98 reinstall and reformat

[UMMMMMM...]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and i have an old laptop and it is running 98se and needs reformatting and reinstalling so it comes out "new".

It has no floppy drive cant read any USBs and i don t have the installation disk!

Any help is appreciated.

Cheers.

[Rigby]

You can make a bootable DOS startup CD, or better yet just download one here: MS-DOS Bootable CD Images

There's a chance you have the Windows 98 installation files on your hard drive. Sometimes they are located in the "C:\Windows\Options\Cabs" folder. If you can network with your laptop you can copy them to your main computer and burn them to a disc (or inject them into the iso image you downloaded above). I would also download and add all the drivers you will need for your laptop to the disc. If you can't find the setup files you'll have to get a copy of Windows.

Edited March 30, 2009 by TRC

[UMMMMMM...]

Are the installation files needed? (this may be a dumb question)

I can't network the laptop because it doesn't have a LAN port.

The usb ports are fine but i am unable to get them working with a flash drive.

I downloaded the ISO file. BTW

Cheers

[Rigby]

Yes, if you want to reinstall Windows you'll need your Windows 98 CD or the installation files from it. If they are not on your hard drive, you'll have to get a copy. As for the flash drive, most likely you just need to install a driver for it since Windows 98 doesn't support them natively. This page will help you out on that: Link

[aussiefloyd_fan]

my wild guess does it have a recovery partition from the oem? what brand of laptop is it/.? there might be a F10 -F11 etc type of key to press to initiate the recovery process

[UMMMMMM...]

Hey

I used the link you pasted and that was a great help, the flash drive works now...

So I copied the MS DOS files and the files from my hardrive to a disk.

I have tried to change the boot order to make it boot from disk but i cant access the BIOS, there's no loading screen with writing it just goes TOSHIBA logo then 98 loading picture then done.

P.S You have been a great help so far (no pressure lol).

Cheers

[+Warwagon MVC]

In order to reinstall you will need an install disc of 98se. If you find one I would recommend you use it and boot to a C:\.

Then do the following

Format c:\ (This will format the hard drive)

md win98 (this will create a folder on your hard drive that you can store the install files from the cd, plus the install goes faster when you install from this folder).

extract d:(or whatever drive letter your cdrom is)\*.* c:\md (this will copy all the files off the cd and into the folder you created earlier.

cd md (this open the new directory)

smartdrv.exe (This is some sort of memory management that makes the install of windows go 10x faster)

setup.exe (this will start the install process)

This way in the future you'll have a copy of the install files if you ever lose the install cd again. Good Luck.

[Rigby]

I have tried to change the boot order to make it boot from disk but i cant access the BIOS, there's no loading screen with writing it just goes TOSHIBA logo then 98 loading picture then done.

Try pressing the ESC key when you turn it on, and it should prompt you to press F1. If that doesn't work try the F2 key when you turn it on.

[Panacik]

If you dont have the Windows 98 install disk, your screwed.

Before you ask, we will not be giving you links to where you can obtain it illegaly.

[Joel]

See if you have a win98 directory in the root. Everyone I know used to copy the CD to the hard drive before installing and install from that folder.