[computernewbie]

I have an old Gateway 2000 computer with Windows 98 on it. Sometime back I put Windows XP on it and had 2 operating systems on it. I then thought I could wipe my hard drive and start over...didn't work... I downloaded Active Killdisk and used it. Now I have no operating system and all it says at the bottom after detecting devices is "No operating system" How do I restore or install an operating system on my basically now useless computer!!!

Edited by computernewbie, 01 July 2006 - 08:01 PM.

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Hi computernewbie...

Sounds like it worked perfectly to me...

When you "wipe a drive", especially with third party software, it will take everything off the drive. That's how you prepare a drive to install an operating system on.

Do you have any disks for your computer? If so, what do they say on the labels?

wannabe1

[wannabe1]

Hi computernewbie...

Sounds like it worked perfectly to me...

When you "wipe a drive", especially with third party software, it will take everything off the drive. That's how you prepare a drive to install an operating system on.

Do you have any disks for your computer? If so, what do they say on the labels?

wannabe1

[computernewbie]

I have a Windows 95 and Windows 98 CD that say "For Distribution only with a New PC"

I also have Windows XP that says "Only for Reinstallation"

[Johanna]

Which disk belongs to your computer? You can only use a copy of Windows on ONE computer.

Johanna

[computernewbie]

Windows 98 and 95 go to it. I prefer to have 98 back on it......

[wannabe1]

Have you tried starting the machine with one of those two disks in the drive? We may have to set you up with a Startup Disk to get things rolling.

[computernewbie]

I've tried the Windows 95 and 98 installation disk, also after that I tried Windows 95 & 98 startup floppies. But my screen looks like this with anything in the drive and with nothing in the drive:

AMBIOS © 1992 American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS Version 1.00.04.CS1T


Pentium ® Pro CPU 200MHz

0065536 KB

Please wait.....

Keyboard......detected
Mouse...........detected

Hard Disk 0 Installed QUANTUM FIREBALL_TM3840A
ATAPE Device Installed FX120T

Floppy A: Installed

Missing operating system_

[Johanna]

Do you know how to set your BIOS to boot from CD?

Johanna

[computernewbie]

I think I do...Run setup then go to boot options and it has four slots

1st:CD-ROM
2nd:Hard Disk
3rd:Floppy
4th:Disabled

What do I do from there???

[wannabe1]

I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. We had a lightening strike near my home which knocked out all of my computers.

Your boot priority appears to be correct.

Download this Win98SE Startup Disk and save it to your desktop. Double click on the downloaded file and put a new, formatted floppy diskette in the drive when prompted to do so by the application. This will create a startup disk that will contain the necesary drivers to use the cd-rom. Let me know when you've go this disk ready and we'll see if we can get an operating system loaded on your machine.

[computernewbie]

The floppy seems to work it gives me the option

1.Use with CD Support
2.Use without CD Support
3.Type HELP if needed

I choose option 1 with the floppy and CD in and it won't reconize any CD I have....

I don't know what to do now........

[wannabe1]

Boot back to the options screen and choose option 1 (start with cd-rom support) and press "Enter". This will load drivers for the cd-rom and create a virtual ram drive...then will give you the command prompt (A:\).

At the A:\ prompt, type fdisk and press "Enter". At the fdisk options screen, choose the option to show partition information (4...I think) and post that information to your next reply.

[computernewbie]

Display Partition Information

Current fixed disk drive: 1

Partition
C: 1

Status
A

Type
Pri DOS

Volume Label

Mbytes
3678

System
UNKNOWN

Usage
100%

Total disk space is 3678 Mbytes (1 Mbytes= 1048576 bytes)


This my Partition Info....note: Volume Label is has no info underneath it.....

Edited by computernewbie, 05 July 2006 - 07:23 PM.

[wannabe1]

Perfect!

Press the Esc key until you get back to the A:\ prompt, type e: and press "Enter". Put your Win98 installation cd in the cd-rom drive and close the tray. At the E:\ prompt, type setup.exe and press "Enter".

This should start the installation process. Let me know how it goes...

[computernewbie]

Ok at the A: command prompt, I typed in e: and it said Invalid drive specification

On any other drive after that it said bad command or filename....except on drive C....
on C it said Invalid Media type reading drive C.
Abort, Retry, Fail?


P.S. I just found a new disk for Windows 97.....Where would I find a Win97 startup program to put on a floppy????

Edited by computernewbie, 05 July 2006 - 08:26 PM.