I can't install Windows 98

[raphjoe@att.net]

Hi,

Basically my sister's computer is messed up, it stays on the Windows 98 screen forever(I left it on for two days to test, never moved forward)

So, I tried pressing F8 at startup and none of the options except for safe mode and command prompt respond,

and

safe mode: looped an error message about scandisk/chkdsk/whatever being stopped with the Windows 98 screen

and command prompt either ignores commands or they don't work:

as in I tried scanreg, and the screen was blue and at the top said registry checker, but the command prompt was still there and you could type in commands(weird, huh?)

and when I typed in A:\(my floppy disk drive)Setup, it said: "not ready error reading drive a: abort, retry, ignore, and only abort responded

so, with the computer not responding normally, looping in safe mode and giving different responses in command prompt,

I decided to reinstall Windows 98 Second Edition:

one problem though,

the computer ignores my Startup Disk and CD(yet on the startup loadng screen says it dectects my CD drive and Floppy Drive and the respective drive lights flash on at startup)

I checked the CMOS stuff(I pressed DEL at startup) and the boot sequence is: A, C, ASCI and the startup floppy disk seeker is enabled, as well as the CD Drive is recognized...

I've tried other startup disks and the computer ignored them to and stayed on the Windows 98 screen, so WHAT DO I DO?

so, to clarify,

my problems are:

1) The computer does not startup

2)none of the startup options work, and if they do, don't help

3)my CD and startup disks aren't detected...

so basically my sister's computer is a vegetable, NOTHING works...

how can I get it to startup the Disk and CD, so I can reinstall and my sister can be happy?

Any help would be MUCH appreciated..THANKS!

by the way, sorry if this was adressed before, but I've searched online and this forum and can't find anyone else with this problem...

Edited April 3, 2008 by raphjoe@att.net

[Mijzelf]

when I typed in A:\(my floppy disk drive)Setup, it said: "not ready error reading drive a: abort, retry, ignore, and only abort responded

Seems to me that (among other problems) you floppy drive has died. Try if you can change the bootsequence to CDROM,C, and boot from W98SE cd.

[raphjoe@att.net]

Mijzelf,

Thank you for the suggestion, but I tried this and there was still no response.

[sailorsonic]

Have you tired removing the hard drive,putting it another pc, formating, transfer sys (sys a: x:) , then copying the windows setup files to it?

x: should be the letter that the drive is assigned on the other pc.

[dandnsmith]

It certainly sounds like there are some basic problems to be addressed.

1. I wouldn't do anything about formatting the HDD until you have found what the problem is with floppy and CD drives. To this end - has the PC been the subject of partial dismantling before this happened? I ask because the floppy (and CD) drives can be disabled by putting the drive ribbon cables in the wrong way round - the floppy light coming on and the floppy searching is typical behaviour when this has been done.

2. When (1) is sorted, then alter the boot sequence and get hold of an independently verified bootable CD to see if you can boot from it. I have a non-bootable 98SE CD which caused me a bit of hassle recently until I constructed a bootable version using info from these forums (this bypassed the need for a bootable floppy).

3. If now you're really convinced that floppy drive and/or CD drive is defunct, then you could replace them - they're not too expensive these days once you have a source.

4. Once you've got past those steps, you can check whether the 98 CD is really bootable, and then go to things like repairing the system - you might just find that it has already fixed itself (there's nothing quite like non-working devices to mess things up at boot time).

Looking forward to the next part of the saga.