I have an old 586 Cyrix 120Mhz/16 Megs RAM computer that I want to install Win98 on. The machine currently has 95 on it, but I need to put a LAN card in it and if you try to install anything new or uninstall anything old from it, it asks for the Win95 system disk, which I don’t got one of (the computer was bought used with 95 already on it). ~ I thought I was going to put my newer computers OEM Win98 CD in and fire it up, but the old computer has no boot option from the CD at all, just A and C.
-The newer computer has two hard drives, Win98 on the first and Linux Mandrake on the second, with LILO boot selector. The newer computer has no free drive hookups left, so to try connecting the old 1Gig HD to the newer computer, I will have to unconnect one of the newer computer’s HD’s: will LILO tolerate this or bomb out? How can I (attempt to) install Win98 on the old computer’s HD? Is it possible to switch the floppy and CD hookups, so that the old PC boots from the CD? Can I make a rescue floppy disk in the newer computer and use it in the older one? Finally, which file on the OEM CD initiates the test/install procedure? - MC
You’ll not want to install W98 on the old system. If it even allows you to do such a thing, you’ll spend more time crashing and rebooting due to memory leak than you will computing. I recommend 64 megs as a minimum for W98, although Microsoft optimistically claims that 32 will be fine–just don’t do anything on it, I guess.
However, if you find some more RAM to dump in the thing, you might try making a W98 startup disk on the new computer, and using that to boot to DOS on the old system. The W98 startup disk will have provisions for running from CD.
32 megs will run most win98 apps just fine (not optimally obviously, but OK) as long as you don’t multi-task. Your more immediate problem is the 486 class Cyrix (despite it’s 586 numbering) processor which will dog it big time in Windows 98.
Upgrading 95 to 98 is simple and merely calls for creating a boot floppy with the correct files on it that will access the CD in DOS and allow the install to proceed. I’m going to show how to create the disk but be aware that putting 98 on your 16 meg, 486 doorstop is ultimately self defeating performance wise.
Format a bootable floppy
autoexec.bat file will contain the following lines
a:\MSCDEX.EXE /D:TEAC-CDI /M:15 /L:e
(or whatever your CDROM DOS driver requires)
config.sys file will contain the following lines
Device=a:\Himem.Sys
Device=a:\EMM386.Exe
DEVICE=a:\TEAC_CDI.SYS /D:TEAC-CDI (or whatever your CD driver file requires)
In addition to the DOS boot files that a bootable format will install you will need the following files to be on the floppy disk:
himem.sys
emm386.exe
mscdex.exe
your cd *.sys driver file
Boot the machine with the floppy and it should recognize the CD. Execute setup.exe on the CD and install will proceed. IIRC windows 98 will refuse to install on some very basic 486 CPUs because of lack of resources.
On a box of that vintage, stick with Windows 95, but seriously look at doubling the memory from 16Mb to 32Mb. Then it will be reasonably usable for general use.
Forget about any serious gaming activity - just stick to office app’s, simple games, and internet use.
one thing that you should check is your BIOS – the win98 cd is a bootable CD – there may be a setting in your BIOS for a boot order on the system. Make sure that the CDROM (if available) is higher on the list than your Hard drive, and you’ll get an option to boot to hard disk or cdrom.
Best guess - Win was installed using 3 1/2" disks, not a CD. Any changes require using 3 1/2" disks.
Sorry, nature of the beast. Re-install or get a copy of the 12 disks.
If you go to any normal Win98 installation…go to the Add/Remove programs section in the Control Panel…you’ll see a tab for “Create Startup Disk”. You can then use this disk to boot the machine…this has CD-ROM drivers on it, and should allow you to access the CD. Have fun…but you really should use 95 on that machine.
Actually I don’t need 98 on it, I figured that would be easier because I already had a CD with 98 on it, but that ain’t werkin’. The only setup.exe’s are at least a few levels deep in the CD directory; the only one I’d guess is in Windows/Options/Cabs but I haven’t tried it. ~ If Win95 is available on only 12 floppies it’s probably downloadable out there somewhere as 12 separate files, but I can’t find it; everything says “download whatever-program for Windows 95”, not “download Windows 95”.
I noticed that it starts quite faster after I dumped the virus program it had on it. I will try to install the LAN card anyway and see if it takes it.
I know I have seen 95 still for sale at computer shows; last year I went to a computer show and saw a floppy version for $35, but there are no upcoming shows in my area. I dunno if that’s for a legit version or not, but considering that Win98 just dropped to $89 retail that sounds about right.
All I wanted to do with the old computer was use it as a LAN server for testing remote apps I write. The LAN card and the Java runtimes are the only two things it’s really gotta run. - MC
You should be able to buy it for a few bucks from ebay.com anytime day or night.
Frankly, if you have another computer you can connect them with the serial ports & run Share & use the other computer’s cdrom drive on the computer you want the software on. Yep. IT should be written about in the Windows assistance files, e.g. START: H