Windows 98

[TheDuckMan]

Ok I did a bad thing. I lost my windows cd's and drivers and all that good stuff that came with my dell. Ok so, i called them up, there shippin me new cd's.... well there about 3 weeks late and I need my neocron. Now lemme explain how all this happened first.

I kept crashing and shit, cause I fucked up my system... ok so I decided to do a reformat, put nortons on there and start over.

K... so I cant find my windows XP disc.. so I say what the heck, my dads pc came with a windows cd, I'll just use his "key code" on the side of his pc to install it on my pc. Ummm, heh no... it ended up putting 2 versions of windows on my pc.

For some reason I cant get online now either.... I'm guess something got fucked when I put the other one on.

So my question is... until I get my new cd's... how do I whipe the hard drive and put a fresh copy of windows 98 on there?

I know windows 98 sucks but its better then nothing. And winxp has no dos so I cant do the good old format c:.

Any ideas on how to put the windows 98 on there?

[TheDuckMan]

alittle help from my fellow neo-addicts plzzzzzzzz????

** shivers **

no seriously need some help plzzzzz.

[Archeus]

http://www.bootdisk.com/

Should find a dos boot disk there that will allow you to format your machine.

[TheDuckMan]

Thanks so much :)


/edit - one more question... which one do i use? XP Home SP1 and Pro is on my machine?

[5150]

If you need to log in to a Windows domain then you will need to install Pro

If youre not on a network or its only a workgroup (i.e. no domain) then it doesnt really matter

Bear in mind however that you will probably have to re-activate Windows XP when you reinstall. If you install a version that isnt yours the registration will fail (assuming you do it online) and you'll have to phone a Microshaft goon and tell him what youre doing (telling them that youve upgraded hardware should do the trick) - thus you may consider installing your version of XP as opposed to someone elses

[TheDuckMan]

Ok, i popped in the boot disk and its not even reading it i dont think. Ok here is how my pc is setup. I'll try to be as descriptive as possible.

Ok when I boot up my pc... the first thing that pops up is the selection screen. To choose whether I want to get on Pro or Home edition. But isnt the boot disc supposed to come into play way before that? I am thinkin my floppy drivers are f**k'd.... :/ what to do........ :confused:

How about just tell me how to compleyly whipe c: from my pc. Just delete everything. Make my PC a huge chunk of DOS and i'll go from there.

[TheDuckMan]

I hate to keep this topic going but i really need help. I really dont want to call dell at 5 am... sit there for 2 hours listenin to a sexy machine... and then get some idnian guy on the line that i cant understand. So could somone just tell me how to get to dos before windows loads up???????

[naimex]

use XP Pro..

i think home sucks.. and pro has more features too ^^


EDIT :: Go into bios and set ur floppy to come in before hdd/cd or burn a boot-cd and pop it in instead. and then set cd to 1st boot device.

[TheDuckMan]

ya but when i tried putin pro on there... it ended up just adding another OS to the system.... and not reformating like it was supposed to. So until my new cd's come in i have nothing...... all i need to know is a sure fire way to get to dos before xp loads. I never really did this before with windows xp, so i'll need specific instructions. Trust me... reformating windows 98 was 100% easier then this.



/edit - ok how do i make a boot cd? heh all i have is this copy of windows 98 i found lieing around....

[naimex]

ok 7/10 windows XP cds have boot on them..


what has gone wrong is that you must have used 2 different install cds or something.. and it has a boot.ini hidden file on ur host directory and in that file all the startup sessions "installed" are.

you can go there and remove the ones that are wrong later..

1st thing is to get you into windows.

if you have a windows cd with boot use it and go directly to install and remember if using WinME or lower then NTFS drives are NO-GOs

so be sure its a non NTFS drive.

a drive with a failed ntldr file needs a reformat and then a bootable windows NTFS compatible install or a repartition / fat format before being usable.



EDIT :: some burning programs (cant remember which i found it in) have an option to "Create boot-cdrom"

[TheDuckMan]

Thanks for all the help guys... its formatting now.

Archeus, 5150, naimex... thanks for all the help. I hope you guys have the happiest of holidays..... and naimex I hope you get that anxiety thing all worked out. I felt like you did when my grandparents died. I ended up going to the hospital cause I would get so worked up and I would have trouble breathing but, it goes away and I'm sure you'll be just fine... thanks again for all the help guys.

[naimex]

np, and thx.. i´ll go see a doc soon.

[Elric]

ok

The master formatter speaks ;)

First go into your Bios settings and make sure that the boot order is selected as
1. Floppy
2. CD-Rom
3. HDD

This way It'll check your drives for bootable disks before using your defaut OS one.

Second.

Get a boot disk that will allow you to format the drive completely.

Partition magic has a bootdisk option that will allow you to do this (creates a boot disk and it'll have a format option in there).

Windows XP CD's have a partition manager system on them which you dont really have to worry about, but it does give the option for a full format too.

Maxtor's Hard drive test boot disk has a full format option on it too. Download the small program and install it to a floppy. Boot the computer up with the disk in the drive and you can test your hard drive for errors (works a shitload better than scan disk as a physical disk scanner) and also has the full format options there too.

Maxtor Powermax test (http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm)

Partition Magic Demo (http://www.tucows.com/preview/222189.html)

One of these should sort ya out, Alternatively do a google on a tester for your make of Hard Drive and chances are they'll have a similar utility available (I have a Maxtor at home so I know about that one, unsure about other models)

[edit]

Bugger, too late.

[naimex]

http://www.mmccourt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/freezejeans.gif

That is sooooo true... impossible to kill people who suddenly move from being in your target box just to be next to you stabbing you the next second :(

[robinitnow]

Originally posted by naimex
use XP Pro..

i think home sucks.. and pro has more features too ^^


EDIT :: Go into bios and set ur floppy to come in before hdd/cd or burn a boot-cd and pop it in instead. and then set cd to 1st boot device.

just to set the record strait

home = pro - some networking - 60GB of memory management module instead of homes 4BG memory module - multi possessors - some totally useless crap.

so home is basically just as good for us

[Omnituens]

nooooooooooooooo xp

*scared of XP*

2k rocks. 'nuff said