# [SOLVED] starting from scratch win 95



## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

A friend has given me her computer to try and do something with, there is no operating system on it at all, it used to run windows 95 but it has been completly deleted.
How do i put windows 95 back on it.......
i have boot discs for windows 95 and 98 and the cds

I need help right from the start as Im just new at doing this sort of thing....

thanks in advance


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

I can't really be of any help here but do have a question. Has the HD been partitioned and formatted?


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

yeah i think so i think i have done it correctly, but not knowing what i was doing i just guessed


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## TOGG (Apr 2, 2002)

See if any of the links on this site are any help;

http://www.megspace.com/computers/lightspeedref/lightspeed95.html


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

Follow  these steps  to partition and format your HD.

If you have a full install 98 CD, why not load that OS?


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## My Office (Jan 21, 2002)

If drive needs to be formatted (not a bad idea to do). Start machine with Emergency Startup disk in A: (Run FDISK from A: if partitions need to be deleted or created). At A: prompt type Format (press enter key). After format, insert Win 98 FULL version not an UPGRADE version in CD drive. From A: prompt type DPress enter key) then type DIR at the D prompt (press enter key). See if a setup.exe file is found. If so, type Setup (press enter key). Win 98 will begin to load. Follow instructions on screen. If Setup.exe can't be found on drive D: try same procedure for E: then F: Doubt if it would be beyond F:
Good Luck


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

okay i started the computer with the win98 disc in a drive, and typed fdisk
in the display information this is what it says

partition c:1 status A Type pri dos mbytes 2441 system unknown usage 100%

is that okay


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

okay while i was waiting i put in the cd and found the setup file on "drive e"
now its saying 
please wait while setup intializes 
scanning system registry....
wind

under the w of "wind" there is a line and it is blinking is this okay


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

not familiar with wind but sounds to me like your doing fine


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

has setup started? Are you installing 98?


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

yes 98 and no setup hasnt started yet


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

turipa 
did you follow the directions in the link above?
Unless my memory is as grey as my hair i'd say windows should of loaded my now. 
everything going okay?

I have to go for the evening and want to make sure setup has started


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

no it still hasnt started and yes i did visit that site

seems to jam up maybe should try windows95?????


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## greengeek (Jul 5, 2003)

Are you sure you formatted it? It should have FAT32 instead of "system unknown" in the fdisk info.


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

i dont know how to format the drive......
i have tried but it only gets so far and says there is something wrong with the partitions


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## greengeek (Jul 5, 2003)

As it isn't your computer I really think you should find somebody who knows what they are doing to try and fix it.


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

I have started again i deleted all the partitions and now I am creating a primary dos partition 

the computer is "verifying drive intergrity"

I have tried this a few times and it gets so to about 8% then back to zero it can do this all night.....
shall i just leave it alone even if it takes ages or is something else wrong????


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

thanks greengeek but if ya dont want to help then dont......

i want to learn and the people are quite happy for me to do it


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

did you boot up with the boot disk in A:\ and type fdisk?
then enable large disk support


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

yes


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

then chose #1 create DOS partition or logical Dos drive


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

then create primary Dos partition


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

done


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

options are now
1. create primary dos partition
2. creat extended dos partition
3. creat logical dos drive(s) on the extended dos partition


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

did it ask you if you want to use all the space available on the disk and make the partition active. and did you answer yes?


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

it now is telling me that there is a write protect error writing fixed disk
and tells me to shut down and any drives i have created need to be formatted after re-start


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

I don't know about the error but yes you need now to format. Douing so puts the system boot files on the HD. First Go back to A:\ type in fdisk and select option # 4 and tell me what it says


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

it says
Partition: c:1 status: a type: pri dos volume label (blank) mbytes 2441 system unknown usage: 100%


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

Partition: c:1 status: a type: pri dos volume label (Drive 1) mbytes 2441 system FAT 32 usage: 100%

This is what it should look like
I think I got ahead of you and missed something you said. 
please go back and check your steps and I'll see if I can find something on the error you mentioned.

your real close


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

might help to print out that link I gave you


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## greengeek (Jul 5, 2003)

Sometimes the boot sector is write-protected in the BIOS. If that's the case you'll have to disable it before it will let you format the drive.


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

reboot with boot disk in and type fdisk and choose option 4


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

cant see anything ive missed except the naming of the fat32


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

fat 32 is set when you choose enable large disk support
reboot


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

rebooted and chose option 4


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

oh my god do i have to go into the bios setting.....


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

You did reboot


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

yes


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

fdisk option 4 we need to see under system fat32


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

nope just done it again deleted and then created again and system still showing up as unknown


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

the boot disk is windows95b version

im not sure if thats makes any difference or not


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

okay at the a prompt type format c


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

when you rebooted did you have a choice to start with or without cd rom support?

and it is format c: /s


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

warning....etc etc

proceed???


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

and nope i didnt have a choose of cd support with this disc (win95b)


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

yes warning formatting will erase all data do you want to proceed.....or something simular thats good choose yes


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

oh dam
invalid media or track 0 bad disk unstable
format terminated
oh geez thought we had it


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

So did I that warning message is a good sign. did you ever get FAT 32 to show under "system" ?


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

no i didnt


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

so maybe we need to figure that out
if you want to have a rest and think about it
i can check in later on 
if ya do thank you so much for your patience and help


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

two things we need fat32 and you need to format without cd rom support....Not sure at this point whats going wrong and would ask that someone please jump in and show me what I'm missing.

Turipa I need to get to bed. Would you mind picking this up tomorrow?
Or hang around there are knowledgeable people here that can get you on track.
I'm not bailing out just very tired an have a long day tomorrow.


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

oh i am very gratefull for your help so far, you go off and have a good sleep and i will check in tomorrow 
thank you


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

if you have more time now stick around help may be close by.
Good Night


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## greengeek (Jul 5, 2003)

Did you check the BIOS for write protection? If it is write protected it will just send out all sorts of error messages until you disable it.


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

Would like you to go to  this site  and make a "98" boot disk. Then read the information offered at  this site . In the Bios make sure the drive sequence is "A" "CD Rom" "HD"
When your ready delete the partition you made last night, reboot and make a new Dos partition. Do this all without cd rom support. back at the "A" prompt type format C: /s press enter. 
Reboot this time choose With CD rom support. Insert your 98 full version CD into the drive.
You should be at A:
Type e: press enter
E:\ setup press enter
twenty-five to thirty minutes later you will be at the desktop.
If by now your not already up and running I hope this helps.

Quote fm NiteHawk:
NOTE: you must CREATE a boot disk, not just copy it to floppy. Down load the files to your HD and remember the location.
Place a clean formatted floppy in the A: drive and then double click on the boot disk file. It will execute and CREATE a boot disk for you.


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

i checked the bios setting but wasnt sure what i was looking for

i went to the boot tab, and "the boot time diagnotic screen" was at disabled I couldnt see anything else to disable to enable


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## greengeek (Jul 5, 2003)

It's usually under "Security", something like "write protect boot sector" which should be set to "disable". Might be different in your BIOS, they are never all the same. If you find it don't forget to save the changes before you exit the BIOS.


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

nope couldnt find anything like that......

at the moment its trying to verify drive integrity it has taken like a hour and it wont go past 2%...one time i left it going for three days and it still only got to about 4%
shall i just leave it....????


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## greengeek (Jul 5, 2003)

How old is this computer and what type (processor, RAM, etc)? It's possible that the hard drive is failing.


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

oh shoot it just came up no space to create a dos partition
?????????


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

yep it is an old computer and yeah it could be failing.......
but in saying that, it was going good, before my friends kids mucked around 
with it.........


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

but i reckon too its got something to do with that 
write protection thing.....it doesnt seem to be letting me
make any changes to anything including the bios


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## greengeek (Jul 5, 2003)

Did those kids install Linux on it at any time? That could explain why fdisk isn't working properly.


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

oh geez im not sure, she had a teenage boy and she said he was always mucking around with it.....


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## greengeek (Jul 5, 2003)

If you can find out for sure then I'll be able to find the site with instructions about how to repartition and format it. Fdisk usually doesn't work properly on older hard drives which have had Linux installed on them. You could try getting a Win98SE boot disk and see if that works. I'll be offline for the rest of the day (thunderstorms around) but Brindle probably will be back later.
Good luck with it!


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

i have seen a friend boot one computer from another, he took the hard drive from one and pluged it in, then copied information from one to the other???? does anyone know how to do this


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

brindle i got it to read fat 32 when i booted straight from the wind98 cd
i went ahead and tried to format again....but no luck...
that write protect error fixed disc came up again........


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

it also started to run a scan disk but then told me there were
errors on the drive that i would have to fix

so at least something is happening......


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

and i just had a look to see whats on the c drive and this is what is says
directory of C
uy .......... 31,112

1 file .........31,112
o dir


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## greengeek (Jul 5, 2003)

The write protect error can also be caused by the onboard anti virus, have another look in the BIOS and disable any anti virus that is there. A lot of those older machines had anti virus enabled in the BIOS which prevented any writing to the disk (including format).


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

Well I don't know what the heck is happening here. If there is no setting in the bios check the MB or the HD for a write protect jumper.


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

okay this is what i done i plugged that hard drive into my old computer which runs win98 and i got it to format, after work i will put it back into my friends tower and try again to load from the start up disc.
I had seen this method used but was too scared to do it....I finally decided it was my only option and it was easy.....
so hopefully i will come back with some good news later on in the day
have a good one


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

while it's in the other computer install 98......What MB is in the computer we're haveing problems with?


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

okay i got it to format it is completly gone
and now it telling me I have no fixed disc present...so i cant do the fdisk thingie
what do i do now??????
i tried to install 98 while is was in my computer, but it wouldnt work


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

I'm just taking a guess here cause I'm stuck. Am wondering if maybe the HD's bad. What problems was your friend having before 95 was removed and why did he\she remove 95? was NT or 2000 ever installed? Was it ever fdisked using NTFS instead of FAT32?


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## greengeek (Jul 5, 2003)

Is it plugged in properly? Is it recognized in the BIOS?


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

I was wondering the same thing. Like greengeek suggested make sure the Bios recognizes the drive. What kind of computer is it, what make and model MB?


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## greengeek (Jul 5, 2003)

Wish I had this machine in front of me!


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

Yea me to, always makes it easier


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

oh geez dis-reguard that last message i was having a blonde moment, when i took it back out of my computer i forgot to put the switch back to master after having it on slave.....dur......
at the moment i have it back in its own computer and the system is doing a routine scan
it looks like its doing something!!!!


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

what do you mean doing something


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

well it was doing a scan but it only got a so far through then told me there were still errors on the drive that i need to fix
i was using the win98 start up


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

Did you choose fix errors, might just say fix


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

when it ask you if you want to do a surface scan choose yes. This will take awhile.


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

Did the scan finish and were you then able to install 98?


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

dam its still giving that write protection error


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Hi Turipa,

What make is it ?

John


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

we need to back up here. What MB do you have and does the Bios recognize the HD? Did you say you were able to run scandisk when setup told you there are error on the drive and you fixed them? At the C:\ prompt type Dir, what shows up?


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

Hi John1
thanks for jumping in, the more help the better.
turipa 
glad your sticking with it, MaryBeth is a great example and all those that are helping her


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

Thank you Brindle.
Do you know what make this is ?

John


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

At what point are you getting the write protection error? BTW, I've been following along since day 1 brindle, but just have too many threads going on to concentrate


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

when i create a partition, it starts gets to 3% and that message comes up....
sorry i've been at work so had to leave it a few days....


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

In the bios setup, look for virus scan and disable it....I think that was mentioned prior


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

already looked, cant find any virus scan to disable. at present i have it back in my other computer and it seems to be formatting
we have done this before too, im not sure how to load windows while its in my other computer???


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

You can try that, just be sure you install on the right drive 

I think I'd stop it at the hardware installation stage and put it into the correct machine.


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

I would still like to know what MB you have


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Or computer????


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

and what make the PC is


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Does anyone think this hard drive might have been compressed?????


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

That or maybe its a compaq


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

I'm thinking the write protection error has to do with there being no FAT.
If it works (format) in another puter then it's a MB issue.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

I'm getting confused here, are we trying to install 95 or 98??????

95, I believe needs FAT 16, not 32.......also, do we know how large the hard drive is???


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

95b with fat 32 is more common


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, I just read back thru and see where it's 95b


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## greengeek (Jul 5, 2003)

All the write protection errors I've come across have been caused by BIOS settings, either virus protection or write protected hard disk somewhere in the network or security settings. Once they were disabled everything else worked fine.


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

candy i thought she was installing 98. originally it was 95 but she is now tring to work with a clean HD and install 98. no?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

I dunno b......I read back thru and still think we're working with 95, unless she/he formats it and installs 98 on another computer.........but.........I've been wrong before


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

hi sorry i have been at work and didnt have time to work on computer,
its says on the hard drive its self 2500mb
it did have windows 95 on it, but we have tried using win 95 and 98 boot disc to no avail, we have also been into bios but cant find anything in the security settings to disable......
i can get it to format when i plug it into my old computer which runs 98 but i still cant get it to re-install windows 95 or 98 
i think it might be ready to throw away .........lol


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

oh and the computer is a hewlet package pavilion


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

am heading to bed but am glad you are back and haven't given up


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

happy birthday brindle for this week


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## brindle (Jun 14, 2002)

thank you for the B-day greetings


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

> _Originally posted by turipa:_
> *oh and the computer is a hewlet package pavilion *


Think you meant Packard 

What model number? I'd like to see some specs on it. In the bios, I think the virus scan will be identified as Trend Micro.....not sure, but look for something that says scan bios on startup, etc.

Also look for anything that says write protected, locked, etc.....


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

okay i have the fat32 showing up .......
so i typed in format c: /s
then it says
checking existing disk format
formatting 2441.21m

invalid media or track 0 bad disk unstable
format terminated

(under what tab in the bios would i look for that write protection thing
i dont have a tab named security)


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Are you trying to format from within Windows on the other computer?????


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

no that does that while its in its own computer

at the moment i have it in my old computer and it does seem to be formatting it is taking some time, but the blue progress line is moving slowly


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

oh geez i didnt answer very clearly did i

i get that invalid media track etc when i try to format the drive while its in its own computer
when i put it into my old computer I seem to get further, it does seem to format......
but then once it does we still cant get windows 95 or 98 to reload
so this time while it is still in my old computer i will try to scandisk the drive....
i will let you know once it has finished doing what it doing now and that is "creating file system"
I hope that is clearer than my first posting


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## turipa (Oct 4, 2002)

OH MY GOD.......
i formatted the drive in my old computer...by plugging into the cd rom drive remembering of course to set the drive as a slave......
then i put it back into its own case or tower.....
and put the recovery cd of hewlet packard, no boot disc in the A drive, (thought i would get the message no system disc, but i didnt) and i choose recover and as i write this there is just a heap of files going back onto the hard drive.......
i used so many boot disc and the recovery disc in drive a.....but just didnt think of just running the cd.......
i detailed what i did so if it does work it might help someone else


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## john1 (Nov 25, 2000)

So its sorted then?


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