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Windows 98 boot disk help

Discussion in 'Windows - General discussion' started by kalind, Nov 26, 2006.

  1. kalind

    kalind Member

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    Hi I have a very old computer with windows 98 on it, this is not my main computer so i have not used this in 3-4 months but i have recently tried to run it again and found that it does not work it first said insert bootable media, i have got a windows 98 boot disk from Bootdisk.com (floppy disk) and now have reached where it says that drive C does not contain a valid FAT or FAT32 partition. I have no clue what this is or how to do it i am very new so i will need things as described as possible. windows gave me some suggestions of what may have caused this and the last option about a virus is not likely because there wasn't a connection to the internet.this computer is very old has nothing on it basically just keyboard, mouse,CD drive,floppy drive.

    Any help is greatly appreciated
     
  2. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    if can get into the bios, see what the time & date is & is it correct.
     
  3. kalind

    kalind Member

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    Alright i checked the date and time,only the time was incorrect.i then corrected the time, but the problem still continues with the C drive not having a valid FAT or FAT32 partition then it gives me some options why this may have occurred and then brings me to a A:\ prompt

    an option it gives is the drive may need to be partitioned to create a partition on the drive ,run FDISK from the MS-DOS command prompt.

    Is this what i should to do? and if so then how would i go about doing this? and if not what shall i try next

    thanks
     
  4. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    the reason for checking the time & dateis that a battery supplies power to a timer chip & the 1st thing to go is the time than date & eventually the settings. is there any info on the hd you want saved? does the computer have a rom drive & do you have windows cd, serial # & drivers' disks
     
  5. kalind

    kalind Member

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    Alright well the time was only one hour ahead becuase of the time change and the computer was just stored up so it had no power supply. the computer does have a CD drive but i don't have the windows CD key or CD or any of that becuase the computer was given to me a while ago. And i'm trying to fix the computer fully not just save the HDD.the HDD is really small but it worked fine, just has simple programs like word on it.

     
  6. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    see if can get a copy of win98se.
     
  7. kalind

    kalind Member

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    sorry about the wait but this win98se is this something that i could download? because i have nothing from the computer
     
  8. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    know anybody with win98se? check used goods stores & check on net
     
  9. Shado36

    Shado36 Guest

    Would it not be better to try and get a copy of "Me" it is a bit newer?
     
  10. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    depends on the computer
     
  11. tnarulz

    tnarulz Member

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    I liked Win 98 better than ME (and I've used both) personally.

    You can get boot disks off ebay just be careful who your buying from (checking feedback, payment methods, etc).

    I would recommend another way to do it but I don't want to get the ban.
     
  12. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    do a pm
     
  13. kalind

    kalind Member

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    okay sorry about the question i wasn't thinking about if it was legal or illegal i just wondering if it was available over the internet and as for ME i think the computer is to old, it is only suppose to have 95 on it so really 98 is a stretch. also spending more money on it isnt what i would like to do becuase i don't know so much about the computer i am only 16 years old so would be better to just leave it. since its not my main computer, i just thought the problem could be fixed relitavly easily. so i guess ill do some of the things suggested any more help would be appreciated thanks
     
  14. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    check goodwill stores or something like that
     
  15. kalind

    kalind Member

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    alright thanks for the help
     
  16. kalind

    kalind Member

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    Okay so after about a month i have finally acquired a copy of windows 98 se. and was looking for some further help on this problem. thanks
     
  17. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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  18. kalind

    kalind Member

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    thanks for the quick reply on an old thread i have went to the link and when i try to do "at the A: prompt, type fdisk". when i do this it says no fixed disk present. is there anything more i can do or is the hdd done
     
  19. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    check in the bios to see if the hd is detected.
     
  20. kalind

    kalind Member

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    yup i think its detected plus it gives the storage and other information on start up. so is there anything else i can do? i might try to install fedora on it, if nothing else works
     

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