I have a desktop computer that hasn't worked in a long time. It will only boot into safety windows. I am trying to install win98 on a 2nd hard drive I bought. However, my floppy drive doesn't work (motherboard prob as I have tried new cable/drive). How can I format new hard drive (and asign it a letter etc.?) and put system files and cd-rom drivers (as with boot floppy?). Also the drive is 80gb so I think fdisk might have a problem with it, I have fdisk upgrade files I can put on cd but I can't get access in safety windows to cd-rom to install this.

Many times a new floppy will not work is because the cable is backwards or the power supply is not seated properly. You might want to recheck this. If it is the MB problem with the floppy, what's going next? I'd get a new board. Probably only cost around $30. It will sure as hell make your project a lot easier since you can't access your CD in safe and can't use your floppy.

What boot order is your BIOS set to? I have mine set to floppy, CD, HDD. If the CD is before the HDD then you should be able to boot from the Win98 CD.

HTH,
Bill