Can't install W98 !!!

[kwunder]

I've tried to do a fresh install of W98 about 20 times,every time, after a complete format, and after all files have been copied from the CD to the Hard Drive, after the "Restart Now" prompt, the PC restarts, and then just stops at the C:
prompt. Nothing else happens

Any ideas anyone ?

kwunder

 

[reghakr]

Have you tried typing win at the c: prompt?

Did you reformat and re-partition? Some PC makers have a hidden partition set aside.

Have you tried copying all files to the hard drive, then run setup from the hard drive and remove the CD entirely?

Or have you switched the boot device order in the BIOS?

Look over these articles:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/windows/Topics/Win98/Setup/SetupEM.asp

reghakr

 

[kwunder]

Reghakr,
Typing win at the C:\ prompt gives a "Bad command or filename" error
I have reformatted every other time between atttempts to install. There are no partitions on the drive.
I don't know much about dos, so I don't know how to copy the CD onto the drive before installing.Also , I haven't been into the bios.

Where next?
Thanks
kwunder

 

[kwunder]

reghakr,
Someone advised me to try typing C:\windows\win at the dos prompt. I tried it and it advanced to the "completed updating files, continuing to load windows", where upon it stop again with a
"himem.sys is missing" error

any ideas?
Cheers
kwunder

 

[reghakr]

Here's one:
I'm looking for more.

Symptoms:

When you reboot the computer, it displays one of the following (or similar) error messages:

"Windows XMS driver Unable to control A20 line; XMS driver not installed."
"HIMEM.SYS is missing."
This error message does not appear when first applying power to the computer, only when rebooting it once it is already powered on. It is more likely to affect laptop computers than desktop computers. This error message will frequently appear for the first time after installing one of several versions of Norton Anti-Virus.

Solution:

Turn the computer off completely, then follow these steps to make changes to the computer's DOS startup files, autoexec.bat and config.sys:

Turn on the computer.
For Windows 98: as soon as you turn on the computer, press and hold the CTRL key until the Windows 98 Startup Menu is displayed.
Select Safe Mode - Command Prompt Only either by highlighting that option with your down arrows or by typing in the number of that menu option, and then press the Enter key on your keyboard.
At the C:\> prompt, type EDIT AUTOEXEC.BAT [Enter]
You should now have a blue screen which you can edit text in. At the very top of the window, add the following line SET DOS16M=2
Press Alt+F to open the File menu. Choose Exit and press the Enter key.
When prompted to save changes, use your arrow keys to highlight "Yes" and press Enter.
You will now be back at the C:\> prompt. Type EDIT CONFIG.SYS [Enter]
In the text editor, find a line which refers to a file called HIMEM.SYS and add /M:1 to the very end of that line. Be sure there is a space following the end of the existing line and the /M:1
If you do not have a HIMEM.SYS line, add the following line: DEVICE=C:\Windows\HIMEM.SYS /M:1
Press Alt+F to open the File menu. Choose Exit and press Enter. When prompted to save changes, answer Yes and press Enter.
Reboot the computer. It should now boot normally.
Note1 You may need to alter the path if your version of Windows 95 or Windows 98 is not located in the Windows directory.

Note2 The /M:1 line depends upon the hardware version of the A20 handler. You may need to try the numbers 1-17 (for instance, /M:12) to find the correct version for the computer. PS/2 computers and Prolinea computers, for example, tend to require /M:2 instead of /M:1.

reghakr

 

[reghakr]

Error Message: The File C:\Windows\Himem.sys Is Missing or Corrupted

------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition

------------------------------------------------------------

SYMPTOMS
When you start your computer, you may receive the following error message:

The following file is missing or corrupted: C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS

HIMEM.SYS is missing
Make sure that the file is in your Windows directory.

Windows has stopped. Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to restart your computer.
You may then be unable to start your Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition (SE)-based computer.

CAUSE
This issue can occur if the Himen.sys Windows system file is missing or damaged.

RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, extract a new copy of the Himen.sys file from your Windows 98 or Windows 98 SE CD:

Start your computer with CD-ROM support by using your Windows 98 startup disk.

Insert the Windows media into the CD or DVD-ROM drive.

Type the following command line (where drive is the drive letter of the CD or DVD-ROM drive), and then press ENTER:
drive:
For example:
D:
Note: If you have an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) installation of Windows, your Windows installation files may be located in the C:\Windows\Options\Cabs folder on the hard disk.

Type the following command line, and then press ENTER:

cd\win98
Type the following command line, and then press ENTER:

extract /a /y /e /l c:\windows base4.cab himem.sys
After the file is extracted, restart your computer.

reghakr

 

[reghakr]

One more, but it doesn't say Win98SE:

Err Msg: Missing Himem.sys. Make sure that the file is in your Windows directory and that its location is correctly specified in your CONFIG.SYS file.

------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Windows 95

------------------------------------------------------------

SYMPTOMS
When you try to load Windows, one of the following problems may occur:

Windows stops responding (hangs) at the logo screen.

Windows reports the following error message
Missing <device name> Make sure that the file is in your Windows directory and that its location is correctly specified in your CONFIG.SYS file.
where <device name> is a device such as HIMEM.SYS.

CAUSE
These problems can occur if you have added the NOAUTO parameter to the &quot;DOS=&quot; statement in the CONFIG.SYS file. For example:


DOS=HIGH,UMB,NOAUTO

This parameter can also cause your computer to hang at the first Setup reboot because IFSHLP.SYS is not loaded.

RESOLUTION

Edit the Config.sys file and remove the NOAUTO parameter from the DOS= statement.

-or-

Edit the Config.sys file and insert the required DEVICE= statements so that the necessary devices are loaded during startup. The required statements are as follows. Add these lines after the &quot;DOS=HIGH,UMB,NoAuto&quot; line:

Device=C:\Windows\Himem.Sys
Device=C:\Windows\iFSHLP.Sys
NOTE: If Windows is installed in a folder other than the Windows folder, adjust the two lines as necessary to list the folder in which Windows is installed.
For additional information about how to edit the Config.sys file, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q232558 How to Modify the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat Files

reghakr

 

[kwunder]

reghakr
I got in a right mess. I formatted and at the end of the format, was told &quot;FORMAT NOT COMPLETE&quot; After messing about, I managed to go through the installation motions again, and found myself back to square one.....i.e at the C:\ prompt, after all W98 files had been copied over.

All I acheived was to get rid of the himem.sys missing problem.

***%£$$!

kwunder

 

[paulwood]

kwunder

If I understand your previous post, this is all happening on a laptop? What are the screen drivers you have installed, are they for LCD and is the video card the right one. Sometimes they work with the defaults, sometimes they don't. Looking at what is happening, I wonder if it's a driver problem. As a matter of interest, when you formatted, did you fdisk as well and did you enable large disk support?

 

[kwunder]

I have created a start up disk disk during the routine install process, then when I got stuck back at the c:| prompt, I booted from the startup disk, started with CD Rom support, after the tools were loaded, I typed sys c: at the prompt and I got the message &quot;System Transferred&quot;

Any idea what I should do now, other than throw the whole thing in the bin ?

Thanks reghakr for all your help

kwunder

 

[kwunder]

Paul,
This is not on my laptop. Its a normal PC. My intentions were to &quot;UPGRADE&quot; from WindowsMe to W98, as I was having the famous SLOW problem with ME.

Everthing I am trying has worked a couple of times in the past, so I can't understand the problem now

Thanks

 

[paulwood]

OK, sorry about the misunderstanding, presumably if you've transferred the system files to the hard disk, you should now be able to boot to it. Trouble is, I'm not sure it gets you any further unless you load the cdrom drivers via config.sys and autoexec.bat. Going back to my eroneous post, have you fdisked the hard drive during this process? If not it might be worth a shot, although it will get rid of the system files on the hard disk. Just a thought.

 

[kwunder]

Sorry Paul, no offence meant about your previous post.
I've never used fdisk and wouldnt know where to start

kwunder

 

[kwunder]

I'll have to check back tomorrow evening, as I'm off to work shortly

Thanks for your help reghakr, Paul

kwunder

 

[paulwood]

None taken , for step by step info on using fdisk

http://www.compguystechweb.com/troubleshooting/fdisk/fdisk_run.html

 

[kwunder]

SORTED !!!!!!!!!

I tried a reformat, and used my new W98 Startup disk to get CD support, then tried to install, and it flew in. Can't understand why I've had no trouble in the past starting off with the fix-it utilities disk.It always worked.
Thanks for the info on fdisk Paul, I'll have a look at that. Better to be prepared just incase.
P.S. I also enjoyed the demise of paper clip. Very good !

Cheers to you & reghakr for your help

kwunder

 

[Fixingit]

Thanx for the link paulwood.