Hello to the forum.

I'm pretty new to this so here goes.

I tried to fix a neighbours computer which was running on Window 95. It kept booting to a Command line missing or something, I can't remember exact error messege. I figured he needed a fresh install.

Heres where its gets tricky.

After formatting the hard drive via slaving it to my machine, I'm installing Windows 98se and run through the whole process, follow on screen pormpts, enter cd key etc until the system restarts itself, asks if I want to boot from the hard drive or cd rom, I choose hard drive and then freezes on the

"systrem updating progam files. This may take a few minutes.

Continuing to run Windows 98"

screen. If you know what I mean ( can't remember exact messges cos I'm juggling PC's)

System specs as much as I can get at this point are 233 Pentuim II processor with I think abouth 16 or 32MB RAM

I've had this sitting here for a while now and have hit a brick wall. Its driving me nuts! My neighbour probably thinks I've done a runner with his PC!

Please help!?

If I recall from re installing 98 I always had to leave the cd in till the thing was up & running and you were looking at the desktop. Might be worth a try.

If it's always been a Pentium II 233MHz system (in other words, if it's not an even older system that has had a processor upgrade), then a typical manufacturer wouldn't have sold it with 16Mb RAM. It is more likely to be 32Mb or even 64Mb. Which is just as well, really, because memory could be the problem if you're trying to install Win98SE on just 16Mb.

Having said that, it's worth pointing out that even 32Mb will be pretty poor with Windows 98SE. It was OK for Windows 95 but Windows 98SE is a bit more demanding. 64Mb RAM will give a noticeable performance improvement. 96Mb is better still. For optimum performance on a Windows 98SE machine using the Internet and a background anti-virus program etc, you need 128Mb.

Anyway, if I've understood your post correctly, it does sound like you've rebooted and left the CD in the PC - that's why it asked you whether you wanted to boot from the hard disk or the CD-ROM. You chose the hard disk, which was correct.

When it freezes, are you sure that it says it's updating program files? If it's actually referring to installing drivers and configuring devices, then it might be that it's found some hardware and got stuck when trying to install a driver for it. You could check for this by removing any hardware that's not needed for the install process, e.g. sound card, modem, etc and then booting it up again.

Let us know if that helps or if you have any further info.