Win 98se reinstal problems

[Evanhoe]

Quote:Boot with the floppy.

Do format c: /s

Do d: (where d is the letter of your CD-ROM drive)

Do cd win98

Do setup

Hi BenoitRen,

Thanks for trying to help.Done all the above before,and as I indicated to Ponch (see error message I get) I can't "Setup".Thanks.

VAN

[eidenk]

Sorry if I missed something again but can't you just boot the computer with the setup CD ?

[Evanhoe]

Quote:Sorry if I missed something again but can't you just boot the computer with the setup CD ?

Hi eidenk;

No,I can't,either with my D Drive or the E Drive!See my queries to Ponch and Jaclaz for what's involved here.If you can help,and need more details,pls ask,Thanks.

VAN

[Ponch]

Did you disconnect anything in between ? Can you try puting the cd in your other drive and retype "D:\Win98\setup /P i" ?

A:\>a:\mscdex.exe /D:CD_Rom

MSDEX Version 2.25

Copyright © Microsoft Corp 1986-1995.All rights reserved

Drive D: =Driver CD_Rom Unit 0

What does that mean?Thanks for all your help,

This means the boot floppy loads cdrom drivers and one of your drives has received the letter D. You probably have one FAT partition on your HD that's called C:.

[eidenk]

Have you tried unplugging one of your CD drives ?

[Evanhoe]

Did you disconnect anything in between ? Can you try puting the cd in your other drive and retype "D:\Win98\setup /P i" ?

A:\>a:\mscdex.exe /D:CD_Rom

MSDEX Version 2.25

Copyright © Microsoft Corp 1986-1995.All rights reserved

Drive D: =Driver CD_Rom Unit 0

What does that mean?Thanks for all your help,

This means the boot floppy loads cdrom drivers and one of your drives has received the letter D. You probably have one FAT partition on your HD that's called C:.

Hi Ponch,

1-No I did'nt disconnect anything that I know of!

2-Regarding "Drive D: =Driver CD_Rom Unit 0" above,does the "0" not mean,that it's OFF(Disabled)?

If so,how can we Enable it?

3-Quote from above:Can you try puting the cd in your other drive and retype "D:\Win98\setup /P i" ?

I've done all this, many times (Including this morning) and I get "Invalid drive specification error"Pls Note:When I reboot,Press DEL,open BOOT,and under Removable Device,my only choices are:

Legacy Floppy

LS-120

Zip 100

ATAPI MO

Although I don't know what "Atapi MO" stands for (Specially the "MO" part) I press it,F10 and reboot same result!

Next I go down to the 3rd item in the "BOOT Setup Utility" which is "Atapi CD- ROM" where [CD-956e/AKV] is listed(This is my E CD-Rom Drive) and press it and F10,and it does'nt open in E Drive!I end up with the same error "Invalid drive specification error"

I don't know what else I can do?What do you think?

VAN

[Evanhoe]

Have you tried unplugging one of your CD drives ?

eidenk,

I'm sure I tried that before,but i'll do it again for both Drives.Thanks.See my previous Post,hope it's clear enough !

VAN

[Ponch]

Can you try "E:\Win98\setup /P i" instead of "D:\Win98\setup /P i" ? Also trying with the CD in both drives ?

+"CDROM unit 0" means it's the 1st one, as it's counting 0,1...

If it still doesn't work....what's left ?

-test the media (your cd) in an other computer with cdcheck for instance.

-put your hdd in an other computer and put all install files from the cd to the hdd, but this involve opening the cases and playing with jumpers.

Eidenk I know it's long, but read the thread, you got 3 posts already answered

[jaclaz]

@Evanhoe

Ok, let us recap what we did till now:

1) We made you get the "right" start floppy

2) We made you fdisk and format your drive (since you refer that you can get to a C:\ prompt) so we are sure that there is nothing "strange" in your BIOS/HD. (in post #34)

Now simply do the following:

1) Open the computer and DISCONNECT the cables/CUT them/REMOVE the CDRW/HAMMER IT TO PIECES (your choice ): there should be ONLY the CD connected, NOT the CDRW

2) Try again booting with the floppy in, you should get to the A:\ prompt and before it see the:

A:\>a:\mscdex.exe /D:CD_Rom

MSDEX Version 2.25

Copyright © Microsoft Corp 1986-1995.All rights reserved

Drive D: =Driver CD_Rom Unit 0

this is perfectly normal, it means that program mscdex.exe (i.e. the DOS CD-ROM extemsions) has been executed from drive a:\, that it loaded correctly, finding a CD-ROM unit (unit 0, i.e. the FIRST unit, SECOND unit - that you disconnected - would have been unit 1 IF it would have been properly connected and detected)

3) if step 2) above does not work anymore, don't worry, switch the machine off, disconnect the CD-ROM drive and re-connect the CDRW (I hope you did not smash it to pieces ) and do again step 2)

4) now comes the most difficult part, you must FORGET completely all your previous attempts and ALL previous posts on this thread and do the following:

a. download this bootdisk:

http://www.allbootdisks.com/downloads/Disk...indows98_SE.exe

and make a floppy out of it

b. boot the computer from the floppy

c. at the boot menu choose "Start computer with CD-ROM support"

d. you should have a message like:

Preparing to start your computer....

This may take a few minutes, please wait...

The diagnostics tools were succesfully loaded to drive D.

MSCDEX Version 2.25

Copyright © Microsoft Corp. 1986-1995. All rights reserved.

Drive E: =Driver MSCD001 unit 0

To get HELP, type HELP and press ENTER

e. type:

E:

and press ENTER

f. type:

 CD Win98

and press ENTER

g. type:

setup.exe

and press ENTER

The windows setup should start.

If at point d. you get a message like "cannot find a valid FAT16 or FAT32 partition, go back to this guide:

http://www.duxcw.com/digest/Howto/software...grade/fdisk.htm

and follow it EXACTLY.

If the above does not work, you can try following the advice by Ponch, though maybe it's time you call a friend that has some more practice with PC's, maybe the problem lies is something that you omitted to describe or in something that we failed to catch, considering it as "given".

jaclaz

[Evanhoe]

Hi Ponch & Jaclaz,

I will give it a try,and as Arnie once said "I'll be back"

VAN

[Evanhoe]

SUCCESS AT LAST

Hi Jaclaz,

Your last Directions finally did it for me.Thank you,Thank you,Thank you....

Finally,after 54 Postings we have the darn Win 98 Puter running,My wife will be pleased.

Thanks to Ponch,and all the others who tried to help.This is so appreciated.

VAN

[jaclaz]

SUCCESS AT LAST

Hi Jaclaz,

Your last Directions finally did it for me.Thank you,Thank you,Thank you....

Finally,after 54 Postings we have the darn Win 98 Puter running,My wife will be pleased.

Thanks to Ponch,and all the others who tried to help.This is so appreciated.

VAN

Happy about it, all's well that ends well.

No need to thank me, I know how it could be having a wife that is NOT pleased.

jaclaz

[eidenk]

Eidenk I know it's long, but read the thread, you got 3 posts already answered

I guess that having only one CD drive plugged in the system was finally key to your success.

[submix8c]

hey, all :

Interesting reading...

Has anyone gone to the UBCD for Win98SE thread?

http://www.msfn.org/board/Unattended-Boot-...-46-t88008.html

There is a wealth of information on booting/installing/reinstalling, including using multiple CD-Roms/CD-RW-s/DVD-Roms/DVD-RW-s. Multiple CD/DVD's and Booting (floppy or CD, including SCSI) should not be a problem. Soporific (and myself/others as a tester/analyst/solution-finder) have already been through this madness...

Go look around and give some credit to Soporific if you find anything useful (MDGx also provided a wealth of info directly to soporific).

Cheers!

[Evanhoe]

Eidenk I know it's long, but read the thread, you got 3 posts already answered

I guess that having only one CD drive plugged in the system was finally key to your success.

Hi Eidenk.

True enough,but now I must get that second CD Rom to work again !I may be back for more help on this! Thanks for your help too.

VAN