Need help! Cannot install any OS

[thefish8]

My computer will not install 98 or XP. I had it on dual boot originally and I could not get into XP for some reason. I decided to reformat and now I can't install either.

I posted a thread yesterday and the responses were helpful but didn't work out. One person said to use DELPART which didn't help me because my hard drive is no longer partitioned. Another guy gave me a link to the Data Lifegaurd Tools which I thought was helpful. I ran that program successfully.

Now when I try and install 98 or XP, with 98 I got an error reading "cannot create a temporary directory for HPFS or NTFS on hard drive. Create an MS-DOS boot partition to set up windows. " I basically don't know where to go from here.

Please, please help me. I would appreciate any information anyone can give me.

My System
AMD Athlon XP 1800
20 gig WD Hard Drive
the mobo is whatever I got at the XP givaway so its an MSI something
MSI geforce2 mx vid card

Thanks for anyone who helps.

 

[thefish8]

I used fdisk to partion and then I tried to install 98 but it couldn't install.

I either got a message that said error loading user.exe or it just quit back to DOS.

Please help. Thanks.

 

[thefish8]

bump

 

[IJump]

After you did the fdisk, can you boot witht he win98 setup floppy, go to Start computer with CD-Rom support. Switch to the cd-rom drive, switch to the \win98 folder, and format c:? I know that is a long string of instructions, but it is the most basic procedure. If you can't do that, I would look at the partitions and make sure something isn't screwy there.

 

[thefish8]

I can boot with the 98 floppy but I don't understand what you mean switch to the CD drive.

I can go and type like E: and then type format C:, if thats what you mean. I am not sure.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Try booting from the 98 boot disk and typing fdisk/mbr. If your master boot record is at fault, this will repair it.

 

[steell]

Did you use a Win98 startup disk, and format the disk, after you partitioned it?

 

[IJump]

<< I can go and type like E: and then type format C:, if thats what you mean. I am not sure. >>

Yep, that's what I mean. I would try that, then the suggestion about fdisk/mbr.

 

[thefish8]

i used the boot disk to format the partitioned drives and I even tried the fdisk/mbr, but I was unsuccessful in both cases. Thanks though.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

See below

 

[Spike]

the mobo is whatever I got at the XP givaway so its an MSI something

Not that this will help your situation at all, but for future reference, the motherboard you won is the MSI K7T pro-RU. At least, that is the one I got with the athlonXP at the speed trap raffle thingee. That may help you with future problems or bios upgrades if you can figure out how to get an OS installed.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

<< My computer will not install 98 or XP. I had it on dual boot originally and I could not get into XP for some reason. I decided to reformat and now I can't install either. >>


First read This and This to be certain you installed the dual boot correctly because it could explain the inability to acess XP after creating the dual boot and how to do it correctly(if you didn't). Next, either perform a low-level format on your HDD or go into the BIOS and set the CD-ROM as the initial/primary boot device. Make sure the XP CD is in the CD drive and reboot the system. When it's finished booting you should be able to perform the install by partitioning and formating the HDD using XP's easy to follow guide. Good luck and hang in there. EDIT: if you weren't already aware of it, the recovery console offers alot of options that may still be of use and would probably have prevented the need to reformat as well. Read it thoroughly, perhaps there is something you can use there. XP recovery console