# [SOLVED - BAD HARD DRIVE] Windows 95



## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

My friend just gave me a rather old computer that the operating system somehow got deleted from. It is an Acer Aspire computer, and they had it loaded with Windows 95. When I start the computer, it boots and then says that no operating system is loaded. I've tried to press F2,F10, ESC, and DEL to access the BIOS to try and boot to the Windows 95 CD, but that won't work. So I have the 95 CD in the drive, I just don't know how get it to boot from the CD to install. Any help? Let me know if I'm in the wrong forum.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

Ok, I read another post about Win 95 installation. I made a 95 boot floppy and put it in. But when I did the screen came up saying 'Non-system disk or disk error, strike any key when ready'. I took it out and it gave me the 'Missing operating system' message again. Could DOS have been deleted too? If so, how can I install that?


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

Download a bootdisk from http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

The file you download is an executable file that will create a floppy bootdisk with cd-rom drivers. So execute it when your booted into a Windows environment.

Restart your computer with the Floppy in the drive and make sure the bios is set to boot from the floppy drive first. When the system boots up watch the boot sequence because it will tell you what drive letter it assigns to the cd-rom.

Once the computer is booted, I would reformat the hard drive just for the sake of arguement. *format c: /s* After it is done formating you can then launch *setup.exe* from the cd-rom. *e:\setup* That is assuming your cd-rom was assigned the drive letter *e:* Substitute whatever drive letter you need to.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

for some reason i haven't been able to access the bios. i have the floppy and cd-rom in the drives, but i can't get to the bios to set it to boot off the floppy.


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## dbn (Dec 16, 2003)

Some computers use F1 to go into BIOS setup.


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## dbn (Dec 16, 2003)

A proper Boot Disk will contain the system files needed to properly boot the computer. Those system file programs are run through DOS which is on the Boot Disk. Most computers, especially older ones, already are set up to seek the floppy drive first for booting. I sounds to me like you need a proper boot disk to boot from.

Also another thought . . . . You do have your Product Key for the installation of your Windows 95, right? Sometimes when we get old computers, people give whatever disks they have that go with it but are unaware that they are missing something. Without that key you won't be able to load the operating system even if you do get a good boot disk to boot from.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

tried F1 too. If i rapidly press any button it beeps, and then just loads to 'missing operating system'.


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## dbn (Dec 16, 2003)

I would try downloading the boot disk then like LwdSquashman suggested. Once you have a good boot disk, you should have a better than 50% chance that your computer will boot from the floppy drive. The BIOS issue can be addressed later if needed.


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

When the computer boots up, it should show you what key to press the enter into the Bios setup. 

Acer Aspire! My mom had an old Acer Aspire. Probably not going to find too much support for it on the web. I would have to go over the my grandparents house to see what key is used to get into the bios. It might be the Delete key.


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

Just found this on Acer's website. It is for an Acer Aspire 2254. Not sure if that is your model number but this is what it states.



> Accessing BIOS Setup
> 
> Issue: How do I access my BIOS?
> 
> ...


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

Ok, great! Got to the BIOS. Now with the boot disk in its saying 'Non-System or disk error. Strike Any Key when ready.'


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

I've tried both Win95a and Win95b boot disks, as well as the Win98 OEM as suggested in another thread. None of those work. Is there anything I can do to the computer then or is it a lost cause?


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

Just want to double check a few things.
Are you sure it is booting from the Floppy first.
Did you execute the file you downloaded from bootdisk.com and let it create the bootable floppy or did you just copy the file to the disk.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

I used his AcerCPR disk along with a recovery CD. From there I can either Rebuild the drive or Reinstall Windows. I tried to reinstall first, but it gave me an error. So I Rebuilt the drive. Then I went back to reinstall windows, but it says the same thing:

Cannot create temporary directory
If you have HPFS or NTFS on your hard drive, you may need to create an MS-DOS partition first before you can install Windows.


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## TOGG (Apr 2, 2002)

I'm not sure if this will help but, checkout Lightspeed's Win 95 page, just in case;http://www.oldstuff.myagora.net/lightspeed/lightspeed95.html


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

And here I thought you were still trying to follow my instructions from my firt post in this thread. Not sure what you are trying to do now.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

I was trying your idea until I found the recovery CD and disk. I figured it would be simple to rebuild the drive then just reinstall windows. but like i said, i rebuilt the drive and then went to reinstall but it gave me an error. as for your boot disk, was i just supposed to download it to a floppy and then put it in there? i think you mentioned something about opening it and then putting it on the other computer. thanks for the help so far.


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

> _Originally posted by MyName:_
> *I was trying your idea until I found the recovery CD and disk. I figured it would be simple to rebuild the drive then just reinstall windows. but like i said, i rebuilt the drive and then went to reinstall but it gave me an error. as for your boot disk, was i just supposed to download it to a floppy and then put it in there? i think you mentioned something about opening it and then putting it on the other computer. thanks for the help so far. *





> _Originally posted by LwdSquashman:_
> *The file you download is an executable file that will create a floppy bootdisk with cd-rom drivers. So execute it when your booted into a Windows environment.*





> _Originally posted by LwdSquashman:_
> *Did you execute the file you downloaded from bootdisk.com and let it create the bootable floppy or did you just copy the file to the disk. *


Reread my first post in this thread as well. Once you are booted up with the floppy, just format the drive just to be safe.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

Ok, that worked pretty good once I opened the file on my regular computer. I started Windows setup, but encountered the following problems:

can't find SETUPX.DLL

WINSETUP cause general protection fault in module KRNL.386.EXE at 001:50CA

" " in USER.EXE 0001:40B6
then after clicking ok....
Bad fault in MS-DOS Extended fault: 000D stack dump: 0000 0000 0000 0070


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

I tried running setup again and I'm getting a similar error as before:

Cannot create a temporary directory.
If you have HPFS or NTFS installed on your hard drive, you will need to create an MS-DOS boot disk.


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## doggard (Oct 18, 2002)

Two things come to mind:
1:The harddrive is not detected by the bios or is faulty/dead/disconnected/missing.
Check the drive is physically connected to both the IDE cable and the power.Redetect the harddrive or input the data for the Cylinder,Heads and sectors if no auto detect is available.

2:There is no FAT/FAT32 partiton on the harddrive
Boot up with the windows start up floppy and at the prompt type "fdisk".Look in section 4 you may find it has no defined partition or it is "Non DOS".
If no partition is visable create a new primary partiton [1 & 1 ] reboot and format the drive [A:>Format c:].


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

Ok. I ran fdisk there were no partitions, as I thought. So I created one. Next I ran windows setup again, and it gives me this message:
The File Allocation Tables (FATs) on this drive do not match. If you choose to fix it, ScanDisk will replace the backup copy of the FAT with the main copy.
Make sure you create an Undo Disk. If the contents of your disk do not appear better after running ScanDisk, use the Undo Disk to undo the changes ScanDisk made.

options are: Fix it, Don't fix it, more info


if I need to make an undo disk, i don't know how. what should I select now?


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## doggard (Oct 18, 2002)

Did you format the drive??


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

yes i did


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

What does the top of the Windows disk you are using to install say?

Did you do fdisk first, then format?


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

The disk just says Windows 95, looks like the plain standard Windows installation disk. I did fdisk and then formatted, did I do it backwards?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

That should be ok. Did you reboot after fdisk, then do format?

Any writing on the disk other than Windows 95? Version numbers? OEM?

The drive wasn't compressed in the past, was it?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000283.htm

You might have a read thru that, just in case.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

There arent any version numbers on the cd. However, I tried this again. I did fdisk, formatted and rebooted as i did before. the problem seems to be when i turn off the computer to reboot. when i turned it back on, i did fdisk and there were no partitions. so, is there a problem when i shut the computer off. i don't know how to reboot from dos, so i just figured i would turn it off and turn it back on.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

CTRL-ALT-DEL should get you a reboot from dos. Is the hard drive being recognized correctly in bios?

After you fdisk and format, post the #4 information from fdisk.

Is this an original Windows cd that we are working with?


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

thanks for your help so far. so i did fdisk, then i did reboot this time, then i formatted c. now i did fdisk after that as you said and here is what it says:

Partition c: 1
Status: A
Type: PRI DOS
VOlume Label: C
Mbytes: 2047
System: FAT 16
Usage: 42%
Total disk space is 4910 Mbytes.


I'm working with an origional Windows 95 CD.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, now, put the 95 cd in the drive, start the computer with the boot disk, do you get a menu to choose with cdrom support? 

If so, choose that, then at the a: prompt, change to the cdrom by typing

d:
and press enter

then setup
and press enter


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

I did what you said, and that's what I've been doing. However, the CD-Rom drive is labeled r: (which took me forever to figure out), so i just substituted that. Then I get the message Setup is now going to perform a routine check of your system. To continue press ENTER, to quit Setup press ESC. I press ENTER. Then I get the Windows 95 Setup screen. I choose Continue at the starup screen. A status bar in one window shows, but when it reaches 100%, it says "cannot find SETUPX.DLL". I choose OK."WINSETUP cause a General Protection fault in KRNL386.EXE" same message then for "USER.EXE". I choose close, the only option. Back to a black screen saying "Baud fault in MS-DOS Extender...." (I posted this message in a previous post in this thread). Now I'm back to r:>. Any suggestions?

*edit. Ok, so for no reason I decided to go into fdisk right after i posted, and the partition is gone, it's not showing any. What is goin on here??


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Try loading bios defaults.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

tried resetting the bios, seems like it didn't help. when i tried to install windows it said 'cannot create temporary directory...'

*(edit)
it seems if i don't format my drive and try to install, i get the 'can't create temp directory' message.

if i do format then try to install, i get to the windows installation, but it can't find the files i mentioned.


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## bandit429 (Feb 12, 2002)

On your 95 cd does it say anything about USB?? On the cd itself.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

here is all the text on the cd:

Microsoft Windows 95
c1981-1995 Microsoft Corp All Rights Reserved
0795 Part No. 000-04404
For Distribution Only with a New PC

*note

after any time I get to the actual Windows Installation screens, it gives me the errors about the files, then if i do an fdisk afterwards and check, there are no partitions for some reason.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

At the c: prompt, can you type

dir

and tell us what files you see first here.


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## bandit429 (Feb 12, 2002)

YOu have the fat 16 version the link is at the bottom of the post if anyone thinks it may be of help the Dos version is 7.00 [4.00.0950]

Windows 95 final release version of original retail and OEM versions. 
4.00.0950
7.00 [4.00.0950]
07|11|95 + 09:50:00
4.00.0950

http://www.emsps.com/oldtools/mswin95v.htm


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

after another fdisk to create the partition, i did dir and got:

Invalid media type reading drive C:
Abort, Retry, Fail?

I chose fail, then i did another format of C:
directly after, i did another dir and got:
directory of c:\ file not found

so i kept going and tried to install windows (knowing i would get the same error) and did another dir right after and got the same message about file not found as above.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

With the boot disk in the drive, at the a: prompt, can you type sys c:
and press enter.

Then remove the floppy to see if the computer will boot directly to a c: prompt.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

I did that, and it said system transferred. i took out the disk, and rebooted. the windows 95 splash screen flashed real fast, now it says 'Windows 95 Copyright Microsoft Corp 1981-1995' and its booted to a c: prompt, what should i do now? thanks again for helping so far, you rock!

*dir c shows:
COMMAND COM 92,870 7-11-95 9:50a
1 file(s) 92,870 bytes
0 dir(s) 2,146,009,088 bytes free


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, can we get a directory of the cdrom (win95) contents? You can either boot again with the boot disk, or take a look at the directory from another computer.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

I put the CD in my regular computer:
Directory of F:\

07/11/1995 04:50 AM ADMIN
07/11/1995 04:50 AM AUTORUN
07/11/1995 04:50 AM 61 AUTORUN.INF
07/11/1995 04:50 AM CDEXPO
07/11/1995 04:50 AM DATALINK
07/11/1995 04:50 AM DRIVERS
07/11/1995 04:50 AM FUNSTUFF
07/11/1995 04:50 AM HELP
07/11/1995 04:50 AM OTHER
07/11/1995 04:50 AM PRODUCTS
07/11/1995 04:50 AM 7,302 README.TXT
07/11/1995 04:50 AM 3,664 SETUP.EXE
07/11/1995 04:50 AM WIN95
3 File(s) 11,027 bytes
10 Dir(s) 0 bytes free


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

> _Originally posted by LwdSquashman:_
> *Restart your computer with the Floppy in the drive and make sure the bios is set to boot from the floppy drive first. When the system boots up watch the boot sequence because it will tell you what drive letter it assigns to the cd-rom. *


That is why your drive letter is R and why I told you to watch the boot sequence to see what drive letter is assigns to the cd-rom.

The only thing I can think of is too try copying the contents of the cd onto the hard drive and try installing from the hard drive. Make a directory called win95 on you hard drive and then copy the contents of the cdrom into that directory. Then run the setup from there.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

how can I go about doing that? I'm not very good in the DOS environment?


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

md c:\win95
copy r:\*.* c:\win95


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

for some reason, it is not recognizing the cd-rom drive anymore. It is saying invalid drive when I try to do that, and when I just type r: it says Invalid drive specification.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Reboot with boot disk and be sure to choose to start with cdrom support.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

ok...
r:\AUTORUN.INF
r:\README.TXT
r:\SETUP.EXE
3 FILES COPIED


should i do c:/win95/setup.exe ?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

There should be more files than that. Look at the directory you posted prior.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

I agree, however I did it again and it just said the same three files.

If you look at the dir I posted, it seems the only files that were copied were the ones with the extenstions. Not sure if the others are directories or something.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, I didn't even look back, I just recalled seeing more than three files. Can you change to the win95 directory and get a directory there? If so is there a setup.exe?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Or setup.exe from the c: prompt.

I'll probably go watch the game now, so if I don't post back in a while, it may be tomorrow


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

dir of c:\win95 shows:

AUTORUN INF
README TXT
SETUP EXE

i tried to do c:\WIN95>setup.exe but it doesn't do anything. is there some way I can copy the other files/directories to win95? If that's needed, I'll probably need another example command. Thanks.


just now messing around, I tried to do commands like the following: COPY r:\WIN95\*.* c:\win95\win95
and I found that I copied all the subdirectories of r: except for ADMIN, FUNSTUFF, OTHER, AND PRODUCTS because those directories contained sub directories and that's a lot of work so I decided to stop. But, I looked on other websites and was trying to do a 'xcopy' of the subdirectories but it wouldn't recognize that command, or I was typing it wrong.


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## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

Boot up again with the startup disk choosing start with CDRom support. Once at the A:\> prompt, type C: then press enter. Once at the C:\> prompt, type *CD Win95 * then press enter. At the C:\Win95 prompt, type *COPY R:\Win95\*.** then press enter. Once it has finished copying everything remove the startup disk and the Windows CD then reboot the computer. It should boot to the hard drive (C:\>). Type CD Win95 and press enter. Now type Setup and press enter.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

I did the first part, and it copied the files. But now, I removed the disk and tried to boot and it said 'missing operating system' again. so i went back to bios (options of booting: a, c, c then a, a then c) and so i changed that to drive a, then i put in c: and it was ok, but when i try either CD win95 or dir c I get 'Invalid media type reading drive c, abort, retry, fail.' i chose fail, and then i did fdisk and the paritition is still there.


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## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

Do you still have the Win95 boot disk you made (not Win95B).? If so, boot up with it. At the A:\> prompt, type sys c: then press enter. This should transfer the system files to the hard drive and make it bootable. CAUTION!! DO NOT USE THE WIN98 BOOT DISK FOR THIS PROCEDURE. Once it's finished, remove the startup disk and reboot to see if you can get to the C:\> prompt.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

nope, I still get the same message after the sys c: about invalid media type reading drive c:


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## bandit429 (Feb 12, 2002)

The bootdisk you downloaded was??? 95 original??


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

yes it was


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## kilowatt1 (Oct 27, 2001)

Using the Win95 boot disk to get to an A:\> prompt, type fdisk /mbr then press enter. Once finished remove the boot disk and reboot.

If this fails, type c: at the A:\> prompt. Then at the c:\> prompt, type CD Win95. Now type setup and press enter.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

without the boot disk in, it says 'missing operating system' the second thing you said, it says 'invalid media type reading drive c:'

**i found this site: http://www.winbookcorp.com/_technote/WBTA02030625.htm

The thing I noticed, in the format section, it says to strike enter when asked for a volume label. I, however, entered c for mine. Does that make a difference?


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## bandit429 (Feb 12, 2002)

using this link make another bootdisk try again,, use this command for the format
Format C: /s
then try to run setup.
click below
http://www.bluevolcano.com/stuff/boot95a.exe


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

Ok will do, let me make sure I got this right:

make the boot disk
put in the disk, format my c drive
should i copy the files from the cd to my c drive, or try and run it off the cd?


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## bandit429 (Feb 12, 2002)

THis command Format c: /s will install the correct version of dos on your drive from the floppy your gonna make. There should be nothing more to do than restart IF asked and run setup.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

ok, i did that. i'm now able to do a dir on c, and obviously its empty. so should i try r:\setup.exe?


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## bandit429 (Feb 12, 2002)

Yes,,,good luck. Leave the floppy in and install the cd.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

same messages about SETUPX.DLL....when trying to install windows.

*a quick dir of c and the computer beeped, and it shows a lot of weird symbols where the files should be, and then shows the dates. 4 files in c.


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## yarg (Feb 2, 2004)

I have been reading all of your problems and I do not know if you got it or not.From the looks of it you did not at your last post.You are on the right track and it appears that your CD has the files that you need.By that I mean that you have the setup files on it.Understand that a lot of people have computers that only came with a disk that will only let you add files from the disk.The disk that you got from Bootdisk .com is good.Most of thier disks put the CD ROM as R:/ that is because it is doing it from a RAM Drive.Once you get 95 installed it will read your hardware and assign letters to your drives.Are you with me?Now the other thing that you need to understand is that Windows 95 regardless of what issue will not boot or install from a partition larger than approx. 1.95 or 2.00GB ok.And only from a Fat 16 partition.I saw that you had that once at least.The best thing to do is slow down and start over .Use the floppy boot disk to boot from.Use FDISK to format the HDD with a FAT16 Primary DOS Partition and make sure that it is set to Active. There will be a part on there for choosing Large Disk Support.Choose YES.Reboot from that Floppy and at the A:\ prompt go to R:\ From what you said that was the drive letter from the disk you got from BOOTDISK.com When it reads from the R:\ drive type dir you should see a list of files.The thing is that depending on the monitor you have you may not be able to see them all on the DOS screen.I think the number is 38 if memory serves me correctly.There is one that says SETUP.EXE That is the one that you want.You only have to type SETUP and it will execute .Now if there is nothing wrong with you disk and you have not messed up your BIOS settings from playing with them and not knowing what you are doing You should get into the process of installing 95.If you get that far be advised that SETUP is going to ask you for the 20 digit Registration number and if you do not have it then all of the boot disks and partitions in the world are not going to install the OS.If buy chance you get those BIOS errors try and get back in BIOS you should be able to reset them to the DEFAULT settings.That should work for that box unless you changed them and changed the defaults some how.If you did Goodluck.You have a problem unless you know how to set them back to what they need to be.And if you know what they should be.You can find that out from the manufacturer but you need to get some one to set them for you since it appears that you do not.I mean no offense.This is the biggest problem for folks.And that is the Partioning and getting the CD to read.You are alredy there on that one.So take pride BEAU.You do not know how many people do not get that far and give up.Here is a good place to go. FDISK.com Go to the link to partioning with FDISK.There are others do not get me wrong.You can always invest about $40.00 and get a utility such as Partition Magic or Partition Commander.I use Partition Commander.It will boot directly from the disk and run it in DOS.The big thing is slow down and read son.You are obviously graced with trons upstairs to have gotten this far.You just need to do a little more research. And hope that the disk will read all of the files.There is another method that the Professionals use which is to copy all of the cabs and set up to the HDD and then run setup.But I am not one of them and though I have done it is a little harder than the AUTO Method.Anyway I hope that you already got it but if you did not that you see this and it is of some help.I will check back.I know it is a book but I do not know how to explain it any other way.If your HDD is larger than about the 1.95GB or 2.0GB that was pretty much standard then once you get 95 installed you can set up another partition and use the rest of your Hard Drive.Like I said in the beginning starting out you can not create anything larger than 1.95GB to install. IT will not read it.Then back in those days about 8GB was the largest Hard Drive you could use.You need to do your home work and read up on HDD partitions and what, and why, as I said.I just know that the article at FDISK.com will give you a good start.Another thing is to take that 95 CD and get on another computer and get in there and read .Depending who the OEM Liscence came from will have a little to do with what is on the disk.If you do have a 95 full Disk and look at it you will find SET UP and all on it with other files.But there should be a folder that says WIN95 on it. That is really the only ffolder that needs to be intact.Inside it is another copy of SETUP.EXE and all of the cabfiles that are required.CAB is what Microsoft called a ZIP file. I trust you are familiar with the term.That is all it is.The problem is that in thier infinite wisdom they made the size of all of those CABS at 1.95MB.With the exception of a couple and one called PRECAB1 and PRECAB2.So you see that you can not put them on a standard 1.44MB floppy and transfer them to the Harddrive.TADA. But,if you can get just that one file which is WIN95 with all of them intact and readable and you are getting your CD to read then you can install it from a CD with just that FOLDER. Infact that is what I have for one backup disk.The size of that standard WIN95 folder is 34MB.That is for the 95A release. IT may be a little larger for OSR2 and That I do not know for I do not own the others.Of course you have to make the CD where it will read from a ROM drive if that is what you have.That folder is where the other main SETUP.EXE is getting the CAB Files from anyway.I hope that I do not get in trouble for this book.But I do know that everything I am telling you is kOSHER.As I said though there other ways to do it.That is the last thing I am going to cover.You can get you partition set up and simpy copy that WIN95 to the HDD.Then change to the C:\ drive,the WIN95 DIR that it automatically created when you told DOS to copy R:\WIN95 to C or copy R: C: and then chose SETUP. And no you do not have to Lable a drive or partition with a Volume lable.Just as you do not have to LABLE a Floppy.Do not confuse DRIVE LETTER with DRIVE VOLUME. They are two different monkeys.And by the way you are not installing DOS on to the HDD. That is why you are geting the ERROR NO operating SYSTEM son.Windows 95 is not like 3.1 or before where you had to have DOS on the HDD to install Windows.The DOS runs with the 95 or 98 or ME or what ever.The new XP of which I also have does not even do that. So the guy that told you that it would install the version of DOS was simply mistaken.If you had DOS installed then when you fired up the computer you would see the old famous words Starting MS DOS and you would no longer need that floppy to keep starting the computer and getting to the C:\ Drive. If you doubt me then go to a site aclled DOSGhost or some where else and download a copy of PTSDOS,make the disk just like you did the bootdisk from BOOTDISK.com and install it.Now I am going to get down to the nitty gritty but I am reluctant to tell you this for reasons of the BIG TECHIES saying how UNPROFESSIONAL it is. But it will work.I have done it.That is,Get the Evaluation copy of PTSDOS and make the disk. RUN IT.and INSTALL it. The program will set you up a primary DOS FAT PARTITION if one can be madewith its FDISK automatically.Then you can use that 98 StartUP disk or whatever to losad the CDROM drivers.Hit SETUP on the 95 disk and install it right along with the PTSDOS EVALUATION VERSION.It will run right there with it.But the 95 Install will redo the MBR for you.And the PTSDOS will no longer bootup form the switch button.Once you get 95 on there you can always delete the PTSDOS EVALUATION VERSION.And the best part is it is FREE to TRY.I say from my old Submariner days "WHAT EVER GETS YOU HOME"and do not worry about what the rest of the TECHIES think. Good Luck


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

Yarg-
Any time I get to the Windows installation, it gives me the same error messages about a few files (it's in some of my earlier posts)


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## bandit429 (Feb 12, 2002)

Is your hard drive larger than 8 gig? I missed that.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

doing fdisk i see:
partition 1: 2047Mbytes

Total disk space is 4910Mbytes


at one time i believe the computer had Win95 on it, so I'm assuming there would be enough space to install.


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## bandit429 (Feb 12, 2002)

2047 should be enough,,,try using 100% as your primary dos partition. When you finish fdisk you will have to format again. Start with cdrom support when you get to the a prompt type C:\> and hit enter then format c: /s
then when its finished C:\> setup.

If you cannot do this because of a memory error then boot without cdrom support and format then restart and run C:\> setup.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

Bandit-

Wouldn't that be where it asks me if i wish to use the max size available for a Primary DOS Partition and make it active? I chose Yes already, but I'm not sure how to make it 100%.

*edit....I see what you mean, but when i say 100% it said it is too big, the highest it will go is 42%


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## bandit429 (Feb 12, 2002)

Ok I have to work,,,your problem may lie there. You will not be asked to enable large disk support as you do not have a large disk,,,but you should be able to get 100%,,,,,,,,,,,,are there other partitions??


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

that's the only partition fdisk shows

**http://www.computing.net/windows95/wwwboard/forum/11334.html

I google searched the errors I was getting on windows installation, and that's a site that came up. It seems for that person it was a memory problem, is that the direction we're looking at right now?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

You mentioned funny characters a while back. I've only seen that a few times, and every time the drive was bad. Do you have another we can try?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

> _Originally posted by MyName:_
> *that's the only partition fdisk shows
> 
> **http://www.computing.net/windows95/wwwboard/forum/11334.html
> ...


Are you actually getting a SUWIN error number?


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

No, that's the only drive I have. The funny characters occur after I try the Windows install, it gives me the errors and went back to the a:> prompt. so i did a dir of c and it gave a bunch of weird characters. it seems the partition will be bad after I try to install, so i have to re-partition and then reformat. Thinking the drive is bad maybe?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Like I said, the only time I have seen a bunch of weird characters, the drive has been bad


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

Ok, so basically it's a lost cause, unless I put a new drive in it, which its a rather old computer anyway (it was just going to be used by someone for Word etc) so it's not really worth it. Thanks for everyones help, you guys are great!


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Obviously you can experiment around, God knows I do, but I usually end up throwing things in the trash instead of pulling my hair out.

If you can attempt to put that drive into another computer and it doesn't work on it either, then pretty much you've figured it out. Or put a drive from another computer into that one and see if it will boot up, that will rule out the motherboard, etc.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Run scandisk from the floppy.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

It might take a while ...


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

if you get a few faulty bits,
thats ok,
but if you get lots of faulty areas,
then i would note the figures,
and do it again,
if the figures are different,
i would worry, but do it again,
if the figures are the same,
then i would think that it might be stable.

Scandisk 'marks' sections that dont 'read/write' properly,
so that they can be ignored by the PC.

Sometimes Hardrives can have quite a lot of faulty sections,
but still work fine, cos the faulty ones get ignored.


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

i think you have to choose for it 'fix errors'
otherwise it just reports,
if you choose 'fix errors' 
it will 'mark' as un-useable any dodgy sections.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

Like I said I pretty much gave up hope. But I ran scandisk anyway. Before trying to install, it showed no bad clusters. After installing it said something about too many bad clusters and it couldn't move the remaining files, so I should do it manually. I think the number was something insane, like 1500. Not to mention after that the computer freezes. Thought I would humor those who posted in this thread.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)




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## bandit429 (Feb 12, 2002)

We appreciate your effort to inform us.........Personally I always like to know and I am sure others do to. Thats how we learn and share,,,,and help others. Can't be fixed that drive.


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## MyName (Oct 25, 2001)

Not a problem, thanks again to AcaCandy, Bandit, John, Squashman, and everyone else who tried to help [there's too many to mention. just shows how everyone here tries to pitch in when there's a problem!]


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