How do I correct this?

[Cloud84]

I installed Windows 98, and then installed Windows XP because I can't boot from the CD. I selected the option in Windows XP Installation setup where it erases everything, but somehow I am left with Windows 98, and Windows XP, and it's got a select screen when I boot up the computer. I also have 2 drives now-

C: FAT32 7.85GB capacity
E: NTFS 66.6GB capacity


I only want one drive, with Windows XP, and NTFS. How do I fix this? I just installed Windows XP on here today so now files have been installed yet or anything...

Tim

 

[Blazer]

reinstall XP,when at the partition section delete all partitions and recreate a single partition to install XP on

 

[Cloud84]

Alright, I'll try that. Thanks.

 

[spyordie007]

or use something like partition magic to remove the FAT partition and assign the space to the existing NTFS partition.

You would have to put the boot files onto the "E" partition and fix the MBR from the recovery console. But if you care about the current install of Windows (settings, installed apps, etc) than it might be easier to fix the problem rather than reinstall.

 

[Cloud84]

Ok I put the XP CD in and started the installation. It came up showing 2 partitions. C and E. It let me delete the partition E(66gb Windows XP), but i wouldn't let me delete C because it said it contained necessary setup files. I didn't know what else to do so I selected E for it to start formatting that and installing Windows XP. Now that I think about it, I doubt this is going to correct the problem as mostly likely it will just put windows XP right back on there in the same configuration I had it in. So if this is the case and I still have C(8gb Windows 98 FAT32) and E(66GB Windows XPNTFS), how can I use partition magic to bring it all under one partition which is Windows XP and NTFS? Thanks.

Tim

 

[robtk3]

You have a motherboard that can't boot from CD?

 

[robtk3]

Do you have a hard drive utility CD? That disk shouldn't have a problem overwriting Win98.

 

[tiap]

If you still have win 98 make a boot disk from there. Start the box with the boot diskw/cd support, fdisk and delete all partitions, then make the whole drive one partition, then formate, then put in xp cd and hit setup or autorun.

 

[Blazer]

then you did something wrong,XP CAN delete all partitonns [even a existing OS] and reformat the entire drive .

 

[daveshel]

Originally posted by: blazer
then you did something wrong,XP CAN delete all partitonns [even a existing OS] and reformat the entire drive .

The system is booting from the 8GB drive: that is where the boot files reside. You need to boot from the CD-ROM or a boot floppy that enables CD-ROM support. I'd pull the 8GB drive until after the install as well.

 

[Cloud84]

The 8gb part is actually a partition to one drive though, the 80gb drive. It's, or was, 2 partitions. One being 66gb and the other being 8gb. I'm going back through and trying a reformat and reinstall. I went into fdisk and tried deleting the partitions out so I could make one big partition. It allowed me to delete the 66gb partition, but not the 8gb partition. Said I needed to delete all logical drives first, but when I tried displaying all logical drives, it said there were none, lol. Makes no sense. At any rate I tried all possible combinations to delete that last partition and it wouldn't do it. I put the Windows 98 CD in and booted from that, setup came up and said that it needed to combine unallocated space(I guess meaning it now saw 66gb not being used for anything and wanted to combine it, hopefully?), so I said OK and it began formatting the drive, now it's installing Windows 98. I'll have to check and see if it got it right. Will let you all know....

Tim

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: robtk3
You have a motherboard that can't boot from CD?

That's my question as well. Installing XP over 98 is not the best approach to this. Let's figure out why you can't boot from your XP CD.

 

[robtk3]

I agree with MrChad. XP over 98 is not the way to go. You said it just booted from the 98 CD. Why don't you boot from the XP disk?