reinstalling windows 98

dobro

dobro

Well-known member
I'm going to reinstall windows 98, and I've never done it before. I've backed up everything I want and got my drivers handy. How's this for a procedure:

1 Go into My Computer and scrub the C drive.

2 Win 98 startup disk into floppy drive. Type <fdisk>. Go through the procedure, and then reboot with the floppy. Type <format c:/u/s> and go through the procedure.

3 Reinstall Win 98 from the CD.

Okay? Or recipe for disaster?
 
I'm really no expert here.

I format c: from Dos mode, don't spose it matters where you do it from.

Yeah, then F disk. Then load cd-rom driver. Then Win98 CD.

Not sure about the <format c:/u/s> bit, but apart from that I don't think it'll be too disasterous.

Best
Klytus
 
I'm no expert either, but had to reinstall 95 once.

The most important thing is to get your cd-rom drivers on that floppy, so you can access the win98 cd. If I remember right you need mscdex.exe, your cd-rom driver, and you need to alter your config.sys and autoexec.bat. I don't know what the /u/s parameters are but I'm pretty sure you'll have nothing on your drive, not even dos. I'm sure there are others that can be of more help. Be SURE what your doing and you'll save some youself some headaches.
 
Klytus, Roktuk - the bit about the CDROM driver having to be on the startup disk makes sense - thanks. I took a look at what's on my Win 98 boot disk. In addition to Mscdex, config.sys and autoexec, there's an application called 'Findcd' - anybody know if that will get the system reading the CDROM?

And no, I have no idea what I'm doing, Roktuk. :D
 
No need to fdisk unless you want to create some different partition setup.

1. From Windows: Create a boot disk. go to 'run', type command. Put a blank floppy in. Type 'sys a:' from the a: prompt.

Then Type:

copy c:\windows\command\format.com a:
copy c:\windows\command\mscdex.exe a:
copy mtmcdai.sys to the floppy (I'll email this to you)

copy autoexec.dob and config.dob to a: (i'll email these to you)

Rename autoexec.dob to autoexec.bat and config.dob to config.sys

Sometimes easier to do this from a DOS prompt

'rename autoexec.dob autoexec.bat'
'rename config.dob config.sys'

2. Reboot with the boot disk in the a: drive

From the c: prompt type 'format c: /s/q/u'

-The autoexec.bat and config.sys will automatically get your cd-rom working as long as you boot with the boot disk.

Put your 98 CD in, type 'setup'

Follow the instructions.


* No ' ' on anything.

By backup I assume you've moved it to CD-R or something. The above will kill everything on your C drive.
 
If it's that simple, you're a computer genius as well as a recording genius. I spent two hours this afternoon coming up with the sequence in the first post patchworked together from various threads in the archives. Damn. Let you know how it works.
 
Ok, even simpler. Fdisk or format from dos. Then go into your bios and set the boot order to CDROM,C. Reboot.
Windows will find an empty drive and take care of the rest.

To get to your bios, hold down the delete key as your computer posts (counts down memory).
 
Wes is right in that many new PC's have capability of booting from CD-Rom. But NOT ALL! The BIOS AND the CD-ROM must both be bootable. I have a homebuilt P3 that will do it, but a new Compaq that won't.

Oh....ANd the CD must be a bootable disk, too....like the floppy.
-H2H
 
The Windows 98 reinstallation was a breeze - it was all the stuff afterwards that was (and still is) a giant pain in the nether regions. Thanks Emeric - I owe you one. I've decided to name the floppy the Emeric Booter in your honor.
 
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