Recently I added a new drive (slave), network card and more ram (256) to an older computer that I have. Thought I would start with a "clean" load. So ran fdisk and formatted the drives. Bios reads all 3 drives ( CDRom), and Ram just fine. When I go to load windows, the Load starts fine, gets thru the scandisk on drives C, D,

I gather there's more........

Hi Dan -- Sorry, yes finishes Scandisk on all three drives, then starts to copy files. Then I get message "Error - Unable to load user.exe" and goes back to G )CdRom) Thanx!

If the machine "sees" all of the IDE devices and memory in the bios correctly (seen on the POST screen), remove the NIC card and attempt an install again. At this point you can either do a quick format on c: and start fresh, or leave it and install "over the top" of what is there now. If the latter, just make sure it installs to c:\windows, and not c:\windows.000.

Post back with any results/further questions.

Hi Dan -- I've fdisked and formatted all the drives already, so c:\Windows.000 shouldn't exist. Do you mean the network card(NIC)? Thanx Gregg

Sorry, yes, Network Interface Card.

Hi Dan -- No problem -- I thought that's what you meant. I pulled the card (also ran a CD cleaning disk in the ROM), and still get the same message ("unable to load user.exe"). I really appreciate your help!! Any other thoughts? Gregg

So far my searches haven't turned up anything on that exact error. Mystifying.

OK, a couple of basic procedures. Just to make sure, is your virus protection (Boot Sector) turned off in the bios?

When you boot with the 98 startup disk, at the A:\> prompt, type in;

fdisk

Y

4 (Show partition information)

and post back exactly what is reported.

Couple of other possible contributing factors, only you'll know the answers;
(From the %CDROM%\win98\setup.txt file on the CD)

- Your computer is over-clocked. Extracting files from
the Windows 98 cabinet files is memory intensive. If
your computer is over-clocked beyond the default
settings, it can contribute to decoding errors.
Computers that are not over-clocked but are having a
cooling problem can also experience decoding errors.

- Your computer has bad or mismatched RAM or cache. For
example, you are using EDO and non-EDO RAM, or you are
using different RAM speeds. Even if Windows seems to
be running without problems, the additional stress of
extracting files and accessing the disk may contribute
to decoding errors.

- Your computer has Bus Mastering or Ultra DMA enabled
in the BIOS and in Device Manager. The data may be
moving too quickly for the system to keep up.

6. Run Windows 98 Setup using the following command:

" setup /c " (without the quotation marks) This switch
bypasses running SMARTDrive. This makes Setup run
slower, but it should be more reliable environment to
run in.

Found it. Try what is outlined here and post back.

Thanx Dan -- I'll try the fix at the link, but will respond to previos post in the mean time:

The partition information is: Partition = C:1, Status = A, Type = Primary DOS, Volume = (blank), Mbytes = 8056, System = Fat32, Usage = 100%. This is the same for D:2 and E:3.

- I reset my computer to: "original settings" (same as default)

- The 2 RAM sticks came from another computer, so they should be the same?!

- Removed the S.M.A.R.T. from the drives (Ultra DMA)

- and tried the "setup /c" command

Still get the "unable to load user.exe"

Maybe I wasn't clear, but I don't have windows running on this machine anymore. I've already formatted all the drives. But will try the link anyways.

Gregg