hi can i install win 98 without the startup floppy disk? becuase whenever i try to make 1 i dosent work! how do it!? and how do i format and get the cd running? please help!! thank you miles

The only reason i can see it regularly not working is if the floppy is corrupt or you are doing it through simply copy and pasting the files...which doesnt work. Goto control panel and then add/remove programs. There is a tab to create a new startup disk or if you dont have win 98 on the pc you are using try www.bootdisk.com and follow the link. Once you have one, the simple process to format your hard drive before a reinstall is to load the boot disk with cdrom support, then when its finished type format c: to wipe it...make sure when its finished you give your drive a label like C or something...then, with the win 98 cd in your cd drive, type the drive prompt like e: and the dir to make sure you have the right one...you should see a setup.exe file and its this you need to run to start the win 98 installation...the rest is onscreen prompts so should be easy enough.

ive tried bootdisk.com NONE OF MY DISKS WORK! PLEASE HELP!!! thanks miles

Then surely your floppy drive is knackered...they're not everlasting ya know! New one is only a few quid...how long have you have the machine? Mine bit the dust after only 3 years but i've known others to last over 6! Is there a grating noise when it tries to access the drive? Can it access it in wondows? If not, what does it say? All hepfull stuff to know.

Make sure you have the right bootdisk version for your OS and try this: You could edit your autoexec.bat and config.sys files on your bootdisk: In config.sys add "a:\" (w/o quotes) to device=cd1.sys so that it reads, device=a:\cd1.sys In autoexec.bat also add "a:\" (w/o quotes)to mscdex.exe so that it reads, a:\mscdex.exe (Note: the .sys may have a diferent name and switches, but don't worry about it. the important thing is the path to the A drive) To actually edit them in DOS type "edit a:\config.sys" and "edit a:\autoexec.bat" press [ENTER]. You can move form the text area and menu by tapping the [ALT] key. Hope that helps :)

Are you putting the boot disk in & then starting your computor ?

Jizumonkey may be right. If your A drive is toast you may be able to alter your disk start-up routine from A,C,D to D,C,A in the BIOS. Be careful when making BIOS changes. If you are not familiar with your BIOS get someone who is. I'm not sure if this will work or not. Hope that helps :)