I bought a hard drive with ME on it a few years ago as a spare. It keep freezing up, so I went to system restore. While restoreing, it froze and all I could do was power down. Now when I restarted, it says no OS found. I don't have any disks with it, but I do have a Win98SE upgrade disk. What do I have to do to install Win98SE. I am not very computer savy, so I need simplified instructions and step by step. I don't know where to get a ME disk now. Do I need full version, or upgrade?
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WinME crash
- Thread starter nelliebee
- Start date
Firstly you may have a hard drive or other hardware problem. If the machine is saying no OS found, that usually means either the hard drive is dead/dying or its boot sector has become corrupted. If you know the make of the hard drive (you should be able to open the case and read it on the drive itself), you can go to the manufacturer's website and download a diagnostic tool that will run from floppy or Cd to check the status of the drive.
To install win98SE from an upgrade disk you will also need an install disk for an earlier version of windows (95 or 98FE or possibly even dos 6.22/win 3.1 - can't remember if they qualify), as the install will prompt for said disk to verify you qualify for upgrade. You should be able to buy ME or 98Se cheaply on ebay - you want full version - if you need to.
To install 98 or ME - there are lots of websites with instructions - just Google - eg,
To install win98SE from an upgrade disk you will also need an install disk for an earlier version of windows (95 or 98FE or possibly even dos 6.22/win 3.1 - can't remember if they qualify), as the install will prompt for said disk to verify you qualify for upgrade. You should be able to buy ME or 98Se cheaply on ebay - you want full version - if you need to.
To install 98 or ME - there are lots of websites with instructions - just Google - eg,
- Thread starter
- #3
Thanks Wolluf, but it was working ,but freezing up often until I tried to restore to an earlier date. Then in the middle of restore it froze again. Now it is like it is in limbo and doesn't know where it is. I can start up in safe mode, but don't know what to do from that point.
- Thread starter
- #4
I guess what I am really asking, What is best to do. Since it is in limbo, would I be better off installing Win 98SE instead of WinME? It seems that 98 had less problems. I have a 98SE upgrade, but do I need full version 98 and install new, then upgrade to SE? I have an older Gateway hard drive with all the disks but don't think I can use it on a different drive. Would it be easier to get full version of ME since that is what was an it, or completely put 98 and then SE. I don't know what I put in (MIS)for. Don't know much. Thanks for any help for this older lady
So its is booting - but will only load in safe mode? Have you tried running system restore again in safe mode to restore to a different date/time? One problem with win9x/me is that once it gets fouled up, its notoriously difficult to fix - basically better to do a fresh install.
As to what's best to do. If you can't fix the problem from safe mode trying various restore points, then a new clean install would probably be best course. For this you will need either a full version of whichever o/s you want (98SE or ME, I don't really think it makes much difference) or if you have an upgrade disk you will also need a full version of an earlier version of windows (as I said in my first post, you can install complete with upgrade disk, BUT the install will ask you to supply a disk with a qualifying o/s during the process to prove you are entitled to upgrade. It will just scan this disk briefly, then continue with the install).
As I said - you can buy 98 or ME on ebay - eg,
(I'm in uk)
There are other considerations. Have you any personal data you need to save before reinstalling? You will probably need drivers for sound and graphics - you may already have them on a CD or they may be on the hard drive (ME is more likely to have its own drivers for your devices than 98SE).
The link I posted earlier has instructions on how to reinstall - as do many other sites if you google 'install windows me' or 'install windows 98'
HTH - post back if you need more.
As to what's best to do. If you can't fix the problem from safe mode trying various restore points, then a new clean install would probably be best course. For this you will need either a full version of whichever o/s you want (98SE or ME, I don't really think it makes much difference) or if you have an upgrade disk you will also need a full version of an earlier version of windows (as I said in my first post, you can install complete with upgrade disk, BUT the install will ask you to supply a disk with a qualifying o/s during the process to prove you are entitled to upgrade. It will just scan this disk briefly, then continue with the install).
As I said - you can buy 98 or ME on ebay - eg,
(I'm in uk)
There are other considerations. Have you any personal data you need to save before reinstalling? You will probably need drivers for sound and graphics - you may already have them on a CD or they may be on the hard drive (ME is more likely to have its own drivers for your devices than 98SE).
The link I posted earlier has instructions on how to reinstall - as do many other sites if you google 'install windows me' or 'install windows 98'
HTH - post back if you need more.
- Thread starter
- #6
- Thread starter
- #7
I don't understand the question.
There are several ways of starting an installation of win98/ME.
One is to boot from a startup boot floppy which boots into dos (A: prompt) and loads CD driver so you can access CD drive. In dos you can use tools like fdisk (create & delete partitions) and format (format partitions) to prepare the hard drive for the install. Once hard drive is partitioned and formatted you can start the install from the cd by typing x:\setup (where x: is the CD drive letter - it will tell you what this is during the floppy boot process).
Another is to boot from the install CD itself. If the hard drive is not partitioned, this process will ask you if you want to partition it.
So if you're using a startup floppy, and you want a clean install (ie, all previous data on the disk removed before starting), you need to run these commands from the A: prompt.
fdisk - this will display a menu - choose display existing partitions. If there is just one, exit disk and at the prompt type format c: /q (this will do a quick format, which is sufficient and much quicker than a full one). When its complete, type x:\setup (as per aboc#ve) to start the install.
If there are more than one partition, use the delete partitions options to remove them.
If there are (now) zero partitions, use the create partition option to create one - use the whole disk. After its complete it will tell you to reboot. Do so (with boot floppy again) - then when its back at a: prompt type format c: (you can't use quick option on new partition), then x:\setup as before.
Note: Always choose to start the machine with CD support.
There are several ways of starting an installation of win98/ME.
One is to boot from a startup boot floppy which boots into dos (A: prompt) and loads CD driver so you can access CD drive. In dos you can use tools like fdisk (create & delete partitions) and format (format partitions) to prepare the hard drive for the install. Once hard drive is partitioned and formatted you can start the install from the cd by typing x:\setup (where x: is the CD drive letter - it will tell you what this is during the floppy boot process).
Another is to boot from the install CD itself. If the hard drive is not partitioned, this process will ask you if you want to partition it.
So if you're using a startup floppy, and you want a clean install (ie, all previous data on the disk removed before starting), you need to run these commands from the A: prompt.
fdisk - this will display a menu - choose display existing partitions. If there is just one, exit disk and at the prompt type format c: /q (this will do a quick format, which is sufficient and much quicker than a full one). When its complete, type x:\setup (as per aboc#ve) to start the install.
If there are more than one partition, use the delete partitions options to remove them.
If there are (now) zero partitions, use the create partition option to create one - use the whole disk. After its complete it will tell you to reboot. Do so (with boot floppy again) - then when its back at a: prompt type format c: (you can't use quick option on new partition), then x:\setup as before.
Note: Always choose to start the machine with CD support.
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