help installing OS

[peteywheatstraw]

hi. i've been having a lot of trouble trying to install Win ME to a pc. ok, heres the story. my hdd died in an old pII i have so i decide to replace the hdd with a 20g hdd that i have laying around that has Win 98 on it. this is where i screwed everything up. i installed the hdd and then formatted it. i then restarted the pc and get a mesage of invalid disk, replace the disk. i also did the exact same thing to another spare hdd that i have, installed it, formatted it and it also gives the same message.

i try to boot it with the win ME disk that i'm trying to install in the cd drive but i still get the same error. i then booted with a win 98 boot disk and get to the A: but it gives this message of Type the name of the Command Interpreter (e.g. C:\Windows\Command.com). i type that in but it changes nothing. i type in fdisk and sys c: and it still gives the command interpreter message. i'm just trying to install Win ME onto what should be a formatted hdd. any help or ideas would be extremely appreciate.

[Quantax]

Some of the info in this article you've already done but there's other material to read:

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000012.htm

[Whyzman]

Welcome peteywheatstraw tohttp://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif Forums!

I'm going to guess that you used F-Disk to do the formatting. What I'm going to also guess is that you didn't set the partition active that you loaded Windows onto...

Since you're reloading, I would suggest that you consider at least partitioning the 20Gig into 2 partitions. Load the OS and programs onto the first partition (it needs to be set active to boot from it) and the save your data to the second partition. In the event that you would ever need to reload Windoze, you would not need to reformat the 2nd partition containing your data... just a thought.

[peteywheatstraw]

actually i formatted the hdd when i selected restart in dos from Win 98. after i did that i get invalid system disk, replace disk message. then when i boot from Win 98 boot disk when the A: comes up i get the Type the name of the Command Interpreter (e.g. C:\Windows\Command.com). from there i can get nothing to come up but that message over and over. i can't fdisk or change directories or anything from there.

i've done this same thing with 2 seperate hdd's and tried everything i've read about these messages that i'm getting. anybody know what's going on?. i need some fairly simple instructions cuz i'm not a pc wiz or anything. i can't even get into my bios anymore, but i know the hdd was set to enabled when i was last in there. i appreciate the replies.

[Paul Komski]

I agree with Whyzman. Suggest you use fdisk to first delete all partitions. Then use it to create (http://partition.radified.com/) partition(s) of appropriate size. Then mark the first one as active. Reboot to the floppy (with CDROM support) and format the partition(s) and then run setup. Alternatively use BiNG or other 3rdParty partitioning utility (eg Ranish or Partition Magic) to do your partitioning/formatting.

[peteywheatstraw]

thanks for the advice. i tried to fdisk and i'm not able to for some reason. i made and fdisk floppy and put it in the floppy drive, turn on the pc and get a message of non-system disk or disk error, replace and strike any key when ready. is the floppy drive bad? i was able to boot from a win 98 boot disk though so i don't see why the fdisk i just made would give me this message? is it something i'm doing wrong in the transfer to the floppy? i downloaded fdisk 1.21, extracted it and then saved the extracted folder to the floppy disk. thanks for the help and the replies

[classicsoftware]

I think what you need to do is use the drive partitioning and formatting software supplied by the hard drive manufacturer.

You should check the bios to make sure booting to a floppy is set as an option.

[Whyzman]

I suspect you have a standalone fdisk copy. Once you're booted to the A: with win98 boot disk, you might try substituting your fdisk floppy and type in the appropriate command...probably just fdisk and then hit enter...

It would appear that your fdisk floppy does not have the necessary boot files...

Just saw Classic's response before submitting my reply...indeed, check to make sure that the first boot device is the floppy drive...

[peteywheatstraw]

i can't even get into the bios anymore for some reason. the stats screen that usually comes up in the beginning with the option to go into the bios doesn't come up anymore at all. i know before that screen went away that it was set to boot from the floppy and then hdd. is there any other way to get into the bios? F10 or none of that works.

[peteywheatstraw]

i'll try to put the fdisk floppy in and see if that works after i boot from the win 98 boot disk. thanks

[Whyzman]

How old is the machine? It sounds like you might want to swap the motherboard battery with a fresh one...

[peteywheatstraw]

noah was using it on the arc

[Whyzman]

Hehe...Bios info is contained on the CMOS chip which is maintained by the motherboard battery. Problems booting or getting into the BIOS itself could be symptoms of a failing battery...

[peteywheatstraw]

ok, somehow i got it to the A: without command interpreter error. but an error right above that says data error reading drive A. from the A: i typed fdisk and it says bad command or file name. i then typed C: and it changed to the C drive letter. i tried to fdisk from there but i got the bad command or file name. i then put in my ME installation cd and typed setup and that got the bad command or file name error as well. i'm scared to reboot it because this is the first time that i didn't get the interpreter error. any ideas from here?

[peteywheatstraw]

ok, if i replace the battery and am able to get into the bios from there, could i set it to boot from cd first and install Win ME from there?

[Whyzman]

could i set it to boot from cd first and install Win ME from there?Don't believe so...from the info you provided earlier, there seems to be a problem with the active partition which would mean that you need to access fdisk first...repartition and format...

System files are needed to get you to the A: The error you noted is displayed if the system files are corrupt or absent. Usually, fdisk is already combined with system files to get to the A: From there, it's usually just a matter of typing fdisk and then hitting enter.

[peteywheatstraw]

ok, somehow i was able to fdisk. i deleted and recreated the partitions and set the first one to active. after that i rebooted and typed format C: and went through that. i'm not sure which of the choices on my win 98 boot disk is with cdrom support. the options are:
1. Dos 6.22 , himem, 20 buffers, 60 files, last drive=k
2. Dos 6.22, oak technologies generic cd. himem, etc.
3. Dos 6.22, oak technologies generic cd, himem, ramdrive etc.

i tried the first option but it gives and error of data error reading drive A and asks do i want to abort, retry, ignore, fail. i chose ignore but now i can't get it back to the A:. it gives a bunch of commands and the then it has A:\>LH \vc\vc, and then a flashing cursor underneath i just want it to read the cd drive so i can load Win ME to the hdd. any ideas

[Paul Komski]

You could try creating a brand new boot diskette eg Win98 SE OEM from http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm. It has both fdisk and format as some of the dos utilities to be found on it.

You try creating a utility floppy from the maker of the hard drive as suggested by classicsoftware.

You could try a third party partitioner such a BiNG (in my sig) or Partition Magic or Ranish.

If you have the ability to boot from CDs you could try booting to the WinME installation CD as long as it is not an upgrade edition.

WinME is going to be on the cusp of being installable for a system of your vintage but that should not stop you from preparing for setup. It does look as if you are repeatedly accessing the hard drive or do you sometimes actually get to an A:\ prompt and if so do you see a list of the floppy's content if you enter dir at the A:\ prompt.

If you are sometimes booting to something it must be possible for you to enter the BIOS setup. Toggle ESC and Pause in the early stages to see if you can find the relevant <hotkey> to press for your system's setup menu or maybe you can find out what it is at http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm

[peteywheatstraw]

i tried creating a new 98 boot disk and i get a message of non-system disk or disk error, replace and strike any key when ready when i try to boot from it, i received the same message when i tried to boot from an fdisk i made earlier as well.

anyway, i was finally able to get into my bios using esc, i feel like a tool for not trying that sooner. i thought that i had but obviously i didn't. i then set it up to boot from the cdrom first and from there i get to the win ME setup. after getting through pretty much all of that i get to where i'm supposed to enter the product key and while i'm entering it everything locks up. i've cut it off and on 20 times and every time i get to that point it locks up. i even tried it on another hdd and when i get to that same spot it locks up as well. what could it be? it is a burned copy of ME on a cd, could that be causing the hangups? or is the processor too slow for ME? it's 455mhz. it has plenty of memory 512mb.

[Whyzman]

it is a burned copy of ME on a cd, could that be causing the hangups?If you're attempting to install pirated software this is not the place to ask further assistance...

[peteywheatstraw]

my bad. still having issues with it freezing up at the registration key part of setup. i think i might try 98 SE and see if that works. i appreciate everyones help tremendously. i apologize for the no no earlier, i should have thought before i typed.