Can't reinstall 98

[Cyberdiver]

I had to reformat my hard drive because a lot of things became corrupted. But my startup disk for Windows 98 says "file not found". I can get an A: or a C:, but I can't get DOS to find my CD-ROM drive in the D: prompt. It shows it in the CMOS, but it still doesn't work when i set it to boot first. Anyone know what I can do??

[degsy]

It may be a problem with your bootdisk.

Try downloading and extracting this
http://koti.mbnet.fi/~nibz/bootdisks/boot98se.exe

[Cyberdiver]

Originally Posted by degsy

It may be a problem with your bootdisk.

Try downloading and extracting this
http://koti.mbnet.fi/~nibz/bootdisks/boot98se.exe

Oh, I should point out that I'm running the first edition of 98.

[degsy]

It shouldn't matter. You could even use a WinME bootdisk.

If you are worried then
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

[Cyberdiver]

Originally Posted by degsy

It shouldn't matter. You could even use a WinME bootdisk.

If you are worried then
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

Ok, but then how do I get it to recognize my cdrom?

[degsy]

The bootdisks contain CD-ROM drivers.
They will detect your CD-ROM and assign it a drive letter that you can use in DOS.

If it doesn't detect it then you may have a problem with the CD-ROM or the connection.
Does it show on the POST screen? (does the BIOS detect the CD-ROM)

[Cyberdiver]

Originally Posted by degsy

The bootdisks contain CD-ROM drivers.
They will detect your CD-ROM and assign it a drive letter that you can use in DOS.

If it doesn't detect it then you may have a problem with the CD-ROM or the connection.
Does it show on the POST screen? (does the BIOS detect the CD-ROM)

Yeah, it shows it in the bios, but when i load the boot disk, it starts running and then it tells me to insert windows 98 startup disk 2...

[degsy]

Originally Posted by degsy

It may be a problem with your bootdisk.

Try downloading and extracting this
http://koti.mbnet.fi/~nibz/bootdisks/boot98se.exe

Did you try a different bootdisk?

[Kronos]

try downloading a copy of wincd.exe and copy it to a good boot disk. you may a bad wincd.exe or your BIOS won't let you boot cd first.

[Miz]

Your physical CD drive will be E, not D. The boot disk creates a temporary virtual drive and gives it the D designation. Try accessing the setup file on E.

[Alfons]

Originally Posted by Cyberdiver

Yeah, it shows it in the bios, but when i load the boot disk, it starts running and then it tells me to insert windows 98 startup disk 2...

Do you have the Windows 98 Floppy Installation set? If you do, then you don't need to have the CD Drive at this time, just keep feeding the floppy disks to the computer as the installer asks for them and in the end you'll have W98 installed and you'll also have the CD drive working.

If this is a W98 bootdisk that you picked up somewhere, then you got Disk #1 of the Floppy Disk Installation Set and it's not meant to get things ready for you to use the CD for installation.

If you want to use the CD for installation, there are two approaches if your CD is for a Full Installation and only one approach if it's for an Upgrade Installation.

Option 1: For Both Full & Upgrade Installation Versions

1. Go to THIS SITE and download the boot disk maker program entitled Windows 98SE OEM and save it to some folder where you can easily find it. Then find the file (I use Windows Explorer) and double click on in. This will start the program that will make you the W98 Startup Disk (boot disk), so just follow the prompts.

2. Start the computer with this disk and it will ask you if you want to start with or without CD-ROM support, select WITH and it will go ahead and set things up to install Windows from a CD.

3. Insert the W98 Installation CD.

4. At the A prompt, type SETUP and press Enter and the installation should launch.

Option 2: For Full Installation CD Only

1. Enter the BIOS Setup Mode

2. Set the Boot Sequence to the following:
a. First Boot Device: CD-ROM
b. Second Boot Device: Floppy
c: Third Boot Device: HDD 0 (Hard Disk Drive Zero which is the first hard disk)

3. Insert the W98 Installation CD

4. Save the settings and exit the Setup Mode. It will now go through the startup procedure again, look for a bootable CD and find the W98 Installation disk (the Full Install Version is bootable) and start the installation process.

Using Option 2, you should know that the BIOS may ask you to Press any Key to boot from CD-ROM - press any key only to start the process the first time and don't when windows is restarting during the installation process, otherwise you'll keep going back to the beginning of the installation process. Remove the installation CD after you've finished the installation or it will keep asking you that same question each time it trys to boot.

[Cyberdiver]

Thanks, I got it going, seems someone overwrote my original startup disk but now I have it working again and fixed the disk.