I have an old IBM think pad and when I try using the Win 98 SE CD I have to upgrade it, the set up is interupted by error SU1068 and it says that I cant install SE on my version of windows. It says that i need to upgrade it first. I dont know much about computers so im prety confused. Upgrade to what? How? Please help me!
lojax115@yhoo.com

Is the forum search function not working ??

http://ww.computing.net/windows95/w...

Are you trying to upgrade W98 to W98SE?

If so what type of W98SE CD are you using, is it a full one or one intended for upgrading from W95?

Have you a Product Key for the W98SE CD just in case you need it, and do you have the Product Key for what you already have on there?

There are ways but we need to know the above first to give the right suggestions.

DerekW

What was said above...go with it.

Otherwise if the machine is currently running Win98FE and the CD is a Windows 98SE upgrade CD that says for upgrading Win95 then simply load up the PC to the Windows desktop.
Once up and running then insert the CD and follow it's prompts to upgrade to Win98SE.

Do get the associated ProductKeys before you do anything though.

Bryan

No the forum search hasnt worked.

Yes I'm trying to upgrade W98 to SE

The CD was actually for my PC. Will it still work? It says Microsoft Windows 98 for PC's without Windows. Then on the right it says Second eddition.

I have the product key for this CD, but not for the W98 already installed on the computer. I just got it on ebay and the seller didint include the CD's.

Lojax

Now I also tried renaming the win.com file to win.old, restarted my computer, and now i cant reboot into windows. Im totally lost!!!

Lojax

The idea of asking for that info in #2 was so that we could use that to advise you first.

You can still continue with the W98SE CD but it would be safer if your first rename win.com back again then boot to Windows.

You can then get your current Product Key just in case you need it. Do you have a floppy drive (I'm unsure about ThinkPad's) if so then you can make a Startup disk boot floppy while you are at it?

Shout back and we'll advise each step.

DerekW

If you just got the computer you should wipe the harddrive, instead of upgrading. It sounds like you have an OEM Win98se CD. That version should boot from the CD. You can try to boot from it now by setting the options correectly in the BIOS before you do anything else. You don't really want to use that HDrive as is.

How do I rename the file back to win.com? Remember, I dont have the origonal Win 98 boot cd, just a boot SE CD with no floppy drive on my think pad.

Lojax

Well presumably you did it from DOS. You find the file with whatever name you gave it then rename it back using the same procedure that you used to rename it. If thats a problem I can give you the command line.

Note that OthHill is suggesting that you might be better off to wipe the HD and start afresh with the W98SE which should be bootable (without a floppy). He also suggested that you can confirm whether it is bootable before you go ahead.

DerekW

If you changed the win.com file to win.old (as most folk do) then here is the command you type in from a C prompt:

ren c:\windows\win.old win.com

You then hit the Return or Enter key. Note there is one space after ren and another after old.

If you renamed win.com to something else then replace win.old in the above command with whatever you renamed it to.

You have to be exact with DOS commands.

DerekW

the ren c:\windows\win.old win.com is giving me a file not found message. The win.com was changed in windows000, does that make a difference?

Lojax

Then it looks as if there has been some sort of reload sometime and Windows is now working from Windows.000 folder - which is not the usual choice. The previous reload might also still exist in c:\windows (which is the normal place).

Yes, you have to direct the command to wherever win.com is working from, so in your case it goes like this:

ren c:\windows.000\win.old win.com

DerekW

is the 000 zero's or O's? Either way, I get a file not found or a path not found. Any ideas?

Lojax

Just for your info (back to your original post), there is no official MS upgrade CD from W98FE to W98SE, although there are upgrade CD's from W95 to W98SE.

The methods discussed earlier were a means of using a W98SE CD to update W98FE (renaming win.com etc).

DerekW

It's zero's.

It seems odd that somehow you renamed it but can't rename it back again.

If you are certain the rename was to win.old then one of these commands should find it:

dir c:\windows\win.old

or

dir c:\windows.000\win.old

If it finds it then it should show its size.

If neither of these find it can you let us know exactly what command you entered to rename it in the first place.

DerekW

thank you so much for your help by the way, i really appreciate it

that being said

it is still not finding the file and im %100 i named it win.old. ANy more ideas or options?

Lojax

Have you now tried both commands in #15 (which were just to "find" it not fix it)?

Can you remember exactly what you typed in to rename it in the first place - the whole thing not just the win.com bit? Even if it was something a bit weird it will still help us to track down where it has gone to.

DerekW

Yes I tried both in #15

now i tried dir c:\windows.000\win and it found the file (6,481 bytes and 0 dir (s)) what ever that means. the name change comands however havent helped

Lojax

Wipe the drive and start over.

how do i do that?

Lojax

We need to be absolutely sure of this - DOS is "very" fussy.

You are now saying that you found the file by typing in:

c:\windows.000\win

(rather than c:\windows.000\win.old)

If you are quite sure of this then you must have renamed it from win.com to win

In which case this should rename it back:

ren c:\windows.000\win win.com

DerekW

Are you asking how to wipe the drive? Do you have a floppy drive on this computer?

I overlapped with OtheHill.

Well, it might be of interest to see if you can undo whatever you did but since this is proving difficult and knowing that the HD seems to be cluttered with two Windows installs anyway it would be far better to start over.

DerekW

... no floppy drive (#8).

DerekW

Derek

you want to talk this poster through the process of formatting and installing SE. It appears the Win98CD is bootable from the first post.

OtheHill

Well, if it's OK by you I might take a breather if you have time to deal.

If not then let me know and I'll bash on with it.

DerekW

Im sorry, but i would really like to get it done tonight after all the time i've put into it. I would really appreciate it, and please be specific, I dont know much about computers. Thanks

Lojax

lojax115

Let's just await OtheHill for a bit. I'm in the UK and it is already past midnight so I could end up having to back out mid-flight.

If OtheHill is in a better time zone (or anyone else) then this would be more satisfactory.

DerekW

It looks like OtheHill has been called away.

It's easy to re-install Windows from your CD but it doesn't contain any means to format the HD.

There are lots of ways, such as formatting the HD on another machine, burning the appropriate DOS commands onto a CD or even using a Linux CD.

None of the above are going to be easy if you are unsure about computers so it would make no sense at all for me to start this going at 12.35am

If you want to just get the machine going again for now then go back to my #21 and I'll hang on for a bit with the hope we can achieve this before I have to nip off.

The format/re-install could then wait until another time.

DerekW

I dont want to keep you up, I really appreciate what help you have offered. Is there already a forum for wiping hard drives and installing windows SE?

Lojax

Plenty of info about reformatting "using a floppy" and then installing W98SE, and if it was only that I'd hang on to see if I could at least get you started.

Your situation is a lot more complex because you have no floppy drive. Otherwise you could just download a bootdisk and format the machine. It's the formatting (wiping) that is the tricky bit and may require some inventiveness too.

Wrong end of the day here to start that lot going.

DerekW

I'm back, I am not sure what screens you may get when you have Win98FE installed and you boot to the Win98SE CD. When doing that did you get a screen asking if you wished to save your files? Try rebooting to the SE CD and post what it says on the screens. You should be able to format the drive. That is what you want to do. Do you have access to a computer with a CD writer drive?

Thanks any ways, I'll look forward to your help tomorrow :)

Lojax

Your back, does this mean were still moving on?

Yes i have a CD writing drive handy, but how can I try rebooting anything? im still at the black screne with the c:\>?

I thought I was going ahead with a drive wipe.

Lojax

Assuming you can boot up with the 98 SE cd you have then do so. From its boot menu choose to start the computer with cdrom support. It should leave you at an a:\> prompt. Type format c: and enter. That will format the drive leaving it blank. When it's done it'll ask for a volume name. Just hit 'enter'. When it gets back to the prompt type setup and enter. Hopefully that will start the installation.

ownload a utility called Dilldisk. Find Killdisk here: http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfre...
When at the first screen of that download page there is a user guide explaining how to make a bootable Killdisk CD. Follow the instructions. After you wipe the drive you simply reboot with the Win98SE CD and select install Win98SE.

I made the CD and the directions tell me to type in FORMAT A: (and then some symbol i dont recognize, it looks like a B or 13). What is that?

Otherwise, my computor tells me

Checkinf existing disk format
not ready
Format another (Y/N)?

Now what?

Lojax

What directions? Did you create a bootable CD?

The Killdisk directions. I made the CD and it says what I said in response #37 when I try running it. The Killdisk directions offer no help.

Lojax

If you don't have a floppy drive there's no need to format a floppy disk. Using killdisk will do the job but it's probably not necessary. Just boot with the 98 cd and format the c: drive.

Did you download the the bootable ISO image of Killdisk to burn CD?

You want to format C:. You will get an error when trying to format A:, due to there is no floppy drive.
Note: I have never used Killdisk

Have you verified that the Win98 CD is bootable ?

It's an OEM 98 cd so it should be bootable. I assume the thinkpad bios has the option to boot from cd.

The poster has booted from the Win98SE CD before. I am trying to use the easiest way to remove the Win98FE installation. Doesn't seem that Killdisk is working. Thought it would be easier than a boot disk image. Maybe delpart?

Okay, YOU GUYS ROCK! I typed Format C: instead of format A: and wiped the drive. Now it says Volume Serial Number 2D3D-08E7 and lists the C:\>

Now what?

Lojax

I tried rebooting it and now it says
Invalid System Disk
Replace the disk, and then press any key

Lojax

Boot to the Win98SE CD and select install Win98.

How do I boot it (remember, im a novice)? I started the computor with SE Disk in it and got the same message as in #46. How do i boot the CD? Or do I have the wrong CD?

Lojax

Go into cmos/bios setup and make sure the cdrom is the first boot device. Then reboot with the 98 cd in the cdrom.

I cant go into cmos/bios the screene just says
Invalid System Disk
Replace the disk, and then press any key
and doesnt let me type anything. How do I go into cmos/bios setup?

Lojax

Did you change the boot order in the BIOS or something? In your first post you indicated yoou had booted to the CD then, or am I mistaken?
One of two things is happening. ONE the boot order is not set to boot from the CD drive. TWO, your Win98SE CD is not bootable. Watch the screens at startup to see what keystroke/s are used to enter the BIOS. Someone else following this thread may know the key for a thinkpad. Maybe F2 or F10. Anyway you need to enter the BIOS screens and set the boot order to boot to the CD prior to the harddrive. When booting with the Win98CD in the drive watch for a screen that says "boot from the CD" Hit enter at that time.

Yeah, I think the IBM should be F1 or F2. Whichever key it is, you have to start tapping it before it tries to load an OS.

I think my CD might not be a boot CD. I do have a boot floppy disk, but no floppy dive. Can I copy it to a CD and use it? Or something like that?

Lojax

Your CD may not be bootable but that is what you will determine by following the instructions in response #51. If that doesn't work then make a bootable CD.
Copy all the files from the floppy to a CD. You need to make the CD bootable, just like the Killdisk CD.

I dont quite understand all of the instructions on #51. Like I said, I've never done this before, so I have no idea what BIOS is. I hit F1 during the start up and then got an Easy-Setup box. My choices are
Config
Date/Time
Password
Start up
Test
Restart

Start up has a few choices too, I just dont know what to hit.

How do I make a disk bootable?

Lojax

Try config and startup from the menu. See what options they give.

Config offers : Memory, System board and initalize

Start up offers: (They include 8 bit pics that I will describe)
FDD-1 (looks like a drive of some sort)
HDD-1 (A cylinder shape)
Network
FDD-2 (just like #1)
HDD-2 (just like #2)
HDD-3 (just like #2)
HDD-4 (just like #2)
PCMCIA (a pic of one)

What do you think?

Lojax

Your doing fine. Use the same procedure you used to make the Killdisk CD except instead of putting Killdisk on the CD copy all the files from the boot floppy. If you would rather, you can use Nero or Roxio Easy CD creator to "make disk bootable". I'm not sure if you said wheather you had access to either of those programs. I should ask now, is the boot floppy you have for Win98SE?

In #45 above, after formatting you were left at a c:\> prompt. That's odd unless you managed to format from the c: drive, instead of a: or d: I think perhaps you've been booting from c: all this time and not realizing it.

No cdrom as a startup device? See if you can determine if you can change the order of the devices showing in 'startup'. Try FDD-1 as the first one.

What is the specific model of your thinkpad?

OtheHill: the disk is for SE

DAVEINCAPS: I cant realize what I dont know. I tried running the killdisk by typing "Format A:" and had no luck, thats when one of the replies got me to try Format C:. Should I have typed D?

Lojax

lojax

Try booting from the Win98SE CD once more. This time watch the screens for messages. If you see a message saying boot from CD hit enter. If that message doesn't appear then you will need to make the boot CD from the boot floppy. What CD burning program do you have available? Does the computer with the burning drive in it also have a floppy drive?

No, you did that right. It's just that if you're at an a:\> prompt or d:\> prompt or whatever and type format c:, when it's done you should be at the previous prompt--a:\> or d:\>--and not c:\>. And usually that prompt indicates the drive you booted from as it takes a second dos command to change to a different drive. So when it left you at c:\> I thought you must have somehow booted from c: and done the format.

lojax

I is getting late and my mind isn't working 100%. Your boot order must be correct because you booted to the Killdisk CD. That means your Win98SE CD disk isn't bootable and you need to make a bootable startup disk as discussed above. I assumed from your first post that your CD WAS bootable but evidently you MUST have been trying to upgrade from within Win98FE.

DAVEINCAPS: I tried starting in HDD-1 and in FDD-1 and got the same result, it says
Invalid System Disk
Replace the disk, and then press any key

OTheHill: Again, how do I "Boot" the CD. I tried restarting the computer with the SE CD I have and I tried using the CD copy I made of the floppy on my XP using Roxio (i selected disc at once when i burned it). So I used both CD's, but just restarted the computer with them. Is there something else I should be doing to "Boot" them?

Lojax

Looking at my lap top, it looks like it was a 95 upgraded to a 98, can I still make it a SE? IF so how do I make a bootable SE CD? IF not, how do I make a bootable 98 CD?

Lojax

I think my mind is also lagging. But I think it's possible he's never booted from the cdrom. When he renamed win.com and couldn't correct it, he forced the hard drive to boot to dos.

He made the killdisk boot cd but it never ran as it never booted from there. The only screen results he gave were from using the format command. So he managed to format the hard drive after booting from the hard drive and now doesn't have a boot drive because apparently there's no cmos option to boot from the cd.

Okay, so what do i do, Im all ears?????

Lojax

Lojax, post back the model number and maybe we can find info on setting the boot devices.

Yes you can install 98 on it as long as it's got the minimum requirements. For SE that'd be 24 meg of ram and a 486 DX-66. But even if you had less than that, that's not what is causing the problems as we're not even getting to the installation phase.

When you have CD Creator open there are three choices in the middle of the screen for the typr of disk to create. DATA, Music, Other. Choose Other and there is a chioce for bootable CD or disk. Use that choice and copy the entire contents of the boot floppy to the lower screen area.

lojax
Is that working for you. It is getting late and past my bedtime. Trying to see you to the end.

I appreciate it, Im about done too, I'd just like to see some progress before I call it a night. As for the bootable CD, My choices are Music, DVD, and Data CD. Other isnt a choice.

Lojax

never mind, i got it

Lojax

The back of the computor says it is a Windows 95
Think Pad 760 ED
596-3864-0

If you need more info on it, you need to tell me where to look cuz like I said, I come from a long line of village idiots!

OtheHill, just about done with the CD

Lojax

Burned the boot disk, no dice.

Im praying for help. Any ideas?

Lojax

Are you saying the computer won't boot from the CD you just made? Did you hit enter when you were asked if you wanted to boot from the CD? Do you have ANY CDs that you know are bootable? Games or whatever? Need to find out for sure is the computer is set to boot from a CD or if you burned the CD wrong. DAVINCAPS may have been correct back in #60. The ONLY way that could be is if the harddrive was partitioned and had TWO installs of Win98. You can't format the drive that 98 is on when inside 98.
Do you understand about the need to hit ENTER key when asked if you want to boot from the CD. If you don't do that the computer will bypass the CD, even if it IS bootable.
I'm pretty sure you did boot to a CD when using Killdisk. Maybe you did something wrong when creating the boot CD. You can use the same utility you used to create the Killdisk CD to make one for the boot files.
I am going to call it a night. It is 12:45 AM here in Michigan.
IF you get the boot disk to work here is what you need to do.
Select start without CD support. When the A: comes up type D: hit enter. Then type DIR> enter. Look for Fdisk and Format to be sure they are present. Hit enter again and type Fdisk> enter. When Fdisk opens choose option#4 to verify that there are no partitions on the harddrive. If that is correct hit ESC and choose to create partition, primary use all possible space and make active. Hit ESC and reboot. Repeat the steps to get to D: This time type format C: Choose Y for large disk and format. Shutdown and insert Win98SE CD and boot. Choose Install Win98. Good Luck. I will check back in the morning.

Holy Cow! You guys are always having a blast over on this forum - 75+ posts.

In the likelihood that you do have a '98 disc that isn't bootable & you seem to already have a boot diskette - this here or steps below should help you out.

You don't have to reformat again since you've already gotten that done. But you can proceed with the steps after that part as outlined in the guide below. This method involves copying the Windows 98 installation files to your HDD & running "setup" from the HDD.

"Insert the Windows 98 CD or the boot floppy, and turn on the PC, it should boot from the CD,[or floppy]
If the PC insists in booting from its own hard drive, then go to the SETUP as it boots (look for the on-screen message at bootup)
Search the setup for boot options and make sure that the boot order is;
first CD-ROM / floppy
second Hard disk

This enables you to boot from CD-ROM to DOS
Start the PC with the Win 98 CD-rom in the drive
It should boot to a black and white text screen,

You will have 3 choices on the screen;

1. Start Windows setup from CD-ROM
2. Boot to DOS with CD-ROM support
3. Boot to DOS without CD-ROM support

Always select option 2, the PC will boot up to the A:\ prompt

for a complete rebuild, delete and rebuild the partition(S) with FDISK
However, if you are not confidient using FDISK and your hard disk is OK
Skip the bit about fdisk between the asterisks*
and go straight to Formatting the Hard drive

******************************************************************************
A:type FDISK

Fdisk is a DOS based utility that enables you to manage hard disk partitions

Typing FDISK brings up a long boring screen that warns that your Hard rive is larger than 512MB !!!
answering Yes to this will ensure that your disk will be formatted in FAT 32 rather than FAT 16,
So type [Y] to enable large hard disk support and use FAT 32

This brings you to the main menu

choose one of the following;

1.Create a DOS Partition or Logical DOS drive
2.Set active Partition
3.Delete partition or logical DOS drive
4.Display Partition Info
5.Change current fixed disk drive

CHOOSE 4 to display current partition(s)

You should see a single partition,
[if there is more than one partition see below]
something like this will be displayed;

C: 1 A Primary DOS FAT 32 100%

(This tells you that there is one Active primary partition using 100% of the Hard disk)
press ESC to return to the first menu

Choose 3 to delete partition
Choose option 1 from the next screen (Delete primary DOS partition)

Warning; DATA IN THE DELETED PARTITION WILL BE LOST
WHAT PARTITION DO YOU WANT TO DELETE?
Type 1, for partition 1

Press enter, you will have to type in the Volume label, if there is no volume label, just press enter, and answer yes again

PRIMARY PARTITION DELETED

Press escape..this will bring you back to the main screen, if you display the partition info again you will see that no partitions exist

If you are deleting a NTFS partition, it will be listed as a "Non-DOS Partition" see below...

Now rebuild your partition, from the main menu accept the defaults by hitting enter

1. Create a DOS partition or Logical Drive [enter]

Answer Yes when asked if you want to use all of the disk for this partition and make it active............

Fdisk will check the disk and rebuild the partition, this takes a minute or two, when you reboot from the CD again you will have one large FAT32 primary partition C:\

If your Disk was formatted with NTFS..
In the delete menu look for ["Delete non-dos partition..]

If you have more than one Partition to begin with..deleting is done in stages
Delete the logical drive(s) first
then delete the extended DOS partition
finally del