Windows XP -> Win98se?

I've never used XP, but a friend is having difficulty getting rid of XP and going back to 98se.

How does he format XP to allow for a clean install of 98se?

Using 'format c:' from the command prompt it gives error messages because the drive is currently in use, and there is no restart in dos mode like with 98/2000/etc.

Any help would be appreciated

 

Hi JimmyHetfield
Do you know if the drive is fat32 or ntfs?
Have you changed the bios so that the first order of boot is from the floppy?

 

The disk is ntfs format... not sure about the bios settings though...

 

Boot with your Windows 98 boot disk. If you don't have one... you can get one here: www.bootdisk.com

At the DOS prompt, type FDISK and select large hard drive support (answer "Y ") and then Delete the non-DOS partition.

Reboot the system to the 98 disk again, type in Fdisk. Again select large hard drive support.

Create a primary partition and make it active.

Reboot to the 98 disk again and then format the drive.

format c:

Now you're good to install.

Write back if you have any trouble following this.

 

Why, oh why, would anyone want to dump mighty XP for retro Win 98?? Does your friend have a problem with XP that we might be able help with? By comparison, 98 is awkward, clumsy and obsolete. Too often, one easy-to-fix glitch will send folks running back to the older versions of Windows...maybe we can talk him through whatever XP is annoying him with.

Johanna
Loyal Luna Blue

 

Why ? Because 98 SE ( not FE ) is just as solid and dependable ( I think more so ) as XP Pro.

I 100% disagree with that.

Plus a Personal choice comes into play here too.

I may like a Chey. You may like a Toyota. But they both get us where we want to go.

BillyBob

 

C'mon, BillyBob... you use both OSes and are very experienced. You really think that 98 is as stable, convenient, and as functional as XP? Not in my experience. XP offers so many more built in features, and an easy user interface. I'm so spoiled with the relative ease of XP that I stumble around on an older system. I would never go back- to me, it's not Chevy & Toyota, it's a car and a bicycle!

Johanna

 

Personally, I can't stand XP - I reminds me of a kids computer - I'm a Win2k kinda guy

The simple reason for the change is XP has become unstable due to my mate using no firewall or antivirus program... the system is riddled with viruses and worms which refuse to budge. Also, when he was sold the pc they didn't provide an XP disc, so he only has his copy of 98se from a previous machine.

Thanks for you help - I'll forward this information to him and let you know how it works out

 

C'mon, BillyBob... you use both OSes and are very experienced.

True. I do and maybe. And that experirnce is what I base my feelings on.

You really think that 98 is as stable, convenient, and as functional as XP?

Yes. Si. Oui. At least for our use.

And in 1/3 the disk space. XP pro is talking up 3+gig. SE is using 895MB. and BOTH are doing ( or will do ) EXACTLY the same job.

Not in my experience. XP offers so many more built in features, and an easy user interface.

More features may be true. But I have no need for a lot of them.

Please tell me WHY this XP Pro all of the sudden creates a 2nd & 3rd user ? I have no need for more then one user. Even though 4-5 others may use the machine. I was doing something the other day and was informed that I would have to log off and back on. When I did there sat as un-pretty as you please a Bob ( me ) a guest account and a 3rd user account. This is totaly un-needed and un-necessary.

If you are going to say I need more than one user acccount so I can keep others out of this that or the other thing please do not bother as I DO NOT agree. If you are going to use my machine there are places you belong and places where you do not belong. You get into what you do not belong into and you will not be using my machine.

I have three machines. 4 Neices and Nephews ( from 7 to 17 years ) using them. The above rule has worked extremely well. ( they get very unhappy when they can't use either machine for a week ) Plus I only have one thing on this machine that they should not be into anyway. And that is password protected. - even from me at times-

I do not find XP to be any easier to use. Now I will not say I would intentionally dump XP. But if anything did realy go wrong I am just not sure it would be put pack in. But on the other hand I would more than likely in the future run into problems with new hardware and software.

At the moment in my case the Car ( I assume you mean XP ) is not getting me over the road any bettter than the bicycle. ( I assume you mean 98 ).

BillyBob

 

Johanna

Of much more importance than feelings about various Operating systems.

How is you hand ( arm ) coming along ?

BillyBob

 

I've had 3 machines this week that I had to wipe out and put 98 back on. It seems that people throw XP on any old machine. They figure that so long as they get it installed...it should work.

Though this doesn't address the poster......it's begining to be a pet peeve with me.

 

Sorry, can we stay on topic here... I don't want to have to start another thread after this gets closed

 

Hmm, well it seems he can't boot from the cd for some reason, and he has no idea how to get in to bios as there is no option on boot for it (like F1 or Del, etc), it just goes straight in to windows

 

I see the words command prompt followed by that error message That tells me that a format of C: was tried from a Harddrive bootup. That will not work. The error message is correct.

In order to format C: you need to boot to a Floppy. Or a CDROM that has the proper files on it. ( such as a Win98 Startup disk )

If the present C: is in NTFS then I do not know if the above will work. I have not used NTFS.

BillyBob

 

That is the first thing that it appears nneds to be done. Need to get to the BIOS to change the boot sequence.

This is just why I keep ALL machines ( no matter what OS ) set to a boot sequence af A:-CDROM:- HD:

Maybe if you posted the make of the machine someone could help there.

BB

 

Is this a name brand computer?
Any documentation with it?
We're going to have to find aa way to get into the bios to change the boot order..........so that it's booting from the floppy first.

As Billybob has said.......It will need a 98 start up disk. If we can't erase the ntfs with that....we can use delpart. But first...let's get it booting in the proper order.

 

Billybob
Seems we're of the same mind today!

 

Its a Packard Bell, but that's all he knows... I told him to try F2 which was like my old Packard Bell, and he finally got in to bios, so he's having a look now

I'll get back to ya, thankies

 

JimmyHetfield

Now that you know that it is a Packard Bell and you had one then you will more than likey be of more help to him now than I would.

If I remember correctly ( from having one years ago ) they have their own way of doing things.

BillyBob

 

Done up to there, but when he reboots and types format c: it says: "format not supported on drive c: - format terminated "