Problem with Windows upgrade
July 5, 2004 10:44 AM Subscribe
I've fubared my Aunt's computer quite thoroughly while trying to replace win95 with win98 in a non-copyright friendly sort of way. Hope me, metafilter!
It's an older Dell computer, Pentium Pro, that came with Win95 installed. For various reasons, mostly that she couldn't get drivers for hardware she wanted to use, she wanted to move it to Windows 98. I tried to install it using a Windows 98 disk that I had from a computer I had previously. It wouldn't install over top of the Win95 install, since it was designed for installing on a fresh system. So, I, uh, freshened the system by formatting the drive. Now, it won't recognize either the Win95 CD or the Win98 CD as a bootable disk so I can't reinstall. I do have a rescue disk which gets me into DOS but no farther.
My best thought at this point is that if I could get a CD driver for DOS I might be able to boot to the rescue disk and then reinstall from the Win95 or Win98 disk?
It's an older Dell computer, Pentium Pro, that came with Win95 installed. For various reasons, mostly that she couldn't get drivers for hardware she wanted to use, she wanted to move it to Windows 98. I tried to install it using a Windows 98 disk that I had from a computer I had previously. It wouldn't install over top of the Win95 install, since it was designed for installing on a fresh system. So, I, uh, freshened the system by formatting the drive. Now, it won't recognize either the Win95 CD or the Win98 CD as a bootable disk so I can't reinstall. I do have a rescue disk which gets me into DOS but no farther.
My best thought at this point is that if I could get a CD driver for DOS I might be able to boot to the rescue disk and then reinstall from the Win95 or Win98 disk?
Go to your BIOS, and make sure you have the option to boot from CD-ROM. It can be changed by simply enabling it as an option, or setting the boot sequence to CD-ROM first, hard Drive second.
posted by Keyser Soze at 1:07 PM on July 5, 2004
posted by Keyser Soze at 1:07 PM on July 5, 2004
yes to bootdisk.com
posted by damnitkage at 1:42 PM on July 5, 2004
posted by damnitkage at 1:42 PM on July 5, 2004
Keyser Soze: good advice, except for the fact that Microsoft didn't start making ther install CD's bootable until Windows 2000 and ME. :\
I third bootdisk.com
posted by cheaily at 3:49 PM on July 5, 2004
I third bootdisk.com
posted by cheaily at 3:49 PM on July 5, 2004
Windows 98 came with a bootable floppy disk that you needed to use before starting the installation. If you cannot find that, bootdisk.com looks like a good solution.
posted by dg at 4:01 PM on July 5, 2004
posted by dg at 4:01 PM on July 5, 2004
Response by poster: I've solved that problem. Thanks mefi!
/me wanders off to find a driver for a modem she doesn't know the name of.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:43 PM on July 5, 2004
/me wanders off to find a driver for a modem she doesn't know the name of.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:43 PM on July 5, 2004
Funny, I have Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2, Windows 98, and Windows 98 Second Edition CDs which all boot just fine without requiring floppies. I thought it was only those cheesy "upgrade" CDs that wouldn't boot.
For situations like this, I tend to use a FreeDOS disk of some kind, but bootdisk.com does indeed have what you need.
As for modems, it's possible you don't need a driver at all unless it's some kind of "winmodem." That is, if it's a modem that requires the CPU and a poorly written driver to do the work of $8 worth of DSP chip because the modem manufacturer cuts corners. In that case, you very much need a driver.
posted by majick at 10:01 PM on July 5, 2004
For situations like this, I tend to use a FreeDOS disk of some kind, but bootdisk.com does indeed have what you need.
As for modems, it's possible you don't need a driver at all unless it's some kind of "winmodem." That is, if it's a modem that requires the CPU and a poorly written driver to do the work of $8 worth of DSP chip because the modem manufacturer cuts corners. In that case, you very much need a driver.
posted by majick at 10:01 PM on July 5, 2004
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by mmcg at 10:55 AM on July 5, 2004