install win98 with failing cd-rom

[volvodude101]

hi guys
my friend has an old compaq armada 4120 laptop with win95 onn it. we have wanted to install win98 but A) the bios doesn't seem to be accesable (to change boot order) and B) the cd-rom doesn't seem to be accessable from a dos boot disk. I thought that i could temporarily put the hdd in my pIII laptop just to install 98, but the attachment doesn't look like it should be tampered with. i will see if i can post a picture later (i'm on a wii). any ideas appreciated!

[Paul Komski]

Basically create a bootable partition on the drive in another PC (http://paulski.com/zpages.php?id=1711#append) by using format C: /sys using a DOS boot floppy (or floppy emulated CD). Then when you know you can boot to its C: prompt simply copy the Win98 folder to that partition from the CD. Now when you put the drive back into the original PC you can navigate to the C:\win98\ folder and run setup from there.

Maybe also read: http://paulski.com/zpages.php?id=1715

[volvodude101]

I managed to get the HD out of the laptop and inserted it into my own, which has a cdrom. I installed win98 to the hard drive, but when it rebooted, all I recieved from the installation was a blinking cursor in the top left corner of the screen. I reinstalled several times and tried making different file systems with a linux boot disk formater thing but it didn't help. I also tried installing DSL linux to the hard drive with the same cursor. I am beginning to think the hard drive has issues with being booted from. Maybe there is a way of storing OS files to the HDD but using a floppy to boot them up, instead of booting directly from the HDD
:) .......:eek:

[PhilXP]

How's the Condition of the CD

[Paul Komski]

Maybe there is a way of storing OS files to the HDD but using a floppy to boot them up, instead of booting directly from the HDD
As long as the Win98/Win9x folder is copied to an accessible partition on the hard drive then yes you can do all the commands from a DOS boot floppy.

I usually recommend the Win98 version from www.bootdisk.com since it has good CDROM support amongst other things. Check that the hard drive is properly "visible" using fdisk from the DOS floppy and that the correct partition has been set as active.

If you cannot get into the BIOS it implies that there may be some hardware failure (or a faulty or non recognisable USB keyboard) and a bare bones boot (http://paulski.com/zpages.php?id=1718) might help identify it. You should also be able to check the integrity of the hard drive with its manufacturer's utility on a boot floppy. You might also try a simple empirical approach and see if you can get into the BIOS with no HDD or floppy or CDROM attached.

[volvodude101]

I have heard from other people that there is no accessible BIOS on this type of laptop but I can try your suggestion. When I remove the HDD and power on it says "No fixed disk present. F1 save changes F2 ignore" but thats all it does (other than the memory test). And in answer to the CD-ROM...Before I erased win95, when I inserted a cd, to get to it I had to go into my computer, attempt to access the disk and when it said "the disk is not ready. Retry or Cancel" I held down enter for retry and if it didn't go into the disk folder, I ejected the disk, put it back in, and tried the whle thing again. sometimes it would take 7-8 ejects to finally get in.

[PhilXP]

you could try constantly hitting F1-F12 as its starting up and see if the bios pops up.

[volvodude101]

I managed to get this pice of crap working! There is a fat16 partition taking all but 85~ mb of the HDD and the 85 mb has a linux boot on it, and the fat16 has win98. The win98 boot won't work, but the linux boot will. It seems the first partition wont be able to boot on this disk. I also used a boot selector floppy to choose which system to boot from. the linux doesn't offer much compared to windows, but this laptop is barely used anyway by the owner, so Im not going to worry about it. But thanx for your help I will ask here in the future if I have any questions.

[Paul Komski]

It might have been worth an attempt to upgrade the BIOS (http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=96639&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=96224&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=20#120) but if everone is happy I would leave well alone.

[sifLord]

hit F10 immediately on boot when the cursor is displyed should get you into the bios/setup

The win98 boot won't work, but the linux boot will. It seems the first partition wont be able to boot on this disk. I also used a boot selector floppy to choose which system to boot from. the linux doesn't offer much compared to windows,

the linux bootloader grub or lilo is probably what you are refering to

fdisk/mbr usually erases the linux bootloader

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/69013
Some dual-boot programs have a special MBR that asks you at startup which operating system you want to use. The fdisk /mbr command erases this program. Dual-boot systems that boot whichever partition is marked Active are not affected by the fdisk /mbr command.

for future reference heres the maintenance manual http://bizsupport2.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01125118/c01125118.pdf