Reinstall Windows 95

[robertjgall]

Hello

I am trying to format my hard drive and re-install windows 95. This is because the Hard drive is full of old programs and files which I don't use anymore, and when I try to uninstall any of them, I get the message 'unable to find INSTALL.LOG, uninstallation failed' - or similar depending on what I try to uninstall. The PC's Performance has also ground to a hault so I am hoping that a 'clean' install after formatting the harddrive will improve things.

The PC has the following spec:
PACKARD BELL
Intel Pentium 166Mhz
16Mb ram (since upgraded to 48Mb)
2GB Hard Disk (since upgraded to 6GB)
Floppy Drive
CD-ROM Drive

I have all the original CD's and Floppy Disks which came with the PC, including:
• Windows 95 Companion with USB support CD
• Master CD
• A floppy disk with 'Master CD Boot Diskette' written on it

What I've done so far...
I put the Master CD in my PC when Windows 95 was running, and a screen came up telling me to select from a list of software to install/re-install. But there was nothing in the list, not windows, or any of the software that came bundled with the computer. However, on this CD there is a file called OEMSETUP.EXE (described later in this thread...)

There is a collection of files on the 'Windows 95 Companion' CD, which total 130 Kilobytes, surely Windows is'nt that small?

With Windows 95 running, I placed the 'Master CD' CD in the CD-ROM drive, and the 'Master CD Boot Diskette' in the Floppy Drive and RESTARTED my computer. After a DOS like start-up screen with the Packard Bell logo on it, there was a blank screen and a lot of activity going on in the Floppy Drive, Then nothing, so after 10 minutes I took out the 'Master CD Boot Diskette' and replaced it with a Windows 95 Boot Disk which I downloaded from BootDisks.com. And Replaced the 'Master CD' with the 'Windows 95 Companion' and Restarted the PC.
A lot of activity later, I am at the 'A:\>_' prompt.

I followed some instructions off the internet, and think I created a 'Logical DOS partition' and was told that formatting was successful, can it really format a HDD in under a second? Bcause thats what it apparently did!

Where I'm at now
When I start up my PC with the 'Master CD boot Diskette' and the 'Windows 95 Companion CD' I get the following message on screen:

OS Load in progress...

Starting Windows 95

ATAPI IDE CD_ROM device driver version V 1.54 (11/12/1996)
Copyright (C) MITSUMI ELECTRIC CO., LTD 1994, 1995, 1996
1 Drive(s) detected
Unti o, Master, IRQ 15, I/O address 0x0170
MSCDEX Version 2.25
Copyright (C) Microsoft Copr. 1986-1995. All rights Reserved

Drive R: Driver BANANA unit 0

A:\>_

To which I typed: R:\win95\OEMSETUP.EXE and it seemed to start something, because the CD started spinning and the floppy drive went mad. Then after about 1 minute it all stopped. Nothing. Nothing at all.

So what do I do now? My aim is to formatt my HDD and re-install Windows 95.

Thanks for you patience, Rob

[Dodge]

Hi and welcome to cybertech.

You will need the Master CD in when you try the R:\win95\OEMSETUP.EXE and not the Companion CD. The Companion is just a CD with add on information such as your USB support. From what you have said, I am going to say that the reason it sounded like it was going to install is that it was accessing the CD looking for the file you typed in. When it didn't find it, it quit.

[jtdoom]

hi

search the master CD for readme TXT and DOC files and more important even, search for the utility to make a new master CD boot diskette (aka recovery floppy)

the file you need could be called makeboot.exe

I think your original diskette is zapped, kaput, and worth dingodung