Reformatting And Need Help

[GREENBUD]

hey i'm reformatting for the first time and i changed the floppy to the first drive and it recognized the 3.5 startup and all went well ...then i needed to install win 98 and it now says c:/> ...what do i put to have it recognize the cd in the drive...i tryed e:/setup d:/setup and nothing happens..i need all your expertise on this from anyone to get the server running again...sorry i was off charliefox but you know how computers can be sometimes...ok waiting for any help...thanx all

and sorry for posting in wrong forum...

[ThA_FiLeR]

If you booted with cd-rom support I would try E:\ if C:\ is your only hard drive since the one after that is a ramdisk ( D:\ ) so when you booted up in dos with cd-rom support, type this:

E:\ (it'll switch to that)

dir (it'll show you the contents of the cd, just to be sure)

setup.exe (windows setup should start)

Hope this helps..

[Drewdatrip]

GreenBud First off your going to need a boot disk, if u have a win9x/Me they can be made from the add/remove section under the Startup disk Tab.

Boot from the floopy and load CD Rom support,Once in DOS you can format the drive, by typing "format c:" once that finishes restart and load the cd support once again, put the Win 98 cd in and type the letter of the cd drove, for example E:

and then type setup.

This will start the Windows setup.

=Drew

[zivan56]

Can you change your BIOS settings so it boots of the cd? That way you dont have to mess with DOS.

[Drewdatrip]

YEs you can do that but windows 98 and Me will not format the drive, they will only overwrite. So if he wants to clean the drive off , then he should format it in DOs

=Drew

[zipp51]

An old win 95 boot disk will work for fdisking and formating your drive also.And I would fdisk first before I reformat a drive.Just put your floppy in,start the comp,and at the prompt,type in fdisk.To make it simple,choose yes for large HD support.Next choose delete primary dos partition(if it is non-dos ie; ntfs or linux choose non-dos partition)to delete.After that is deleted then choose create primary dos partition.After it does it's thing,reboot with the floppy still in the drive and at the prompt type what Drewatrtrip mentioned "format c:"(without the quotes and make sure you put a space between the format and the c.Now you can try to set the first boot device to cdrom in bios and if you bios supports this it's just a matter of booting with the cd in and choosing as mentioned "start with cd support".If your bios does not support booting from cd then use the win 98 boot floppy to load the cdrom drivers by starting with that disk in the drive.Then type D: or which ever letter is indicated when the drivers are loaded and then type "setup".

[GREENBUD]

ok i did everything you all said and it did the setup from the 3.5...at the end i rebooted and then everything loaded then the c:\> came up again...what should i put so it continues with the loading ...sorry this is my first time rebooting and it's not going all that good..i tryed e:\ d:\ and nothing...

[zipp51]

Hey Greenbud,

Sounds to me like your floppy drive is not working correctly.Since you already have an operating system on there if your floppy is not working you will get a c: prompt.Go back into the bios and select the Standard CMOS Features.There you will see Date and Time settings and IDE settings for master and slave configurations(for hard drives).Under that you will see Drive A and Drive B configurations.Drive A should have 1.44M, 3.5 in.next to it which means it has been detected and is functioning.If the floppy is there then 1)go to the Advanced bios section and turn on Boot up Floppy Seek,or 2) shut down and open the case and check the power cable to the floppy drive.If there is no detection in bios as mentioned above then do the same with the power connector and also the ribbon cable itself.This is not uncommon that a connection comes lose or just needs to be reseated.Keep troubleshooting and come back and let us know.You may need a new drive or ribbon cable.Your patience will prevail.And BTW,it won't hurt your computer if you yell profanities at it.

[GREENBUD]

thank you zipp51 for all your help..so you understand exactly what i did

inserted 3.5 and restarted

when a:\> showed up i put format c: /s

let it go through entire reformat

then labeled drive driveC

a:\> came back up

put in d:

d:\> came up..typed in setup ..hit enter

recognized the cd drive and i have windows 3.11 and win 98 se (3.11 in cd drive 98se in dvd drive)

chose express setup

copied files off disc

windows setup started

copied all files (from the 3.11 cd and win98se cd)

then it tells me to reboot so i do

reboots then the c:\> shows up again and i type in WIN and i get a bad command or file name

i have never done anything in bios so im kinda lost there

just don't understand it loaded all files then doesn't work

[zipp51]

I understand what you did now,but is the win98se cd an upgrade cd,or oem?In other words did you install win 3.11 then upgrade?I'm not sure you can have win 3.11 and win 98se cohabit on the same disk without a partition,and boot manager.Maybe just install win 98se on a partition you make when you fdisk and then go and put win 3.11 on the other partition.I have always used full oem operating systems so not sure what's going on if you are upgrading.

[GREENBUD]

thanks again ...yes it's a upgrade disc to win 98se...when i went through the format it took files off both cds (3.11 and 98se ) when it was installing windows but did not ask for cd key for upgrade so it didnt do that...both lights flashed on the cd and dvd drives at one point so i think it was taking files from both discs...it said it was installing windows but did not use or do upgrade but after all was done the c:\> showed up ...sorry but im tryin...

now i did not do a full format i mean i didn't do the partition thing..should i ??

it was a comp i was using everyday and it started to act up so i had to do a format..

another question is the comp origionally came with a restore disc (compaq) then i had an upgrade done..667mhz to 1700+...is there any way to use it??

your knowledge is GREATLY appreciated

[Devil_666]

ah ok your all thick type d:/win98/fdisk create a partition first... reboot then type D: the dir just to see whats in it..... then if its all there type d:/setup.exe

Also just run the setup on the 3 options when it gives you the options

[GREENBUD]

ok i found my problem and it was the install disc..a friend brought over his restore disc and everything went perfect after that..thanks to all who helped with my problem .

[GREENBUD]

finally figured everything out ..got the origional win 98 disc and all went well...well kinda..and now it's up and running...thanks to all for their help...