How to Install 98se When 'A' Drive and CD are interchangeable

Question

I am trying to install Windows 98se from a CD.  The problem I am having is that the 'A' drive and the CD drive are removable,  I can only have one in at a time.  BTW the C: drive is formatted and read to receive the installation.  When I use the startup disk and select 'with CD-ROM support' it errors.  I am guessing it errors becasue it can't find a CD drive becasue I have the 'A' drive in with the start up disk.   How do I install when I need the system to find and recognize the CD drive???

Flooby · Answer

It would help to know which system model you're referring to.  Most Dell notebooks allow the user to attach the floppy drive via a reasoably inexpensive parallel port cable, while leaving the CD-ROM drive in the bay, which would solve the problem you're having.

kdjscoots · Answer

My wife just told me that she has the cable to hook the 'A' drive up as external.  I made the connections but the system said it couldn't find the drive.  I am guessing I do not have the 'software'.  Where can I find It???

Flooby · Answer

@kdjscoots wrote:

My wife just told me that she has the cable to hook the "A" drive up as external. I made the connections but the system said it couldn't find the drive. I am guessing I do not have the "software". Where can I find It???

You still haven't identified the system model, but I can tell you that with Latitude CPx, CPi and Inspiron 3800 models, you need to make the connection while the system is shut down, and if everything is working properly (i.e., good drive, good cable, good parallel port), the drive should be recognized when you restart the system. There is no software required.

kdjscoots · Answer

The laptop is a Dell Latitude CPx J650GT, BIOS Version: A15.

When I connect the cable from the laptop to the "A" drive and do a cold boot I get the message "Diskette Drive 0 Seek Failure". Now what????

jackshack · Answer

When you formatted the C: drive did you use the "sys" option to put the DOS files on the hard drive? If you do that you make it bootable and you may be able to execute setup on the CD from there.

Also, the Win98SE disks were supposed to be bootable; have you tried making the CD first in the boot order and booting the CD directly?

Message Edited by JackShack on 02-02-2006 12:43 PM

Flooby · Answer

@jackshack wrote:

Also, the Win98SE disks were supposed to be bootable;

Not the MS OEM branded ones that accompanied some (if not all) Latitude CPx Js and a number of other models. I've heard that the Dell branded "Recovery CDs" were bootable, but have yet to work with those. The OEM Win98SE CDs are not, though.

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

jackshack · Answer

Shucks. Well, another point to put in my files. Thanks for the info.

Somebody better tell Dell also, however, as at least one reinstall guide for the Latitude CPx series tells you to boot the Win98SE disk. Win 98 is not bootable, but evidently Dell thinks the Second Edition disk is. See this one:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?c=us&cs=19&DN=1035483&type=SRG&l=en&s=dhs

The reference you quoted to me is on the same web page. I have a feeling that the version requiring a floppy boot disk is more generic as many machines of that period were not capable of booting from a CD ROM. If your machine is capable, however, the Win98SE will indeed boot. :smileywink:

Message Edited by JackShack on 02-09-2006 09:49 AM

Message Edited by JackShack on 02-09-2006 09:57 AM

kdjscoots · Answer

There are two problems. (1) I am unable to get CD 'support'.  I get the message 'MCD001 not found'.  (2)  When I 'plug' in the 'A' drive (CD drive is 'in' the laptop) with it's cable, the machine does not seem to find it.

jackshack · Answer

I looked at the docs on the site for your machine, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to cover setup. If my memory hasn't totally gone, I think you needed to do Fn+F1 to get into the bios setup page. You need to be certain that your parallel port is set to at least PS/2 compatible bi-directional. It can also be set to Extended Parallel Port, but I think bi-directional is enough. That might help with detection of the floppy drive.

While you are in the setup, you should really see if your bios supports booting from the CD ROM. If it does your problem will go away, I think, as Win 98 SE disks are supposed to be bootable. Dell has an install guide for the CPx J that indicates you can install Win 98SE in just that fashion. Check out the link in my last post.

Flooby · Answer

@jackshack wrote:

Win 98 SE disks are supposed to be bootable.

Once again, some are, and some are not. I have three here that are not, all from systems of that era. A good portion of the business line systems (Latitude, Optiplex) came with non-bootable OEM Microsoft CDs, rather than the Dell branded recovery discs that are supposed to be bootable.

kenbob904 · Answer

i have the same os u have to get a special boot disk for a laptop which u can get here  http://www.compu-docs.com/LapBoot.htm then you use that disk and format your harddrive with by typing format c:  then after that you type transfer and it will transfer everything u need from the disk then shut off the laptop put the cd drive in and boot it back up it should go to the command prompt type 98ccabs then it will copy everything off the cd after thats done shut off again switch drives to the floppy again boot with the disk and when the command prompt comes up type 98csetup then windows will install

kdjscoots · Answer

I want to start out by apologizing to all of you. I was going over my old mail and realized that I had totally forgot to thank-you for your help. I have it up and running and all is well.

Thanks so very much for all the help

Windows General

How to Install 98se When 'A' Drive and CD are interchangeable

Was this post helpful?