Remove Win 98?

[Dennis]

Went from a 133 Pentium with Win 95 (that still works and is where I am now) to a 400 Mhz system. It came with Win 98 (stick it to me Bill!) and it worked fairly OK out of the box - UNTIL... I loaded my 2nd parallel port, SCSI port, and nothing seemed to work - even if I remove the two cards and all the software I added. I'll cut the story short(er) but I've (probably) screwed up Mr. Gates (infallable) Win 98 so bad it won't even boot. I'd like to completely remove it, but since my 8GB hard drive was all "FAT 32'd" at the factory, supposidly you can't remove Win 98. There must be a way. Anyone know what it is? I just need to clean the entire thing out and start over. Thanks for any help.

D.A.M.

[augidog]

in order for anyone to help you, a few things have to be clear.

what kind of pc do you have?

do you have drivers and supporting software available(in other words, is it 'bundled' inside a recovery CD, or is it separate)?

what version of windows do you want to install, and do you have a "stand-alone" copy?

augidog

[Dennis]

Details, Details... well, it's a genuine "fry's" version of a "NextStar" Pentium II, 400 Mhz with an 8+Ghz hard drive, 128k RAM, CD, Voice/FAX moden, sound, etc., etc. Software is genuine "Bill G. Authentic" Win 98, and the assorted drivers (mostly on CD's) for the video and other drivers. Not sure how detailed you need for the specs, but nothing fancy here, just moderately up-to-date stuff. Everything was factory loaded on a brand-new system, and I have all the disks. I want to run (do I have a realistic choice?!) Win 98 OS, and a plethora of things like WinFax Pro, PC Anywhere, Netscape, CadVance, and the assortment of Office 97 packages. This is (supposed to be) our home-office computer for a growing consulting business (not computer related). But if I could just remove Win 98 and start over with a clean slate (hard drive) I think I would be OK... maybe! I've read and tried the troubleshooting tips at the Microsoft http://support.microsoft.com/support page and at htttp://www.troubleshooters.com/tfresh98.htm, but so far nothing has got me up and running. Right now my next step is to take it back to fry's and let them do a diagnostic to see if the hardware is OK.

D.A.M.

[augidog]

i'm not sure where you've gotten your info up to now, but w95 & w98 both utilize FAT32.
did you have an older Hdd (<540M)? if so, that explains your confusion.
just format, and get started, man.

augidog

you can run the install with your hardware in place



[This message has been edited by augidog (edited 04-13-99).]

[ridefree]

Dennis,

Some info still missing...

Is your version of Win95 ORS2? That is, does it say Win95B in Control Panel/System?
If so, then both versions of Windows you have will support FAT32 but will also both run on FAT16 if you like. The only caveat to this is that you would have to partition your hard drive. While FAT32 is good up to 8.4gig, FAT16 is only workable up to 512MB per partition.

I have the original Win95 on two desktop units and Win98 on my laptop. All are running FAT16. I plan on using FAT32 on the laptop because of the lack of space on the HDD...810mb. Once i have worked with it enough on the laptop, I plan on switching the desktop units over to Win98 as well.

Both Win95b and Win98 both have a utility to convert from FAT16 to FAT32 but neither has the abilty to go the other way. If you want to do that, you will need to pick up Partition Magic from Powerquest.

Reasons for staying with Win98. USB and AGP support. Power Management. Included drivers more up to date with current hardware. The further you get from Win95's release date, the harder it will be to find drivers for any hardware you want to add later to your system. If it weren't for Win98, I would only be able to update the video driver in my laptop. I cant find any other driver updates. On top of that, Win98 had a better video driver than the manufaturer did! Win98 had improved drivers for everything on my system.

So after all that rambling...I would see if you can just reinstall Win98. If you can't boot to Win98 in regular mode, try Safe Mode.
If you cant get to Safe Mode, try from just a command prompt. Additionally, some systems come with a recovery disk that will access the CDrom and allow you to reinstall everything as it came from the factory. The only drawback is that you will lose any data that you have aquired since the system was new. If this is your only recourse, then go back to the command prompt first and copy what data you can to floppy.

After you get everything back up and running, I would strongly reccommend getting a program that helps you make a backup copy of the registry. (if you don't already have one.)

The best reason not to go back to Win95 is Internet Explorer. (if you use it.) I had IE4 on my system and botched an attempt to uprgrade to IE5. This trashed my VFAT files and I couldn't boot to Windows. Safe Mode worked, but I couldn't get to Windows Explorer. I also couln't use the Add/Remove Software function. In short, I was pretty well screwed. The only thing that saved me is that I dual boot to Dos6.22 and I used DosShell to navigate. After I got Win95 reinstalled, I lost my network (Lantastic) and all of my dial-up protocols. I messed with the winsock and networking and nothing worked until I simply restored an earlier copy of the registry. Voila! Everything working again with one keystroke! The root cause of all this is that IE5 setup overwrote some critical shell files. On top of that, with Win95/IE4...to reinstall Win95, you first have to UNINSTSTALL IE4. After Win95 is back up you then have to REINSTALL IE4. This was not a problem with IE3. Progress! Thanks Bill!

Hope you are not cross eyed by now.

Bug

[Dennis]

Hmmmm. Not sure what I'm not saying. This is a new computer, came pre-loaded with W-98 - no upgrades. I have all the individual disks for CD, Video, Modem, Win 98 etc., etc. Thing worked OK at first, but after adding 2 cards (from the computer I am on now) the system didn't work very well. The more I tried to "fix" things, the worse it got, to the point it won't work at all - in safe mode, regular, etc., etc. Now my thinking is to completely reformat the hardrive and start over. I've re-loaded Win 98 twice, but to no avail. But since my new hard drive was FAT 32'D, I understand I can't (and so far haven't been able to) unload Win 98. My belief (thought) is that re-loading Win 98 does not remove / correct whatever is keeping the system from running, so I want to completely remove the old Win 98 program so I can start with a totally clean slate. Not that I have any choice, but I do want to continue using Win 98. But again, how do I remove Win 98 from a FAT 32 system?

Thanks for your help and comments.

D.A.M.

[Bleeding Edge]

Restart the computer with a bootable system diskette that has the FDISK and Format utility on them. Run FDISK to delete then recreate the primary partition(s). Format the drive after that. This will leave you with a fresh clean drive to install Win98 onto.

Remove all but the video card from the expansion slots to install Win98 with the minimal hardware. This is to keep Win98 from a temper tantrum during hardware detection.

After the successful installation of the OS, install the hardware one by one in a meaningful order (leaving this up to you) and updating or using the most recent drivers for each as you go along.

Leave that parallel card for last or much latter.

Also, check that each device is reported as working properly in device manager and that you are satisfied that it actually does. Do this for each additional hardware.

You may want to gather all the recent drivers and Bios upgrades for the hardware before you start this. Or. After you finish with the Win98 installation, get on the net and use Windows Update to get (and install) at least the critical updates and DirectX 6.1. Then start adding the hardware, and, downloading and installing the updated drivers.

Hey. It's a plan -no?

[augidog]

let's get this guy started off right...
Dennis-YOU control what FAT you use by using FDISK.

Follow Bleeding Edge's instructions and you'll be fine.

augidog

[This message has been edited by augidog (edited 04-14-99).]

[reboot]

Jin Vitas: deltree c:\windows will not delete the window$ dir.
If you're brave, try it.
Restart your computer, and window$ will start as normal.

[Jin Vitas]

LOL (I dont want to be rude and laugh in ur face but u betta look up what the '$' means) and yes deltree'ing windows does delete everything in the windows 98 directory.. (How did I know???, because I have tried it..before).. If you wanna totally remove 98 there are also some files in the root you will have to delete...

Oh reboot sorry to burst ur bubble, but do u have any information to back up what u typed???.... because I do... =)

have a nice day...

[This message has been edited by Jin Vitas (edited 04-16-99).]

[ENVY]

Bleeding Edge is telling you right guy.Don't know what you mean about fat32 and not being able to remove it?Just run fdisk from a dos prompt with your bootable systems disk in and you can make everything go away.
A:\Fdisk

[Jin Vitas]

well have u tried Deltree on the windows dir?... that WILL remove win98..

[reboot]

I just did this:
deltree c:\windows
boot to DOS.
type attrib -h*.*
file list shows c:\windows
Go figure?!
It boots.

[Junior]

All these guys suggestions are good.

I would create a startup disk if you can get into windows. This disk will have all the files you to need (fdisk, format, and your cdrom drivers). I would not remove all your cards.

Your problem seems to be an irq problem. Multiple cards trying to use the same address. Your parallel port card should have some jumpers on it that you will have to configure. The regular parallel port on your computer should use irq 7 and an address of 0378 and dma channel 3. Set your parallel port card to different settings.

I am not sure what type of scsi card you have. If it has jumpers on it, set the irq to 5 or 11. These should be free. Actually set the scsi card to 11 and the parallel port to 5. You should be good to go.

I would install win98 with all your cards in except for the parallel port card. Add that one last as it can be a pain in the ***.

Also if your scsi card is a generic card (came with scanner or whatever), it is probably non plug n play. You will have to install the drivers for it in this case. Otherwise win98 setup will install the drivers for you.

Get familiar with Device Manager. Hit windows key and then the break key above your page up key. This will get you to device manager pronto. Or you can open up control panel and double click system. If there are any conflicts, it will show up there. There will be a yellow circle and an exclamation point in it if there is a problem. Delete anything in the "Other Devices" folder if one is there. This just means there is a device that is plug and play but the drivers are not on the windows 98 cd. Hit refresh and win98 will have found a new device. Otherwise if those cards i mentioned are non plug and play then you will have to add new hardware in control panel and have your disks ready.

If you have any more questions feel free to email me. Hopefully these suggestions help. Good Luck.

"Buy a man food and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime"

[Junior]

Sorry forgot to tell you your basics.
Start your system with the win98 startup disk. Choose the first option at the boot menu "Start system with cdrom support".
At the a: prompt type:
format c:/u/q

This will do a quick format on your hard drive.

Your cdrom drive should be your e drive for now. So insert your win98 cdrom and type:
e:\setup /is /ie

If e is not your cdrom then it is probably d or f.

[Jin Vitas]

For a Web developer.. You would be stupid to know not to deltree windows while in windows....