I have an old IBM Aptiva that I want to wipe the windows 98 off and install ME. There is not a "uninstall windows 98" in the programs. In '03 I had 128mb chip installed. Today tried old Aptiva BIOS update and update for disk controller and I thought it would just boot and give me an opportunity to reinstall, but I seem to be missing some data in programs (I may have deleted something important when I got pissed at it in '03). "Uninstall Shield" keeps popping up and I don't know how to circumvent it. I put the ME install disk in and it reads my system but it says I need ME Update disk?? Any suggestions before a baseball bat beats it senseless?
I'm about ready to take a bat to my computer...!!!!!!!
- Thread starter bassman3
- Start date
If you have a 98 startup floppy your problem is already solved. Simply boot from the 3 1/2" disk and type fdisk at the dos prompt. The fdisk utility can easily delete the current partition and even create a brand new primary FAT32 partition for ME to install onto. You could also boot from an ME installation disk to install over 98. But a good clean and fresh partition usually works best.
Motoxrdude
Active Member
How about you just stick in the damn ME disk into your computer, restart your computer, boot from that and install ME?
Motoxrdude said:
The ME installer isn't working on the current partition. The manual deletion of the current Windows directory by starting up with a boot floppy would allow ME to install since something in the current installation is preventing that. The dos method would save files and folders currently on the drive. But may not run properly if the partition information is missing or damaged.
The one question remaining is the type of ME installation disk being used. If it is only an upgrade disk 98 would have to reinstalled to upgrade to ME. If a full install disk is onhand the deletion of either the present Windows directory or reformat of the drive should see ME readily go on.
Motoxrdude
Active Member
O ok, i see what you are saying now.
The main problem with the older OSs is similar to finding a needle in a haystack. One little glitch and oops! If the system has been sitting around since '03 a volume of fragmentation and data loss along with the deleted file will cause a few headaches. When was the last time the system was seen running normally besides the one file being deleted?
PLEASE PLEASE-- someone who knows
ok thanks for the replies. but now i think i did something wrong and my computer wont even go to the desktop anymore, because a promt shows up saying "fatal error" -- and gives a bunch of numbers and stuff. i can get past this though because it says press any ket to continure and it doesnt do anything...
Well, i was messin with my computer today, i i think i finally got somewhere...
whenever i restart the computer, it gives me 7-8 options including, Start windows "normal", safe mode, step by step ... i went to step by step and it asked me all of these questions with a Y or N. i did yes for most of them and thought i was installing some files that were missing, and then it went back to the fatal error and said thaty File: System. INI is missing, try uniinstalling application etc etc etc.
well, again today i thought i would go to another one of the 8 options, so i go # 8 or sumthin and then a C promt shows up. I type in "fdisk" and it bring me to this long paragraph telling me about my disk space and stuff. i just press ok.
it then brings me to (4) options: i will list them exactly,,,
1.Create DOS partition or logical DOS dirve
2. Set active Partition
3. Delete Partition or Logical DOS drive
4. Display Partition info -- i click on this and it says, "type" = PRI DOS,,,, "system" = FAT32,,, "volume label" = Aptiva
REMEMBER, I WANT TO GET RID OF EVERYTHING ON MY COMP AND START FRESH (I THINK) BECAUSE MY COMPUTER HAS HAD SOME SERIOUS PROBLEMS IN THE LAST 5 YEARS..??
SO WHAT SHOULD I GO TO?? -- I WILL PROBABLY EITHER REINSTAL WIN98 OR GET XP OR ME....
When i go to:
DELETE DOS partition or logical DOS dirve - it gives me some options,,
1. Delete Primary DOS partition
2. Delete Extended DOS partition
3. Delete Logical DOS driver(s) in the extended DOS partition
4. Delete NON-DOS Partition
when i go to:
Create DOS partition or Logical DOS drive -- it shows me,,,
1. Create Primary DOS partition
2.Create extended DOS partition3. Create logical DOS driver(s) in the
3. extended DOS partition
WHICH ONE SHOULD I GO TO????????????? I'M STUCK RIGHT HERE, HELP ME PLEASE!!
Dustin LeGrady --- Thanks you and Please!!
ok thanks for the replies. but now i think i did something wrong and my computer wont even go to the desktop anymore, because a promt shows up saying "fatal error" -- and gives a bunch of numbers and stuff. i can get past this though because it says press any ket to continure and it doesnt do anything...
Well, i was messin with my computer today, i i think i finally got somewhere...
whenever i restart the computer, it gives me 7-8 options including, Start windows "normal", safe mode, step by step ... i went to step by step and it asked me all of these questions with a Y or N. i did yes for most of them and thought i was installing some files that were missing, and then it went back to the fatal error and said thaty File: System. INI is missing, try uniinstalling application etc etc etc.
well, again today i thought i would go to another one of the 8 options, so i go # 8 or sumthin and then a C promt shows up. I type in "fdisk" and it bring me to this long paragraph telling me about my disk space and stuff. i just press ok.
it then brings me to (4) options: i will list them exactly,,,
1.Create DOS partition or logical DOS dirve
2. Set active Partition
3. Delete Partition or Logical DOS drive
4. Display Partition info -- i click on this and it says, "type" = PRI DOS,,,, "system" = FAT32,,, "volume label" = Aptiva
REMEMBER, I WANT TO GET RID OF EVERYTHING ON MY COMP AND START FRESH (I THINK) BECAUSE MY COMPUTER HAS HAD SOME SERIOUS PROBLEMS IN THE LAST 5 YEARS..??
SO WHAT SHOULD I GO TO?? -- I WILL PROBABLY EITHER REINSTAL WIN98 OR GET XP OR ME....
When i go to:
DELETE DOS partition or logical DOS dirve - it gives me some options,,
1. Delete Primary DOS partition
2. Delete Extended DOS partition
3. Delete Logical DOS driver(s) in the extended DOS partition
4. Delete NON-DOS Partition
when i go to:
Create DOS partition or Logical DOS drive -- it shows me,,,
1. Create Primary DOS partition
2.Create extended DOS partition3. Create logical DOS driver(s) in the
3. extended DOS partition
WHICH ONE SHOULD I GO TO????????????? I'M STUCK RIGHT HERE, HELP ME PLEASE!!
Dustin LeGrady --- Thanks you and Please!!
Ku-sama
banned
OFF TOPIC:
http://members.aol.com/mbs1058/2nd_hd.html
lol... thats friggen funny...
put the harddrive into a windows 2000 or XP computer, and right click it in "My Computer" and hit format
http://members.aol.com/mbs1058/2nd_hd.html
lol... thats friggen funny...
put the harddrive into a windows 2000 or XP computer, and right click it in "My Computer" and hit format
When you reached the F8 boot menu you should have tried the safe mode option to see if Windows would load properly. The option when typing fdisk in are not for use when loading Windows but creating or deletion of an existing partition on a drive. If you only have an upgrade disk for 98 you would need to reinstall or have 95 running to enter setup with the 98 cd. If the disk is a full installation for 98 and you don't have a 98 startup floppy go to http://www.bootdisk.com in order to download the necessary files to create a startup disk and boot from that in order to run the fdisk utility.
The #1 option to delete the primary partition does precisely that. It will delete all data on the primary. If there is only one single primary and no extended partitions your drive is then "wiped" for the most part. The #2 option is for deletion of any addition partitions found on the drive. The #3 option is for deleting a dos driver for something like creating a virtual dos drive on an NTFS type partition. The last #4 option is for deleting a different type like MAC or Linux non MS type partition there.
Once you have booted from a startup floppy or even burned those files on a cd-r you can then follow the deleted partition by creating a new primary with option #1 "Create Primary Dos partition" which is precisely what you will want to do then. If you simply want only one large primary partition on the dirve the other options can now be disregarded. You will then want to format the newly created partition with the "format C: /s command to not only format the drive but to copy the essential dos system files to the root of C. Now you are ready to begin installing 98. Hopefully you chose the "Boot with cd rom support" option when booting with the floppy. You simply type the designated drive letter in for the cd rom drive and press the enter to change to the cd drive. Once at the(usually D) dos prompt there you type in setup and press enter again to start the 98 installer. Was that so hard?
The #1 option to delete the primary partition does precisely that. It will delete all data on the primary. If there is only one single primary and no extended partitions your drive is then "wiped" for the most part. The #2 option is for deletion of any addition partitions found on the drive. The #3 option is for deleting a dos driver for something like creating a virtual dos drive on an NTFS type partition. The last #4 option is for deleting a different type like MAC or Linux non MS type partition there.
Once you have booted from a startup floppy or even burned those files on a cd-r you can then follow the deleted partition by creating a new primary with option #1 "Create Primary Dos partition" which is precisely what you will want to do then. If you simply want only one large primary partition on the dirve the other options can now be disregarded. You will then want to format the newly created partition with the "format C: /s command to not only format the drive but to copy the essential dos system files to the root of C. Now you are ready to begin installing 98. Hopefully you chose the "Boot with cd rom support" option when booting with the floppy. You simply type the designated drive letter in for the cd rom drive and press the enter to change to the cd drive. Once at the(usually D) dos prompt there you type in setup and press enter again to start the 98 installer. Was that so hard?
"Once you have booted from a startup floppy or even burned those files on a cd-r you can then follow the deleted partition by creating a new primary with option #1 "Create Primary Dos partition" which is precisely what you will want to do then. If you simply want only one large primary partition on the dirve the other options can now be disregarded. You will then want to format the newly created partition with the "format C: /s command to not only format the drive but to copy the essential dos system files to the root of C. Now you are ready to begin installing 98. Hopefully you chose the "Boot with cd rom support" option when booting with the floppy. You simply type the designated drive letter in for the cd rom drive and press the enter to change to the cd drive. Once at the(usually D) dos prompt there you type in setup and press enter again to start the 98 installer. Was that so hard?"
doesnt seem to hard, thanks.
so the steps are:
1. Delete Primary DOS Partition
2. Then create a new partition
3. Then i can re-boot the comp with the ME insall CD in the drive,...
This is what another guy said in another forum.. he correct also?
to Delete Partition. And you can then proceed to the first option on the next menu, to "Delete Primary DOS Partition". After that partition is deleted, if you choose the option to Display partition information, you should get a message "no partitions present". At that point, you can then choose the option to "Create Primary DOS Partition". When that has finished, reboot the computer, with the Windows Me CD in the CD-ROM drive, and let WinMe setup format the drive for you (if asked to "Enable Large Disk Support?" answer "Yes" - to let WinMe use FAT32 to format the disk). Then just follow the prompts to reinstall.
and also, how do i get to the "format C" thing that i type in?
thanks
Dustin
doesnt seem to hard, thanks.
so the steps are:
1. Delete Primary DOS Partition
2. Then create a new partition
3. Then i can re-boot the comp with the ME insall CD in the drive,...
This is what another guy said in another forum.. he correct also?
to Delete Partition. And you can then proceed to the first option on the next menu, to "Delete Primary DOS Partition". After that partition is deleted, if you choose the option to Display partition information, you should get a message "no partitions present". At that point, you can then choose the option to "Create Primary DOS Partition". When that has finished, reboot the computer, with the Windows Me CD in the CD-ROM drive, and let WinMe setup format the drive for you (if asked to "Enable Large Disk Support?" answer "Yes" - to let WinMe use FAT32 to format the disk). Then just follow the prompts to reinstall.
and also, how do i get to the "format C" thing that i type in?
thanks
Dustin
Once you delete the original partition and create a new fresh one you first have to format the new one before ME can be installed to it. The advancements seen with the XP installer is being able to do all of this without a need for a boot floppy. XP will delete and create partitions as well as go on an existing even Fat32 type as well as format a new one. The ME installer will not perform those tasks. Remember the "format /s" command with the system file transfer switch at the end( /s ) will not only format but transfer the basic dos files to the drive. That will allow basic dos commands to be used. Here's the list again to avoid "confusion".
#1=deletion of current partition with fdisk utility when reaching dos prompt after booting from the startup floppy with the cd rom support option. (NOTE: If oartition is to exceed 55gb using 98 instead of ME start floppy the updated version of fdisk will be required. If a Western Digital drive download DRFAT32 for 32bit format of large capacity drives.)
#2=creation of new partition which can be custom sized if planning on adding an extended partition later.
#3=format and what is called "sysing" the drive with the "format C: /s" command to replace the simple "format C:"(C doesn't have to be in upper case. That was is illustration only.)
#4=With primary partition created and seeing the system transfer for dos you are ready for the ME installation. You may or may not be able to install Windows when booting with the cd rather then floppy with cd rom support. But at this point you can simply start the ME installer by manually changing to the cd drive and typing setup or setup.exe at the dos prompt and pressing the enter key. You then follow the onscreen instructions from there until the system restarts. That's when you would remove the floppy and change the boot device order in the bios if needed. There is no simpler instructions to offer. Once you install Windows a few times you will start to feel like a... ??? for not realizing that as long as the disks and hardwares are good the process made far easier by Microsoft over alternative OSs.
#1=deletion of current partition with fdisk utility when reaching dos prompt after booting from the startup floppy with the cd rom support option. (NOTE: If oartition is to exceed 55gb using 98 instead of ME start floppy the updated version of fdisk will be required. If a Western Digital drive download DRFAT32 for 32bit format of large capacity drives.)
#2=creation of new partition which can be custom sized if planning on adding an extended partition later.
#3=format and what is called "sysing" the drive with the "format C: /s" command to replace the simple "format C:"(C doesn't have to be in upper case. That was is illustration only.)
#4=With primary partition created and seeing the system transfer for dos you are ready for the ME installation. You may or may not be able to install Windows when booting with the cd rather then floppy with cd rom support. But at this point you can simply start the ME installer by manually changing to the cd drive and typing setup or setup.exe at the dos prompt and pressing the enter key. You then follow the onscreen instructions from there until the system restarts. That's when you would remove the floppy and change the boot device order in the bios if needed. There is no simpler instructions to offer. Once you install Windows a few times you will start to feel like a... ??? for not realizing that as long as the disks and hardwares are good the process made far easier by Microsoft over alternative OSs.