Win 98 install, setup does not START

[ARION1]

Im trying to fix this ladies computer as a favor. Its a NEC Ready 5010. It has a 486 dx4 cpu, so you know it's an old computer. lol I've done all the steps that I need to do to install an operating system. So I format the hard drive. I label the volume. This is were the problem happens. The drive letter is d: d:\>setup and then the installation should begin. BUT instead of starting. It states "BAD COMMAND OR FILE NAME"

I even copied the installation files to the hard drive and tried running setup.exe from there. I also had no success that way either.

I even tried installing windows 95.lol It stated again "bad command or file name"


Thank you guys for your replies.

 

[TekTippy4U]

try switching to the 98 directory
D:CD WIN98 (will bring you to--> D:\WIN98)
Setup

Try E:\ as the CDROM is pushed back a drive letter
CD WIN98
setup
use
DIR /p
to see what's in the folder
use
CDto get back to root letter
funny you weren't able to run setup off the HDD...same prob?

TT4U

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[ARION1]

Tektippy4u I tried that it didn't work.lol Im just about to give up. Im thinking i might need to update the bios. Does anyone else have any other suggestions. When I do a dir on the D drive. I can see everything on the cd. I don't see setup.exe. Where exactly would that be in the windows 98 cd. thanks in advance

 

[TekTippy4U]

Setup.exe is in D:\Win98....on some CDROMS Both places.
95 is prolly better for that box anyway
Use Dir /p /o:n to see all files in Dir in alphabetical order, press any key to continue screen (the /p pauses the screen). Look for your Setup.exe

Did u Fdisk and Format?

TT4U

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[edfair]

What kind of boot disk are you using?
Some have a ramdisk on D: and the CD is E:, some have the ramdisk on D: and the CD on R:. Some have no ramdisk at all and the CD is D:.
You need to pay attention during the bootup or use the step by step to see what is going on.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[bwadding]

I'm assuming that your D drive is a CD-ROM try going to the C: and creating a WIN98 directory
c:\md c:\win98
that will create it. then go to d:\win98
and type copy *.* c:\win98
this will copy allt he cab files from your CD to the Hard drive. After it's finished, go to c:\win98 and type setup.

 

[joker19745]

I just installed 98 SE and made the win98 directory like bwadding suggested, but my ramdrive became E:\ (my cd-rom usually) and my cd-rom moved from E:\ to F:\ for the installation. I don't know if this will help or not.

 

[TekTippy4U]

fwiw;
if you have no probs accessing your cdrom drive, you can always copy the <drive>\win98 dir from within Windows Explorer to anywhere you like on hdd after setup -- say C:\cabs

then Start > run REGEDIT
drill to this key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
and change the
SourcePath="C:\cabs"

Now, you can always add Win components, without CDROM needed.

Get a new CDROM drive...it's probably due anyway (they're cheap)

TT4U

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[ARION1]

I think I should have mentioned that I have my A+. lol I've installed my share of operating systems, but i've never had this problem before. I give up. lol I think im going to tell the lady to take it to a professional. lol
Thanks for your help guys. I can't wait to help others. thanks again

 

[TekTippy4U]

Arion1;
you know - older cdroms were hooked to the soundcard and therefore had a problem being recognized....and possibly worked off an scsi adapter too. So when you say that you tried to run Setup from HDD - are you saying that you atleast managed to Copy the files over from the CD?
Did you turn off BIOS AV protection?

TT4U

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[ARION1]

I wasn't even able to copy the files to the HD. I think it stated "BAD COMMAND OR FILE NAME" I made sure the BIOS av was off. I asked a friend who repairs computers about this problem and he told it points to some type of hard ware that has failed. I can run scandisk and everything else on the win98 cd except setup.exe. LOL Who knows, its an old computer. Thanks for your help.

 

[TekTippy4U]

Arion;
Try this...do you have a CDRW or newer CDROM laying around.....
(or buy one) Throw it in the box....it'll work..load the drivers that may have come with the CDRW (diskette?) . The Lite-on I bought at 32X awhile back for a P PRo came with a driver diskette....loaded em up after installing the unit......and OFF SHE WENT.....Zooooooooomm

I did this on an older P Pro and it worked like a charm...had something to do with the scsi adapter being lost from memory I'm pretty sure (usually stays) when I fdisked and formatted.

TT4U

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[TekTippy4U]

BTW - when I did this...I was using my 98 OEM CD which is Completely bootable and the old Goldstar CDROM drive wouldn't find it for S%$&.
I found I needed to load DOS drivers (loaded from diskette).....they had non for win32 of that era....(checked the web)...at that time didn't really know how to modify config.sys and autoexec.bat properly...So I Ripped it out and installed the New Lite-on and ZZOOOOOOmmmm (tossed the old 2x goldstar junk)

TT4U

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[TekTippy4U]

Perhaps you'd really like to torture yourself and find the dos drivers and alter the Config.sys on the Startup diskette - by copying the d/l Dos driver to the A:\ dir; and altering the
Config.sys to read;
Device=VIDCDIDE.SYS /d:mscd001
Autoexec.bat to read
LH MSCDEX.EXE /d:mscd001

(vidcdide.sys is an example only though I forget the exact driver name for an older ibm cd driver?, it's close)
(MSCDEX.EXE are generic MS CDROM Extensions which are necessary for the ATAPI devices)

or you can d/l and create a Win98 Startup disk on another box , which already contains most older cdrom divers from

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

- make sure you view the READ1st.txt (or similar) file found on the site's main page.

Or BUY A NEW CDRW Drive....be careful...the really NEW ones may have some funky thing I'm not aware of....

TT4U

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