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I am going to format C and reload Windows 98se but my downloaded modem drivers, when unzipped will not fit on a floppy disk. I do not have a CD Writer and I am pretty sure there is no opportunity to transfer these files to the C drive when reloading Windows. Is there a workaround for this?
If the ZIP fits on the floppy, format the HD, install windows, then copy the ZIP to HD, unzip and load drivers from there.
M2
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.
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Something to try, small freeware program called Gsplit 1.8, it is a file splitter. It should split the file so you can put it on how ever many floppys it takes. Gsplit contains a small program in itself that it puts on the floppys you create that will reunite the file when installed. It is found here http://www.gdgsoft.com/gsplit/
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Thanks M2. I am hesitant to do as you suggest as I have had a lot of trouble loading the modem after Windows is installed and would like to do it as Windows is installing.
Is it possible to span floppies such that Windows will recognise this and get all the drivers from 2 floppies?
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Thanks for that suggestion Mike. Are you (or anyone) sure that Windows will recognise that there are 2 driver floppies if I use Gsplit?
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"Is it possible to span floppies such that Windows will recognise this and get all the drivers from 2 floppies"
I really can't see how you'd do that - Windows would require the complete file or files in order to install.
You should be able to load the driver after Windows is installed - if not, you must be doing something incorrectly.
I suppose, if the file(s) fit on a DMF (1.7Mb) floppy, you could do it that way, or else create a partition on the hard drive to hold various drivers.
Seems rather roundabout though.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
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Hi Mike,
Good idea.
Hi Gray,
Using two floppies during install is a crapshoot. I certainly understand the problem of setting up the modem after win is installed.
Just for drill, unzip to empty directory on the HD. Sometimes these driver disks have drives for a bunch of OSs. Maybe by leaving out the sections you don't need, I will fit on floppy.
I just looked at my modem setup dir, saved on HD, which contains about 1.2M.
HTH
M2
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.
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Ok, I think I see what you are trying to do now, load the drivers as windows is installing. My mistake, I don`t think my suggestion will work in this case, sorry for the misunderstanding.
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Thanks for your ideas Jboy.
Do larger floppies work on an ordinary Floppy drive?
I intend creating another partition, but have no idea how to get drivers into an "empty" partition.
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Hi Gray,
Better yet, put the ZIP on floppy(s) using the splitter recommended by Mike if needed.
Then fdisk, format, sys.
Put the modem drivers on, for instance, c:\modem, and when you get to the modem install, click 'have disk' and point it at the c:\modem dir.
M2
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.
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Sure - modems can be problematic, but I've never found it absolutely necessary to install one the way you're describing.
Apparently I was having some sort of lapse - no need to create & format a seperate partition, you could just dump the file in a folder on the C: drive as suggested and point Windows to it.
DMF (Dense Media Format) is a method of formatting ordinary floppies to larger capacities - M$ did that with the original Win95 floppy set - you'd need to use one of the various formatting tools (WinImage, Herne etc.)
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
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One other possibility is to remove the modem for the time being. If onboard, simply disable, if add in, remove. After windows is installed then you can copy the drivers to a temp file on the computer, reinstall the card, reboot, and proceed to install the modem. This process works for many different devices. I had an ECS MBoard that absolutely would not allow Win98 to install to if my SB Live card was in place. Got it to work the way I described.
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Wow, thank you all for your wonderful suggestions and advice.
Jboy, I have a Connexant HCF modem that I cannot install and in the process have got into rather a muddle with the comp asking me where drivers are for wave device and modem enumerator. So I am going to do a Format C and start again.
Looking around the net, apparently Connexant HCF modems are hard if not impossible to reinstall.
Othehill, I am not at all confident that your method would reinstall my modem, wave device and modem enumerator. Would the drivers for these be on the manufacturer's modem driver download? I am also not sure of the way to completely remove what needs to be removed.
M2, Your idea sounds good. You mean instead of first loading Windows, to load the unzipped modem drivers on say C:\modem. Would this be doing this inside Dos? And then the modem drivers would appear as lines of programming in Dos that I can point to when needed as you suggest.
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Gray,
Short answer is yes.
Just put the ZIP on the HD with pkunzip and :
pkunzip -d *
It will create whatever needed directory structure.
M2
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.
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If you do a fresh installation of windows I don't think the installation process will be able to find the drivers even if you copy them to the HD beforehand. As far as I know the only drivers windows uses on an installation are those that are included in it's cab files.
Just go with M2's advice in #1 above. The modem drivers are meant to be installed with an existing OS anyway. So as long as they're the correct ones they will install.
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It's still a moot point. As I mentioned above, the drivers won't be installed when you do the windows installation anyway.
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I have the same modem, minus the speakerphone. Had a dickens of a time installing it, so I know what you mean. Brand new out of the box, installation disk and instructions, couldn`t get it to install, following instructions to the tee. Do you have your modem in the third slot down from the agp card? That is where I had to put mine for it to be recognized, along with going online, and d/ling updated drivers(unbelieveable that the install disk with the drivers from the box didn`t work)and putting the drivers in a folder where I could point to for windows to find. Of course, I have a cd-rw, so I could put the drivers on a disk. So, I have an idea what you are going through, no fun.
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Thanks for the condolences Mike:-) I do not have an agp card.
Dave, I seem to recall loading Win98se in another computer and having the option of "pointing to" where the driver was as Windows installed.
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I've never seen anything like that. But, hey, give it a shot. It'll either work or it won't. If it doesn't you'll just end up having to install the drivers in the normal manner.
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Hi Gray,
If it's like my Conexant driver disk, there is one file which is not where it is supposed to be. IIRR it's the vxd.
If you wind up doing the modem install after the 98 install, keep this in mind.
M2
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.
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You haven't posted in a few days. I was wondering if you'd gotten windows installed with the modem drivers.
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Hi Dave
Yes I am up and running after a complete reinstall.
I loaded Win 98se and then basically followed Dell document no RG1070087 which I had printed quite a while ago. In brief:
After loading Windows, in Device manager there was no modem but a yellow ? in front of each of: Other Devices, PCI Communication Device and PCI Ethernet Controller.
I unzipped my modem driver into a folder in C.
I removed the PCI Communication Device and then restarted the computer, It found the modem. I selected search for the best driver and it gave me the option of specifying the folder the driver was in, I did, and in it went. Yay!
I am now keen to replicate what is on my HDD.
Prior to reloading Windows, I Fdisked my HDD into 2 partitions, C and D: and have been looking for free downloads to image my C into D. I did some searching here and found an old post from you (which I can no longer refind) that talked about downloading Norton's Ghost and/or Drivecopy from Powerquest and using these to image (your C drive?), presumably to another partition (D?). You said you then uninstalled the Imaging downloaded Program. What do you then do in say 6 to 12 months when you need to wipe C and reload from D? Redownload the Imaging Program?
Advice appreciated.
(I could have started another thread on this but thought you may not see it.)
Best wishes to all,
Gray
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Gray
Creating partition or drive images has been discussed many times here in the past. Do a search here using keywords. I have posted numerous replies myself.
I would recommend that you use the second partition to install all your programs instead of an image. Instead, create an image of each partition to CDR or DVDR. Newer versions of Ghost can span multiple disks if necessary. The Image would be of the data only, not the empty space and Ghost uses compression so on average you will get about 1GB of data per 700MB CDR.
The main reason to use CDRs is WHEN your HD craps out both partitions will be gone. The reason to use two partions is because the boot partition with Windows on it is the partition that chanages most often. You need to keep up with the images as the drive contents or hardware or software change. CDR disks cost almost nothing and you will always have at least one image in reserve. With the D: drive you will need to overwrite the partition each time. The newest version of Ghost also will perform incremental backups.
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That must have been an old post of mine. I haven't used ghost or drivecopy in years.
I used to keep a copy of my c: partition on d:. I used drivecopy to copy one to the other. I stopped doing that when I needed the space as my HD began filling up.
I also used it to copy one HD to another in computers I worked on. Then I realized the copy utility that came with new HD's was easier to use.
I'm not sure what to recommend now for imaging one partition to another. As OtheHill says, it may be easier to periodically image the drive to a CD. You could also install a second physical hard drive and keep the image there.
If you've got further question on that particular subject you may want to start a new thread to get further opinions.
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