Trying to reinstall windows 98 with Dell Product Recovery CD

Question

Hi:

I am hoping someone can help me on this. I am the original owner of a Dell Dimension XPS. I have a Product Recovery CD and a Resource CD. I have cleaned up and reformated my hard drive. I want to re-install windows 98 SE. I have been trying to use the article "How do I install the Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition operating system from my Dell-branded Operating System Reinstallation CD or Dell Product Recovery CD". According to this article, I should be able to boot my PC using the Dell Product Recovery CD. When I try to do it, I get the message "Invalid system disk". Does anyone know what I am doing wrong?

Thanks

Cassie

Denny Denham · Answer

Cassie888, Are you following the steps here? Message Edited by Denny Denham on 02-25-2006 09:51 PM

peteholmes · Answer

Denny, I have the same problem as Cassie, but I'm trying to resurrect an even older Dimension P200v with Windows 95. (I'm pretty good with computers, and while I should have my head examined for fooling around with an old clunker like this, I get hobby-like satisfaction from it.)

I've deleted the old hard drive partition and re-formatted it, and removed all peripheral hardware but the mouse and keyboard. With either the Win95 installation CD or start up floppy--after setting up BIOS to boot to either the CD or floppy drive--I keep getting the error message "Invalid system disk. Replace the disk, and then press any key." No matter what combination I attempt, it simply will not boot to either the CD or FDD.

Thoughts? Thanks!

jackshack · Answer

Unfortunately, Windows disks earlier than Win 98SE are not bootable. With Win 95 and Win 98 it is necessary to have a bootable DOS start up disk that also has the CD ROM extensions; specifically a CD ROM device driver and also MSCDEX to add the disk to the drives DOS can access. Depending on the interface you have with your CD ROM, you will have either an ATAPI driver or a SCSI driver that must be in a statement of the form DEVICE= statement in a CONFIG.SYS file in the disk root directory. MSCDEX.EXE must be listed with appropriate parameters in an AUTOEXEC.BAT file, also in the root directory. More info can be found here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/135174/en-us

Info for Win 98 can be found here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190303/en-us

As Flooby pointed out to me a while back, though Win 98SE disks are supposed to be bootable, evidently not all are. Perhaps the info in the second document will be of help.

When you manage to get the DOS startup disk running properly and are able to access the CD drive, simply change directory to the CD drive and type SETUP. You should be good to go.

I wish I could give you a complete example, but all of my info on this sort of thing was turned in long ago. All the newer computers will allow a boot from the CD directly.

Good luck!

Cassie888 · Answer

Hi Again:

I got my hands on a Windows 98 install disk, but every time I try to run setup, I get the error "Packed file is corrupt". The Microsoft web site says that this means I have a virus. I am not sure what to do now. I have rewritten the Master boot record, recreated the primary dos partition and formatted it. Can I still have a virus? If so, how would I get rid of it?

Cassie

jackshack · Answer

If you deleted any original partitions on the drive and then recreated the partition as you have stated, the only way there is a virus on the computer is if it is on the disks that you are using to install the operating system.

Make sure that the operating system disk is a genuine Microsoft disk, and if you are using an emergency boot disk to start the procedure, make certain it doesn't have a virus on it.

Cassie888 · Answer

The boot disk that I am using is the one that I got from DELL with my PC. It was write protected, but I scanned it anyway for viruses. It is clean. The windows 98 install CD that I have is a Microsoft original. So, it would not have a virus on it either.

I am completely at a loss as to what to do now. Do you have any other suggestions as to what could be causing the "Packed file is corrupt" message?

Cassie

jackshack · Answer

Are you booting from the CD or the floppy disk?

Cassie888 · Answer

I am booting from the floppy as per the instructions I got from the Microsoft web site (How to Install Windows 98 on a Computer with No Operating System). They say to boot from the floppy with CD ROM support, then execute d:\setup. If I try booting from the CD, I get the error "Invalid system disk".

Cassie

jackshack · Answer

Try making your CD ROM the current drive and execute setup from there. Perhaps if the CD ROM is the default drive the setup files will be more easily found.

Message Edited by JackShack on 03-19-2006 08:19 PM

Windows General

Trying to reinstall windows 98 with Dell Product Recovery CD

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