# Can't reinstall MS-DOS



## Chooky (Jun 24, 1999)

I'm in BIG trouble now! I've partitioned and reformatted the hard drive (again) and now wish to reinstall DOS 6.22. However, after starting Setup, it says that there is already an operating system on the hard drive and that I need the DOS 6.22 UPGRADE to go any further. 
This is nonsense, I haven't installed anything yet (apart from the Seagate Ontrack program to enable use of the 2.1GB hard drive). Is it due to the boot-up disk being made in Win 95a and the system files being copied over from that? I don't have a DOS boot disk and no chance of getting one.

What should I do now? I really want to install DOS in order to run the kids' old DOS programs that aren't happy in Win95.

PLEASE HELP!!!


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## LarryCore (Aug 26, 1999)

To install MS DOS you must boot from an MSDOS disk - booting with a Win95 disk will not work.

If you have the full MSDOS, disk 1 is bootable.

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## Chooky (Jun 24, 1999)

Thank you for replying. I managed to boot with disk 1 of MS DOS like you suggested but DOS setup now wants to delete all the partitions (5) that I created and reformat the hard drive. 

I don't want it to do that as I want the partitions in order to maximise hard disk space. It will also delete my Ontrack disk manager which enables access to all of the 2.1GB drive instead of just 500 and something MB without Ontrack.

Is there something I can do to keep my partitions (without purchasing Partition Magic or similar)?


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## LarryCore (Aug 26, 1999)

It shouldn't require you to remove partitions or format.

Even if it does BOTH of those though, it will not remove your partition managing software. You are booting from the HD and then pressing CTRL (or whatever key it is) to get the Ontrack boot menu, then putting the floppy in drive A, right?

This should start setup... It has been a while since I've installed DOS, but I know you don't need to format. Are you sure it wasn't just asking if you wanted to do those things?

By the way - do you really need a full installation, or do you just want to make the drive bootable with this version of DOS?

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## Chooky (Jun 24, 1999)

Guess what? I called its bluff AND IT WASN'T BLUFFING!! Ouch! 

You are correct in saying that I boot from the HD and then press the spacebar to get the Ontrack boot menu, then put the floppy in drive A. That's one way to do it but the result is that DOS tells me that I already have a MS DOS version on the computer and that I need the 'upgrade' version of DOS. It will then go no further. 

The other way was to boot from the startup disk (DOS disk 1) and that is when it did install DOS but also deleted all my partitions, reformatted and installed itself on just one partition. No, it didn't remove the Ontrack disk manager but Ontrack is obviously not working now though, because DOS only recognises around 510MB rather than 2.1GB.

I don't really want to load DOS, I'd far rather just clean install Win95a in one partition and Win 3.11 in another so I can dual boot. But one of the kids' DOS games, Math Blaster, won't run now so that's why I thought I need DOS installed first. But, after getting DOS on, I immediately installed the game and it STILL won't run so now I'm just about ready to flag DOS. 

All I really want to do is be able to run everything that was on the machine prior to reformatting and the biggest stick in the works is Math Blaster. I'm stubborn though, so I don't want to give up. It appears that Math Blaster requires quite a lot of 'memory' (not RAM) but I'll be darned if I know how it ran before the reformat. Would you possibly be able to help out in this respect (ie, with the game) so that I can give DOS a miss?


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## LarryCore (Aug 26, 1999)

Yeah, if you boot with the DOS disk it skips ontrack and won't see the drive that way, but instead will read it as your BIOS is set up. Ontrack is still there, but it gets ignored now. Well, since you decided to chance it, we can't do too much now...

Anyway, sure - we can probably help with the game. Most likely it wants "lower ram", or the first 640k free. Generally when you install DOS or Windows, you only get about 512 to 520 of this 640, and some older games need more than that. We can help you get around that problem.

This is a DOS game, right? What is the exact error you are getting?

Do you want to try and make it work in DOS, or are you going to install 95?

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## Chooky (Jun 24, 1999)

Yup, I've given up on DOS. I've now clean installed Win95a after partitioning and formatting with Ontrack, then installed Win 3.11 on the E drive. Upon installing Math Blaster (MB for short, and yes, it is a DOS game) I got this: "Warning: MB requires 563000 bytes of conventional memory to run. We have detected only 552896 bytes free". If I use a boot disk I can run MB with no low-memory warnings but I don't get sound at all. The files are as follows:

Autoexec.bat on boot disk:
@ECHO OFF
REM LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001 /M:15 /V
PROMPT MATHBLASTER BOOT DISK $P$G
REM LH SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
REM LH SET SOUND=C:\SB16
PATH C:\;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
LH C:\MOUSE\MMOUSE.COM /A5
E:
CD\GAMES\MATHBLAS
Note that the sound card has been REM'd out but even without the REM there is still no sound and I get low-memory warnings.

Config.sys on boot disk:
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE
FILES=40
BUFFERS=30
REM LASTDRIVE=Z
rem DEVICEHIGH=C:\SB16\DRV\CCD.SYS /D:MSCD001 /P:220 /S







0 /T:1

Current Autoexec.bat on C:
C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001 /M:15 /V

Current Autoexec.dos on C:
E:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE
E:\WINDOWS\MSCDEX.EXE /S /D:MSCD001 /M:15 /V
PATH=E:\WINDOWS;%PATH%
SET TEMP=E:\WINDOWS\TEMP

Current Config.sys on C:
DEVICE=C:\SB16\DRV\CCD.SYS /D:MSCD001 /P:220 /S







0 /T:1
FILES=40
REM ** FILES=30

Current Config.dos on C:
DEVICE=E:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\SB16\DRV\CCD.SYS /D:MSCD001 /P:220 /S







0 /T:1
FILES=40
BUFFERS=25
REM ** FILES=30
DEVICE=E:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE /DOUBLE_BUFFER
DEVICE=E:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
STACKS=9,256

I don't mind using a boot disk to get into this game, nor does it matter if it is run via Windows, I'll do whatever makes it go! I have just tried running it from its shortcut in Win95 (it closed windows then went into DOS) but I got the message 11,000 bytes memory short to run properly and had no sound or mouse. Obviously the mouse needs to go in the Autoexec.bat/dos or Config.sys/dos files somewhere. Don't know about the sound.

I hope there's enough info here for you to spy something amiss. I don't know a lot about what should/shouldn't be in these files. Just for your interest, these are the Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files that were on this machine prior to reformatting:
Autoexec.bat
@ECHO OFF
REM C:\SB16\DRV\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001 /M:15 /V
SET SOUND=C:\SB16
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
SET TEMP=C:\DOS
lh C:\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S
lh C:\SB16\MIXERSET /P /Q
LH /L:1,57008 C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001 /M:15 /V
LH /L:1,24768 C:\MOUSE\MMOUSE.COM /A5
REM SET PATH=C:\QTW;C:\;C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS
PATH C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\;C:\DOS;c:\sb16\windrv
REM MENU
SET PATH=%PATH%;

Config.sys
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM HIGHSCAN
BUFFERS=20,0
FILES=45
DOS=UMB,HIGH
FCBS=4,0
DEVICEHIGH=C:\SB16\DRV\CCD.SYS /D:MSCD001 /P:220 /S







0 /T:1

Maybe I should just copy them back on but they look awfully messy to me and I don't want the machine full of junk again!! Thanks again.


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## Chooky (Jun 24, 1999)

Where did those smileys come from?? I didn't put those there!!!


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## LarryCore (Aug 26, 1999)

Certain character combos will put smilies in - that's why there is a "disable smilies" option under the text box - to avoid that happening.

Does MB need the CDROM? I'm assuming not since your boot disk has the CDROM line REMed out... So, try making these changes / additions to the boot disk and let us know what happens.

CONFIG.SYS

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
DOS=HIGH,UMB

AUTOEXEC.BAT

SET SOUND=C:\SB16
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
LH C:\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S
LH C:\SB16\MIXERSET /P /Q

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## Chooky (Jun 24, 1999)

The saga continues....
I started MB with the boot disk as you suggested and produced the following message:
Windows Expanded Memory Driver Version 4.95
Copyright 1988-1995 Microsoft Corp
EMM386 not installed - XMS manager not present
Warning: the high memory area (HMA) is not available.
Additional low memory (below 640K) will be used instead.
Insufficient memory for all features
16,000 bytes short

Also a warning that no mouse was loaded. I changed the files to this:
AUTOEXEC.BAT:
SET SOUND=C:\SB16
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
LH C:\SB16\DIAGNOSE /S
LH C:\SB16\MIXERSET /P /Q
LH C:\MOUSE\MMOUSE.COM /A5

CONFIG.SYS:
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
DOS=HIGH,UMB

The game then loaded OK, no low memory warnings and the mouse worked BUT the sound stopped after 1 second (!!) and MB froze where it always does, about 10-15 seconds into the introduction. BTW, I always have to reboot the machine when it freezes here, it will not close otherwise.

It may or may not be significant that any *.mid file will play normally in Win95 but not in Win 3.11 - I get a message that the midi player is not working. Don't know why. Do I need to install the SB16 into the Win 3.11 partition or directory as well as the C:\ ? Or is that a new topic altogether?!

For what it is worth, I installed MB on my PII-266 machine with Win98 and had exactly the same results so it can't be because I have a dual-boot setup. I still can't figure out how it worked previously?!


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