i AM TRYING TO PREFORM A CLEAN INSTALL ON AN ibm APTIVA 2170-804 SYSTEM. i D/L THE BOOT DISK FROM (cdboot3.EXE) http://members.aol.com/don5408/aptiva.html. hOWEVER WHEN i TRY TO BOOT USING THAT FLOPPY IT BOOTS TO A FLASHING CURSOR AFTER SHOWING THE aPTIVA STARTUP WINDOW AND THEN STAYS AT THE FLASHING CURSOR. What Am I doing wrong? Thanx D.

I would suggest that you go to the IBm web site. Use your IBM model and number and look for help. I think they have very good documentation and utilities.

Yes, getting information from the maker of your machine is always a good idea. You might try the appropriate disk download at www.bootdisk.com What is the problem that is causing you to reinstall? What O/S? Have you ever done this before? Do you have a Windows CD (what version) or a recovery CD?

You ran the file you downloaded and created the bootdisk, right? You can't just copy the file to a floppy disk. Is the a: drive set as the first boot device in cmos/bios setup?

Yes I ran the install and it formatted and copied to a floppy. I used that floppy to boot the aptiva (as my normal windows boot disks failed to boot the system). I have everything need to reinstall win98se or win ME, but as I stated the boot disk made specifically for the aptiva just boots to a flashing cursor. Yes the BIOS is set up to boot to floppy first, then CD and then hdd.

Just to clarify, are you saying it was just a flashing cursor with no A prompt? What were the exact symptoms when you booted using a normal Windows Startup Disk? DerekW

yes...a flashing cursor only with no command prompts ever reached With win ME boot disk indicates an "Invalid system disk" . the boot disk works fine elsewhere. D.