Format now what

[Lonallie]

My daughters dell laptop was formatted and I have an install disk form Win 95 and p but when ever I turn on the compuetr all it does is say that the disk in the CD is not a system disk. What should or can you do after a formatting?:(

[Baser-X]

To install Windows 95 you will need a Windows 95 boot disk. If you do not have one you can download it from http://www.bootdisk.com. Once you have booted to Dos via the boot disk switch to your CD drive and type setup.exe. Note that in Dos your CD drive letter will be different than in Windows. For example, if the CD drive is D: in Windows it will be E: in Dos.

Also note that I have not seen or touched a Windows 95 machine in years so the info above is based on Windows 98 setup. If I recall it's the same difference, but if not someone else will be along to help :)

[Lonallie]

Baser-X, that sounds like some good info, I forgot I needed a boot disk. The only reason I'm loading Win 95 is it's the only one I have that has a fullinstall with. My other Win 98 and Xp are all upgareds from the Win 95..After I load this I can at least get her to WIn 98...thanks again:wave:

[oink]

Most win95 boot disks that I recall do not come with a cdrom driver and those that do just assign the cdrom the next drive letter which is usually D. The 98 disks came with a ram drive setup which itself uses a drive letter which moves everything else up a letter.

[mattpg1]

Lonallie, you might not have to install 95 if you just want 98 or XP. I'm certain that with XP you can install like normal except that you must pop the 95 disk in at a certain step to prove that you have an origional OS. It might be like this with 98 as well but I don't really have experience with 98. I hope your computer has the system requirements for XP. Also, I think the XP cd's are system disks. For more on this check out the link, particularly step 4.

http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/OS/InstallXPHome/installxphome1.htm

P.S. Is that 95 install disk a "companion" disk? This could cause problems.

[Lonallie]

Ok I have the laptop formatted, I have an install disk for win95 (bought off ebay new), and I have the CD win98SE(came with my computer), as well as full install XP (upgrade). 98 and XP are not full install as such thay are what you buy as you up grade from a lower Win product...anyway her keyboard kept squeeking as you hit a key (like a key was stuck) so I replaced the key board and figured I was ready to go. I turned it off in serted a boot disk (that I was recomended I down load from) WIN 95 and the coputer said that I had the wrong disk in to remove and hit any key. I did that and the system says that I have the wrong disk inserted (I don't have any inserted)...no matter what I do I keep getting the same error messages (wrong system disk or not a system disk)..I've tried WIN98SE and everything. The key board still squeeks when you hit any key except the space bar and enter key..this really has me confused....

lonnallie@msn.com
lonnie.dotson@boeing.com

[genesispc]

Since you have 98 you can boot to it if you have your BIOS set to 1st boot device cd-rom.

If so, (as most Dells are) put in CD and reboot. Follow all on screens.

[oink]

What was the original operating system for this laptop? Or how old is the computer? For the boot disk, did you copy the downloaded files to a blank disk or to a boot or start disk made on another computer. Make a regular boot or start disk on another win98 or me computer then copy the downloaded files to it. How did you format the drive? With a win95 disk or a win98 or Me disk? Do you know how to get into bios to check the boot options?

[nibby]

My Dell won't let me install XP and it won't boot to the CD, hard drive is formatted.

[nibby]

But the CD ROM tray is broken. Also about the IBM, XP may not install due to its high system requirements, (ok, not really that high, but)

[Squidward_ned]

Hi I've just experienced the same problem:
formatted my drive and no succes in reinstalling win 95 (my other older computer won't take 98 or xp)

the problem is dos: it will not recognize de cdplayer in any fashion.
I resolved it as followed:

set in the bios the CD-ROM as first bootdevice
then:
put in a cd with a copy of xp and reboot.
it will not start from that cd (the system is not capable of running XP, but the computer will now recognize the cd player)
then:
type: F: (press enter)
then:
put the win 95 cd in cd player
then:
type: setup (press enter)

in my case windos 95 in now installing

YESSS!!!

good luck I hope you have the same luck as I have had
:wave:

[Squidward_ned]

with type F , I ment typng the driveletter wich yout cdplayer has
in my case my cdplayer has the letter F
because I have C,D and E harddrives
when you only have a C drive then the cdplayer is probably D
so instead of typing F you should type D

sorry:erm:

[Squidward_ned]

otherwise the site bootdisk.com has a lot of tools to get your cdplayer working in DOS