Built a new computer but can't install O/S.

[Cawchy87]

Ok, i built a system and all the parts work (tested) and the harddrive is new.

I have:

Win 95 dos boot disc

Win 98SE

Win xp pro

I want to install 98SE and then XP on top of it. But... When I type "setup" in Dos it says that i have to partition a dos disc or something and XP can't install from dos.

What do i do?

Oh, and Dos doesn't recognize my hard drive but the bios do, and it new.

Thanks for your help!

 

[rui83]

make sure ur harddrive is FAT32 file system, try to get a win98 startup disk, and make sure the partition C: has marked active (you can do this in fdisk)

 

[Cawchy87]

I have a win 98SE cd-rom disc.

The problem is that my hard drive doesn't show up in dos... My C:\ is my cd-rom.

Thanks
paul

 

[sivart]

I would not recommend installing Windows XP on top of 98. Since you have a new hard drive do a clean install with the Windows XP disc (if you bought the upgrade version). It will ask during the installation to insert the Win 98 disc to verify that you own it.

The windows XP disc is bootable so just make sure your computer is set to boot from a CD ROM (in the BIOS, but will probably do it from default if it doesn't see anything in the floppy drive)

The reason that your hard drive doesn't show up in dos is because a) it is not formatted at all or b) is formated in NTFS. Since the hard drive is new, it is probably not formatted at all. During the windows xp install you will have the opportunity to create partitions and then format and install on any particular partition you have created.

No need to feel stupid, we all had to learn some time.

 

[Calin]

In fact you should create partitions on the hard drive (every partition will appear as a hard drive in Windows Explorer). You can create them with fdisk. You must create at least one partition, but the Windows 95 startup disk cannot create partitions bigger than 2 GB. So you need a Windows 98 startup disk.
Anyway, you can create two partitions and install each operating system in its own partitions (as I had on my home computer). Create first a partition which is to contain Windows 98 (but don't allocate all the space). Make it active, reboot, format it. Install Windows 98. After that, start WinXP setup and install it in the unpartitioned space. If you want the Win98 to see the WinXP partition, you must format it as FAT32 (not NTFS)
Anyway, as you don't have anything on your hard drive, you have nothing to lose

Calin

 

[OZEE]

Are you wanting to dual-boot 98SE and XP, or is your XP an update disk?

If it's an upgrade disk and all you want in your final install is XPPro, you shouldn't (?) have to install 98SE first, I think it'll just ask for you to insert the 98SE disk to prove that you're legit for the upgrade. In that case, XP can do the partitioning for you.

If you're wanting to dual-boot, you'll need to use fdisk to make a partition, like Calin said.

 

[CHAROD06]

How can I tell if I have a upgrade dics for my Windows Xp or the full version? When I got the computer the O/S XP was already installed. Now I'm having to re-installed my XP doing a clean install and running into problems.

 

[Calin]

If you received the XP on a new computer, I'd say it's not an upgrade.

Calin

 

[Fern]

Cawchy87. what brand of HD do you have available? Do you have a Maxtor handy?