Help needed

[MotherNature]

Hey guys & gals,
I have just stumbled upon this top forum a little too late I think

I am currently trying to install Windows98se on a friends Packard Bell Legend 4166. I have formated C drive & I think I should have read the thread about bootdiscs before I did it.

I have reforammted my Dell computer a few times with no problems but this one has me stumped.

When I put in the startup disc & turn the computer on it was until today telling me it needed the command interpreter. I have been unable to look at it again until today & now all I get is Invalid system disk.......

I have remade a new startup disc on my computer and I still get the same response.

What am or have I done wrong??????

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

[GretaP]

Did you ensure that the first boot device in the BIOS is the floppy drive or A drive and not the hard drive or C drive?

[MotherNature]

Yeah GretaP, I have triple checked that.

Also I have noticed the BIOS seems to be almost prehistoric, could this be a problem with an older machine & can I get an update version & put it on & then retry??????

I am wondering if all this has something to do with the partitioning part of the deal.

I cant even get an a: prompt it only shows as a a> when it actually reads the startup disk & if i try to type in fdisk to redo it it asks for the command interpretor

[MotherNature]

I have just made up a EBD following jtdoom's wonderful thread on bootdisks.

Even with that it is still reading invalid disk. Could the problem be with the floppy drive itself???????

[GretaP]

Yes, it's possible that the floppy drive is not reading the disk correctly. Try swapping the floppy drive in the Packard Bell for one that works (or have your friend buy a new one.....I think they cost around $10 USD these days).

How was it that you were able to get the drive formatted if you didn't boot from a startup floppy disk?

[MotherNature]

Hey GretaP

I think the floppy was on its way out & finally gave up. I had an idea to save me waiting for a new floppy drive(we live about 200km round trip from nearest computer shop). Maybe if I put the HDD into my computer & finish formatting it there & replace it into the parkard bell???????

Could that possibly work???????

[GretaP]

Your solution would probably work to get it formatted, but you'd still need to be able to boot from the startup floppy disk in order to install WIN98 (unless the WIN98 install CD that you are going to use is an OEM version or a Recovery/Restore CD intended specifically for the Packard Bell).

What I was thinking was that you could, if you want, pull the floppy drive out of your Dell and use it in the Packard Bell in order to get it formatted and WIN98 installed.

[MotherNature]

Thanks GretaP

Taking the floppy out of mine may be easier.......the screws in the PB are those trick ones that I need to drill out & I couldnt be bothered going that far.

I will let you know how I go

[MotherNature]

OK that didnt work I have just blown up my spare floppy drive (it was old so its no major drama there) so I have taken another option so my friend can get his assignments done this weekend.

I have another computer here that the floppy drive is working and has all the needed bits. I have just put everything together & tried to boot it up with the start up disk & when I try to fdisk it it says No fixed drives present & goes back to the a:\>
I supose at least I'm getting an a prompt on ths one.

Any suggestions?????????

[GretaP]

Okay........the hard drive isn't being detected, and that could be for a number of reasons:
1) drive not properly jumpered
2) IDE cable or power connection not firmly attached to drive (or to motherboard, in the case of the IDE cable)
3) IDE controller has gone south
4) BIOS isn't set to detect the drive
5) hard drive has gone south

Double-check to ensure that the drive is properly jumpered and that the IDE cable and power connection are firmly attached. Next, go into the BIOS settings and look for a line referring to the drive as per how it is jumpered (Primary Master, Primary Slave, Secondary Master or Secondary Slave) ..........if the drive is detected in BIOS, it should state the make and probably also the serial number for the drive.

BTW, just out of curiosity, are you using the hard drive from the Packard Bell in this other computer?

[MotherNature]

Hey GretaP
Thanks heaps for your patience.You must be a saint

I'm not using the PB hdd as I can get it out of the box(my tool colection is almost non existant)

This is a smaller hdd but it will do him until I can get the PB figured out.

I have checked & the BIOS isnt reading the hdd so now its a matter of finding the way into it. The normal F1 or F2 hasnt worked so I am trying to find a way in so I can set the hdd.

How many diffrent ways are there to get into the BIOS ???????

[GretaP]

LOL!! No, I'm no saint.

What make of computer is the one for which you're currently trying to get into the BIOS?
A couple of other common keys to enter BIOS setup are F10 and Del

When you first start that computer, look for a line on the monitor that says something like:
F10 for Setup
or
F10 = Setup
or
Press F10 to enter Setup

What it says in that line will be the correct key or key combination.

[MotherNature]

OK I'm in Yihaaaaaa.....it was insert.......

Now I'm in I have found that it is set to auto but isnt detecting it, should I set it to one of the others?????

[GretaP]

You could try one of the other settings, but Auto should do the trick in detecting the drive.
Check to make sure the connections to that hard drive are firmly attached, and that the IDE cable is firmly attached to the connector on the motherboard.

Just in case you can't get this drive working, can you get into the PB box?? What I am thinking is, if you could take the floppy drive out of that other computer, and then take the cable and power connectors off the floppy drive in the PB (you could leave the floppy in the PB, since you said you'd have a difficult time getting it out) and connect them to the floppy drive that you took out of that other computer, leaving the floppy drive outside of the PB case (hopefully the cable and power connectors are long enough that you can do this). You could then boot from the startup floppy disk and hopefully format the drive in the PB and get WIN98 installed on it.

[MotherNature]

OK I tried the floppy in the PB. It still comes up as invalid system disk so obviuosly theres more problems in that one than I thought.

I pulled out the hdd in this other computer & noted the cyl etc sizes. There are none the same but could I try the nearest sizes??????