Win98 - colour and crashing probs

[samaritan]

Can you give this greenie any guidance as to how to clean off everything and start over?

[2k_dummy]

Do you have the original windows 98 installation CD and the product key?
Did the shuttle motherboard come with a CD or floppy with motherboard drivers?

[samaritan]

We have …..Spacewalker D98-T (drivers for audio controller; system manager; motherboard manual) ; Win98 (setup.exe etc.) ; Microsoft Win98 Boot Disk (floppy) ; Spacewalker Hot-161 V10 agp (drivers and utilities), plus some other software. Product key?

[soybean]

Product key means a 25 digit code (5 sets of 5 digits each) that must be entered before Windows 98 can be installed from a legitimate CD.  The Product key is usually printed on the back of the CD sleeve.

[samaritan]

Found a Product ID (not 25 numbers but numbers and letters which look authentic)

[Fordtruckmaniac]

If you can get this program into the computer it will show your Win 98 product key.

The product key will be listed in the "Software Licenses" section near the bottom of the displayed page.

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

[samaritan]

What a great programme! Works fine on my PC   :-)    Will try it on the Spacewalker. If successful, what then?

[GX1_Man]

And ifd that doesn't work, this ALWAYS does.

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml

[2k_dummy]

After obtaining the product key run the W98 installation. If you are installing "over the top" watch for the screen that shows the directory to install to. Make sure it is the normal windows directory (no numbers, just c:\windows). If doing a clean install, then c:\windows is the default. After the installation completes, use the motherboard CD's to install any necessary drivers.

[samaritan]

Which is best, a ‘clean install’ or ‘over the top’?  What exactly is the process?

[2k_dummy]

Depends on the particular situation. A clean install is usually better, but you should be aware that this will require a format, which will wipe out any existing data on the HD, including drivers. Just make sure to back up any important data and know which drivers you need before formatting. In many cases the over the top install (also called a dirty install) is OK and will not wipe out existing data.

[samaritan]

If we suspect a bug being the cause of all our problems (which we now do!) is an ‘over the top’ going to be successful?  What is the process for re-formatting? (Hopefully th e drivers listed above are comprehensive). Oh, by the way--many thanks for your continued help guys – much appreciated!

[2k_dummy]

You can boot with a W98 boot disk or from the windows CD by going into bios and making CDrom the first boot device. Format.com is located on the CD in the win98 directory. It should also be on a boot floppy. Then just format c: from the DOS prompt.

[Fordtruckmaniac]

samaritan

I would go for the clean install if you suspect a bug.


Follow this link to the T.  Print it off if you can and read it and read it again, you will do fine.

http://www.internetguideandmore.com/fdiskformat.htm

I'm understanding you have a driver disk. Use your driver disk to grab what you can after your OS install.

Just come back here for additional help.

[samaritan]

Sorry for the delay ! Have now tried to run using the boot disc as per instructions from….   http://www.internetguideandmore.com/fdiskformat.htm   quote……
 
"After you decide which file system you want to use, run the Fdisk tool:
Insert the Windows 98 Startup disk in the floppy disk drive, and then restart your computer.  When the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup menu is displayed, choose the Start computer without CD-ROM support option, and then press ENTER. "

Using the Win98 Boot Disc floppy which we have (and which has a FDISC.exe file therein I noticed) it just comes up with “bad command and or file name”. Do I have other options?