need help installing OEM OS on gateway

[fyrguy316]

i was given an old gateway computer for free loaded with win 98. it had some problems and needed to be reloaded. i wasn't given the the original gateway install cd, but i do have my own version of 98. i formatted the C drive from the "C" prompt and tried to install it but it won't recognize any cd or floppy that i have to install 98. do i need the original gateway cd or is there a way around this? i'm only setting this computer up on 98 for my 2 year old niece to play games. its not real vital i get this to work, but why throw out a working machine. i've tried various boot disks and nothing works, it says everything is invalid.

any info and help would be appreciated. thanks

 

[bruceb]

You need to make a bootable win98 cd

Try this:

Step 1: Make sure you have the following
A: Windows 98 Cab files or CD
B: Windows 98 Bootdisk www.bootdisk.com
C: CD Burner
D: Blank CD
E: CD Burner software (I prefer Nero)

Step 2: Make the disk
A: Put in blank disk
B: Put in boot disk
C: Open Nero (or other)
D: Tell it you are creating a bootable disk
E: It will ask you to browse to the floppy for boot record
F: Then drag your 98 files over and click burn

If you want it to got directly to windows setup, you will need to modify the autoexec.bat on the boot disk to do so.

 

[soonerproud]

You could also try using Ubuntu or another linux distro and just install games from the package manager for the kids. It will be much more stable and a lot less likely the kids can mess it up, forcing you to go through this again.

 

[fyrguy316]

Originally posted by: bruceb
You need to make a bootable win98 cd

Try this:

Step 1: Make sure you have the following
A: Windows 98 Cab files or CD
B: Windows 98 Bootdisk www.bootdisk.com
C: CD Burner
D: Blank CD
E: CD Burner software (I prefer Nero)

Step 2: Make the disk
A: Put in blank disk
B: Put in boot disk
C: Open Nero (or other)
D: Tell it you are creating a bootable disk
E: It will ask you to browse to the floppy for boot record
F: Then drag your 98 files over and click burn

If you want it to got directly to windows setup, you will need to modify the autoexec.bat on the boot disk to do so.

hey bruceb thanks for the info. it worked. i found i had 2 problems. the boot disks i had were bad. must have got next to heat or something and the floppy drive was bad too. i changed floppies and tried my disks and they still didn't work. i tried it your way and it worked. booted from floppy, put in cd and ran setup. thanks a lot i appreciate it.