[blonde_in_disguise]

Okay, so I have an ancient DELL laptop (from 1998) which was running Windows 98. I had a disc for XP from a friend which I wanted to install, I was unsure if it would work on this old of a computer... so without even really thinking it through when asked if I wanted to install on partition 1 - or partition 2, I selected 1 "just in case it didn't work"... wow, so now every time I boot the computer up it automatically resumes the installation process, and it gets to 39%, runs out of room, and shuts down. So I went into set-up and changed the order of what the computer boots from to a cd, a floppy, and finally the hd. I tried norton, I tried creating a "boot disc" for 98 by saving a file onto a disc (it would not run the disc, but skipped straight on to the installation of XP again). It did run the norton disc, and I was able to hit F8 and unfortunately XP was the only OS listed, and so I couldn't do anything (not that I even know how)... So, I'm hoping someone knows how to re-establish the boot files that are necessary to get everything running and regain access to partition 2 (win 98) and all of my files again. At the very least, I'd like to wipe everything out and run XP. And No, I do not have a recovery disc or any windows 98 discs available.

If anyone can help, I would be amazingly appreciative!!! THANKS!!

[Ponch]

Now for being clear
-any reason the system (Win98) was installed on the 2nd partition ?
-there is reasonable suspicion on your license rights to install "that" XP on your laptop
-XP won't get you far on that system from 1998, that is probably in the range of PII 300MHz, 64Mb RAM, 4Gig HDD (at best?) so you're up for a lot of frustration.

Can you boot from a floppy ? if yes, can you make a floppy (on an other computer if needed) ?
-get a Win9x boot floppy creator (.exe) from Bootdisk.com,
-launch that exe and create your bootable floppy (it is not clear wether you were successful at that yet, possibly you copied the exe file onto the floppy instead of launching the exe???)
-get part.exe from this link (Ranish Partition Manager), copy it on your floppy
-boot your floppy in your portable and launch part.exe
-you should see the partitions on your on the HDD
-on the 1st line, that says "Master Boot Record", press Enter
-press the space bar until it says Standard IPL, then press Enter
-get down to your 2nd partition, press "B" (for boot), you get a "*" in front of it
-press F2 to save
-reboot to the 2nd partition's system, hopefully your working Win98.

This post has been edited by Ponch: 16 November 2009 - 03:36 AM

[blonde_in_disguise]

Now for being clear
-any reason the system (Win98) was installed on the 2nd partition ? - The 1st partition is TINY, I think it was JUST for booting up?
-there is reasonable suspicion on your license rights to install "that" XP on your laptop -? I don't understand ?
-XP won't get you far on that system from 1998, that is probably in the range of PII 300MHz, 64Mb RAM, 4Gig HDD (at best?) so you're up for a lot of frustration. - I agree!

Can you boot from a floppy ? if yes, can you make a floppy (on an other computer if needed) ? No, I can only make a CD
-get a Win9x boot floppy creator (.exe) from Bootdisk.com, - Did do that part!
-launch that exe and create your bootable floppy (it is not clear wether you were successful at that yet, possibly you copied the exe file onto the floppy instead of launching the exe???) I was not able to create a floppy since I don't have a floppy drive, I did download the program or exe thing, but then it kept telling me error messages since I tried to put it on a cd instead of a floppy disc (since I dont have one or a floppy drive)


-get part.exe from this link (Ranish Partition Manager), copy it on your floppy
-boot your floppy in your portable and launch part.exe
-you should see the partitions on your on the HDD
-on the 1st line, that says "Master Boot Record", press Enter
-press the space bar until it says Standard IPL, then press Enter
-get down to your 2nd partition, press "B" (for boot), you get a "*" in front of it
-press F2 to save
-reboot to the 2nd partition's system, hopefully your working Win98.


SO:
1. I did try to use that website bootdisc.com... however when I tried to create a boot disc, it kept saying insert floppy and, I do not even have a floppy drive. Is there a way to do it with a cd instead?

2. The laptop will boot from a cd as well if the cd is set up correctly- (either as auto load or boot disc, Which I do not know the difference of or which I would need, ... do you?)

3. thank you! =)

This post has been edited by blonde_in_disguise: 16 November 2009 - 08:01 AM

[jaclaz]

blonde_in_disguise, on Nov 16 2009, 02:48 PM, said:

1. I did try to use that website bootdisc.com... however when I tried to create a boot disc, it kept saying insert floppy and, I do not even have a floppy drive. Is there a way to do it with a cd instead?

Read this seemingly unrelated thread:
http://www.msfn.org/...howtopic=127593
http://www.msfn.org/board/funny-thing-happ...593-page-6.html

If you don't have a "real" floppy, get a "virtual" one.

An alternative is using Winimage to open the self-extracting self-copying .exe and save the contents to .ima (uncompressed) NOT as .imz (compressed):
http://www.winimage.com/winimage.htm


jaclaz

This post has been edited by jaclaz: 16 November 2009 - 08:00 AM

[cannie]

Maybe you find something useful here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/create-easily-se...er-t118623.html

HTH

This post has been edited by cannie: 18 November 2009 - 07:31 AM