Re-Installing Windows on an XPS B1000

Question

I have a machine that had Win98 on it. I also have a brand-new copy of Windows 2000 which I want to install on it. I formatted my hard drive so it's clean, but when I go to do the Win2K install, it doesn't recognize that there is a hard drive in the machine. If I boot from a floppy, I can see the hard drive as drive C: but the Windows installer doesn't.   I tried reinstalling Win98 from my Dell disks, but it's looking for an 'Emergency Recovery CD' which I don't have.   Anyone have any ideas about how to do this?

mombodog · Answer

What model is it? I cannot find anything B1000 on the dell website.

Corvinus · Answer

Dell Dimension XPS B1000. There is still information about it on their site because I downloaded BIOS updaters for it.

The hard drive is in the machine and has the System on it (I did that when I formatted it), and I can access it when I use a boot floppy. However, when I attempt to install from the Win2K disk, it doesn't recognize that a hard drive is in the machine.

When I try to reinstall Win98 from my Dell Product Recover Disk, it ultimately asks for the Emergency Recovery disk, which I don't have and don't think I ever had, so it fails, too.

jackshack · Answer

I've never tried one, so I can't personnally vouch for how well they work, but you could try downloading a boot disk maker from this address:   http://www.bootdisk.com/   The disk that is made is supposed to include the CD ROM drivers.   If the boot disk you are using to see the material on the hard drive already has these you can probably start the Win 98 setup from that disk without going to this trouble.  The emergency start disk is essentially this with a few added things about the Win 98 OS.  The important thing is to be able to access the CD drive once you have booted.  If you can access the CD drive from that disk, put the Win 98 setup disk in the CD drive, boot the computer with your boot disk, change the active drive to be the CD ROM, and execute Setup from there.   Good luck!   Message Edited by JackShack on 09-02-200610:10 PM

Windows General

Re-Installing Windows on an XPS B1000

Was this post helpful?