command interperter ???

[Lsim284879]

i just got a old 486 dell dest top and im tring to get it going for my little girl.
Well i took the hard drive out and put it on my other compter because i need a cdrom so could install 95a because of the space as a note is was working fine with windows 3.1 .
Well my problem is that i got it to start to boot the screen with the 95 logo comes on then it goes back to a dos mode like and says type in the (command interperter e;g WINDOWS\command.com What does this mean i tried everthing i know

[Dominus]

Please don't post the same message in multiple forums. Just post a detailed description of the problem where it best fits (i.e. Technical Support) and we'll help as best we can. By spreading out the posts in multiple forums, you end up confusing people.

I replied to another of your threads on the same problem, but this one gives a more accurate description of your problem, so I can make a more helpful suggestion here.

Do you have a Windows 95/98 setup diskette? If so, place it in the drive of the computer when it is turned off and then turn the system on with the diskette in the drive. Select the option thats says "Start the computer without CD-ROM support" (or something like that), and when you get to the DOS prompt, type "sys C:" (without the quotes) and press enter. This should take about 1 minute, and it should take care of your first problem.

But if I am making the correct assumption, it's only the beginning of your problems.

If this doesn't work, then just post again here telling us what happened, and we'll try and set you in the right direction.

[Lsim284879]

well i tried it i waited for the prompt it came out as A: i type in sys c: it says invalid function So i changed dir to c and type in C:sys C: it said cannot specfiy defalt drive.As a note to you i tried win95b early to day it wouldnt see the drive at all so that when i went to 95a it only has a 131mb drive 16mb ram but it work good when it had win3.1 on it.SORRY about the posting twice.ALso when i had the drive on my P-233 it ran fine all the apts.

[socalgal]

Thank you for not multiple posting in the future, Lsim, as it does get very confusing and frustrating for those helping.

Here's some replies from the other thread.
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/005349.html

[Morpheus1964]

Are you saying the Hard Drive is only 131MB? If that's true, then you're going to run out of room just installing wondows95, more than likely. If you're saying that's all the computer can see of a larger drive, I would recommend:

a)Leave the Harddrive in the computer you plan to keep it in, and move the CD-ROM drive to that computer.

b)boot from your Win95 Emergency Boot Disk.

c) Choose "Boot the computer WITH CD-ROM support."

d) at the a: prompt type "fdisk" (no quotes)

c) it will prompt for "Allow Large Disk Sizes" or something to that effect, answer that with "Y".

d) delete the partitions on the Current Fixed Disk (that's the C: drive)

e) create a primary partition on the C: drive. When it asks if you want to use the whole disk, say "Y".

f) it will tell you need to reboot, so do that and start with CD-ROM support again.

g) at the a:\> prompt type "format c:" (no quotes)

h) Once the drive is formatted, name it whatever you want (I usually name after the Operating System, ie WIN95).

i) now drive d: will probably be labeled MS-RAMDRIVE, so your CD-ROM wil be drive E:.
type E: at the prompt to switch and if you type "setup" (no quotes) at the E:\> prompt, it should begin a fresh install of Win95 on the harddrive.

two notes if you plan to run this system without a CD-ROM drive:

1) copy the directory E:\WIN95\Cabs or E:\Cabs (can't remember, but it's full of .cab files) to the hard drive, so whenever windows asks for the Windows 95 CD you can just point it to that directory on the HardDrive.

2) uninstall the CD-ROM drive in the Device Manager in Win95 last thing before you take it out. It will probably ask you if you want to reboot, and if it does, choose "No" or "Cancel" whichever it is. Then go to Start Menu, shoose Shut Down and shut the computer down. then when you physically remove the drive and restart the computer it won't start looking for a CD-ROM drive that isn't there.

It's possible that at the moment since you installed win95 in a different computer that Windows is confused and looking for the pieces of a computer that it isn't in anymore.

And since I forgot to mention it above, when the computer starts to boot go into the BIOS and make sure the BIOS is recognizing the existance of the hard drive. if not try setting the BIOS for Auto Detect if it has that option, and make sure the hard drive is jumpered to "Master", and plugged into the IDE0 connector on the motherboard or controller card. And be sure the red stripe on the IDE cable is on the side with Pin 1 marked on the connector on both the hard drive and the controller/motherboard.

I hope this helps you out!!

[ktwebb]

If your HDD is really 131 MB then dont even bother trying to install 95, especially wiht 16 meg of ram.

[Eli]

You can install W95 on such a small hard drive with an absolute minimum install, but after you take the swap file into consideration you would have no room left for applications. I'd either stick with W3.1 or drop a few dollars on a larger hard drive.

Edit
Can't spell anymore...

[This message has been edited by Eli (edited 04-02-2000).]