I feel so stupid, windows won't install. Me or the OS?

[MoPMatrix]

Ok I have a 550mhz comp that has an old 6GB maxtor HD in it...
I was gettin a router from a friend and I wanted to get that comp up and running so I could stick it on the network...
So I started it up, formated the HD, and started the 98se setup.
It was all goin fine, it copyed all the files and had to restart for the first time, but when it came back up it asked again to boot from HD or CD, I tryed both, nether worked.
When I tryed startin from the CD it wanted to start the setup all over again.
And when I tryed to boot from the HD it would show the windows loading screen then flip back to dos and say "Type the name of the command interpreter (e.g. C:\windows\command.com) C>"

It's like it dosen't wana compleat the setup after the restart.
Theres no boot up floppys or anything in the drive eather....
(I've used that 98se cd before so I know it works)

Anyone know what it could be?
I'm guessin it's prob something stupid I did wrong :P

[fearless]

Is your rig o/c'ed? If so, try loading at spec speeds as the files may be getting corupted.

This could be a long shot but...do you have the virus warning enabled in your bios? Disable if you do and try again.

Dr.

[Oni]

tell it where your command.com is on your harddrive. It might go after that.

[MoPMatrix]

Originally posted by Oni
tell it where your command.com is on your harddrive. It might go after that.

How would I do that?
I don't know where it is... :P


It's not overcloaked or anything,, all default bios settings
No virus programs running eather.

[turd]

sounds like u got a bad install, just reformat, try again


sometimes it just happens

um also its


c:\windows\command.com

that u need to type

[KILLorBE]

Try another CD-rom, maybe you should run scandisk your HD could be bad.

[MoPMatrix]

I typed c:\windows\command.com before and it didn't work....
I reformated and installed windows 3 times.. same thing every time...
And windows runs scan disk at the windows setup and it's fine...
And I've used that CD before so I know it's good...

So I dunno...

[Teacher_Doug]

One thing you could try is to FDISK, not just format. If your boot partition has older data left on it, it may be corrupting the install.

FDISK from a boot floppy, delete the active partition, re boot and set up with large disk support and partitions of your choice. Then format the HD and try a fresh clean install :beer:

[jw50]

Command.com is a hidden DOS system file in the root directory of your C: drive. If that file is not present then your hard drive probably is not bootable. When you create a bootable floppy command.com is one of the files that is copied to the floppy to make it bootable. If I remember right the other files are like io.sys and msdos.sys (or something like that). You might have a screwed up FAT on your hard drive, you may need to do a low level format.

[MoPMatrix]

Originally posted by drobb2
One thing you could try is to FDISK, not just format. If your boot partition has older data left on it, it may be corrupting the install.

FDISK from a boot floppy, delete the active partition, re boot and set up with large disk support and partitions of your choice. Then format the HD and try a fresh clean install :beer:

Thats the way I already do it,, del the old partitions, format, make new partition, install windows....


Originally posted by jw50
Command.com is a hidden DOS system file in the root directory of your C: drive. If that file is not present then your hard drive probably is not bootable. When you create a bootable floppy command.com is one of the files that is copied to the floppy to make it bootable. If I remember right the other files are like io.sys and msdos.sys (or something like that). You might have a screwed up FAT on your hard drive, you may need to do a low level format.

How u do a 'low' level format?
format c: L ? :P
S?

[bobt17]

u need to download a special program to do a low level format depending on your HD but it dosent sound like it is your HD.... can you run scandisk without problems?? if u can then i would say borrow someone elses cd and use it but use your own reg number to keep it legit

[MoPMatrix]

yeah scan disk runs fine...
I'll try puttin XP on it, see if that installs

[turd]

you could try formatting your master boot record( MBR)
that could be messed up

boot using your 98 cd
cd to c:
A:FDISK /MBR

you could try using the maxtor drive utilities from their site to install and or check the drive

[MoPMatrix]

I already put XP on it, worked fine
dunno y 98 wouldn't go on it, maybe bad cd

[stool]

If you still want to use 98SE, take out everything but your CPU, memory, and video card. Have your floppy, CD and hard drive attached, and try again. Often, any little hardware conflict can bugger up an install, so if you start with as little as possible, your odds of success go up. One other thought. Low-budget memory has, on one occasion, caused me an unsuccessful install.

[BigAir]

I am having the same problem right now... PC is a PII 350 compaq.. I really would rather put 98se than XP. If anyone else has any suggestions.. Fire away please. Thanks! BigAir

[jstnomega]

Thats the way I already do it,, del the old partitions, format, make new partition, install windows....

That aint right but maybe you just misspoke re what you're really doing. FDISK can be kind of tricky. The correct sequence is:

Delete partitions
Create new partitions
THEN format
Install os

some good fdisk how-to info here http://fdisk.radified.com/ & here http://www.hexff.com/win98_install.html (w's 98 info)

GL.

[ColtIce]

i always use delpart then fdisk to create partitions fdisk just doesnt seem to get the job done btw delpart smashes down those pesky ntfs parts
ps you can get it at simtel.net