Help loading an Operating System, Please!

You need to make sure that your BIOS is looking for the CD drive at bootup. Since computers and the BIOS setup changes with each new version I can only give you a generic set of directions.

Turn the computer on, as it stats to bootup you will get a screen showing your memory and a few other things, one of those should be something to the effect "Press F2 to enter setup". It may be F1, F10 or DEL, just keep an eye out for it as the computer boots. You may have to boot your computer a few times to catch it.

Once you enter the BIOS setup look for an option to set the Boot devices and boot order. Set the CD Drive to be first for bootup.

Save the settings and reboot. Don't worry because if anything gets messed up you can always select "restore defaults" and start over.

Now you should be able to boot from the CD.....Oh and make sure that the CD drive is plugged in bothat the power cable and data cable. Sounds silly but this little thing is often over looked.

Good luck.

Heya! Richard, thanks pal! I'll give it a go. Should you ever need a UHV or any other Vacuum metalizer designed and built, give me a shout. Thanks again. P.S. Ever notice that new DVD or VCRs or anything else that requires a remote, also needs a 10 year old to do it? It is rather sad that I can design and build them but couldn't make'em work to save my life!

Let me know if this fixed the problem, if it doesn't we can look at a couple other posiblities.

Will do & thanks. No time tonight to try. Mom's day and all.

Is the hard drive correctly formatted? If it is incorrectly formatted (i.e. formatted without system files installed) it will not boot up. A correctly formatted slave drive without system files will store data perfectly well, but even reconfiguring it to master will not allow it to boot up the PC due to the lack of system files. In such a situation the only possible solution is to reformat the drive so that system files are installed i.e. entering the command format C: /s in DOS mode.

Don't forget to check whether the Win98 CD is bootable. if its not a bootable you will not be able to boot from the CD.

To install the Win98. you have to create the Bootable floppy disk. to do that you need a PC with Win98 installed and working properly.insert a floppy disk into the floppy drive of the system which is a working PC. and now follow the steps

1. Click Start>Settings>control Panel

2. Click Add Remove Programs.

3. look for the tab startup disk or some thing related to it

4. click create boot disk or some thing related to it

5. follow the steps in screen instruction.

6. the bootable floppy disk is ready. remove it from the PC

now to install step follows.

1. put the bootable floppy created in above system in the system in which you want to install win98

2. now change the BIOS settings.put floppy drive in highest priority.

3. boot the system. now a menu will ask you for to choose option. here select boot with CD support.

now the system boots.and shows which drive is CD drive.

4. goto cd drive using command and press enter

c:\> d:

d: is your CD drive it may vary from system.

5. type

c:\> setup

or

C:\>cd win98

c:\> setup

then the setup will begin

thats all. all the best

I think this last post might be close to the truth. It's been awhile since 98 but I can't think that my 98 SE cd could boot. That might explain all the Win 98 recovery discs lying around in the computer cabinet. In that case you would just need a bootable 1.44mb disc and set your boot sequence too look for the disc drive and not a harddrive or cd first. From the nice fake dos interface you should then be able to easily format the harddrive (if necessary) and install windows. Good luck with that though. At least XP made reinstalling easier.

Bernard

As far as I can see, all of the suggestions are GOOD advice and it should work as designed! It's always the "LITTLE THINGS" that getcha!! HA!

Hi Ashman!,

What is the specific message that comes up when you try to boot? "Not a bootable disk". Is that all it says? Are there any other messages?

If your Windows 98 CD is an upgrade version, i.e., an upgrade from Windows 95, 3.1, etc. that was running on the PC earlier, I'm pretty sure that it should still boot from the CD, however, it will not work if there's no OP system already on the hard drive.

If this is the case you either need to find a full version CD (along with 25 char. product code) or better, get a later OP system, XP, Vista, Linux, etc.

This is one suggestion. I'm sure there are lots of others

Cheers,

John

Hiya Johnjohn; It actually displays error...."Non-Bootable disk error"." Please insert boot disk into drive a and press enter" I think the problem may just be as to where this thing looks first. As I have 95,98,2000,mil.,xp pro full versions and they pretty much display the same error I am tending to lean toward the give it a boot floppy option. I had tried this before on another querum but got an error saying that the boot disk is not able to boot because of a hardware missconfiguration. Overall, I know that yes I could just go and buy a new one and toss this thing; However I am forty years old and I am not obsolete. Heck, if I can get this thing running for my kid to learn from, they have at least something way beyond what I had whem I was forced to learn WANG card readers back in the day. As well, you know what, just the responces are also a learning tool such that my child can learn from others other than from me. You know what worst comes to worst....The act of trying all of the possibilities teaches more than just gong out and buying a fix. Right? Note to everyone.... Thank-you for your words. Perhaps if you run into a new member of cr4/globalspec named 'ash'slittleone', you will know that you have had an integral role in furthering her education. Thank-you. P.S. that user name isn't taken so out of respect please don't take it thanks. Bye all.... The ASHMAN!

Hello Ash,

I tend to agree with it being some sort of problem with configuration. Lots of good advice here.

Since you brought up the "Wang" card reader, I too have dealt with such beasts. Never worked on a Wang but I've worked on lots of NCR card readers, card punches, paper tape readers, punches, etc. Even worked on G.E. Bull parallel card punches. The thing punched 80 columns simultaneously. Within its wormy innards the main shaft that did all the work rotated ~ 390 degrees per revolution. Thats not a typo. One rev = ~390 degrees (okay, I know I'm playing games with the degree wheel here). Anyway, the thing went forward from its starting point about 300 deg., then backed up 15 deg. then went forward again 75 deg. to its start/stop point. Weird machine!

Also worked on "High-speed" core memory computers. One of them had 800 words of main memory (1 word was 48 bits). It used binary coded decimal (BCD) instructions and data. It was a 4 address system. Compared to today's systems, those machines were real dinosaurs, but at the time they had one helluva lot of computing power. We didn't swap boards back then. We repaired down to the individual component.

Give 'ash'slittleone' my best. If she's anything like my two, she's gotta own your heart.

John

A very fruitful post! In all of this, I am enjoying all of the EXPERTISE that exists in our lot! ( It certainly would lead one to believe that a NEW thread talking about OUR roots in the Computer Industry/Hobby would be a VERY interesting one!) I "Cut my teeth" on my first "Civilian /Commercial" computer system known as "The BURROUGHS B-200/300 " systems and they ran at the HOT clock speed of 166 KC!! Can you believe it EVER got anything done? Prevoius to that time, all of my experience was in the Military and in the early 60's. Any takers?

As I recall Win98 did NOT Boot from a Disk. You either had to boot from the floppy or make one. Or run a win32 progrm from the CD which required a operating system.

This is odd because I have installed Windows 98 a number of times by booting from the CD. Maybe the version sold in the Pacific Northwest was different.

Maybe I had the Update version...

I don't remember forgetting!

I have always used the "Upgrade" version because it is a complete install CD but at half the price of the "Full" version. Just have to have a copy of an earlier version on hand to stick in a drive when Win98 asks for it to verify that you are eligible to use the "Upgrade" version. Something else to consider is that the copies I used were not part of any "Manufacture package" thus not subject to the proprietary BS often associated with computers.

I will also say that the copies of Win98 that I used came out 1-2 years after the initial release of Win98. Alas I can only speak for my experience with Win98, we all know that Bill Gates and Microsoft love to put out multiple versions of a program under the same name, so we may be trying to compare different revisions.

Hi Richard,

I stand corrected. I did not know that MS upgrade versions were complete OP systems. Good info.

Thanks,

John

Win 3.11 was the last true "incremental" update put out by Microsoft since it was still based soley on DOS. When Win95 hit the scene and each OS since have all been based on different base code. Much like today with Vista which is nothing like XP.

Hey Yani; Good comment! Have you had to testify before the Supreme Court Before?

In as much as my recollection of the aforementioned event has lost its specificity to any particular frame of reference that I no longer retain. I cannot in good conscience respond to your interrogatory with any certainty........

just some tid-bits...

If you only have the upgrade CD, there is a way to "trick" it into releasing the full version that is on the CD (at least that is the case for XP). if you need this "trick" I would have to look it up.

Also, before you can boot up an operation system you need to have the new hard drive formatted with the FAT-32. did you do this already? I don't remember if installing win98 does this automatically or not, but just booting from a floppy will not do it.