hi all
tried to install a wireless network on my 2 P.C.'s ( the main one runs XP ) basicly i had to reinstall windows SE and now it wont load ? all i get is a 98 wallpaper and the mouse pointer !!! sometimes it will load though but it does not see my 2 c.d. drives ?? it shows the icons as hard drives ?? , when i does load and i look at device manager it tells me that the CD drives are working normaly ,but i need to reinstall windows for the drivers for the networking and the floppy drive , cant do that because it doesn't see the cd drives arrrrg!!
hope you guys and gals can offer some help ??
Bryan

Hello, and Welcome to D-A-L.

Sorry for the late response. If this machine was working before, and you're fairly sure there are no hardware problems, I would format the drive and start from scratch. Use a 98SE Boot Disk* and boot with CDROM support. This method will also verify that the CDROM is working at the hardware level.

At the resulting A:\> prompt, type in format/c/autotest c: and hit Enter. When the format is complete, (with the 98SE CD in the CDROM drive) type setup at the A:\> prompt and the install should begin.

Post back with the results and/or any further questions/information.


*The above bootdisk image file is a self extracting file and has to be executed (run) from a running Windows(9x) machine in order to create the actual startup diskette on one of your floppy disks. (This image file produces the same bootdisk which 98SE creates.) This downloaded image file will format the floppy disk to ensure its integrity, write the files to the disk, then verify the file write, so it'll take a minute or three to create the bootdisk.

Ensure the floppy drive is set as the first boot device in the bios. http://www.d-a-l.com/articles/library/23.html

NOTE: When you boot a machine with this boot floppy, it creates a RAMDRIVE in system memory to contain DOS system tools/drivers. Thus it will move your "normal" CDROM device/drive letter "up" one level. (If your CDROM is normally E: it will be F: when booting with this bootdisk.)

The path to the found CDROM will be set with the bootfiles, so entering (example) A:\>f:\setup is the same as entering A:\>setup at the A:\> prompt. There is no need to include the cdrom drive letter. The CDROM device letter will be assigned near the end of the floppy boot process, right after MSCDEX is loaded.