Windows 98 not installing...

[Arc]

    I've been trying to install windows 98 SE on my computer, but after the setup checks my hard drive for errors, it will say "Please remove all floppy disks from you computer and restart." The problem is, there are no floppy disks in the drive. I have switched out the floppy disk drive, and the hard drive, yet I still get the same prompt. Any ideas? :-?

[GX1_Man]

Is it a genuine Windows CD? What are the specifics and history of the machine/ Why was a reinstall necessary? how is the drive partitioned and formatted?

[Arc]

lets see...

Yes it's a genuine windows 98 se disk, the same one i used to intsall windows on this computer about 1 year ago.
The machine has a PIII 600MHz other than that it's a TINY, I'm not sure of the model, all I know is that the company sold out.
I had to reinstall because the hard drive that was in it, died, I'm guessing the motor went out in it,
and, the new hard drive has one, FAT32, partition.

+ the cd drive is a BenQ 52x24x52 burner

[Fed]

"Please remove all floppy disks from you computer and restart."

So do you restart? Then what happens?

[Arc]

I restart, and it will do the same thing, and tell me to restart, and I'm stumped

[Fed]

Have a read of this http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000186.htm and follow through to the 98 link as well.
Let us know how you go.

[Arc]

Ok, I formated the hard drive in FAT32 again, and went back to the windows setup, scandisk starts, runs through, finds no errors. I continue, it will copy the files needed for setup and then say "Please remove all floppy disks from you computer and restart."

* whoo that was an exhilarating failure *

[Fed]

At what step in the link below are you re-starting?
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000569.htm

[Arc]

at step 5, just after the disk check

[Fed]

Step 5
Press Enter to start the check and this should start the Microsoft Windows 98 setup installation. Microsoft Windows 98 will start by checking the hard disk drive for any errors; once completed, press the Continue button to start the installation.

So you don't get a 'continue' button?
Just a message telling you to re-start.

[Arc]

that's it, no contine, just a stupid message...

[Fed]

Is the disk a full version 98SE or a stripped down version specific to your particular computer?

[Arc]

It came with the computer, but it still hass all the drivrs the normal disks do, so Im pretty sure it's the full version

[Fed]

The only difference between now & one year ago is your HDD, perhaps 98 is not recognising it?
I believe there is some HDD size limitation with 98 too but it's not something I've had any experiences with.
You could try a boot disk from bootdisks.com I suppose.
Hang in there, someone will have an answer for you.

[Arc]

I just finished downloading a boot disk, i'm going to go try that out, if that wont work, I guess i'll try out suSE linux for a while eh