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I bought a used computer at a yard sale. When I try to boot it up is says:
searching for boot record IDE...OK
then gradually it says "type the name of the command interpreter....
also I noticed the primary slave is set on IDE....the secondary slave is set on CDROM.
How do I reverse these commands or is it even necessary? Thank you, this is a wonderfully helpful forum!Celeste
If you haven't got this system to run since you obtained it, and it has a 3-1/2" floppy drive, I'd suggest getting a 98 or 98SE bootdisk and try booting the machine with that. If it boots and runs, it means the basic hardware is OK. From there you can examine the machine with the tools on the floppy.
a bootdisk can be downloaded from here or here
Note that the bootdisk image file is a self extracting file and needs to be executed from Windows in order to create the actual startup diskette.
It's a good day when you learn something
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XPUSER, can you help me again? I tried using the information on the Easy Desk page, but the pc I am working on will not acess the CDROM drive, it tries to go to the A: drive, but the floppy bay is corrupt, so I can't use a bootable disk there. The pc still says "type name of command interpreter" from the hard drive. Is there anything else I can do? Is there another way to get to MSDOS
Celeste
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It's going to be somewhat difficult to work with that machine without a floppy drive - they're pretty easy (and inexpensive) to install -- this is a desktop model, right?
The alternative would be to use a bootable CD, if supported by this system (if it is, it will be an option in the CMOS). Some Win98 CDs were bootable - also, if you have access to a burner, you could make your own quite easily from a bootdisk or bootdisk image
Resist the temptation to close your request for help with semantically-null questions like “Can anyone help me?”
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Yes jboy it is a desk top model that I am working on. I do have a burner. If I go to bootdisk.com and download the files to a CD, the old pc I am working on will not read it. How do I switch the primary slave to CDROM and the secondary slave to IDE? Right now they are vice versa. That may have something to do with the pc not reading the CD.
Celeste
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Don't bother moving IDEs around.
You need a working floppy.
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.M2
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That would be by far the simplest (and most obvious) solution - replace the floppy drive.
I don't believe the swap you suggest will do what you think - you need to boot up with *something* (floppy or CD) in order to access and hopefully repair the hard drive.
"That may have something to do with the pc not reading the CD."
No, your problem seems to be there's no working floppy drive or (at present) bootable hard drive. If you already have a bootable CD, and that is the first boot device in your system, you *should* be able to start the computer that way.
In order to create a bootable CD from a floppy diskette or diskette image, simply burning the files is not really the correct procedure. Your burning software should have an option to create a bootable CD - have a look.
If all this sounds too technical - - just replace the floppy drive
Resist the temptation to close your request for help with semantically-null questions like “Can anyone help me?”
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If you like, here's a page of DOS & Windows boot ISO's (ready for burning)
Resist the temptation to close your request for help with semantically-null questions like “Can anyone help me?”
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I tried creating a bootdisk to a cd-rw, but the pc I am working on won't read it. However, it will read a windowsXP startup disk, but the pc doesn't have enough memory to fully load the xp. It needs 64mg of ram.
So if I buy more memory to install, do you think it would be alright to load winxp on top of win98?Celeste
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"OS: win98
CPU/Ram: 333mg"and;
"It needs 64mg of ram. So if I buy more memory to install, do you think it would be alright to load winxp on top of win98?"
Which memory "statement" is correct?
"When I try to boot it up is says:
searching for boot record IDE...OK then gradually it says "type the name of the command interpreter...."If it's booting from the hard disk, when it asks for the command interpreter type in C:\Windows\command.com. Does this allow a boot?
It's a good day when you learn something
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When it boots from the hard disk and it asks for the command interpreter, I have tried to type in C:\Windows\command.com but I get this:
C:\Celeste
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