converting from Windows me to 98

[mastermiaow]

I am not sure if this is the correct place for this query so please let me know if there is more suitable place.
A friend wanted to downgrade her system from unstable Windows ME to stable Windows 98. When she tried to insert windows 98 disk, computer would not allow it to run because OS on machine was newer than the one she was trying to load.
So we put in windows start up disk to reformat computer to allow Win 98 to be loaded. We go into a/fdisk and delete primary partion and make sure no existing partitions, there is some question about fat 32 and the OS having capacity to store more than 518mb (?) on one drive which I answer yes to as this is the default. Then "restart with CD rom". Type in e:/setup.exe and the windows 98 startup menu appears. However after 30 seconds a message appears saying that we need an OS update as current version on computer is newer than what we are trying to load. The error begins (I think) with SU and then some numbers. So it seems that windows ME has penetrated deep within the bowels of the computer so that even deleting primary partition does not get rid of it.
I confirm this by putting in the Win ME CD and it starts to load no problem.
I then go back into fdisk and try again by deleting primary partion. this time I am not allowed to run setup.exe without recreating an active partion:
"If you have HPFS or NTFS installed on your hard drive, you will need to create an MS-DOS boot partition to set up windows"
I then restart choose "start computer with CD rom support", type in d:/setup.exe and then read that "diagnostic tools were successfully loaded to drive D but then read that "sector not found reading drive A". I continue getting this or the next screen that freezes after the words:
"Please wait while setup initializes scanning system registry.
Windows setup requires X bites available on your" (writing stops somewhere around here)
However many times I delete and recreate partions using fdisk this continues.
I then try with a different start up disk but still get the same error message or frozen screen
So am no longer even getting into the Windows setup screen and need HELP PLEASE!

[freddy]

ok , always thought ME a bit messy (what the hell did they do with the DOS)

stick your 98 cd in / start with cd support. ,,,,fdisk ,,,,remove all partitions inc non dos or whatever ,,,,extended and the lot ,,,,,create 1 new one (DOS)(active) ,,,then reboot.

restart , "setup 98" and it should format the drive ,,,and then load windoze ,,,,



i hope thats the answer


good luck


freddy

[Stalemate]

Tech-to-Tech would have been the ideal place for this.

Now, for your current situation, I can only assume one thing:

The PC was not rebooted after the partitions were modified through FDISK.


For the rest, the instructions above should give you a good start.

[eboyjones]

I see you have f-disked, but I didn't see that you formatted the drive. Here is the Microsft how to article


http://support.microsoft.com/default...NoWebContent=1

[NooNoo]

Its the boot sector.

Fdisk /mbr

using the windows 98 bootdiskette. You cannot use the ME boot diskette for this.

[mastermiaow]

I see you have f-disked, but I didn't see that you formatted the drive. Here is the Microsft how to article

Absolutely right. The process that had been outlined to me had not included formatting. When I put in fdisk and then C: /sformat (or something similar) it worked and I was able to load windows 98. I don't really understand how you can get rid of the previous OS without formatting?
However there are now several explanation marks in device manager. I was not able to set up an internet connection because no modem could be located. (Modem was working fine prior to reformat). I assume this is because the IBM 300GL has specific drivers for various things such as the modem that are not included on the generic windows 98 disc. Is this a common symptom when reformatting with a generic windows CD? I assume what I have to do is download these drivers from the IBM site.

[confus-ed]

..However there are now several explanation marks in device manager. I was not able to set up an internet connection because no modem could be located. (Modem was working fine prior to reformat). I assume this is because the IBM 300GL has specific drivers for various things such as the modem that are not included on the generic windows 98 disc. Is this a common symptom when reformatting with a generic windows CD? I assume what I have to do is download these drivers from the IBM site.

That's the one ... if you get stuck you know where to come ...

The older the version of windows you use the less driver support there is 'natively'...

[gazzak]

If anyones interested I have a bootable floppy that will blast away all partitions and mbr records on a hard disk, for those wonderful times when you can't get rid of thos "non dos" partitions that don't exist!

Life saver!

[mastermiaow]

That's the one ... if you get stuck you know where to come ...

The older the version of windows you use the less driver support there is 'natively'...

Yes, yes I need help!!!
I spoke to my friend tonight and there are a lot of things that are non-operational on the computer since loading on Windows 98. To name but a few
1. modem
2. she tried to load on printer CD and computer could not find the driver. I was confused by this as I thought driver would be on printer CD but perhaps OS also needs a printer driver?
3. She uses a statistics package which needs svga display and is unable to load statistics CD because computer does not have this (had it before reformat).

My first question. Would it be worthwhile loading on Win98se rather than 98?
My second question. I went to ibm 300gl driver page at
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/dlsearc...s+98&cc=us&p=1

There are 43 drivers to download which is an awful lot. How do I know which are the priority? eg there are several types of video drivers, several types of modems, something called Etherjet, core chipset etc. The list is endless......aaaarggghh I only have a dial up modem - I can't download everything....
Also should I assume that when it says Win95/98 this includes 98se?

[confus-ed]

Ok since you asked at this point ... YES imho 98SE will be a better bet than plain old 98 might save you an odd download too

Answering the various 'other' points

Your modem drivers are gonna be on that link somewhere IF that came with the lappie, you want 98se drivers (98 ones will be 'good' - 95 drivers not required as well)

Printer driver probably is on CD - but maybe not a new enough one? Give us the model please.

SVGA output to screen will 'reappear' once we give it the right driver

If it says driver is for 95/98 & there isn't one specially for SE for that device then probably you can assume the 'older' one is ok.

As for whether you want all those downloads, I dunno without thinking & looking! - decide on your o/s first & get whichever going & we'll fathom it from there

[NooNoo]

Its likely that the cd that has the driver on it is the sort where you run a setup and not add printer. Is there a setup.exe on the cd?

[mastermiaow]

Ok since you asked at this point ... YES imho 98SE will be a better bet than plain old 98 might save you an odd download too

Answering the various 'other' points

Your modem drivers are gonna be on that link somewhere IF that came with the lappie, you want 98se drivers (98 ones will be 'good' - 95 drivers not required as well)

Printer driver probably is on CD - but maybe not a new enough one? Give us the model please.

SVGA output to screen will 'reappear' once we give it the right driver

If it says driver is for 95/98 & there isn't one specially for SE for that device then probably you can assume the 'older' one is ok.

As for whether you want all those downloads, I dunno without thinking & looking! - decide on your o/s first & get whichever going & we'll fathom it from there

Thank you for responding to my problem.

The good news is that I was able to locate specific drivers for IBM 300gl
6275 (its a PC not a laptop) at this page:
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/dlsearc...Go.x=15&Go.y=8

I burned them to CD at work on a broadband connection. This was a
display driver, sound driver, 2 etherjet drivers. I didn't bother with
Logitech scrollpoint mouse driver.

I went to my friend's house with Windows 98se CD and put that in to
upgrade system from 98. The first problem was that at the beginning of
98se setup a message came up saying OS could not be upgraded. The error code was something like SU018. Why should this be? I got round this by reformatting and then installing the new OS.

I copied the downloaded drivers onto the hard disk. Etherjet drivers
needed extracting to floppy but when I tried to load them, it assumed an
icon in control panel which was not there. My impression from the
Etherjet readme file is that it is something to do with network
connections and is not relevant anyway.
I then checked device manager and noted where exclamation marks were.
These were on display drive, PCI Communications, PCI Multimedia and
Deskjet 640c printer.

I went into display driver via device manager and updated by locating the source file where I had placed the downloaded driver. The new driver is S3 Inc.Trio D and the existing display driver was Standard PCI Graphics Adaptor (VGA). My friend needs to use an SPSS statistics package which she cannot load at present because it needs SVGA display resolution. So I was hoping that new display driver would provide this.
However when I restarted and checked display settings the standard PCI
Graphics Adaptor was still listed. When I went to device manager, there
was an exclamation mark where S3 Inc.Trio D was listed and the message in properties/general:
"Windows cannot initialise the built-in graphics adapter. Shutdown your
computer remove all graphics adapters then restart. Shut down again
reinsert all adapters and then restart."
I did all this only to find the same problem. I then removed just the PCI
Standard one but on restart, windows insisted on reinstalling it
automatically - locating it at C:/windows/inf/insdsp.inf. So I am stuck.

I then went to PCI multimedia and under properties/general was message:
"drivers for this device not installed.Code 28"
I tried updating driver but when I specified location of the downloaded
sound driver C/ibm tools/driver etc I got the message:
"Windows unable to locate driver for this device"

PCI Communications had the same Code 28 message displayed under
properties/general. I assume that is why the Modem is not working but as I do not have any downloaded modem driver I don't know what to do about this.
We loaded printer CD and everthing installed fine but then there is a
message on Printer CD interface:
"This installation cannot be used for USB connections" this is
because PCI communications is not working . However there is no exclamation mark in Device Manager on either of the 2 USB controllers. I assume it would work fine with parallel port

I know that there were none of these problems with Windows ME so I assume that the problem is something to do with downgrading the OS. However as I reformatted I don't understand why this should be and why the 98se is not able to work with the downloaded drivers or operate PCI communications with existing drivers.
Help and advice greatly appreciated.

Master

[NooNoo]

Boot to safe mode, remove the device manager items that are causing a problem. You will find you may have 2 or 3 of the same device as well, remove them all, since you don't know which one is being used... Oh, on the pci vga adapter and s3, remove those last... it's kinda hard to reboot properly if you cannot see the display output

[confus-ed]

Noo's advice, as always is good ... do that first !

You are still gonna have some 'issues' left though ...

So answering your long post ... 98se 'bombed' first attempt as it was the 'wrong kind of install' (no not RailTrack ) but not 'upgrade' but full, you have to do what you did & do a complete install (you can cheat though )..

Modem in your pc ( not paying sufficient attention first time) isn't listed at IBM site ? Look at the first link you gave us .... I can see modems on that

You also want to visit windows update with this machine ... once the modems working - Win 98se has some usb issues I think - so that maybe that will fix up the printer, but there are security fixes too, which you 'need' ..

[mastermiaow]

Noo's advice, as always is good ... do that first !

You are still gonna have some 'issues' left though ...

So answering your long post ... 98se 'bombed' first attempt as it was the 'wrong kind of install' (no not RailTrack ) but not 'upgrade' but full, you have to do what you did & do a complete install (you can cheat though )....

Modem in your pc ( not paying sufficient attention first time) isn't listed at IBM site ? Look at the first link you gave us .... I can see modems on that

You also want to visit windows update with this machine ... once the modems working - Win 98se has some usb issues I think - so that maybe that will fix up the printer, but there are security fixes too, which you 'need' ..[/QUOTE]