1962: No Operating System Found

[paxildanny]

Hi,

I recently purchased an IBM Netvista personal computer with no O.S. installed. I did not think this would be a major problem at first, but when I tried installing windows XP or 98, the computer simply does not read the disc.

Now I took it onto myself to look for a solution online, I've found out so far that certain installation disks may not be "bootable" or something like that. But in the end, what my real question is, can I install an O.S. on a computer that does not have one? If so, how do I install my copy of windows on my new computer?

Please help,

Danny

[dudeking]

Hi,
Yes you can install an os to a system with no os installed.
Most copyed OS are not bootable.
Is your win 98 disk genuine?

[paxildanny]

Dudeking,

I think my disc is not genuine, it seems more of a "burned" copy to me. Do you seriously think this is the problem?

Danny

[dudeking]

Yes besides being iligal if the person that burnt the CD didnt do it properly it may not be bootable.

[dalecosp]

Dollars to donuts "this is the problem", tho' I've been wrong before. Seems kind of interesting that you have *two* CD's of two different versions of MS's OS, though, and they're both burned copies? WinXP Home is $89.99 at tigerdirect.com.

OR: Grab a large mug of $beverage and cruise over to www.freebsd.org/handbook.

Download, study, etc. Install. Freedom awaits. ;)

[dalecosp]

Of course, one more possible issue: your BIOS isn't set to boot from CD?

[Murf]

Not ALL Windows 98 CD's are bootable.

[paxildanny]

how can I know if my BIOS is set up to boot from CD? and would it be possible that if I bought a legitimate copy of windows, the CD drive would still not read the disc?

HElP,

Danny

[Murf]

Do the cd's read on the computer you are using now? You said the IBM would not read them. How do you know how did you try and read them in the IBM if there is no O/S installed.

Go HERE (http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm)and download the file: Windows 98 (http://1gighost.net/fishnet/boot98c.exe) Custom, No Ramdrive download it to your desktop. Now put a clean floppy disk in (hope you have a floppy) and double click on the file downloaded and it will expand boot files to the floppy.

Now take that floppy and try booting up the IBM with it in. If it does not read the floppy then you need to get into SETUP and set the first boot device to Floppy. The screen will tell you what key to use to get into SETUP IBM probably a F key or it could be the DEL key. Once you get into SETUP and set the 1st boot device to Floppy, SAVE & EXIT. Now watch the screen as it will assign a drive letter to your CDROM. Lets say it assigns drive letter E:. You will end up at the A: prompt. Put the CD in then type the following:

E: (hit<enter>)
dir (hit<enter>)

Does it read the contents of the CD???? If so then type

Setup (hit<enter>) and your off and running.

If it doesn't read it, then the "COPIES" are junk. BTW: I hope you own the "Copies", otherwise you have illegal software.

[dalecosp]

how can I know if my BIOS is set up to boot from CD? and would it be possible that if I bought a legitimate copy of windows, the CD drive would still not read the disc?

Danny1. You need to check. Many machines say "Press DEL to enter setup". Many OEM machines (Compaq is notable) use a different key, perhaps an "F" key. The option name is variable, but usually something like "boot order", "boot device", "boot configuration", etc. Often it's a list: "1st boot device", "2nd boot device", and so on. If the HDD is selected *before* the CDROM, and the HDD still has a boot sector, it's possible that you'll never get the opportunity to try and boot from CDROM. Make the changes in BIOS setup (you can always change it back) and reboot by means of the "Vulcan Death Grip" (CTL/ALT/DEL). Watch the POST screen and test messages ... many BIOS implementations will ask you to "push any key to boot from CD" at about the time you hear the CDROM drive start to "spin up". If you've set the BIOS to boot from CDROM, and the disc doesn't "spin up", then, as someone noted above, you've not got a bootable CD.

2. I've never seen a non-bootable win98 CD as best as I can recollect. Murf asserts that they exist. Gleaning a tad from the web, some people say that the retail packages were not bootable CD's (as opposed to the OEM CD's that I generally work with); others say it was simply the "Upgrade CD" package (which might make sense as MSFT would assume that you were capable of running the CD from within one of their earlier OS versions). If indeed it is a "home brewed" CD (you can probably tell by the magic marker notation :-0 ) then I can only guess; most people who would think of making such a copy would probably not think of making sure it was bootable (which I think would require an "image copy" process ... not what most people seem to do with CD-R's, as not all the burning programs I've seen for Win support burning ISO images....)

HTH,

[Murf]

Let me clarify. All Windows 98 cd's distributed by Microsoft are bootable.

Cd's that were copied (burned) using a ISO image are probably bootable.

Some copies of Win 98 that were downloaded and burnt, may not be bootable. Also copies made on a cd burner may not be bootable, depending on how they were burned.

[paxildanny]

After I downloaded the file, executed it through my disk drive, it did assign a drive letter for my cd-drive (R:\) but everytime I wanted to view the directory (dir:) it will say, "CDR101: Not ready reading drive R:" or something like that, what should I do?

Is there also a possibility that it will not even read a legitimate copy of Windows when I purchase it? Being that most retailers do not offer exchanges on software!

Help please,

Danny