[helpdesk98]

My friend bang me a laptop to work on the other day and the OS on it is dead. I want put 98 on it but It has no CD drive and the Bios is password protected (he bought it used and it can not be reset) So it there any way I can install 98 using floppy disks only?? I have plenty of floppy disks & I have the 98 Install CD. Thanks Helpdesk98

[submix8c]

What make/model laptop? Desktops usually have some way of clearing the CMOS (BIOS) and/or resetting the password (a jumper, remove the CMOS battery, etc.).

Doubtful installing from floppies made from a CD if the largest CAB file is greater than 1676kb (exactly 1,716,224bytes).

Could maybe use an EBD and use a Laplink cable + software (serial/parallel ports) via Floppies (connecting to a running desktop with install files on it) in DOS mode. Other alternative is external drive, still ther probelm is getting into the BIOS.

There are some "supposed" "reset BIOS password" programs on the net...

[herbalist]

You could also remove the hard drive, install it into a working PC, then copy the 98CD contents to it. Put it back in the laptop, boot from a floppy, then run the setup program.
Rick

[thydreamwalker]

External usb/parallel port cdrom drive will compensate for no cdrom after drivers are installed-if you need be or network share through another computer?

[Colonel O'Neill]

I encountered the same situation with a particularly old Fujitsu Lifebook. Booting with a DOS floppy and using one of the DEBUG CMOS clearing commands, found on the Internet, got rid of the password and reset every setting.

Fujitsu states that the Lifebook had to be brought to them for BIOS reset, and there were no specific workarounds until I found the DOS DEBUG way.

[tosk]

I've done this before. The 98 CD contents were shared from a Windows 2000 machine to the local network. I got a DOS boot disk, the DOS drivers for the ethernet chipset and the Microsoft LANMAN software for DOS. Just booted off the floppy, prepped the drive, started LANMAN and copied the 98 CD contents to a directory on the blank drive. After that, I shut down LANMAN and ran setup.

It can certainly be done.