Creating floppy boot disk problem

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mikehende

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Hey guys, could use some help here please, I am trying to create a floppy boot disk for a Dell PII XPS 400 pc which is loaded with win98 and was given this piece of advice

"The file that I use is called 98BOT10A.EXE from www.bootdisk.com , by way of the
MicronPC web site. Insert an error-free floppy in the presumed A: drive.
Double click on the file. It will open up a DOS Windows."

So I place a formatted floppy in the drive then download the file from the micron site, I save it to the Desktop and then open the folder and double-click the exe file, DOS then opens up but closes immediately and I have no idea why this is happening, help?
 
If no one knows the answer to this then can anyone recommend an alternate way to make the boot floppy?
 
Put a floppy disk in a drive, go to dos and type in 'format' followed by the floppy drive letter and ':/' so for example 'format a:/'

And in the BIOS make sure that the floppy drive is first boot for it to load DOS.
 
I am not sure we understand each other so let's please clarify the
situation, I don't have a problem formatting a floppy, the problem I am having is "creating" a boot disk and also getting it to work, this is why I don't understand your instructions, can you explain please?
 
I haven't done a boot disk in ages, but I am sure it is just a formatted disk that will work. If not there will be a option in my computer under the floppy drive to create a bootable disk on windows 98.
 
Oh man, I think I messed up here, my sincere apologies, I should have explained this better from the start. I was told by some Techs that if you have a pc that doesn't boot, you CANNOT create a bootdisk for that pc on "another" pc unless MAYBE it's an identical pc and I have had others tell me that YES, it can be done.

I am trying to create the bootdisk on my son's pc which is identical to the pc I am working on and still cannot get it to boot from the floppy so I don't know who to believe?
 
you CAN boot a PC with a generic bootdisk.

you can try running the file from an command prompt, this will show us any error messages.

Copy the exe to the root of your C drive

under 'run' (windows key + R) type 'command' (no commas) to enter the command prompt, then type
C:\98BOT10A.EXE
and press enter

the way to create a normal win98 boot disk would be to type
Format A: /s
at the command prompt and press enter.


I have to wonder about this non booting PC, in what way does it not boot? does it POST ok then just not load windows? are there any error messages? are there any beeps when you turn on the PC?
 
The pc is set to boot from the floppy, no problem there. Yes, it POST ok but does not load windows, no beeps when I turn on the pc otherwise I would have checked the audio codes, error message is "No operating system found" but the problem I am having here guys like I said is creating the bootdisk, I am not concerned about getting to windows as I am doing this only to see if I can create a bootdisk on another pc and use it succesfully on the non-working pc.

As I have mentioned above when I double-click the exe file as per my instructions in my first post, the DOS window opens but closes immediately. Mr.Coffee, I just tried your method, copying the file from the desktop into the C drive and when I type what you wrote into the DOS prompt and hit Enter, I get this message

"C:\98BOT10A.EXE is not recognised as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file"

One thing I noticed was that C:DocumentsandSettings/Serge1 was the info in the DOS window, I am wondering if that is the "temporary" location of the file? If not, then maybe DOS is not being told that the file is actually located in the C drive? If so, then how can I change it? If not, then what else can I try?
 
i'm guessing this file is a winzip selfextracting EXE, though I cant imagine why it would be configured to put the files anywhere other than the floppy disk.

can you open the exe file with winzip? you might try just extracting it to your A drive.

however I suggest you create a boot disk as follows, load add/remove programs from your control panel and create a startup disk from the startup disk tab.

if you like I could Email you a exe I have from boodisk.com (Boot98sc.exe) that I know works ok.
 
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