Please help. I just bought a second hand laptop which I was assured was completely wiped but when I turn it on, it loads to a C:\ DOS prompt with the heading MS Windows 98. During loading, the blue Win98 screen flashes up for a second before going to DOS. I have a DVD\CD ROM drive and an external floppy drive and want to install Win ME. Putting the CD ROM in does nothing. I've tried using a WinME boot disk to no avail. I can't enter the BIOS by pressing F1 on startup either. I've tried formatting the disk but the message "Bad command" is returned. What is going on?

first get a 98se or higher bootdisk from bootdisk.com with cd-rom support. then boot up your labtop with it and select "start computer with cd-rom support". then type FDSIK. select number 4. if it has one partition that is 100% of the drive your done. if not erase it and make a new primary parition that is 100% of the drive. enable large disk support. then put the ME CD in the drive. type "d:" then type setup. if its the upgrade type d:\win9x\setup".

You also might want to check out the Compaq (now HP) web site for driver support for your notebook - particularly a DOS CD driver which you can add to your config.sys (and MSCDEX.exe for your autoexec.bat). HTH

Thanks for the help - I made the boot disk and got to "start computer with cd rom support" which I selected. The computer does its thing for a while, goes through what I assume are the drivers for the drives (the CD ROM drive seems to be detected) and then I get the message "Preparing to start computer... please wait". It then says "Diagnostic tools successfully loaded to Drive D" and "Drive E: = Driver MSCD001 unit 0". It then goes to DOS prompt A:>. When should I be typing FDSIK? If I put the CDROM in the E drive I get an "error reading drive E" message. It all looked so promising! Where have I gone wrong?

Ok ok - I figured out that I was meant to type fdisk at the A:> prompt!! Have done that, enabled large disk support and ensured that the C drive has one partition which is 100% of the drive. But - the CD ROM drive (which I think is named E:\) will still not read the CDROM when I type E:\setup. What else could be wrong?

If this is an internal DVD/CD drive, it probably uses proprietary drivers (Compaq drivers). You should be able to download them from the HP/Compaq website. Also, your Armada should have a CMOS Setup partition on it, but it apparently has been deleted. I highly recommend downloading the setup & diagnostics disks to recreate this partition. Those are also available at the HP/Compaq website, along with the necessary drivers & such. Start your search here. HTH Dave

I know this may sound stupid, but which setup and diagnostics file? And for which operating system - the one I have now (DOS) or the one I'm trying to install (WinME)? Also, what are the CD/DVD ROM drivers called? I have an Armada M700 and can't seem to find a driver on the website. Sorry, but I'm a complete novice. You may have to explain VERY clearly!!