Installation Problems

[varissul]

Gateway 2000 PC, Western Digital HD, Wearnes CDD820 CDRom, Generic Floppy

Problem: Used PC, sweeped clean, no files. Only CMD directory. Trying to install Windows 98 SE, no go. Error reading cdrom drive. Message: CD101: not ready reading drive E (where E is cdrom). Start up disk works up to this point but won't read cd.

Tried: I downloaded the drivers for this cdrom devise. It's a .zip file. Changed the file to .exe. Tried to install. No go. PC has no MSCDEX file.

Question(s): Where can I get a MSCDEX file and how to I install it; or do I even require this....
or
Does anyone know how I can install Windows on this PC?

Thanks for the Help.

[BigBlue66]

Hey,

I'm going for the easy answer on this one. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Go to www.bootdisk.com (http://www.bootdisk.com) and download a 98SE boot disk that provides CD-ROM support. Simple as that. The boot disk will have a generic CD-ROM driver that works for most units out there. When you use the boot disk, you will get a menu with three options, one of them being, "Start the Computer With CD-ROM Support". Once booted, if you can change to the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive, then you're good to go. Just type Setup, (with the 98 CD in the drive of course) and away you go.

Good luck.

Big Blue 66


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"Right turn Clyde!"

[bassman]

Be sure to look and see what drive letter is assigned to your CD during the bootup proccess with the 98 boot disk. It is not always the next available letter. After you install OS it will then assume next available letter.
Most times when I use 98 boot disk it assigns "R".

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If I tell you to think for yourself, then your not doing it.
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This is not directed at those asking questions in order to gain knowledge. That shows you are thinking.

[varissul]

No good. Downloaded boot disk, inserted into pc then tried to boot. Got "invalid system disk" error.
Do I need to reformat the HDD?
What else can I do?
Do you think the CDRom could be fried?
HELP. This thing is giving me a killer headache! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/mad.gif

[bassman]

Is the "Error" from the boot disk? If so, it may be a bad floppy or floppy drive.
You may need to copy MSCDEX to the HDD. From A:/ type Copy_MSCDEX_c:, use spaces in place of the underscores.
98 bootdisk should handle this for you though.

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If I tell you to think for yourself, then you're not doing it.
.
.
This is not directed at those asking questions in order to gain knowledge. That shows you are thinking.

[dazed&confused]

Also, check your CMOS settings to make sure your boot sequence is correct. It sounds like that error message may be referring to the hard drive, which is currently an invalid disk. Don't want to insult your intelligence, but I have no way of knowing how knowledgeable you are. So... if you need instructions on how to change CMOS settings, I'm sure everyone here is happy to help - just post your questions.

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"Many times I've wondered how much there is to know." -Led Zeppelin

[varissul]

No need to worry about insulting me....
I got it to work - finally. It seems the CDROM drive is on it's last leg. PC was a doner from some guy who downgraded everything before donation. He stripped it clean of all it's parts. R & R'd the CDROM and now she's working fine. Thanks for all the help, guys. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif