trying a clean build with a resource cd

oops... i was trying to clean up a used computer for a friend...i stumbled across fdisk and erased the partitions without understanding the consequences. the system is a dell xps t800r and i have a resource cd. i believe i have properly created a single primary partition and subsequently formated it correctly. i am having extreme difficulty in getting the resource cd to place windows in the c: drive... perhaps someone with more experience could walk me through the process????

steps i've taken... fdisk ... erased partitions ... created primary partition select max space ... reboot ... format c: /s ... tried a:\setup ... bad command ... tried a:\install ... bad command ...tried using the EXT command but do not understand what is being asked ... i just can't get this resource cd to start ... i read somewhere that .cab files need to placed on the c: drive using EXT ... somewhere else it said to copy win98 to the c: drive ... i am lost ... any help at all would be great!!

thanks

 

Hello aharrington,

It sounds like your "resource" cd is not the OS cd but a cd that needs a partition on C to re load the Factory settings which you wiped out with fdisk.

You can load the OS on with any 98 cd that has the full OS on it. Do you know anyone that has an old Win98 cd?

EDIT: Just went thru my old Dell cd's that came with a WinME system. Dell labels cds that contain drivers/utilities/programs that were pre loaded on the system "resource" cd's.

The OS cd itself should be clearly labeled that if it came with the system.

Regards - Charles

 

no operating system on resource cd??

Thank you for your response...and...duh??? I guess I should have figured that the os would not be on the resource cd...after all my attempts that is....i rebuilt an old ibm aptiva and it's product recovery cd had the operating system...so i wrongfully assumed the same of the old dell.
so now i have a large paperweight untill i get a copy of windows98 to load in the msdos mode? I do have a windowsME disk. I guess this is of no use if the computer wants windows98?


and hey, thanks again.

 

Hi aharrington,

What the computer wants is an OS

Try the WinMe disc, I don't see why it wouldn't install unless you run into Dell "branding" (see below). You may have to update drivers/firmare/BIOS though.

One possible problem - your WinMe may have to be a retail version, because the system may be looking for a Dell branded cd and wouldn't load the disc if it were an OEM version from lets say, Compaq. I forgot about that possibility when I posted before.

Regards - Charles

 

You booted TO the CD?

If you have the resource CD you should be able to boot to it using the boot menu. There should be a prompt (it's quick) right after the boot-up splash screen that allows you to boot to the CD. F12 I believe.

IF you don't see that or cannot boot to the CD that way, if you reorder the boot sequence in the BIOS to specify the CD drive to be first, that will work, too.


You mention 'A:setup' and such..meaning you're using the emergency boot diskette?

You should have CD access with that floppy. Try 'D:setup' (considering one hard drive..else whatever the CD drive is). At least look at the root of the 'D' drive to see what's there. Not sure, but I recall the install exe to be called something different on the Dell resource CD.

 

A Win 98 startup disk adds a "RAM" drive before the CD drive. So if your harddrive only has one drive, the C: drive, the RAM drive will be D: and the CD drive will be bumped to E:.

After you boot to the Windows 98 startup disk, look at the wording above the A:\ prompt. It will tell you the "allocation" of the RAM drive and the lettering of the CD drive.

The optical (CD) is probably the E: drive. So...you would need to change drives, enter
E:
to run the installation program, enter
setup
or
install
as canyncarvr was saying.

Been there

Matt