How do I uninstall OEM Windows 98 SE?

I finally did it. Drive C is formatting right now....thank you very much!!!

 

Another problem comes up.
It was formatted OK, and then it showed a system volume, and another prompt came up where it wanted me to type something in. But what??
I have no idea what to type there.
I will have to shut it down...will I have to format it all over again??

 

I typed in Local Disk and it said:
Not ready reading drive E
Abort, retry, fail?
But typing any of those cannot be done...if I try I just get the same message again....
I have formatted it twice with the same result...I am now formatting it for the third time...I am ready to throw the thing down cellar!

 

I chose a name...then it came up with a volume serial number. Then there was the prompt again wanting me to type something in! But there is nothing anywhere to tell me what to type there.The directions that you sent do not say what to type there. It also said to take note of the letter assigned to the CD- Rom drive, BUT it does not say why!
Then it says choose a name, which I did, but then the A wants me to type in something...the directions do not say anything about it and I am left just hanging with A wanting me to type something in.
I have reformatted 3 times with the same result.
There is something missing in those directions and I am just left hanging wondering what to do next.

 

The directions in How to Format a Hard Drive with Windows 95, 98, or ME are incomplete. I am formatting it again and then I will remove the HD and throw it out as there is no way to know why they wanted me to note the CD-ROM Drive and no way to find out what to type in at the end. If I try to type anything there it comes up with Not ready reading Drive E
abort, retry, fail? and nothing to type in there either.
Those directions just leave me hanging because they are not complete. Enough time has been wasted both by me and by BBS on something that is impossible. 4 times formatting is too much!
Thanks anyway for your help.

 

Sorry, I sent the other message before I saw this one.
Thanks for your patience because I ran out a while ago..LOL...

 

Hi, let me help you with some of your concerns.
The reason for noting the drive letter for the CD rom is because of the way the Win98 boot floppy disk works.
If you choose with or without CD support one thing happens that is common in both choices. A RamDrive is created in memory. A ramdrive is like a hard drive, except that it only exists in RAM [or memory if you will]. After the ramdrive is created, files are then extracted from a CAB file [like a ZIP file] and copied into this ramdrive. These files can be helpful to get an existing windows back to functioning when you have some problems with 98. The total size of these files exceeds the size limitation of the floppy if not zipped.
Anyway, this ramdrive is assigned a drive letter, if the entire hard drive is formatted to be the C: and only the C:, and not partitioned where there could be other drives there, the ramdrive is assigned the letter D:
When you turn off the computer or reboot, the ramdrive and everything in the ramdrive disappears.
Now when you choose with CDROM support, the above happens, also the drivers for the CD are loaded.
Now you have a C: drive, a ramdrive letter D:, and the CD drive, which could be E:.
I say it could be E: as it is unknown to us as to whether or not an Extended Partition and Logical drives exist on the harddrive. If this is the case, your hard drive could actually be C: and D:, the Ramdrive could be E:, which would assign your CDRom as F:

Your hard drive has been formatted enough times, no need to do it again.

To install Windows just follow these steps.
Boot the computer with the boot floppy, choose 'With CDrom support'. Sit back and wait for all the stuff you are used to seeing now. Now here is the important part you may be missing. Right before the A:\> appears there is a message telling you the exact letter that is used for the CD. You don't have to be quick to see it, as this message is still visible above where the A:\> appears. It does not specifically say for example [Your CD drive is letter E:], it will look one of these;
Drive X: = Driver MSCD001
Drive X: = Driver OEMCD001
Where the X is above, is the actual letter you need to know.
If is indeed E:, use this command to start the installation of windows, exactly as I have it here in bold.
Be sure the Win CD is in the drive first, or you will get [abort, retry,fail]
e:\win98\setup.exe press Enter
If it is F:, use this one instead.
f:\win98\setup.exe press Enter
I think you got the idea now.

 

From post #12

It may be all to no avail.

I expect the system uses proprietary drivers and a new OS will not be able to be installed unless the appropriate disks are purchased from HP.

It may run on Linux.

You can wipe the drive, but what are you going to install after that?

Matt

 

Markp62...Thank you for your very good explanation...

Mattman...I have not decided yet. I wanted to try Linux just to see what it is like.
I am not very knowledgeable about computers and I learned a lot from this thread!
That computer is old and has a very small HD...not worth much except to practice on and try to learn a few things.