Hi, I'm trying to format and reinstall Win ME.Its has 20Gb-128mg-pentium 3. It was crashed when I got it and he has no idea of what he was doing when it froze up and nothing would move so I proceeded to format C: after the format, I used the recovery disk to install which I thought went well. I was on the internet updating drivers when the computer went into Dos and message came up "Invalid System Disk". So I went back and Fdisk this time, loaded the Me or tried to then up came the message "Operating System Missing". Can someone tell me where I went wrong. I assumed that Windows ME were the same as Win 98 SE and would have no problem but there is quite a difference. I used a startup disk to format,when the computer comes on it says "boot from CD-ROM; CD-ROM does not exist". Is the sequence for the boot startup-CDROM.A.C in the CMOS settings. I would appreciate any help. Thank you.

Hi there, I just went through the same problem that you're going though(same specs), although I have narrowed it down to a bad floppy drive. But anyways, on to your dilema... First a question...you mentioned that the comp just went into DOS while updating your drivers? That seems a bit odd, never seen or heard that happen but there's always a first for everything :). "Invalid System Disk" usually means(if I'm not mistaken) that there is a non-bootable floppy disk in your floppy drive when you boot up and your BIOS is set to boot from the floppy drive first or the floppy disk is not in a format recognized by the drive/system. Go back into BIOS (press DELETE when the comp boots depending on the BIOS that is) and make sure that the boot sequence is 1)removable drive(A:), 2)CD-ROM drive (x:) and 3)hard drive. Save and exit BIOS. Make sure that your startup disk is in the drive and okay. You can use a 98 or Me disk to boot. If you get the "Operating System Was Not Found" message, then your O/S is gone so you might as well start over. Did you partition your drive as a single primary partition or did you make extended and logical ones as well? Make sure you make the primary partition set to active. After setting the partition(s), format the drive(s). Then proceed with installing Me. I believe the Me CD is bootable so it shouldn't really matter if you have A: or CD-ROM as the first boot. But as I have mentioned with the problem I had, I couldn't boot from the floppy and I booted from a full "custom" backup recovery CD so you should be okay. Concerning the CD-ROM, have you checked that your BIOS is detecting the drive? You can check that by going into the BIOS, and usually on the first screen, it should be listed as a primary/secondary master/slave. Also highlight the CD-ROM drive, press [enter] and make sure that it is set to AUTO. If your CD-ROM is not detected by the BIOS it means that either; 1)The cables connections are loose or the cables are defective, 2)The jumper setting is not correct(master/slave/cable select) 3) the power connection is not secure or 4)the drive is dead...but you did mention that you installed Me with no problems at first so that shouldn't be the issue. Opps, just reread your post and you said you installed Me from a recovery disk...is this comp a Compaq, Dell or HP? Sorry but I'm not to keen on the proprietary O/S reinstalls. Hopefully someone with a lot more extensive knowledge with them will come and help you out some more. In the meantime, you can try to fdisk your drive(type "fdisk" without the quotations at the A:\ prompt) and make the partitions(s)(primary set to active) and reformat and try reinstalling Me. Hope this helps, or at least keeps you from tearing your hair out :). ¤estatik¤

Thanks Estakit for the information, I made a mistake it should of read "Boot from ATAPI CD-ROM". Even though the computer is 2 years old the Recovery CD Media was never even opened until I opened it. Windows ME was preinstalled by future Shoppe. The computer is not Compaq-HP or Dell I think it might be a clone of some kind called AOPEN and its a pentium 3. I couldn't get to look at much because it was froze up,when I got it. It has never been formatted before actually nothing has been done to it at all since they bought it. Do you mean with this "Recovery Disk Media" that I may not be able to put Win ME back on his computer. There nothing wrong with the floppy drive. I'm pretty sure of that. I checked Bios,the cables and jumpers seem ok but the boot settings are CD-ROM,C:,A: If this is any help I'm still open to suggestions. Thanks

suzieQ, Try changing the boot order to A,C. Start your computer with the startup disk, and choose "with cd-rom support". Type; fdisk....You know this stuff already Check your partition(s), and make sure your Primary is set active. Also, check to see what format they are; FAT16, FAT32, or UNKNOWN. If the Primary is set active and the format is FAT32. Exit fdisk, and change the prompt to your CD-ROM drive. e.g. e: Enter, f: Enter, then try typing setup and press Enter, or autorun and then press Enter. Getting the cart ahead of the horse:) sorry. After you change the prompt to your CD-ROM drive. Type; dirx/p Then press Enter. This will give a list of what is on the disk. You may be prompted to "press any key to continue" That's if it all wont fit on one screen. Look for a readme.txt file. If there is one, type; editxreadme.txt Then press Enter. The readme will be displayed on your screen. Use the arrow keys to move threw it. When done reading it. Press Alt once. Then use the Up or Down arrow keys to highlight Exit, and press Enter, to close it. That readme.txt file might give you some needed information. I'll Try

Hmm, worth a try:) First try setting your boot sequence to C,A and see what happens. Like I said, worth a try:) Who knows

Hi, I did try and change the boot settings and it didn't work kept saying can't read C drive I had it all back on again this morning and again when I went to update a driver for the network adapter. It came up invalid system disk.and when I go to fdisk it comes up "operating system missing" just to check when I Fdisk and you have to format C: it says "you have to restart your computer before formatting C: It also says to Shut down your computer before restarting, I think I might be getting something mixed up because after I shut down it will come back with the Recovery Disk Media wanting to format ok, but the format keeps saying format terminated, then I can't seem to get anywhere. So I still need all the help I can get. Thank you.

hello you might try fdisking and reformatting from bootdisk first. how to fdisk ay www.burzurq.com than use recovery disks to rinstall o/s