Win 98SE Install problem

**nodnerb2** · January 20th, 2003, 03:50 PM

Hi,

I am trying to install Win 98SE on a freshly fdisked and formatted 13 Gb Maxtor HDD.

I start with a Win 98 Boot Disk( I got a new one from Bootdisk.com in case the one I was using was to manufacturer specific) It starts and I select Option 1 start Computer with CD Support( I have the OS in the CD Rom Drive). A few things come up on the screen and it basically ends up at a screen saying the CDROM Drive is E:

I have been typing A:\>cd e: the screen changes momentarily to E:\ and then goes back to A:\>

What am I doing wrong here?

Cheers

Nodnerb2

**NeoStarO1** · January 20th, 2003, 03:53 PM

Hi There, check to make sure that when in dos mode the CD Rom isn't reassigned to R. My computer does that anytime I use a boot disk to use dos.

Also your win98 (full version) should be bootable from CD Rom, go to bois and double check to make sure your boot order is CDROM,FDD, HDD.

shouldn't need to boot disk.

**ryogenetic** · January 20th, 2003, 03:55 PM

first thing comes to mind is why cd? why not just e: second thought is how many rom drives do you have? are they set to master and slave? Seen that kick people off if it finds them at all.

Ryo

**PresterJohn** · January 20th, 2003, 03:56 PM

are you sure the cdrom is assigned to e:? reboot & watch the screen carefully.

first eliminate the cdrom variable...insert a different cd (anything with plain files) into the drive and see if you can read it.

**NeoStarO1** · January 20th, 2003, 04:02 PM

well I am assuming because he fdisk that he has more than one partition. Thus the drive order is not going to be the same.

I usally find that CD Rom has been assigned to R. has been the case with msyelf on just about every machine. Not sure if it has to do with my bootdisk or not.

**Epidemic** · January 20th, 2003, 04:09 PM

Have you just typed e:

CD e:\ is not the same thing.

I tried it and it flashed e: for a second as well.

Typing E: works for me.

**PresterJohn** · January 20th, 2003, 04:42 PM

epidemic is correct. funny, how i overlooked that!

if you typed "cd e:\", you merely changed the default search path for E:...you did not change the active drive.

type e: and proceed from there.

**NeoStarO1** · January 20th, 2003, 04:45 PM

Wow, i have never run into that before. I guess its cuz i never type in the / thus haven't ran across that problem before.
I always just been too lazy to type in an extra character. lol

Amazing the things a person keeps learning here.

**nodnerb2** · January 20th, 2003, 05:16 PM

Hi,

I have made the CDROM the first boot device(It slave on the cable if this has any bearing).

I have carefully watched the restart and can confirm that the Drive letter assigned to the CDROM is E:

I have been typing from the A Prompt cd C: it goes to c:\ for a sec ot two and then goes back to the A Prompt. The same goes when I try cd D: and cd E:. CD F: and every other letter of the alphabet other than A and B give an "Invalid Drive Specification" error when they are tried.

The CD I am using is an OEM one I bought off a guy at a Computer Fair a couple of months ago. It doesn't start p when I put it into the drive of another PC running Win ME so I copied it onto a CDR and added an AUTORUN File.

The contents was
[AUTORUN]
OPEN=SETUP.EXE
With this file it ran when Iput it back into the machine I had copied it on.

This didn't make any difference so I changed it to

OPEN=OEMSETUP.EXE

What else can I do to make it boot off the CD?

The Drive does run when the CD is put in and when the boot process first starts during the time when there is a message something like "Looking for Boot Record on CDROM". This soon changes to "Looking for Boot Record on Floppy" and the start up process begins.

Cheers

Nodnerb2

**PresterJohn** · January 20th, 2003, 05:23 PM

nodnerb,

please reread the last post from epidemic & myself. the cd you have does not appear to be bootable.

insert the boot floppy in the drive and reboot again. place the cd into the cdrom drive and type e: followed by setup

this should work.

fyi, the steps you did with the autorun stuff will not make your cd bootable. if there is no boot loader on the disc, you simply won't be able to boot from it, period. use the boot floppy mentioned above and try again.

**nodnerb2** · January 20th, 2003, 07:07 PM

Hi,

It's a runner.

I was reading an article at www.bootdisk.com and followed the instructions there to make one with Easy CD Creator.

While I was playing around with it I copied the whole Start Up Disk onto the HDD.

Do you think this could be the reason why each time I restart it I get an option to start with CD ROM Support etc?

I will re-insert it as a slave tomorrow and remove all except the IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS and Command.com and see if this helps, I'll post back with the results.

In the meantime Thanks very much for your help and suggestions.

Cheers

Nodnerb2

**Richard Cranium** · January 20th, 2003, 07:15 PM

I'd start over.

Stick in the boot disc, say Yes to CD Rom Support

at the A: prompt, type in
format c:

at the volume label prompt, type in
C

when finished, type in
sys c:

when finished, type in
setup

That's it.