Go Back   Cyber Tech Help Support Forums > Operating Systems > Older Windows Versions > Windows 98

Notices

Windows 98 Problem solving for the Windows 98 Operating System

Reply
 
Topic Tools
  #1  
Old June 11th, 2005, 05:12 AM
oldturtle's Avatar
oldturtle oldturtle is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Minnesota
Age: 76
Posts: 8
Unhappy win98 startup screen switches to DOS prompt

Hi --
I just got an old HP to run games on. I installed win98 from boot disk. After finishing that, I rebooted w/out disk. Starts up, goes to startup screen for a millisecond and immediately switches to DOS command prompt (C drive).
Any suggestions on how to get it to run correctly?
I want to get this running so my young grandson can play his games without messing up my "good" computer.
Thanks!
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old June 11th, 2005, 11:48 AM
Cornholio_666's Avatar
Cornholio_666 Cornholio_666 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: London
Age: 37
Posts: 186
run the boot disk without cdrom support. then when the screen displays A:\ type sys C: (assuming that C: is your hard drive)
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old June 11th, 2005, 07:24 PM
oldturtle's Avatar
oldturtle oldturtle is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Minnesota
Age: 76
Posts: 8
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cornholio_666
run the boot disk without cdrom support. then when the screen displays A:\ type sys C: (assuming that C: is your hard drive)
Thanks for the help.
OK, I did that. It then said "System Transferred" and went back to A prompt. I couldn't get out of there with quit or run or ESC, so I just shut off the computer.
Started it up again, with no boot disk or CD-ROM in the drives and got the message "Operating system not found".
What's next to try?
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old June 11th, 2005, 08:24 PM
Cornholio_666's Avatar
Cornholio_666 Cornholio_666 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: London
Age: 37
Posts: 186
is your hard drive set as the first boot device in the bios?
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old June 12th, 2005, 12:29 AM
oldturtle's Avatar
oldturtle oldturtle is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Minnesota
Age: 76
Posts: 8
BIOS is the setup, right? When I go to the security tab, I can choose start-up options. The hard drive, CD-ROM and disk drive are all listed, but all I can do is set them Yes or No to be accessible during boot-up. I tried it with all 3 enabled, then just the hard drive. Same thing happens.
Oh, and when the DOS prompt comes up after popping out of the Win98 setup screen, it goes to C: rather than A:
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old June 12th, 2005, 01:09 AM
rockboy's Avatar
rockboy rockboy is offline
Cyber Tech Help Moderator
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
O/S: Windows 7 64-bit
Location: California, USA
Posts: 3,087
Quote:
Originally Posted by oldturtle
I installed win98 from boot disk. After finishing that, I rebooted w/out disk. Starts up, goes to startup screen for a millisecond and immediately switches to DOS command prompt (C drive).
Excuse me for asking but did you actually install Win98 from the CD? Did you mean to say Restore Disk? The boot disk is not the OS but only installs some DOS commands and drivers so you can proceed with the setup.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old June 12th, 2005, 02:44 AM
oldturtle's Avatar
oldturtle oldturtle is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Minnesota
Age: 76
Posts: 8
OH --Maybe that's why it's not working. The CD I have is actually one that someone else used for their computer. We just moved and SOMEWHERE in the house is a CD to install Windows 98SE, complete with product code, etc. Is that what I need to find? If so, what do I do with it when I find it?

What exactly do you mean by "proceed with the setup"?
Thanks!
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old June 12th, 2005, 03:31 AM
rockboy's Avatar
rockboy rockboy is offline
Cyber Tech Help Moderator
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
O/S: Windows 7 64-bit
Location: California, USA
Posts: 3,087
You can read thru the install tutorial here...

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/html/tu...rial.php/id/39

If you have any questions just ask and someone will help you get thru it.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old June 12th, 2005, 04:22 AM
oldturtle's Avatar
oldturtle oldturtle is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Minnesota
Age: 76
Posts: 8
Thanks! I have read through that tutorial. I finally came to the conclusion that maybe I DON'T have a boot disk after all or something is wrong with it. So I went to Bootdisk.com (on my other computer) and downloaded Windows 98 SE OEM. Saved it to my desktop, then copied to a new floppy. Inserted it in the old computer. Message I got was: "Invalid system disk. Remove and hit any key."
So I am still not having any success here. Suggestions greatly appreciated. I'm so glad there are younger folks out there who can work with this stuff. At 57, I have only limited knowledge and most of that is with software not the other stuff.
Thanks!

Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old June 12th, 2005, 05:15 AM
rockboy's Avatar
rockboy rockboy is offline
Cyber Tech Help Moderator
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
O/S: Windows 7 64-bit
Location: California, USA
Posts: 3,087
You can't just copy it to the floppy to make a bootdisk. Put a formatted blank floppy in your A drive. Doubleclick and run the bootdisk exe that you downloaded to your desktop. It will make a bootable floppy.
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old June 12th, 2005, 08:36 PM
oldturtle's Avatar
oldturtle oldturtle is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Minnesota
Age: 76
Posts: 8
Thanks, Rockboy. I made the floppy like you described and then followed the directions in the tutorial. It gets to the point where it says "diagnostic tools wee successfully installed to Drive D" so I typed D:, then hit enter, then typed setup. Got message bad command. Tried with C, E, and A with the same results.
Now what?
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old June 12th, 2005, 09:04 PM
Cornholio_666's Avatar
Cornholio_666 Cornholio_666 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: London
Age: 37
Posts: 186
try f:\setup.exe because the ramdrive pushes back the cd/dvd drive back 1 letter
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old June 12th, 2005, 09:13 PM
oldturtle's Avatar
oldturtle oldturtle is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Minnesota
Age: 76
Posts: 8
Tried that, corn, and got message "invalid drive". So I tried \setup.exe after D: and E:, and got the bad command thing again. Any other suggestions?
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old June 12th, 2005, 09:29 PM
Cornholio_666's Avatar
Cornholio_666 Cornholio_666 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: London
Age: 37
Posts: 186
try typing dir X: (where the X is change between every letter until you get the directory of the windows cd) then when you find the directory of the windows cd run the setup file
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old June 13th, 2005, 01:19 AM
oldturtle's Avatar
oldturtle oldturtle is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Minnesota
Age: 76
Posts: 8
OK, I did that. Here's what I got.

D:Volume in drive D is MS-RAMDRIVE

E:Volume in drive E is STAFF
Directory of E
DRIVERS <DIR> 12-14-99 4:48PM
EXPLORER
EXTRAS
NETSCAPE
WIN95A
WIN95B
WIN98
0 files 0 bytes
7 dir(s) 0 bytes available

So I opened the WIN98 file on the CD and there were all kinds of files there, including OEMsetup, BUT they are all set to read only and it won't allow me access to change that setting.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Topic Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Topics
Topic Topic Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Startup Prompt to My Document (moved from Vista) Harris Malware Removal 15 September 9th, 2009 10:56 PM
3 command prompt windows open every startup llanita Malware Removal 37 July 13th, 2008 12:17 AM
how to get rid of password prompt at startup Mr.Professor Windows 98 1 July 27th, 2005 09:06 AM
A prompt to WIN98 after emergency startup disk? adcockm Windows 98 1 March 14th, 2005 01:15 AM
command prompt on startup Jake313 Windows XP 0 February 5th, 2005 06:37 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 12:51 PM.