Win 98SE install

[dantbk]

Hello! If you can give me any advice with the following problem, I’d truly appreciate it. I’ve talked to several PC knowledgeable people and no one can figure it out.
I’m trying to install Win98SE (to a proven-good hard drive), which I’ve done a number of times in the past with no trouble. Both floppy and CD drives are in perfect working order. What is happening is this: When I try to install directly from the Win98 CD [BIOS boot order Floppy > CD >HD], after selecting “boot from CD”, I get the “Welcome to Setup …” screen and click Continue to start the Scandisk tests. The tests complete with no errors. But the system does NOT pause to allow me to select Exit. It jumps directly to “Please wait until Setup initializes. Scanning system registry. Copying files needed for Windows setup … Please remove any floppies from the drive and press any key to restart.” Then, after restart, instead of opening the setup wizard, I am cycled back to the “select Boot from hard drive or Boot from CD” screen, and the whole process starts over again ---- it’s an endless loop.
If I try to install from the Win98SE boot floppy which came with the CD [BIOS boot order Floppy > HD > CD], after selecting “Start computer with CD support, the floppy proceeds through its setup and I arrive at the command prompt. I then enter E:\setup and again the Scandisk tests run with no problems. When I select “Exit”, the “Please wait until Setup initializes. Scanning system registry. Copying files needed for Windows setup …” message appears. But this time, instead of the setup wizard opening, I am returned to the command prompt. I tried again, this time using your FAT32 supported startup disk, but with the same results.
I carefully checked the BIOS and found no incorrect settings. I considered that maybe the installation CD was corrupted, so I tried my brother’s 98SE CD and had the same results. I am at my wits end ---- any ideas? Thanks much, Dan Tidaback.

 

[diogenes10]

How about booting from startup diskette with cd rom support, then at dos prompt, creating a folder on harddrive and copying necessary files into it, and then install from harddrive? Any chance of that working?

 

[edfair]

My stock answer on setup problems with SE is memory. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of times I've been bitten.

diogenes10 has suggested a hard drive install. I've tried that when I was battling install problems and found that the problems existed there too. This more a FYI so you don't get your hopes too high.

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

 

[diogenes10]

"I’m trying to install Win98SE (to a proven-good hard drive), which I’ve done a number of times in the past with no trouble."

I may have had a case of tunnel vision here.

Did that statement apply to this specific harddrive and machine?

 

[diogenes10]

ed
for my education:
What is minumum?
Do you find it varies sometimes by machine?
And/or do the problems you've experienced stem from memory failures when you weren't looking?
Thanks.

 

[edfair]

Standard setup upchucks with less than 32 if I recall correctly. It can go lower, but I've never done it. Although I fudge on hardware sometimes, memory is one I try to meet the minimums. Although I think I remember sharing 32 with video.
Generally the memory problems hit me over the head. Or at least wait until I get back to the monitor, then hit me.
I'll start a load, then do whatever is needed the next time I pass the keyboard. I get pretty bored watching machines install operating systems.

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

 

[Freestone]

"Please remove any floppies from the drive and press any key to restart.” Then, after restart, instead of opening the setup wizard, I am cycled back to the “select Boot from hard drive or Boot from CD” screen, and the whole process starts over again ---- it’s an endless loop."

In this case, wouldn't you want to select boot from hard drive so the Windows Install GUI would be initiated from the hard drive? It sounds as if you are letting it boot from the CD a second time, which would restart the whole process.

In the second case,
"Copying files needed for Windows setup …” message appears. But this time, instead of the setup wizard opening, I am returned to the command prompt"

are you removing the diskette from the drive after all files are copied?

Lastly, is your C: partition marked as Active? You can check this through FDISK.

 

[dantbk]

Attn: Freestone
[PS: If I boot from the hard drive, rather than the CD, I have no CD support, and Windows cannot continue installation FROM the hard drive. 2)The hard drive is correctly partitioned and formatted and is active. 3)Files are being copied from the CD, not a floppy.

I took the suggestion of trying to clean-install Windows from the hard drive (rather than from the Win98SE CD which did not work). I copied the CDs Win98 folder to “C:\Windows\Options\Cabs” and ran setup from there. The setup wizard opened and progressed without problem thru the “Windows is now copying files…..” stage. After copying finished, I got the “Windows will restart your computer in 15 seconds” message. Upon restart, instead of returning to the wizard, an error screen came up saying, “Windows protection error. You must restart your computer.” I Ctrl > Alt > Deleted and this time the startup menu appeared with Safe Mode highlighted. I entered this selection but, instead of Safe Mode opening, I was simply returned to the “Windows protection error message. I restarted again and this time selected Step- by -Step Confirmation. The DOS drivers and then graphical interface loaded. I entered to “Load all Windows drivers”. The following drivers loaded: Javasup.vxd, Win\Sys\vrtwd.386, Win\Sys\vfixd.vxd, and msmouse.vxd. Immediately after the mouse driver loaded the Windows protection error screen came up. I know the mouse driver [which I believe (correct me if I’m wrong) is always the last Win driver to load] is not the problem because, whether I select to load or not load this driver, the Windows protection error message comes up next. Do you have any ideas on why this is happening? Is there something beside the Win98 folder that I should have copied to the hard drive? Are there any BIOS issues (other than disabling the boot-virus protection program) that may be involved? I would really appreciate your feedback as I am out of ideas. Thanks, Dan T.

 

[diogenes10]

might post the precise error message for folks to take a look at.

 

[SAMTEK]

THIS IS A TYPICAL STAGE...I HAVE FACED THIS PROBLEM WITHIN MY SUPPORT IN FIELD..
SOLUTION... OPEN YOUR MACHINE AND SET CMOS CLEAR JUMPER ON PIN 2-3 STAGE(IT WILL BE NEAR CMOS BATTERY) NOW SWITCH ON PC FOR 6-7 SECONDS . NOW SWITCH OFF PC SET JUMPER AT ORIGINAL STAGE 1-2.NOW TRY TO SEUP OF WIN98..HOPE WILL SOLVE YOUR PROBLEM..IF PROBLEM SOLVE THEN PLEASE EMAIL ME
AT.....
HOTHOTLAL@HOTMAIL.COM

 

[camelot2]

I had the windows protection error on a 98 computer last week and I ended up downloading a registry cleaner which seemed to have worked. (can't remember the site).
Your other choice to re-install windows 98.
Bootup using your windows 98 startup disk.
Do an "FDISK /MBR"
(this destroys the master boot record and re-creates it.
You should not see anything on the screen.)

When the A:\> appears, do a "FORMAT C: /U /S"
this formats the hard drive and 'SYS' it.
(i.e. format the HD and install the system files needed to boot up.)

Reboot the computer with the boot disk.

Do a "C:\MD CABS"
(this creates the cabs directory where windows 98 files will be copied to.
You can call your directory whatever you want)

Copy the cabs file from the CD to the cabs directory on C:
(i.e. copy *.* c:\cabs)

Next run Setup.
Please posts the results in the forum.


Don’t sweat it! Just do it!

 

[jeffep]

Had the same problem on a Windows ME box. Run through the entire gamit of software fixes, no luck, Ended up being a bad stick of memory in the machine. I confirmed this by swapping the memory, finally successfully loading the OS, then reinstalling the "questionable" memory. same symptoms return with that stick of RAM. I certainly hope that by now dantbk has gotten to the bottom of this one. Now I have the joy of working with the manufacturers tech support to RMA the part I have proven to be faulty.