First off let me say that the title is ment as a joke I always apreciate any advice I get on this board.
A few weeks ago I posted THIS thread asking how to wipe my harddrive. Well I took the advice of “Format c:” and it did indeed wipe my drive like I wanted but the problem now is when I put my win98 cd in to install windows: The computer keeps telling me “invalid systems disk” WTF? Is there something I’m supposed to put in before the win98 cd? Please please help I want my computer back! The only time I can read the SDMB is at work now…
Go to a Win98 machine at work and create a boot disk.
Control panel>add remove programs>startup disk>create disk
USe this disk to boot your machine. Go to the CD drive (ie D: or E: or whatever) with the Windows 98 install CD and type “setup” then press enter .The system will prompt you from here. If your CD is/was an upgrade (vs an original install) Win 98 CD from Win 95 you will need to have a 95 CD handy for verification.
Oh one other point. If you actually did a “format c:” and not a “format c: /s” you may have no bootstrap files on the C: drive.
With the aforementioned boot floppy copy “sys.com” to it from the work PC’s (assuming it’s win98 PC) “c:\windows\command” directory. After the floppy boots the formatted system type “sys c:” press enter and the floppy will transfer the OS bootstrap files to the hard disk that will allow it to boot by itself.
Thanks Astro, I tried yor advice here at work but when I got to add/remove programs I did not see a start up disk thing; I’m assuming thats for security reasons. So I’m going to my buddy’s house and try it there. Thanks
Don’t do a clean install of Windows 98 from the CD!
When you boot the machine from a startup disk it creates a ramdrive on the computer which pushes your CD-ROM drive back 1 letter.(example CD-ROM normaly D: drive,when booted with startup disk CD-ROM is now E: drive)
In the future when windows asks you to insert the Windows CD in the CD-ROM drive it won’t be able to find the missing E: drive and will give you an error message.
The best way to install Windows on a clean drive is
1.Boot computer with startup disk selecting option #1 boot with CD-ROM support.
2.At the A:> prompt type FORMAT C:/U/S then press the ENTER key, when it asks if you are sure press Y then the ENTER key.
3.When the format is finished and you are back at the A:> prompt type C: then press the ENTER key,your prompt will change to C:> .
4.Type MD WIN98CAB then press the ENTER key,type E: then press the ENTER key prompt will change to E:> .
5.Type CD WIN98 then press the ENTER key,prompt will change to E:\WIN98> .
6.Type COPY . C:\WIN98CAB then press the ENTER key (thats asterick(shift-8) period asterick) that will copy all the setup files to the WIN98CAB folder on your harddrive.
7.When the copy operation is compleated remove the startup disk and reboot the computer.
8.Computer will reboot to a MS-DOS prompt C:> ,type CD WIN98CAB then press the ENTER key,prompt wil change to C:\WIN98CAB> type SETUP then hit the ENTER key and Windows will start installing.
The advantage to installing Windows like this is twofold,Windows will install faster and in the future instead of asking you insert the Windows 98 CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive when you install a new network,video,sound,etc card into your computer,Windows will load needed files from the setup files copyed to your harddrive (as long as you don’t deleat the files or folder at a later date).
Less chance of trashing your Windows 98 CD with scratches,etc.
I have done a lot of Windows installs and this is the best way I know of to do it.
Hope This Helps
Peace
LIONsob
P.S. To create a Startup disk click on START>SETTINGS>CONTROL PANEL>ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS at the top of the applet box there are 3 tabs from left to right
add/remove programs,windows setup,startup disk
select startup disk then click on the button in the middle of the box and follow the instructions on the screen.
If you had looked at what I said the first time, it said if your formatted it incorrectly this would happen. If you have the HD installation floppy try using that first to make a bootable HD. If not, you need the StartUP disk. Now, this is written about in the instructions you get with Windows, so START: H
I have done numerous clean installs via the simple bootup floppy method outlined previously and windows (in my experience) has had no trouble finding the drive. Even if it did it is simply a matter of pointing it to the E: drive as the location for the windows files it wants off the CD. this takes all of a second or two on the rare occasions it needs a file off the CD.
Astro,it is true that the error message is a minor problem it can be unsettling if you are not expecting it and redirecting Windows to the correct drive is not just a matter of clicking a browse button, you must type the FULL path name in a box with no way of verifying the correct path(short of trial and error) to the CAB files that Windows needs.
In my case with all the changes that are made to the computers (3+) in my household on a allmost daily basis not having to dig out the correct Windows CD for each machine each time is a godsend!
With the way I describe those problems go away.
The way I describe is recomended by Microsoft for installing on slower machines,see the README.TXT in the root directory of the Windows 95-98-ME CD.
Peace
LIONsob
P.S. I run a computer repair/custom build/resale shop as a side business out of my home.
