problems reinstalling 98se

Hi When windows starts loading it stops and says a file is missing cannot load explorer must reload windows. I tryed to reload but cant. when I put in boot floppy for 98se I get message floppy I/O error and it will not start off cd. I tryed a couple other boot floppys thay didnt work. NowI get boot failure Insert BOOT diskette in A. I'm lost and need help. Thanks

 

Just a few questions ..
- why do you want/need to re-install 98SE - was there a problem
if so, what problem
- what exactly do yo mean by "tried to reload Windows" ?
- when booting, what is the exact error message ?
- can you boot to safe mode ?
- you are posting to this board OK, from a friends PC
does he/her have a boot floppy you can borrow ?
- do you know how to look at and check your BIOS settings ?
regards

 

Hi Merlin I'm useing a older pc I have. When I started the pc and windows started to load , windows would stop loading and Give me an error message. I dont remenber the message but I do remenber it was about a missing File, when I clicked ok I got another message saying can not load explorer must reload windows. I tried to use norton recovery disk I made from the pc and it did nothing. I shut the ps down and restarted with the boot floppy that came with 98se cd and got an message DISK I/O error and it will not boot from the 98cd. Now when I start pc I get Boot Failure Incert Boot diskette in A:
I checked the CMOS Didnt notice anything different. It will not even start up in safe mode.
Now when I start pc I get black screen listing the devices like doing normal start up but its looking for boot record from floppy...not found
serching for boot record from IDE-o...OK
Invalid system disk
Replace the disk, and press any key
I hope this will help, I dont have a clue, Thanks

 

Two quick thoughts here.

First off, your problem could be related to CMOS battery failure and lost settings re HDD geometry. But, if you can't reset your Bios to permit a boot from CDRom, I'm not going to walk you through anything or even suggest you try to fix this yourself. It would require clearing CMOS, replacing battery and resetting BIOS - your best solution here is go to a shop.

Second, if your CMOS battery is good you have described all the classic symptoms of a boot virus. If this is the case, you will need to go to a shop anyway because your BIOS has to be reprogrammed.

If there's more to this story than you've told us, I may be inclined to offer other suggestions. Absent any more info - take it to a shop.

 

Thanks Rockster2u
I know sometimes I dont explain things to well. I can boot the norton rescue disk, but I cant find anything in the disk to help, I can go to dos prompt from it. Also I did a virus scan everythings ok thanks

 

Couple of other thoughts. Can you make a new boot disk from someone elses machine - either Win 98 or ME? If so, try booting from that. If you can boot, then run FDISK and delete any and all partitions, followed by creating one partition, using large block address and making active. Then turn off your machine after exiting FDISK. Now boot back up from floppy and FORMAT C:

Now do your install.

My thinking is that you could have a FAT16 boot disk giving you errors. Another thought - If you have access to another floppy drive - try that in your machine - then we can at least rule out one potential hardware issue.

(My under $30 solution)
If you still have problems - try a CMOS battery - about $3 and if still problems, buy a preprogrammed bios chip from Jack Rowland - www.badflash.com - about $20 - 25 . Then if no go - head to the shop.

 

Try this ...
- boot from the Norton rescue diskette
- type
FDISK /mbr
- remove the diskette
- restart the PC with the button on the case
regards

 

Heres were am at now. I made a boot disk from ME which is the pc I'm using now. It booted I run scandisk/all It had a lot of errors in the directory structure and now I'm doing surface scan.
I didnt try the norton disk because the boot disk seems to be working.
Any ideas on what to do next? Thanks for your time and speedy replys, you all have been a big help and hopefuly the pc will be running soon

 

Also I tryed fdisk and it asked to write a volume label , I didnt know what to write so I exit

 

I know for sure that you did not Fdisk the drive. The volume label question comes up after you Format the drive. Fdisk and Format are two completely different programs.

Here is how to use fdisk and format to ready the HD for Win98.
At A:\> type fdisk enter
press "Y" enter for large disk support
at FDISK Option select "1" enter
at Create DOS Partition or logical DOS Drive select "1" enter
Verifying drive integrity, **%
press "Y" enter at do you wish to use the maximum available size for Primary DOS Partition
and make the partition active (Y/N)..?
Verifying drive integrity, **%
you then get a message to RESTART your system for changes to take effect
YOU MUST REBOOT and format AFTER FDISK.

Press Esc and then Ctrl,Alt,Del, with bootdisk/Startup disk still in the floppy drive
At windows Startup Menu select without CD-Rom support
at A:\> type format c: enter
At WARNING, ALL DATA WILL BE LOST PRESS "Y "
Formatting and the size of your HDD (i.e. 19,09.84M for a 20Gig)
after format enter a name for the HDD or just press enter you can name it later
At A:\> type fdisk /mbr enter
THIS WILL APPEAR TO DO NOTHING
Press Ctrl,Alt,Del, to reboot with bootdisk/startdisk in floppy
Select with CD-Rom support
Watch the screen for a message about what the drive letter will be for the CD, it may be E:, subsitute the letter below if not E:
put in CD
At A:\> type e:\win98\setup enter
Installing Windows

 

Thanks everyone I'm up and running, just a couple of bugs to work out. This borad is great. Thanks again