Windows 98 Format Help!!!

[matthiasj]

i'm new, and need some help, tonight, i was at my girlfriends house tonight and was workin on her computer. I had to format her hard drive, because her computer was messed up bad. She has windows 98 Pro, and i put in the disc in the D:, and had the startup disc in the a:. When the command promt came up, after i selected start the computer with CD-ROM support, i typed "format c:" after it was done, i figured i could restart the computer, and the disc would automaticly start, and i could install the OS. But it sent me back to the command promt, and i dont know what command will start the windows 98 CD in the CD rom drive to install.

 

[TheMajor]

Windows 98 Pro? u mean 98 or 98SE.

anyways, type "setup.exe"

 

[mikesgroovin]

Before running setup, do one more thing or you may have problems later....
Boot back up with you Windows 98 boot disk with CD-ROM support and type "sys c:" at the A:\ prompt. This makes your drive bootable without a disk. Depending on the hardware you may or may not have a problem later on....but just as preventitive maintenence from now on.....when formatting a hard drive, you should always use "format c: /s"
the "/s" part just combines the "format c:" part and the "sys c:" part into one step.

Anywho....after typing "sys c:" and getting the "System Transfered" acknoledgement then go to you D: drive or E:.......wherever your CD-ROM drive is and then type "setup" and hit enter.

 

[TheMajor]

the sys command makes a floppydisk bootable..as far as I know it copies the system files to the floppydisk, not to a disc....u would need a burner

 

[mikesgroovin]

No, it actually copies the files to the drive that you tell it to in the command and makes the drive bootable. The files that you are copying already exist on the floppy....(command.com, etc)

 

[mikesgroovin]

Per Example:
http://www.computerhope.com/syshlp.htm
Notice the command toward the bottom of the page.
Typing sys c: from the A: drive would copy the four files from the diskette to the drive.
You can make a diskette bootable but not with the command that i'm recommending him to use.

 

[TheMajor]

true, sorry...I didn't see "from a:"

but he already has a bootable floppy and his disc automatically loads command prompt

 

[mikesgroovin]

Right, I am just recommending it. Typing this after formatting only takes a few seconds. I've seen some older systems that are old enough to be able to run 98 but are not able to run 2000 or XP that hang at "Verifing DMI Pool Data" during boot. Most of these client's computers were fixed by running a sys command with a bootable 98 disk and after the system tranfered over the system would boot fine.

 

[TheMajor]

where would you get the files from if C: is formatted?
a:/>sys c:
means it gets the files from c:
but there's nothing on c: after formatting.
Do u mean c:/>sys a:?

 

[mikesgroovin]

No, that isn't correct.
Typing "sys c:" from an A: prompt tranfers files from the A: drive to the C: drive. since you already at and A: prompt, DOS assumes that you are copying from the source that is already prompting you from .... hence.... the A: prompt

Trust me......done this a thousand times over. If you'd like.....place a blank drive into a PC and boot from a 98 disk and then type sys d: or wherever the new disk is after it's formatted...you'll then see the 4 files on the newly formatted drive.

The site link that I sent you even explains it....it couldn't be clearer:

:::::If when booting your computer you get "Missing command interpreter" this could be a indication of missing command.com to resolve this issue boot from a disk that has sys.com and command.com on the disk type sys c: from the A:\> remove the disk and reboot the computer to resolve this issue.:::::