have a friend with a Presario 5441 OS win98 and about 1-2 minutes after it boots up completely...it crashes and reboots. This happens over and over in a neverending cycle. It will stay up in Safe Mode. I can see the cd-rom in "My Computer"(not in safe mode) but cannot get it to work. When I try I get a message telling me it is not ready. I have another cd rom and will install it when I see her again. I also have a win98 boot disk which I used as her machine does NOT crash in ms-dos. I also have a win98 CD. Her machine will support 384mb RAM so I COULD install XP...but since she is not going online with it I think 98 is sufficient. I REALLY don't want to format her harddrive as she has important stuff on there. I really need help with that CD problem too as I really cant install anything without that. Thank you!

Are you running Win98 or Win98 SE (Second Edition)? (Right click on My Computer and choose Properties.) On the General screen, under System, it will list Second Edition if you have it.

Also the date/time stamp on the majority of system files will be;

98FE = 11/24/1998 8:02 AM

98SE = 4/23/1999 10:22 PM

(c:\command.com and c:\io.sys being two of these files. At the C:\> prompt type in dir/a/o/p and check the date and time stamps on these two files. This can be performed from a MSDOS Prompt window.)


You could try an "over_the_top" install of the O/S. This type of installation leaves your installed programs and your personal settings and files intact. Damaged or corrupted system files will be replaced with the original O/S files. You will have to reinstall any updates for the O/S.

You'd start the install the same way as a fresh/clean install. Boot the machine with a Win98SE Boot Disk* choosing "Boot with CDROM Support". With your Win 98 CD in the drive, type setup at the A:\> prompt.

The installation will check for and find your existing registry and utilize it for the install. When it gets to the point of where to install, it will come up with
C:\WINDOWS.000. Change this back to C:\WINDOWS.

*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. Assistance on this can be found in my article here:
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 (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 path dictates the instruction (command line input) will look at the CDROM for Setup before it looks elsewhere. The CDROM device letter will be assigned near the end of the floppy boot process, right after MSCDEX is loaded.

Thank you very much for your reply. I have to get her cd-rom working before I can do anything as far as an instrallation. It is recognized in the "My computer" folder and in "Device Manager" but when I try to run it it tells me "Device not ready". I just replaced her cd-rom and it STILL doesn't work. I am puzzled on that. I have asked her to transfer her files to floppy when she is in "safe mode" and that I may just format her hard drive and install another OS. Again...I need the cd-rom to be operative! (WHEW!)

Have you tried to delete the optical device in Device Manager (Start, Run, devmgmt.msc) then rebooting?

This will force XP to re-assign resources for that device.

I got the cd working and tried to do a clean install of 98 and another clean install of WinMe. Both times I was informed that certain cabinet files could not be found and upon finishing the installs by "skipping" those files(2-3 files)...It still went into the reboot cycle...but it DID stay loaded about 5 minutes before crashing again. I wonder what the cause is? Could it be the hard drive is bad? I am all ears! Thanks again. Steve

Did you "blank" the disk (format to FAT32) before the 98 setup/install?

I formatted the disk...and when I used fdisk on the boot floppy...it showed that I had one partition set for fat 32. I could not set any other partition. Was that right?

If C: is formatted as FAT32 then you should be able to perform a clean installation of 98.

Again, are you running Win98 or Win98SE (Second Edition)? (Right click on My Computer and choose Properties.) On the General screen, under System, it will list Second Edition if you have it.

Also the date/time stamp on the majority of system files will be;

98FE = 11/24/1998 8:02 AM

98SE = 4/23/1999 10:22 PM

(c:\command.com and c:\io.sys being two of these files. At the C:\> prompt type in dir/a/o/p and check the date and time stamps on these two files. This can be performed from a MSDOS Prompt window.)

Again, are you running Win98 or Win98SE (Second Edition)? (Right click on My Computer and choose Properties.) On the General screen, under System, it will list Second Edition if you have it.
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I am TRYING to install 98se on a FORMATTED disk! I cannot go to "My Computer" as there is no OS on the computer. It will not install without notifying me 2-3 times that files are missing when I try to install 98, ME, or 98se. I used a boot floppy and I have tried 5 different cs's with the same result. Either the HD is bad...my ms-dos is screwed...or my bios is screwed up. I don't know WHAT to do next..grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!.....lol

If your sure the CD's are clean/not scratched up, it's possible the optical drive heads needs to be cleaned.

Do you possess a CD Cleaning disc and CDROM head cleaning solution?