INstalling Windows problem..............

[rejoicing1]

ok. I finally got my hard drive reformatted and have started installing WIN98 on the computer. I had to " skip several files" as it was having problems with it, and now a frame came up and said " ATTENTION............a serious disk error has occurred while writing to drive C. Retry. I retried several times and nothing..........what could be the problem?

[Flame]

Well... Is this a genuine copy of Windows 98? Is you hard disk totally erased?

[glb]Flame[/glb]

[rejoicing1]

Well... Is this a genuine copy of Windows 98? Is you hard disk totally erased?

[glb]Flame[/glb]

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Yes, it is a genuine brand new copy of WIN98.....and the hard disk has been totally erased, at least I thought it was..........

[Mac]

What size is the hard drive and how old is it?

[rejoicing1]

What size is the hard drive and how old is it?

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Not sure of the age, but it is a Western Digital tiny 6.5gb........I am just playing around with it seeing what I can do.......

[Mac]

Sounds pretty old to me. A 'Serious disk error' probably indicates that it needs replacing. Try a Maxtor 20Gb or equivalent Western Digital, with an 8Mb buffer (also referrred to as an 8Mb drive-cache) which runs at 7,200 rev/min and you should have a much better machine.

20Gb is about as small as they make these days.

If you are not sure that the CD is really clean I just wash them in luke-warm water with a couple of drops of mild soap solution using a soft sponge and then dry them with a clean linen cloth.

That usually prevents there being any read errors.

On an older computer it is worthwhile re-seating the RAM and making sure that the cabinet is clean and dust-free before undertaking a major re-install.

Just take proper anti-static precautions before you touch anything.

RAM Reseating & Fitting PDF File

[Mac]

You can also download Western Digitals drive diagnostic diskette from their site and run the diagnostic and burn in tests on the drive. The drive might benefit from a low level format.

Soetimes with older drives you get 'underspinning'. That is to say that the drive is running slower than it should do. In that event, replacing it is the best option.