Reinstall info

Hi, I have a PC with W98SE on it and it has started freezing at odd times , it started freezing on a screen saver that i had made of my photo's so i took it off but it still happens usually in the middle of some thing, I am getting a hard time from the boss.I have been told to reinstall the prog again but to do a clean install.
Can some one give me pretty full instructions how to set up my PC to boot from the disc before I reformat it, I have seen some info on here a couple of years ago but cant find it now . This is on my wifes PC that I bought S/H ,I have had it about six months and it has been great, just gone like this a week ago.
I have XP on mine, I did a lot of research when I was going to change mine to XP , but couldn't find step by step info.
Thanks in advance Cheers Des.

 

Hello demon,

98 info: http://www.helpwithwindows.com/windows98/index.html

Regards - Charles

 

Hi, charles , thanks for answer, but I have been reading for hours but still cant seem to find the answer to my question.
I really need to make sure that it will reboot from the D:/drive when I install the disc.
I did this a couple of years ago and nothing happened when i put in the disc and i had to take it in to the shop and they charged $80.00A to load the program , I am trying to avoid this now .
Thanks Des.

 

Hi Des,

You can put the CD disk in the drive now and see what happens when you restart the machine. Watch the startup screens, it may say "press (a/any) key to boot to CD ". If it does not boot to the CD you could go into the BIOS (Startup) settings and find the Boot Sequence, there you will need to set the CD drive before the Hard Drive.

As an alternative, all systems tend to have the floppy drive set to boot before the hard drive. Make a Windows Startup floppy disk and boot to that. Choose "...with CDrom support ". When you get to the A:\ prompt, in the lines just above it will tell you the delegation of the CD's drive letter, if it is E:, type and enter
E:
then just type and enter
setup
[Actually, doing this without formatting will reinstall Windows over the current version and you will not lose your data or third party programs. I always try it before formatting. You may need to reinstall Windows updates (look at the folders on the C: drive) and DirectX].

If you want to format the C: drive, when you are at the A:\ prompt, type and enter
format C:
after formatting, change to the CD drive and run setup.

Hope I haven't left anything out. One of the other people may like to point it out if I have. You can't go far wrong if you are going to format, a little trial and error won't hurt.

I have not gone into great detail, so post back if you don't know what I am saying in those steps.

Matt

 

Thanks Matt, I have printed that off and I will try it as you suggest,
Thanks again , I will post the outcome. Cheers Des.

 

Reinstall Windows

I assume that you wish to reinstall Windows 98SE.
If you are thinking of uprading to Windows XP and you have a 98 machine there is a good chance that the computer will be able to handle Windows which is a newer, more demanding operating systen.
You would need a fair chunk of ram - 256 mb and a lrelatively large hard drive .
I do have one friend who sets up Pentium 2 computers with XP with 256 of ram but that is just to get them out the door - a sales trick.
Once the user adds anything - say an antivirus the computer slows to a slug.
Here are the steps.

1) You will need a boot disk or a bootable Windows 98 SE disk

if you do not have one go here:

www.bootdisk.com

2) Start the computer with that bootdisk . Just let it go by its defaults ( i.e leave it alone till you get to an a prompt)

3) Put the Windows 98 SE install disk in the cd

4) type the word setup in the a prompt

hit enter and just go from there.
You will need your registration code at some point
If you have broadband internet you may want to do the security updates and you may have to update Microsoft Explorer on the Microsoft site.
Windows 98 does an easy reinstall. It seems to use the drivers that you used previously.

that is it

 

Thanks Visionof, looks as if I need to reinstall it W98SE with a floppy , I have downloaded one and will try it soon ,will post results .
Thanks Des.

 

Fun and games.
Remember to start the install at the dos prompt a: you type the word setup
( every other companies install in the days of dos was the word install).
You will need a valid registration number.
There should be one a sticker on the side of the computer.
Make sure it is for Windows 87 SE not just Windows 98 as it will work.
Two diffirent products ( at least according to Microsoft).
You may or may not want to do the updates.
Some are security.
You will want to do the update for intenet explorer 6 ( if the machine is on the internet).
It is still on the Microsoft site but somewhat hidden under Intenet Explorer 7 ( new) labels.
It is rather confusing and mean.
You go by the link of Internet Explorer 6 > you are taken to a page with IE 7 labels plastered over the essential reading.
Hunt around as the download link is on an entirely seperate page ( for the ie 6)
You are going to find that unless it is really a standard machine ( compaq, IBM a few other big names ) you are going to missing device drivers.
You screen shading will be limited , you may have no sound and no network driver.
This is where the fun begins.
www.driverguide.com
If possible this is why I recommend to you if possible if you are a novice best to reinstall over the previous Windows 98.
Boot into windows.
Run the setup in the Windows 98 disc.
It may even start by itself.
At this point in your comptuter career remember it is only a few days to Christmas.
Avoid aggrevation if you can.
Welcome to lucrative world of computer hardware / software repairs !!

 

Hi , thanks Visionof, I am going to reload the original OS over the one thats on there , I think some one has deleted some thing causing the glitches, Hope so . As you say dont need agro this week , I will leave it till newyear,
all the best for Xmas . Cheers Des,