New OS

YEP! Sorry, I missed the first \

 

Should have I typed D:Win98\setup.exe and not E? I did it with E and it was going smoothly, then right at the end it had problems,It said to restart pc and when I did it went to safe mode.After a few restarts it said to run set up again and I had the choice of "from hard disk or cd rom "I chose cd rom this time and it said "highly recommended to choose hard disk ".So I switched and it gave me the D: part and I just added Win98\setup.exe .....hopefully it will go thru this time....i'll post back with results.

The error message I received on the first try was "C:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd is missing/not loaded ".
What is this file for?

One last thing...when in safe mode I looked at the start menu and it seemed pretty small....no games for one....shouldn't they be there?

 

C:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd
That file is created during a successful installation. It is a compilation of several VXD [virtual device drivers] files into one file to speed up the Normal bootup process of windows. Each computer has it's own unique Vmm32.Vxd file, Windows will not boot without it.
You seem to be having problems using the CD, here is a way to get around that. Boot with the floppy and choose CD Rom support and insert the Win CD, and do these commands, using X for the letter for the CD.
md c:\win98
copy X:\win98\*.* c:\win98
c:\win98\setup
The install of windows will be done completely on the hard drive, you can take out the CD before putting in the setup command.

 

Still not working...goes all the way to the end then says needs to restart...when I restart it says windows protection error,restart your pc and there is a blinking underscore symbol. I am unable to type anything. When I get to this point the pc won't shut down by the on/off button.If I use the reset button on pc it wants to start up in safe mode.What do I do with it in safemode?

 

A question.

When you boot the machine from a powered down state;

Does it boot directly to the Floppy or does it go to the HD first ?

Your note reads similiar to what I had one time when I let the machine go to the HD first.

BillyBob

 

Not actually sure....when I start it goes to a screen which says Microsoft Windows 98 CD ROM Start Up Menu....and it asks 1)Boot from Hard Disk or 2)Boot from CD Rom...I usually select boot from hard disk,although I did try option 2 also. Then it goes to the screen asking Boot with Cd rom support or without support.I believe there is a third option ,which is Help. On most of my tries at installing 98SE I get it to load almost completely.Then it encounters a problem and says it needs to restart. (It restarts a few times sucessfully before the problem)This is where my on/off button stops working and I have to reset the pc.Then when it restarts it goes to safe mode because "last startup didn't load completely "

Any advice and or help is greatly appreciated and in the mean time I'm just going to keep trying!

 

Not actually sure....when I start it goes to a screen which says Microsoft Windows 98 CD ROM Start Up Menu....and it asks 1)Boot from Hard Disk or 2)Boot from CD Rom...I usually select boot from hard disk,although I did try option 2 also

OK there may be the problem. To get a good clean install of Windows the machine should go nowhere near the HD.

It needs to go directly to a Floppy from at least a 30 second power off state. This prevents ANYTHING from the HD being loaded into RAM.

The only questions that a 98 startup disk should ask is with or without CDROM support. ( or help )

I just had to boot to one to find out

The HD should not even be mentioned.

Your boot sequence needs to be set so that the A: ( floppy ) is first then select with CDROM support and then type E:\win98\setup

This assures a much cleaner install ( re-install )

Just watch the screens and make sure Windows does go back into the existing folder. ( it normaly does when booting to the floppy but that is not to say it will )

Again, This is why I keep ALL of my machines set to A:-CDROM:-HD:

That is a NO-NO. and that may be the problem ( or part of it ).

BillyBob

 

ok...started over for the record billionth time....got stuck early....got to point where screen said.....


Diagnostic Tools Sucessfully loaded to Drive D
MSCDEX Version 2.25
Copyright Microsoft Corp 1986-1995 All rights reserved
Drive E:=Driver MSCD001 unit 0
A:\>

at this point I typed in E:\win98\setup....hit enter and pc said..

CDR101:not ready reading drive E
Abort,Retry,Fail?

this keeps repeating on every keystroke. (Abort,Retry,Fail?)

Any suggestions?

 

Are you booting DIRECTLY to the floppy ?

Take the CD out.

Reboot and then put the CD back in just before typing E:\Win98\Setup.

I was going to say the CDROM driver was not loaded but it would have told you that the CDROM did not laod.

BB

 

ok...the cd was out ...i will try again ,putting it in before I type E:\win98\setup....

ok...it started....hopefully it will work this time....i have to add I've gotten past this point a few times so I'm keeping my fingers crossed...thanks!!

 

This idea is just an idea. You may need to look into your BIOS, in Advanced BIOS settings and make sure Virus Protection is disabled for the drive. If enabled, it prevents Win98 setup or anything else from writing to the Master Boot Record of the hard drive, and it must be able to do so, and will mess up your install of windows.

 

problem... ..... it was finalizing settings....said had to restart...when restarted it said....

windows protection error...you need to restart your computer.

this is still on the screen....how do i restart from here? I haven't tried the on/off button yet but on previous attempts it didn't work.....and I usually shut it off by the reset button in the back of pc....then when it restarts it goes to safe mode.

Not sure but this could be the problem.....during the process of loading, the cd makes a boot disk for you.....i leave the floppy that I started with originally in drive A and write over it.After this is completely it says to remove disk and click continue......so whem the compter restarts after loading all the files (when it says "finalizing settings ") it asks boot from disk or cd rom.I leave it at choice 1 (hard disk)....is this where the problem is occurring?



just want to add....at the point the pc is right now there is a blinking underscore but I am unable to type anything...and on previous attemps crtrl ,alt,delete didn't restart the pc either.

 

Well I went into the BIOS and under advance there is nothing about virus protection.One thing I did notice,not sure if it means anything, but there is something that says Reset Configuration Data and it is set at "No ". In the right column it says select yes if you want to clear the Configuration data. Should it be at "No "?

Under the next tab ,Security , there is an entry that is " Virus check reminder" and it is set at disable. Is this how they worded it a few years back?


BB...you said the part in bold is wrong and shouldn't be there...what should be there? If the floppy is no longer in drive A,how does it boot up?

 

When windows 98 setup is running, one of the first things it does is copy files from the CD onto the hard drive, then you get a message to remove ALL DISKS, this means take out floppy and the CD. The CD is not used anymore, it has the files it needs to continue copied onto the hard drive.
This means it needs to be booting off of the hard drive, NO CD and NO FLOPPY should be in the computer at this time.
Note my previous post about the BIOS Virus Protection, windows setup needs access to the MBR before the first reboot of windows occurs after copying of files.
When the computer first comes on, there is a message saying "Press DEL to enter setup ", or it may be F10. This is not Windows Setup, it is the way to get into the BIOS. Go into Advanced, look for MBR or virus or boot record, and Disable it. The ESC key will back you out when done. Then select Exit and Save Settings. A little window will pop up, make sure there is a Y in that little window, if not, type a Y.

 

BB...you said the part in bold is wrong and shouldn't be there...what should be there? If the floppy is no longer in drive A,how does it boot up?

OK let me put the whole thing in.

 

ok....when it after set up makes a boot up disk and says to remove,I only removed that and left cd in.

Its a Compaq so when you boot up the compaq logo comes up first and while that is showing I hit F10 to enter Phoenix Bios.
Under Advanced this is what is listed...

Compaq Multimedia Monitor [Auto]
Plug and Play O/S: [Yes]
Reset Configuration Data [No]
>PCI Configuration
PS/2 Mouse [Auto]
USB Controller [Enabled]
USB Legacy Support [Disabled]
Memory Cache [Enabled]
Secured Setup Configuration [No]
>I/O Device Configuration
Large Disk Access Mode [DOS]
Local Bus IDE Adapter [Both]
>Audio Opyions Menu


As you can see...nothing about virus protection.


BB...I know Mark says to remove both the floppy and cd and you're saying after the "finalization of settings" it should automatically boot from hard disk.So if I removed the cd and it did boot from hard disk , isn't this the same as me entering choice 1?In other words if the cd isn't there, there would be no option,but I would think the result would be the same.

 

OUCH !! Not good news.

I see one word COMPAQ that may leave me out of this. I you wrote it before and I missed it I will apologize. I would have backed out then.

They have their own special way of doing thiings. There may well be ( or was ) a special partition on the HD.

Or it may take what they call a Recovery DisK.

Phoenix Bios. I am not familiar with at all.

But Windows normally makes the Boot Disk and after removing same it does its thing and conpletes the install. ( after restarting a time or two )

I do not know for sure but I would say selecting HD to boot from would be the correct thing.

Bottom line I AM LOST. Things do not seem to be going the way that I am used to.

BillyBob

 

No. When the CD is giving you that option, it basically has an operating system loaded into memory when it poses that question to you. The MBR on the CD is being read first instead of the MBR on the hard drive. You can say that is like booting off the floppy and then trying to start windows. It doesn't work too well that way, if at all.
What you seem to be doing is leaving the CD in after the first reboot of windows setup, as you keep stating that you are getting a choice as to where you want to boot, off of the CD or the hard drive.
There is something you do not seem to understand here.
At this point, windows setup needs to be booting off of the hard drive, you should not be getting the option as to which you want to boot off of.
Windows at this point has set up the hard drive especially for this stage of setup, and the CD is interfering with the process by loading into memory. The stuff loaded into memory is still there when the hard drive is then chosen to boot off of.
This is interferring with the hardware detection process, and because the hardware detection process is corrupted, you have a Windows Protection Error.
This has gone from a simple upgrade install of windows into a nightmare simply by leaving in the CD. As I posted before, it needs to be taken out, setup tells you to do this.

 

ok...doing it again...I removed both the floppy and cd this time, but it says "Setup has finished creating your startup disk.Remove the disk, and click ok to continue setup ". It never does actually say remove the cd or disks....oops....this isn't the time to remove the cd...its asking to put the cd in....i will remove it before the first restart and post the results back here...thanks.