How would I do that, if I can't get the PC to respond to keystrokes or anything else? I'm not that computer saavy. Would there have been a Windows98 CD that was shipped along with my PC? My PC came with Windows98 loaded on it. The computer is about 4 years old and I've never had any difficulty with, hence when something goes wrong or doesn't work properly, I'm at a loss.
Is there something that I could purchase to put in the D drive so that the PC will look to the D drive when booting up rather than the hard drive?
Some PC's have the option in the BIOS to set the CD drive as the first boot device and this would allow you to boot from the Dell Win98 CD. If not, it would appear you never created the Windows "emergency" startup diskette so you could boot the system to DOS for troubleshooting or reinstallation. There are generic Win98 starup diskettes available for download on the internet (do a search using google) but that may not solve the problems as you would need the correct DOS CD driver for your particular model. I don't know if Dell has anything like that available on their downloads section.
As far as reinstallation CD's (or diskettes). You should have several Dell supplied CD's, one being Windows 98 and the other(s) being the various drivers and applications that came with your PC. You will also need the Windows installation "key", which is on a tag that is (or was) attached to your PC. If you don't have the CD and or the key, you are looking at purchasing the Operating System CD, however, since Win98 is obsolete, finding a (legal) full Win98 installation CD may be an issue. The other drivers are probably available on the Dell downloads.
If you can't find the CD's or the Windows "key", suggest you call Dell and see if they can help (usually after 30 days they won't replace any software but it's worth a try).
Another option is a "generic" ini file and that may be available on the interenet but it too really is customized for your particular system/configuration so a generic probably will not work. It gets back to reinstallation of the Operating System as the most likely "fix".
fireberd
9 Legend
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33.4K Posts
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April 30th, 2004 16:00
camjl
2 Posts
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April 30th, 2004 17:00
How would I do that, if I can't get the PC to respond to keystrokes or anything else? I'm not that computer saavy. Would there have been a Windows98 CD that was shipped along with my PC? My PC came with Windows98 loaded on it. The computer is about 4 years old and I've never had any difficulty with, hence when something goes wrong or doesn't work properly, I'm at a loss.
Is there something that I could purchase to put in the D drive so that the PC will look to the D drive when booting up rather than the hard drive?
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
0
April 30th, 2004 18:00
Some PC's have the option in the BIOS to set the CD drive as the first boot device and this would allow you to boot from the Dell Win98 CD. If not, it would appear you never created the Windows "emergency" startup diskette so you could boot the system to DOS for troubleshooting or reinstallation. There are generic Win98 starup diskettes available for download on the internet (do a search using google) but that may not solve the problems as you would need the correct DOS CD driver for your particular model. I don't know if Dell has anything like that available on their downloads section.
As far as reinstallation CD's (or diskettes). You should have several Dell supplied CD's, one being Windows 98 and the other(s) being the various drivers and applications that came with your PC. You will also need the Windows installation "key", which is on a tag that is (or was) attached to your PC. If you don't have the CD and or the key, you are looking at purchasing the Operating System CD, however, since Win98 is obsolete, finding a (legal) full Win98 installation CD may be an issue. The other drivers are probably available on the Dell downloads.
If you can't find the CD's or the Windows "key", suggest you call Dell and see if they can help (usually after 30 days they won't replace any software but it's worth a try).
Another option is a "generic" ini file and that may be available on the interenet but it too really is customized for your particular system/configuration so a generic probably will not work. It gets back to reinstallation of the Operating System as the most likely "fix".