I want to get rid of XP and go back to 98SE

I have tried to get rid of this horrid XP ,but keep running into walls . All I wanna do is reformat my drive and reinstall 98SE . What a pain this has turned out to be .ANyone out there able to point me in the right direction ?

 

What problems are you having with XP, and trying to go back to 98?
What I'd do if you must go back to 98, is use your XP disc to reformat the partition you will be installing 98 on. You must format it with FAT32, not NTFS. Then grab a 98 startup boot floppy, boot the machine from the A drive using this floppy with the 98 install CD in and select "...with CDROM support ". Type setup next to the dos prompt after the floppy has loaded, and away you go. You will probably need to change the prompt to D or E drive (your CD) before typing setup. I think from memory occasionally the CD drive may even be temporarily named Z. Can't remember as it been a while since I loaded 98. But should be simple enough? One of these should have you downgrading in a flash.

 

I would not use the XP disk to format the HD. Use the 98 startup disk. And boot to it from a powered down state. With the 98SUD you will get with no question a format suitable for SE.

Format the drive(s). If you have more than one partition and you need to reformat them all after having had XP on the machine I do not know.

When done shut down and restart the machine to the 98SUD. Then insert the 98SE CD. ( hope you still have the numbers needed ) Activation code or what ever they call it.

At the A:/. prompt type the CDROM letter ( ie: D: )
At the the next prompt type CD Win98
Then type Setup.

BillyBob

 

when u try to reboot the 98 form the disk when it promps you to re-install 98 does it ask you to erase or format your HD ? or convert it to the nfs or fat-32 ?

 

does it ask you to erase or format your HD ?

I am not sure if it asks or not. I forgot as I always had them formated anyway before the install/reinstall was even started. If they not already been formated it might ask.

or convert it to the nfs or fat-32 ?

As far as I know there is nothing but Fat32 in 98SE.

BillyBob

 

Dussman, Assuming you have an OS partition larger than 32 gigs, you will need to use a Win98 boot floppy with FDISK on it. Most common Win98 boot disks will have that tool as well as others.

You must run FDISK and delete all non-DOS partitions it detects. That's how you get rid of XP that has been installed using the NTFS file storage system. Then you must create any DOS partitions you want. Then you can format those creations.

If you do it in that order, you'll be able to install Win98 to the drive without any problems.

Post back if you need further help using FDISK.

 

surferdude2

Thanks for the good info.

BillyBob

 

Dussman - Post back how it goes. I am bookmarking this thread because I feel like going back to 98SE as well. However, my computer came preloaded with XP and I do not even have a OS Disk. Seems like an expensive box but I can't do naything with it!

 

98Se Startup Disk

Ok guys and gals !!!
Here goes ----I figured it would be easy , but to date ---anything but . I know ya can't see it , but Im STILL running XP. My first thought was to put in my trusty ol 98SE starup disk -----run fdisk, delete any and all active partitions , create my new one , format and then run setup as always .
Survey says--------eeeeennnnnnnnn When I first go into fdisk , I figure I'm gonna delete anything there, but it says that there are no partitions to delete ( Which I have a 140g hardrive with no partitions ) but there still has to be , and does show an active partition . I , even tho I knew it wouldn't , tried to create a new one and it said there was no room to create a partition . SO -----------I go the the next step in my logic and just simply try to format the drive and wipe everything clean . NOPE!!!! Format cannot be completed because thre was not any partions created or set , BUT 1 SHOWS !!!!! Kinda like a parradox So there you have what I know about this . and as far as using the XP disk ---well I'm so lost in this program that I don't think I feel confident enough to try that without having all of the do's and dont's of that senario. So what am I doing wrong ??? Its probably a snake ---and gonna bite me its so close , but I'm not seeing it right now anyway . Dusty

 

Dussman,

"it says that there are no partitions to delete "
You have to choose to delete non-dos partitions. That's what's there.

 

Well as far as things I don't like ---it just seems that this program is so **** complicated that it screws itself up , and the fact that when it does , its knowhere as user friendly as98SE was to fix ---or tweek . It also seems that the more RAM I put in this thing the more it uses right off the top ---I mean ( when I only had 512M of Ram ---after bootup ---I was lucky if I had 100M free for apps or whatever ) Now I have 1G of RAM and when I boot up ( and this is in selective startup with just the essentials ) I end up with about 230-256M of RAM left but have changed nothing . My Video does share my RAM , but that is a constant . Also ---I never had half of the vulnerability problems with 98SE as I do with XP. I never ran --or had to run a firewall---Never . I just kept my virus Defs up to date and went surfing . Now It seems like I have and attack at least once a day and apps , and settings are always getting changed and I don't have a clue how. I am not the smartest tool in the shed , but I do pride myself on keeping my system running smooth and efficient--and ussually am able to . I have dug into this XP program in an attempt to learn its workings and to tweek it a bit , but it just seems alot harder to keep up with -----Kinda like my Harley ---Its a good sled , but I'm always working on it . 98SE just seemed alot easier to maintain with less hassel and more stable -----but who knows I gues it may grow on me, with some help because I have to admit, I do like ( SOME ) of its qualities. And as far as deleting non dos partitions ----I tried that also --------said there were none to delete!!!! So-----with having said all of that ---- Someone ---mentioned showing me how to deal with this program and learning how to tweek it to my specs. I am 1 of those poor soles who are stuck with Dialup , so tweeking is a must to get any kind of satisfaction from the web experience.
I am at your mercey !!!!! Thanks for the info , and once I get a handle on this , It will be nice to become more of a contributing member than I have this last few months !!!! Dusty

 

Now It seems like I have and attack at least once a day and apps , and settings are always getting changed and I don't have a clue how.
Dussman, I think its highly likely that you have an infected system. That would also explain the heavy RAM usage.

To start: click on the Qiuck Links > Recommended Links at the top of this page and run the on-line virus scanners and down load and install SpyBot and Ad-Aware - update both before scanning. Also the anti malware tool from MS - see the long thread on MS's anti-spyware beta in the general security section.

Regards - Charles

 

Dear Fellow Member Dussman

Even though I agree pretty much with what you say about Win98 SE the time has come that it is getting way out of date.

But I will say that I woulld have no problem with plugging in my still existant 98SE HD if I had to. This HD is an exact copy of it. All but a couple of pieces of software. And the OS of course.

A lot ( or most ) of the newer hardware and software no longer supports 98.

I agree with charlesvar that you may well have an infected system. So point out to them what you think some of the problems may be and let them help. It may take time some time AND A LOT OF PATIENCE but let them try.

One member may see one thing and another may pickup something else. But they can, and do work together. and 98% of the time lick the problem.

So seeing as how you already have XP installed why not let them help.

It may ( and did for me ) turn out not to be XP at all. It could be a Hardware or Software problem. Sometimes SOFTWARE conflicts can be a B**** to find and fix.

When looking at Windows problems ( any version ) No stone can be left unturned.

I proved that big time with a MOUSE ( hardware/software combo ) I was cussing XP big time till I sat down and PAID ATTENTION to what was really happening and when. ( see Mouse Trouble in the Hardware forum. )

BillyBob

 

Dussman

There is a good help for a start.

Another thing that will hamper the good operation of Windows ( any version ) is too much stuff loading at startup and running it the background. And worse yet if some of it conflicts.

BillyBob

 

Well ------I have spybot , and run it regularly , as well as my anti virus. I do know however that as technology advances so do the threats and when XP came out there were people sitting around with nothing better to do than figure out how to get into Bill Gate's pride and joy !!!! ANYWAY ----I did have to defrag my puter and I did a complete system scan . Nothing outta the ordinary as far as spyware. I did notice something in the last few days pop up in my startup tho ------something called kukhhu.exe . I have unchecked it . deleted it and ran searches for it again and again , but its like a bad dream ---it keeps comming back in startup , and keeps comming back to the folder that I have deleted it from ?????? Donno ---you tell me !!!!

 

I would say that you have a good start and hopefully finding something that does not belong there.

Just deleting the files a LOT of times does no good. They have to be gotten out of the Registry. This is where someone around here can help.

It may well be put there by something with a different name entirely.

I would be willing to bet that if you were to run Regedit and do a FIND for that file, it would appear in SEVERAL places.

But WAIT FOR HELP

BillyBob