Windows 98SE won't boot from floppy

[docker534]

Rebooted my aging computer - Win 98SE Pentium III 450 256Mb - and it froze at Verifying DMI Pool. Tried rebooting with floppy but though the drive light flashes on start up it doesn't attempt to boot from it. In the BIOS the sequence is set to A C SCSI (old drive no longer in existance), but I've also tried A C CDrom etc.. I've switched the floppy drive to another, but same result - just won't boot from the floppy. I've checked all the connections to the hard drive, floppy etc.. Has my motherboard or hard drive packed up? Any suggestions gratefully received...

[Dias de verano]

You write "the" floppy. Just a thought... if the floppy is as antiquated as the computer and OS, maybe it is corrupted or (partially or completely) erased?

Floppy disks are vulnerable to damage by factors including magnetic fields, moisture, humidity, heat, mould ("mold" in N. America), and just plain age.

Suggest you try creating a fresh boot floppy using a recently purchased blank floppy.

Possibly CMOS battery is flaking out? Are the system date + time as shown in the BIOS setup correct?

[docker534]

Thanks, but I made a fresh floppy Win98SE boot disc from the net. I've tried a couple and they were functioning before I wiped them. The BIOS time is correct.....

[docker534]

(PS. I changed the battery, too)

[Dias de verano]

floppy drive could be crapped out, heads could be misaligned, etc.

boot up floppy seek is not disabled in the BIOS?

What actually happens? Will the PC not boot from ~~~ any ~~~ floppy, e.g. an MS-DOS one?

[docker534]

Thanks. I tried a DOS disc but the drive merely flashes on startup and then not again viz it won't boot from any disc. However, neither will my substitute floppy drive (could co-incidentally be dead, too, I suppose). Might try burning a boot CD on my (rather newer!) computer. If you have any other ideas they'd be welcome (only use the old one for the net to save putting antivirus on my new one - even 4Gb of RAM only just runs my music software).

[Dias de verano]

loose or defective floppy cable, (they get stiff and crack easily after 10 years!)  floppy header on motherboard, floppy controller chip, wrong BIOS settings, succession of busted floppy drives, ....

Strongly suggest trying boot CD.