trying to go from win98 to xp using restore discs

for sparrow...........

at some point i tried to reformat (restore?)
well, the 2 discs that came with my computer say "restore cd" on them but people i've talked to always referred to it as reformatting
but i did, however, have the full version of windows98 so i tried that and it worked (so the CD-ROM drive WAS working?)
ya but barely working-i was lucky that windows98 even got on here
i recently got a new cdrom drive (why?)
see above question
but if i put my xp recovery (restore?) disc in and boot up
see first question

when put them in while fully booted, nothing happens
disc 1 has a folder called drivers and the following files:
autorun.inf, bootcat.bin, bootimg.bin, T4160.gho, windows.ico
disc 2 also has a folder called drivers and the same files that are on disc 1-the only difference is instead of T4160.gho, it's called T4160001.ghs

neither disc has a .exe setup type file which would allow me to reformat or restore or whatever you call it

 

another thing.........

when i turn my computer on the cdrom light is the first thing to go on followed by the floppy drive light

 

I think you need some hands on assistance with your computer.

 

Okay, let me get this straight. You bought a portable computer with XP installed, and it came came with two recovery disks. You had trouble reinstalling/repairing XP, using those two disks, so you wiped out the OEM partition(s?) and reformatted the drive with a legit Win98 cd, and now the comp won't let you put XP on from the cds because you took out the tools they needed to run when you wiped out XP in the first place? Recovery disks are not the same as full retail upgrades or install disks. That's why they are cheaper! You did not mention a dual boot, you mentioned a repair. What caused you to dump the factory install in the first place? The bad cd-rom (no burner?) Do you have a product activation key from MS? Do you have a warranty?

Open the autorun.inf file from the cd in notepad and see what it says.

Johanna

 

i just wanted to reformat my hdd
yes it was a burner actually-when my original burner was actually working and i was able to reformat/restore my computer using my 2 restore/reformat discs, it never asked me for a product activation key-it just went through the process and when it was done, i went through some setup proccesses but never got asked for a key-no i do not have a warranty

i opened the autorun.inf file and this is what it says: ; Localized 06/23/2000 05:18 PM (GMT) 1:1.1.1 autorun.inf
[autorun]
ICON=windows.ico

 

Do not know what kind of restore CD you have.
If you can find a folder named "i386" on the CD. You will be able to install XP from there.
Just go to that folder and run the WINNT.exe file. Good luck.

 

fonzbear2000,

I think of formatting as erasing everything, reinstalling (actually, upgrading) as overwriting just most of the operating system files, and restoring as overwriting everything.

A restore disk contains an image (= a binary bit stream, the T4160.gho) of the c: drive as it came from the factory. It does not format the drive, it replaces the contents of the drive, including anything that has been added since the computer was new, and afterward the drive is in factory fresh condition.

There should be (have been?) a small partition on your HDD that contains a program to put the image file on your c: partition. I would go to msdos prompt (in accessories) and type:
fdisk
and accept the "y" (one or two) by hitting enter for each and then select 4 and see the description of the disk. Then "esc" out without doing anything else. Please tell us exactly what you see, including the percent(s).

You should consider asking the manufacturer or dealer for help. Installing win98 has overwritten the master boot record (mbr) that came with your computer and contained the instructions (to the computer) to use the restore disks. That should be available from the manufacturer. Otherwise get the ghost boot disk(s) as suggested and hopefully you can restore XP with the program "ghost ", although with my ghost program I need an alphanumeric key to restore images I have made, and you apparently don't have that (it may just be for the program, in which case you'll get it with the disk).

If you're interested, you can do a search for "ghost" on http://www.pricewatch.com/; I found ghost available for $9.00. (2000 edition, should work for you).

 

i see only 1 partition and it fat32 and the usage is 100%

 

As in your signature you have a 80G HD but FAT32 only supports 32G. Something is wrong.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;184006
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;314463

 

You cannot format a volume larger than 32 GB in size using the FAT32 file system in Windows 2000

When you attempt to format a FAT32 partition that is larger than 32 GB during the Windows XP installation process, the format operation fails near the end of the process, and you may receive the following error message:

Logical Disk Manager: Volume size too big.

i have windows 98-not 2000 or xp-if/when i get xp back on here it will be under the ntfs fileing system

 

our other computer has windows 98 with fat32 and a 40gb hdd

 

A FAT32 partition can be as large as 2 tb [2,047 gb]. The Fdisk provided by W2K and XP will only do up to 32gb, the fdisk provided by 98 will go up to 2 tb. I believe this is to get you to use NTFS.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;154997
Read where it says NOTE:.

 

Right. You have an 80GB fat32 partition, and there is no sign of the program to run the restore CDs, so your only hope is to get the ghost program and hope it will place the contents of the ghost files on your HDD. If you have a friend who has the program that would be ideal, but it's really not difficult to run. You need to make a floppy fron the CD and run the floppy with the restore disk in the drive.

Otherwise you'll have to buy an XP install or upgrade CD.

 

when you say make a floppy from the cd, do you mean a floppy from ghost ro from my restore cd?

 

i now have a copy of ghost installed-just not sure what to do

 

Interesting. Mine (in nsw2003) only requires one! floppy.