Jwdmgj101
August 7th, 2005, 01:42 PM
Hi I'm Jason. About two weeks ago I formatted the hard drive in a friend’s computer and installed XP. That all went fine, now on an older computer I formatted the hard drive and now I can not get windows 98SE to install, I have done some basic TS. And found that if I put the hard drive on a much newer motherboard that win 98 installs just fine, Also I have followed all the proper steps to get the drive ready, (At least that I know of) as well I'm trying to boot from the windows 98SE CD. I'm not sure if that changes things that much. This has not only already cost a good bit of money on my part but way to much time. If anyone knows a way to fix this time consuming issue that I am having it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Jason
Seether
August 7th, 2005, 04:08 PM
Hello these are instructions I had got from here awhile back and have never failed me. Look them over and see if maybe you missed something. I never booted from the CD I booted from the floppy. GL
Make sure your windows disk is FULL VERSION not just an upgrade
There is one primary DOS partition (C: ) and one Extended DOS partition with a Logical DOS drive (D: ) on it. When removing partitions it is best to remove them in this order:
Logical DOS Drive
Extended DOS Partition
Primary DOS Partition
Below are the complete instructions to walk you through the process of removing existing partitions on your hard drive.
1.) Insert the Startup/Boot disk in the floppy disk drive, restart your computer. When the Microsoft Windows 98/95 Startup menu is displayed, select the Start computer without CD-ROM support menu option, and then press Enter.
At a command prompt, type fdisk, and then press Enter.
2.) The first screen you will see will ask you - Do you wish to enable large disk support?
Press Y and then press Enter. This will enable the FAT32 file system
3.) After you press Enter, the following fdisk Options menu is displayed:
Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive
Set active partition
Delete partition or Logical DOS Drive
Display partition information
Change current fixed disk drive
**Note** that the 5th option is available only if you have two physical hard disks in the computer.
4.) Press 3 to select the Delete partition or Logical DOS Drive menu option, and then press Enter.
5.) After you press Enter, the following fdisk Options menu is displayed:
Delete Primary DOS Partition
Delete Extended DOS Partition
Delete Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition
Delete Non-DOS Partition
6.) Press 3 to select Delete Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition menu option, and then press Enter.
7.) After you press Enter, you will get the following sentence: What drive do you want to delete. Press Z and then press Enter. **Note** Z represents the drive letter that corresponds with your logical drive
8.) The next sentence states Enter Volume Label. If your partition doesn’t have a volume label then leave this blank and press Enter, if it does then type it in and then press Enter.
9.) The next sentence states Are you sure (Y/N). Press Y and then press Enter.
10.) Press ESC twice to get back to the main fdisk menu.
11.) Press 3 to select the Delete partition or Logical DOS Drive menu option, and then press Enter
12.) Press 2 to select Delete Extended DOS Partition menu option, and then press Enter.
13.) After you press Enter, you will get the following sentence: Do you wish to continue (Y/N). Press Y and then press Enter.
14.) Press ESC to get back to the main fdisk menu.
15.) Press 3 to select the Delete partition or Logical DOS Drive menu option, and then press Enter.
16.) Press 1 to select Delete Primary DOS Partition Press Y and then press Enter.
17.) After you press Enter, you will get the following sentence: What primary partition do you want to delete..?). Press 1 and then press Enter.
18.) The next sentence states Enter Volume Label. If your partition doesn’t have a volume label then leave this blank and press Enter, if it does then type it in and then press Enter.
19.) The next sentence states Are you sure (Y/N). Press Y and then press Enter.
20.) Press ESC to get to the main fdisk menu
21.) You are now ready to create your partition or partitions.
Now that you have removed all of the partitions from your hard drive, it is now time to partition your hard drive. To partition a master hard disk, you will use the fdisk command. Fdisk is a DOS and Windows utility that is used to partition a hard disk, which is necessary before high- level formatting.
Below are the complete instructions to walk you through the process of creating partitions on your hard drive.
1.) Insert the Startup disk in the floppy disk drive, restart your computer. When the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup menu is displayed, select the Start computer without CD-ROM support menu option, and then press Enter.
At a command prompt, type fdisk, and then press Enter.
2.) Do you wish to enable large disk support?
Press Y and then press Enter. This will enable the FAT32 file system
3.) After you press Enter, the following fdisk options menu is displayed:
Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive
Set active partition
Delete partition or Logical DOS Drive
Display partition information
Change current fixed disk drive
**Note** that option 5 is available only if you have two physical hard disks in the computer.
4.) Press 1 to select the Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive menu option, and then press Enter.
5.) Press 1 to select the Create Primary DOS Partition menu option, and then press Enter.
6.) After you press Enter, you receive the following message: Do you wish to use the maximum available size for primary DOS partition?
A.) After you receive this message, use the following method:
B.) Press Y if you want all of the space on the hard disk to be assigned to drive C, press Y, and then press Enter. Go to Step 7
C.) Press N if you do not want all of the space on the hard disk to be assigned to drive C.
a.) If you select N then continue to follow these instructions.
b.) Enter the size of the partition you wish to make and then press Enter.
c.) Press ESC.
d.) Press 1 to select the Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive menu option, and then press Enter.
e.) Press 2 to select the Create Extended Partition menu option, and then press Enter.
f.) Press Enter to create an extended DOS partition that uses up the rest of the hard drive.
g.) Press ESC. After pressing ESC fdisk will automatically try to create a logical DOS drive.
h.) Enter the size of the second partition you wish to create and then press Enter.
i.) If you created your second partition to use the entire size of the Extended DOS Partition then go to Step 7.
J.) If not then repeat step h until you have used up the rest of the Extended DOS Partition then go to Step 7.
7.) Press ESC, and then press ESC to quit the fdisk tool and return to a command prompt.
8.) Reboot. You are now ready to format the partitions that you just created.
Now that you have created of the partitions for your hard drive, it is now time to format them. To format a master hard disk, you will use the format command. Formatting prepares a hard drive for use by organizing its storage space into addresses that can be recognized and accessed.
Below are the complete instructions to walk you through the process of formatting partitions on your hard drive.
1.) Restart your computer with the Startup/Boot disk in the floppy disk drive.
**NOTE:**
If you are using a Windows 95 Startup disk, a command prompt is displayed and you can skip to step 2. If you are using a Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Me Startup disk, select the Start computer without CD-ROM support menu option when the Windows 98 Startup menu is displayed.
2.) When a command prompt is displayed, type format c: /s, and then press ENTER. This command transfers the system files and should only be used when you format drive C (or your "active" drive). **NOTE** (If you are formatting with an Windows ME boot disk you cannot use the /s switch. Windows ME will not let you transfer system files to a disk without an operating system already present.) For all other partitions, type format drive: (where drive is the letter of the partition that you want to format).
3.) When you successfully run the format tool, you receive the following message:
WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK DRIVE C: WILL BE LOST!
Proceed with Format?
4.) Press Y, and then press ENTER to format drive C.
5.) After the format procedure is finished, you receive the following message:
Volume label (11 characters, ENTER for none)?
**NOTE:**
This is an optional feature that you can use to type a name for the drive. You can either type an 11-character name for the drive, or you can leave it blank by pressing Enter.
6.) Reboot. You are now ready to install your operating system.
After you partition and format your hard disk, you can install Windows 98:
Insert the Windows 98 Startup/Boot disk in your floppy disk drive, and then restart your computer.
When the Windows 98 Startup/Boot menu is displayed, select the Start computer with CD-ROM support menu option, and then press Enter.
Insert the Windows 98 CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive, type the following at the command prompt X: and then press Enter.
Now that you are at the X: prompt type setup
**NOTE**
"X" is the drive letter that is assigned to your CD-ROM drive in these instructions.
When you receive this message, Please wait while the Setup initializes.
Setup is now going to perform a routine check on your system. To continue press Enter. Press Enter.
Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the Setup procedure
BearTEK
August 23rd, 2005, 01:21 PM
Hi Seether
Thanks for the fabulous and detailed instructions you gave here - I have just followed them and finally managed to install Windows 98SE on my Compaq 1200
Problem cured!
Cheers
BearTEK