# Installing DOS on a Pentium II Computer



## formdev (Jul 30, 2013)

I would very much appreciate advice/instruction about installing DOS 3.3 on a Dell Pentium II 300 MHz computer. At this time, I have older laboratory equipment with software incompatible with DOS 4.01 and higher versions. The interfacing between the computer and the instrument is via the parallel port. The previous 286 machine finally gave up. 
Thank you so much for any suggestions or considerations .


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## valis (Sep 24, 2004)

if you got the disks and the drive, should be a straight install.......


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## foxidrive (Oct 20, 2012)

Your hard drive has to be partitioned with a 2GB partition that is marked active and formatted to FAT16. 

You then boot off the floppy disk and type 

SYS C:

and copy the dos files to a C:\DOS directory and put that on the PATH in the c:\autoexec.bat like this:

PATH=c:\;c:\dos

You may be able to do it all from the MSDOS install floppy disk, I don't know.


If you have PASCAL based executables then the error 200 (or similar) may occur because the higher CPU speed of the PII may cause timing loops to overflow.


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## formdev (Jul 30, 2013)

It appears that the 20 year old DOS 3.3 disk is not recognized by the computer even with BIOS confirmation of booting priority. Looks like I am heading for Ebay to purchase vintage DOS software unless there is another better recommended store.
My understanding of FAT 16 and/or use of an FDISK is limited. How does one format to FAT16 vs F32 or whatever the typical value is for this system?
Yeah, call me a neophyte.
Thanks again.


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## foxidrive (Oct 20, 2012)

formdev said:


> It appears that the 20 year old DOS 3.3 disk is not recognized by the computer even with BIOS confirmation of booting priority.


What error message do you get?


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## formdev (Jul 30, 2013)

No message. The disk drive cycles for about 15 seconds and then it boots Win 98 from HD.


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## formdev (Jul 30, 2013)

ok, I messed up. forgot about the precursor boot disk. I tried an unknown DOS boot disc where I can get to fdisk and enter:
1) create DOS partition
2) create MS-DOS 3.3 Compatible DOS partition

which results in the statement on the next page: "No space to create a DOS partition"

what am I doing wrong?...please help.


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## foxidrive (Oct 20, 2012)

formdev said:


> which results in the statement on the next page: "No space to create a DOS partition"


The hard drive already has Win 98 on it, from your previous message.

It would seem that there is no free space on the hard drive - can you delete the partition on the hard drive (which will erase Win 98) and then try again? Or replace the hard drive with one that you can erase the partitions.


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