I am trying to find the hardware specifications of a Bull PC, Model No. PCE99 mother board etc. Have tried Google and only get the Bull Co. History. All help gratefully appreciated.
Thanx

Please can any one help ???? :(

Stefanus,
I did that Google search and when you read that Bull Computer history you see the consolidation and name changes all the time. They are now part of NEC-Packard-Bell.

Thanx PrntRhd! Cannot see the wood for the trees, just helping an old guy out. (Trying to ) :o Want to see if a modem and what memory is in there.The unit was used in an office as a work station I think. Any way, on with the search (It looks very sparse inside!)
Thanx once again.

For what purpose do you need the info? Is the system working? If so, you could try downloading Everest Home: http://www.lavalys.com/products/download.php?pid=1&lang=en&pageid=3 and run it on said computer to get a detailed rundown of everything.

If you see my posting (2nd user software) in After Hours Club that will explain what I am trying to achieve. It is working, BUT! an error sign saus remove any disc etc, have checked but no cd or floppy inside. Will install software that has kindly been donated by various ppl here. If the system allows me to. And many thanx! for the link.

I need your help Saphalline
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthrea...5765#post225765

:confused:

Have checked out the log in details and all seem okay except for one thing:
Invalid System Disc:
Replace and press any key.

Checked floppy and it responds. Does this indicate that there is a problem with the CD-ROM Drive (B ) Drive. I need this to down load Windows.
Thanx in anticipation

Nothing works. I have reformated the HD, but the same error is shewn.
"Invalid System Disk"
I used a Win98 boot up floppy and eventually the prompt appeared: "G:\ "

The system will not read the Win95 Install Disk, in fact any CD or flopy disc except for Win98 boot up. I would like to get this PC working for my friend and neighbour. But what do I do next. Incidently it reads my diagnostic floppy ok but non others.
Have tried "FDISK /MBR" but it does not respond, formated from FORMAT C: "ON BENDED KNEES I REALY NEED HELP" :confused:

problem with the CD-ROM Drive (B ) Drive.

Are you sure about that?? the B drive is usually reserved for a second floppy drive.

The "invalid system disc" error is because it is looking for the hard drive to boot from, and there is nothing there.

What are the drive letters alocated to the floppy/hard drive/CD rom?
You said you got to a g:\> prompt from the boot floppy. is that the floppy, or was it a typo?
I assume you are using a Win98SE boot floppy, with the CD drivers on. It is possible that the CD drive is not being recognised by the boot floppy. Is any error message reported during the boot sequence as MSCDEXE is loaded? Does a drive letter get allocated?

David, thanx. Sorry "D" drive is correct. There is nothing on the hard drive except BIOS from what I can see.I am trying to install win95, received a CD from a member here !!and down loaded a floppy from pac/bel site win95a. Floppy drive will not read it so I booted from a win98 floppy to A:\ and then formated to C: D: E: and F:, but still reverts to error. Will not read CD-ROM drive. After re-boot G:\ shows on screen? I then change to A:\ , but still cannot down load windows. Have tried FDISK /MBR but no response.
Error is:
Invalid System Disk
Replace and Press any Key
Also: HDD S.M.A.R.T. Disabled ?


Hope you can help

Having formatted C: did you copy the system files onto C:? I seem to remember Win 95 and Win98 need the system files specifically copying to C:, whereas later versions don't. If you have not done anything else since formatting C:, boot up again from your Win98 floppy and type "sys c:" without the quotes. This should copy the system files to C: and allow boot up from the hard disk.

When booting from the Win98 floppy, are you asked if you want CD support?

I do not see why, havng done this, you should not be able to load Win95 onto the machine.

you also need to make the partition active for it to boot, just load up fdisk and go thru the gui to make it active

cavalier90 Thanx!
In answere to your first "Q" I will try that and the second It does not request a disk

After eventually booting with the win98 boot floppy and getting the pc to read the Win95 Set Up Disk, this is what happened. Where do I go from here ????? :confused: :confused: Very!

Problem after R:\setup
Setup found a compressed volume or a disk-cache utility on your computor.Quit set up and check your compressed volume with your disk compression software or remove disc-cache utility then run setup again.....
For more info see "setup.text" onset up disk or the Windows CD,,,,
If you have HPFS or NTFS on your HD you will need to create an MS-DOS Boot Partition to set up Windows again!

(How can I acheive this. It is so frustrateing ??????
Please I need help )

As you can boot with the Win98 floppy, run fdisk, and see what it reports in the way of partitions.
Actually, as you are going to install "clean" you could delete any partitions found, and make a new one, primary DOS, and set it active.
Reboot with the floppy, and run format c:

It should then be possible to run the Win95 install.

I made three partitions ie:
D:33%
E:50%
F:17%
As per an online pac/bel site. So David, re run boot 98 floppy and no partition, is that correct and then run 95 Setup CD :confused: ?? MS support states it is because I am trying to down load Win95 useing a Win98 boot up floppy,
This is what I d/loaded from MS:

SYMPTOMS
If you run Setup for the retail (non-OSR2) version of Windows 95 and try to install Windows 95 in a folder containing an OEM Service Release version of Windows 95, you may receive the following error message:
Windows Setup
Setup found a compressed volume or a disk-cache utility on your computer. Quit setup and check your compressed volume with your disk- compression software or remove the disk-cache utility. Then run Setup again.
This error message can also occur if you start your computer using a Microsoft Windows 98 Startup disk, enable CD-ROM support, and then attempt to install Windows 95.

If you continue trying to install Windows 95 on a hard disk using the FAT32 file system, you may receive error message "SU-0013."

If you are installing Windows 95 on a hard disk using the FAT16 file system, Setup continues but experiences numerous file version conflicts that generate the following message




Highly confused! :confused:

Highly confused!

Me too!

Win 95 needs a FAT16 partition. I had overlooked that! (several years since I used it.)
I suspect that you will need to use a Win95 boot floppy to partition/format the drive. Either that, or use the Win98 floppy, but do not use "large disk support" when running Fdisk, which should, in theory, then make FAT16 partitions.

Win 95 needs a FAT16 partition.

Depends on which version. Win95 original, yes, FAT 16 only. Win95 B, (2nd edition? what did they call it? can't remember, and I have a copy...just don't know where it is right now to go look it up...) can use FAT32.

I can't find anything on your model number, but if setup says it sees a compressed drive, the best way I know of to cure that is repartition it. I'm also wondering if the CD ROM drive is connected to the sound card. If so it's probably a CR 562 or CR 563, I haven't found a way to get them running except install DOS then install sound card drivers, once DOS sound drivers are in place the CD ROM drivers can be installed and the drive will work great.

That's probably useless information now, since you said you finally got it to work, but for future reference you'll know to look for that kind of drive. My Packard Bell P-60 has one, always worked great but it's a pain getting it to work and the OS is on a CD...go figure...DOS and win3.1 on CD, no way to read the CD until you get DOS installed...Finally found out once Windows is working or DOS and CD ROM you just copy everything to floppies and install the old fashioned way.

The PC will not boot from Win95 floppy but will boot from a Win98 floppy? The error I now get is in my last post under Symptoms
Thanx Pete i will copy what you say forfuture refernece. Received an answer from the Co. my daughter bought the repair CD from, "PCbeginner" say repair disc ????? how do I do that!

I just looked up my win95 CD, nothing to tell which version except that it says "with USB Support" on the CD, which means the 2nd version of win95. Yours being a restore or repair disk, I Doubt if it will say which version it is.

Won't boot to a win95 start up disk? OK, probably a bad floppy, and win98 start up disk will cause problems, so I wonder if DOS or win95 bootdisks are still available anywhere??? Check Bootdisk (http://www.bootdisk.com/), the DOS 3.3 link might have something useful, my guess is you'll have to install DOS or at least the DOS system files then go from there.

Thanx, will check it out!

EUREAKA! No I have not found gold, but I have actually identified the CD-ROM Drive. It has the letter "R". After much trial and tribulation, I typed in. R:\Win setup.exe and Win95 started to do just that. The jubilation ended when an error appeared: "Error SU-0013. Set up could not create files on start up drive and cannot set up Windows. If you have HPFS or Win NT file system create an MS-DOS BOOT Partition. If you have LANtastic server or SUPERstor Comp. Disable it before running Set Up. See Setup.txt on Setup disk or Win CD-ROM".
What next??????????
I am lost again :confused:

Ah HAAAAA!!!
from one of your previous posts

If you continue trying to install Windows 95 on a hard disk using the FAT32 file system, you may receive error message "SU-0013."

It looks as if that is what is happening.
Try booting with the win98 floppy, and runnng fdisk again. REMOVE all partitions. Reboot, and try running the WIn95 setup again. It should ( might?) format the drive, and then install. So long since I used it I can't remember!

Thanx! Will try again to-morrow.At least I know that the CD-ROM Drive is working and the hard drive also.
Thanx again

I'm pretty sure win95 won't format the drive, you have to do that beforehand with a boot floppy, if it's the 16 bit version a DOS boot disk will be needed for FAT16 , maybe the win98 boot floppy if you say NO at the first screen asking if you want large disk access (FAT 32). IF it's OSR2 it should handle FAT32. the formatting can be done with a win98 boot floppy.

I've never had any problems installing win95 using a win98 boot floppy, but I always watched what versions I tried to use together. System files shouldn't need to be copied to the drive beforehand, the Windows installation should do that. If you're using the 16 bit version of 95 you might need to install DOS first, but I think it will run fine without it as long as you don't try to install it on a FAT 32 partition. I always liked to install DOS anyway so I could reboot into DOS mode and play some of the older games. DOOM in DOS mode on a P-200 absolutely screams...

What is the method for installing DOS ? How can I check what version of Win95 I have? I did a check after info I received fro KotaGuy in TC`s forums:

Error SU0013
Setup could not create files on your startup drive and cannot set up Windows. If you have HPFS or Windows NT file system, you must create an MS-DOS boot partition. If you have LANtastic server or SuperStor compression, disable it before running Setup. See SETUP.TXT on Setup Disk 1 or the Windows CD-ROM.
You may receive this error message if you install Windows 95 over Windows 95 OSR2 and you are using the FAT32 file system on your hard disk. You may also receive this error message if you are running EZ Drive and you have the Floppy Boot Protection option enabled in EZ Drive. To resolve this behavior, disable the Floppy Boot Protection option in EZ Drive. For additional information about this error message, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

200119 Err Msg: Setup Cannot Create Files on Your Startup Drive and Cannot Set Up Windows 98. Here is the link:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305710/EN-US/

I can see what is written but my brain is on hold ???

Boot with the Win98 floppy, run Fdisk, and say no to large disk support. Remove all partitions, and make new. Reboot, with the floppy, and run Format.

It should then be possible to install Win95 from the CD.

Will do that ( Again ) lol

Thank you

That sounds right, should work fine. I don't think you'll need to install DOS itself, just use a FAT16 partition, which is what you should have if you repartition using the instructions above. Seems like 2GB is the max for FAT16, so if your hard drive is bigger than that you may have to create more than one partition, just remember to watch the first FDISK screen and press N to partition the drive without large disk support, which is FAT16.

Also it might not be necessary, but I always reboot between each operation. Remove partitions, reboot. Create new ones reboot. Format primary partition, reboot THEN install the OS. Until the OS installation is started NOTHING happens without a reboot immediately afterward.

E U R A K A IT IS RUNNING GUYS! THANK YOU ALL (IT WAS REALY EASY LOL) :D :D :cool:

WOOHOOO!!!
Grand feeling ain't it!

It`s the best for a long time, and thank you for soft ware. Ken Whight, the recipient also thanks you, and every one (Including me who did the donkey work ) lol, Thanx guys
:D :D :D