Problems installing Windows 98

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
41,379
10,493
136
Edit: I guess I found the problem... see next post.
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My plan is to install 3 OS's on my 2nd PC. Until yesterday I had these on it, all on one HD:

Empty boot partition C: FAT 1 GB
D: Windows 98SE 2nd Ed. FAT32 1.5 GB
WinNT 4.0 NTFS 2.5 GB
Windows 2000 NTFS 10 GB
Two more partitions, one for apps the other data

I decided to dispense with WinNT and do this:

Windows 98SE 2nd Ed.
Windows 2000
Windows XP Pro

So, I put the boot drive as slave on my main box and removed all the partitions and created new ones using Partition Magic 7.0 on XP Pro:

3 GB FAT32 (for Windows 98)
6 GB NTFS (for Windows 2000)
23 GB NTFS (for Windows XP Pro)
27 GB NTFS (for data, or maybe another OS, Linux or XP Pro)

I put the drive back in the other PC and attempted to install Windows 98. I have two Windows 98 install disks: Windows 98SE and Windows 98SE 2nd Edition. For some reason, the PC wouldn't boot from the 2nd edition CD, so I tried installing from the other one, Windows 98SE Full. It boots from it, but when I go to install, it says it is going to format the HD and asks me to wait and immediately a message comes up for me to insert the Windows 98 CD and press enter. Since the CD is already in there I press Enter and the same message appears after disappearing for 1/10th of a second where I can see it says that the format is 0% complete. What could be wrong? Does the whole drive have to be FAT32 for Windows 98 to install on it?? I have some boot floppies. Is there a way I can reformat the drive using them, if necessary? Or should I put it back in my other PC?

I have reason to doubt that the HD is really OK. The mobo I had in there last would sometimes not recognize the presense of the drive. I thought it was a mobo issue and swapped it out yesterday. In BIOS now the HD is seen, but I'm having this problem. I could put the drive in my other box and run a HD eval utility.
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
41,379
10,493
136
I think I see the problem. I put in a Windows 2000 install CD and it shows that the original 1 GB FAT partition was never deleted! It says it's unformatted or damaged! I'll have to repartition or reformat the 60 GB drive. I'm still not sure it's OK. Looks like either Partition Magic (or I) botched the job. :confused: I think I will just swap it out with a spare 80 GB drive I have, test it later.