dear sir/madam,
when i switch on my PC and it starts booting after displaying second page of boot up sequence an error message displays "replace system disk and press enter"
plese tell where is the problem with the hard disk or window set up cd as i want to reinstall a fresh window 98. before it as i was clicking at any folder to open it it becomes hanged everytimes.

Hello, and Welcome to D-A-L.

You didn't post any system specs so I'm assuming that the troubled system has a floppy drive.

First, ensure that there isn't a non-bootable floppy disk in the floppy drive.

"... i want to reinstall a fresh window 98"

If there is nothing on this machine which you wish to retain....
(Assuming you have a Windows 98 CD and the corresponding Product Key for that CD)

Boot the machine with a Win98SE Boot Disk* and choose with CDROM Support. When you get to the A:\> prompt, type in format/c/autotest c: and hit Enter.

The above action will commence as soon as you hit ENTER, and will REMOVE EVERYTHING, leaving you a BLANK drive.

Then simply insert your 98 CD into the CDROM drive and enter setup at the A:\> prompt. The Windows installation should start.

Post back with your results and any further questions.



*The above bootdisk image file is a self extracting file and has to be executed (run) from a running Windows 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.

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 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.