choose from. Unless I hear different, I'm trying "Windows 98 SE OEM", since that is what I'm trying to install.

 

[kodi]

Yes thats the one

 

[manic]

That will work,

 

[LostInTexas]

Hmmm. Well, I can't even find the boot order now. So, I typed in a: and hit enter. It switched to a:> and I typed in fdisk and hit enter. It displayed "bad command".

 

[manic]

You need to go into bios, then select boot order, floppy first hdd second

 

[LostInTexas]

Ok. Found it under "Security Settings", the last place I looked. Anyway, set it to boot from a:...Rebooted and it says "Remove disks or other media and press any key to continue". It will not allow me to type anything. No, there is no disk in the CDROM drive.

 

[kodi]

Check to see if it saved your settings when you exited the BIOS

 

[LostInTexas]

Check to see if it saved your settings when you exited the BIOS

Yep, settings saved.

 

[LostInTexas]

I don't believe this thing is recognizing that floppy disk. I'm wondering about something...Since it had Win95 and still has a Win95 splash screen, should I not be using a Win95 boot disk, even though I'm trying to install Win98?

Also, when I first go into the BIOS, at what I'm gonna call the BIOS version page, it says...

BIOS v2.0
Memory Good
BIOS Shadow RAM Enabled
Video Shadow RAM Enabled
On Board Serial Port 1 Conflict
Equipment Configuration Error

Don't know if it means anything to y'all (it sure doesn't to me!) but I thought I'd mention it.

Thanks.

 

[kodi]

Win98 floppy is just a win95 floppy with extra drivers etc, YES it will work
My view on the bios reading is that there is a problem with the serial port and should not affect it booting

 

[LostInTexas]

Ok. So what next?

 

[manic]

Disable onboard serial port in bios, and try again.

 

[LostInTexas]

Disable onboard serial port in bios, and try again.

Ok. There are 2 serial ports. I chose the 1st one. Rebooted with the floppy in. Could not type in prompts. Message displayed was "Remove disks or other media. Press any key to restart.". Removed disk and hit a key and message changes to "Insert system diskette and press <Enter> to reboot". It just goes in circles.

Isn't the startup disk supposed to be self-opening?

Getting more confused by the minute.

 

[manic]

You need to try and figure out what the sytem configuration error is.
Sounds like you have a setting problem in bios. Could be something hooked
up wrong, or broke, hard for me to tell from here.
You did create a floppy boot disk correct. When you downloaded you were
instructed to place floppy disk in drive to create. Most of the time you
download then follow instructions to create the boot floppy.

 

[kodi]

I agree with manic, get a NEW floppy and remake the boot disk.
also the floppy drive may be faulty and not reading the disk.

 

[LostInTexas]

You need to try and figure out what the sytem configuration error is.
Sounds like you have a setting problem in bios. Could be something hooked
up wrong, or broke, hard for me to tell from here.
You did create a floppy boot disk correct. When you downloaded you were
instructed to place floppy disk in drive to create. Most of the time you
download then follow instructions to create the boot floppy.

When rebooted, this is the screen it stops on...

CPU/CLK: 486dX2/50MHz
Math Coprocessor: Installed
Fixed Disk 0: 406 MB
Fixed Disk 1: None
Fixed Disk 2: None
Fixed Disk 3: None
Diskette Drive A: 1.44 MB 3.5-inch
Diskette Drive B: None
Base Memory: 640 KB
Extended Memory: 19456KB
Shadow RAM: 384 KB
Internal Cache: 8 KB, Enabled
External Cache: None
Serial Ports: 3F8h, 2F8h
Parallel Port: 378h
Pointing Device: None

I typed it exactly as it appears and didn't leave anything out, with the excepton of the disk insertion/removal prompts we are dealing with.

If I need to, I will copy all the info in the BIOS. It will just take a little time. Let me know.

How do I go about finding the system configuration problem? There is nothing attached to the computer that doesn't have to be.

The floppy I have was downloaded from www.bootdisk.com, as recommended in an earlier post.

I want to emphasize that this is all Greek to me. I may be doing something entirely wrong. Don't put anything past me, as I have never done this before.

Thanks for staying with me on this.