windows 98 no master cd yet is there hope?

i have a packard bell windows 98 computer, and a dell windows xp computer. i cant get windows 98 to load on the packard bell. the computer stops before load up, can i use my dell computer to fix my packard bell computer, or spend $29.99 for a packard bell master cd. i have the packard bell flopy but no master cd and i have a blank flopy is there any help for the poor will take donations$$

 

First, you should probably go ahead and spend the $29.99. That's kind of steep for a restore CD but you're going to need it eventually if you keep that Packard Bell. It contains everything you need to put the computer back into the state it was in when you bought it. I don't know if PB's restore CDs allow you to reinstall Windows without reformatting first, though so the following method for reinstalling Windows from the harddrive might be what you need anyway.

Download a Windows 98 boot disk from Bootdisk (save the downloaded file, put the blank floppy in the drive, open the downloaded file and let it put the boot files on the floppy).

Boot the 98 computer with the boot disk you just made in the floppy drive. If it doesn't boot from the floppy, you'll have to go into the BIOS to set the boot order to use the floppy first.

Once it's booting from the floppy and gives you a menu with choices as to how you want it to boot up, use the arrow keys to select either with or without CD-ROM support. It makes no difference for this method other than without CD-ROM support it boots faster.

Once it's finished whirring and grinding, you should get an A: prompt. Type in "cd C:\Windows\Options\Cabs" (without the quotes), press the enter key. If you get a "file not found" or something similar, that folder doesn't exist and you'll be spending that $29.99.

If it does exist and now you have C:\Windows\Options\Cabs on the screen, type in "setup.exe" (without the quotes) and press the enter key. Windows should begin installing.