I really need some help guys.

[Supradude]

i think if i read correctly from the start, you can't get the floppy to boot right, so you were askig bout booting cd-roms...

do this: unhook all the uneeded devices while installing OS , leave only the floppy, 1 cd-rom drive and your main hardisk, don't even include the slave HD if you have one... go to bios and boot from floppy with your start-up disk inside...

choose: start without cd -rom support (theres a reason, its faster, won't need cd yet)

at then a:fdisk
choose (Y) for large disk support
follow the directions 5 to pick main drive (if you unhooked everything
like i suggested, you should only have one hd) but pick C:
then proceed to delete partition, then dcreate primary dos partition
exit...
then type a:format c:
this formats the drive, upon completion, reboot...
THIS time pick start WITH cd-rom support
@ a: (with OS cd inside)
d:setup (change d to whatever they say is your cd rom, theres a prompt
that omes up right before the a: prompt that tells you what
drive letter your cd-rom is...)
Proceed to install!

 

[Plantanthera]

1. Use a drive overlay program to creat your partition & format.

2. The best way to treat your HDD & partitions is to use FDISK.

3. FDISK method - Create a DOS/Win9.x Boot disk and make sure it have FDISK & FORMAT command on it (XCOPY is also nice to have).

4. Make sure the BIOS have A: floppy in its boot sequence.

5. Boot puter with the newly created boot disk in A:

6. At DOS promt type, FDISK then sellect 4th choice to view your partition info (chose Y for large disk support).

7. [ESC] out to the main menu to create or del partitions.

8. If you don't need to have more than 4 partions, then you only need to create primary partitions.

9. Create a 8GB (Older Bios can't see more than 7800megs) partition and make it active (must have a primary active partition to boot system, default is C: )

10. Create additional partitions if needed.

11. [ESC] back out to DOS promt and reboot with boot disk in A: drive.

12. Win9.x/me - Reboot the puter, and at DOS promt type, FORMAT C:/S/U (format all partitions if needed, you don't need the /S switch when format the nonActive partitions)

13. Reboot with the OS CDrom & make sure CDROM is the first boot device in BIOS boot sequence, and chose Setup choice to install your OS.

14. Follow the Wizard to install your OS.


* Win2k - Follow step 1-11 as above, then the step below to setup your puter.

12.a Reboot with the Win2k CDrom & make sure CDROM is in BIOS boot sequence, and follow instruction on the screen to setup up your puter.

 

[mikef208]

Okay I got all the partitions made, for some reason it worked this time, now I need to format, I was hoping i wouldn't have to wait to get a boot disk from someone else.

 

[mikef208]

Okay new developments, I found a disk with format on it, but when I try to format it says wrong DOS version or something, How do I fix this?

 

[mikef208]

One of you incredibly smart people has to know how to fix this. LMK Thanks

 

[mikef208]

Okay this is the last time I will bump this, i think, hopefully someone can help me.

 

[erub]

go get a proper startup disk (made from win98, as another user posted) and then run the format command off of it.

 

[Plantanthera]

If you don't have FORMAT command on your floppy disk...Then, run the FORMAT command from you CDrom (You must boot from CDrom or have install the driver to access the CDrom drive)

Boot the system with CDrom support then change to the apropriate folder & CDrom drive at promt, by type, CD D:\win98 , then type, FORMAT C:/S/U

 

[mikef208]

Okay I managed to format the drive, but let me explain my next problem. I have an LS 120 which i think is the A: drive, my primary active partition is the c:, my two logical drives in the extended partition i think are d: and e:, but yet if I try to do anything with the F: drive which i thought was my DVD drive, it says something like invalid drive or some other thing. What the heck is wrong.

 

[bacillus]

are you starting up with the startup disk & choosing startup with cd support?
like I said previously, the ram drive created pushes up your dvd letter up by one so if your dvd is normally F, it will temporarily be G so type in
"G:" without the prompts at the A prompt to switch drives to your dvd. you should see a G: prompt & type setup & press enter with your OS cd in the drive!

 

[mikef208]

Yeah i got past that part, and the OS started to install by scanning my system, then it goes thorugh that little pecentage bar as it starts the wizard, it gets to 100% then freezes. I don't know why?

 

[Dennis Travis]

What is your system? What motherboard, CPU, RAM, HDD Etc.

 

[mikef208]

It is an abit kt7a raid, with a duron 650, 64MB Micron RAM(PC100), 30.7GB Western Digital, geforce 2 MX, Pioneer 16x slot DVD, Zip 250, Ls 120.

 

[emjem]

Are you sure the system is locked up? Sometimes it takes a while after the scan to get moving again.

Otherwise, boot to the floppy again and at the A: prompt type: scandisk

Run that to see if finds any errors on the hdd.

 

[mikef208]

well thats what I got to wondering about, emjem. i thought maybe I was just imaptient. First of all it runs scandisk before the install and said it found no errors, secondly, i just tried it a few minutes ago, and I waited for it for at least 1 or 2 minutes, how long could it take.

 

[Dead3ye]

First off, You need to start over, from the very begining. You need to get all of the utilities you need (FDISK, FORMAT, etc) from one os version. That's what your first error was telling you. You partitioned your HD with one version of FDISK and then tried to format with another version. IT MATTERS! I would guess you used a DOS 6.22 version for one of them. Get a Win98 boot disk from sombody. That would be your easiest and most painless way to do it.

 

[mikef208]

Thanks Dead3ye, but I have solved that problem a while ago, now my problem is the computer hanging suring the setup wizard for install.

 

[emjem]

Well 2 minutes out to be enough unless your building a 386 machine.

I would guess that a windows install hang up at the end would be some sort of resource conflict. Is your mouse cursor still working on this hang up or is it frozen as well?

Did you install windows with all devices removed except hdd, cdrom, floppy and vid card? Make sure you disconnect that LS120 before loading the OS.

It's a dumb question, but is the os being installed on the C: partition?

 

[Dead3ye]

I know you got past that part. But now your having problem with scandisk, right? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you never make to the actual windows setup screen.

 

[mikef208]

Yes dead3ye I do make it thorugh scandisk, then the next thing it does it pop up a percentage bard and says htat it is initializing setup wizard, it gets to 100 then it stops, i let it sit for a minute or two, but still got nothing, just sits on 100%. All I have in the macjine is the mobo, cpu, vid card, dvd drive, zip drive, hard drive, and ls 120, do I really need to unplug the LS 120 before I try to install, if so why?

 

[Dead3ye]

I would do what emjem suggested. I would only install the hardware that was necessary to get Windows installed. That means disconnecting the zip drive and the LS 120. You can add those later after you get everything else working.

It's worth a shot and good luck.

You know, I just realized that not once is it mentioned what OS you're trying to install. What are you installing?

 

[mikef208]

Okay i will try that, sorry about not listing the OS, I have a couple threads on this, and don't know exactly what I have in both. As of now I am installing Win ME, cause it is all I got, but I am hoping to get 2K soon.

 

[mikef208]

Okay here is a new update. I recently tried to install Me again, this time with a mouse, but no zip or LS 120. By using the mouse i did discover, that the computer is not actually freezing, cause the mouse still moves, but it just kinda hangs at 100%. What is wrong with it, and how do i fix it?

 

[Dead3ye]

Wow, this is a tough one. I never dealt with ME and don't plan to in the near future. I would suspect that it installs the same as Win98, which I've installed more time than I'd like to admit. Never had the problem your having though. I have had the computer "lock up" and still have the mouse move while running an app. I can't tell you what's going on because I havn't a clue.

If would suggest starting a new thread with this problem and see what responses you get with it. Make sure you put what's going on in the title.

Sorry I couldn't have been more help.

 

[mikef208]

Yeah I already did that(start a new thread), but it didn't matter, I just tried it again this morning and let it sit while I took a shower and it apparently just takes a while, cause I got done and then looked at it and about 3 minutes later it continued on as normal. I have installed it a couples of times and it has never taken that long. Oh well.