I get past the first reboot when installing Windows Me. It give bluescreen and saids Windows Protection error on the blue screen.

Keyboard not detected. Hit F1 to Continue. BREAKFAST.SYS HALTED Cerial port not Responding!!

Well it want let me edit my first post and it will let me edit the other post? Wierd. But anyway i meant to add that the disk i used is a OEM full version disk. I was doing a clean install. Even if i use the upgrade disk with a clean install it ask for previous windows ETC then reboots and i still get the error. But lasttime i upgraded from within windows 98 it worked but it left the old 98 recycle bin. Why did it leave the old recycle bin?
Also the keyboard would not respond at one point installing Win Me. But installing 98 runs smooth no problems.

Keyboard not detected. Hit F1 to Continue. BREAKFAST.SYS HALTED Cerial port not Responding!!

I've had very good luck with WinME.

When you say "clean install", you mean you're booting off a WinME boot floppy, running FDISK, then partitioning & formatting, THEN attempting to install WinME?

You can use either the full version or the upgrade to do a "clean install". If you use the upgrade, it will ask for proof of a previous version. At that point, all you need to do is pop in a Win98 CD & browse to the Win98 folder. WinME will confirm, then the installation will continue.

"it want let me edit my first post and it will let me edit the other post? Wierd."

Not weird at all...that's the way it's setup. The original post can NOT be edited.

FLATURIN - Hand-to-mouth goodness. It's good!

Who deleted my reply from this morning?
Ok i installed Windows Me with the upgrade within Windows 98 SE it upgrades no problems. I use the upgrade disk with a bootdisk and do a clean install. it verifies the 98 SE CD it gets past the part where i put in my COA i click next its like the keyboard is disabled. If i use the full OEM version i get the following error after the first reboot.
While initializing IOS
Windows Protection Error. You need to restart your computer.
System Halted.

Keyboard not detected. Hit F1 to Continue. BREAKFAST.SYS HALTED Cerial port not Responding!!

You didn't answer my question. Are you formatting the HDD before attempting the install?

FLATURIN - Hand-to-mouth goodness. It's good!

Yes i am formatting the HD. And yes i had the question answered. It was removed for some reason. The drive is a old 13 GB IBM drive. Hitachi now deals with IBM drives so i got the Diagnostics tools from Hitachi and the drive is good no erros. Also i erased the drive with the Hitachi disk. I then recreated the partitions with the Windows Me bootdisk. I rebooted. Then booted back up with the Windows Me bootdisk and formatted the drive like this.
Format c:\u it formatted fine no errors. So its not a drive issue.

Keyboard not detected. Hit F1 to Continue. BREAKFAST.SYS HALTED Cerial port not Responding!!

"Format c:\u it formatted fine no errors"

Why are you using the "U" switch?? It's totally unnecessary.

FLATURIN - Hand-to-mouth goodness. It's good!

Ok well it worked. Why ask why? thats the way ive been taught to do it. It works. There is.
Format c:\U
Format C:\S (Win98 only)
What else is there?

Keyboard not detected. Hit F1 to Continue. BREAKFAST.SYS HALTED Cerial port not Responding!!

"What else is there?"

Uh, how about just

format C:

??

BTW, it's supposed to be a forward slash, not a backslash, such as

format C: /u

but it's unnecessary. And from what I've read, there's some question whether the "U switch" is even supported by the WinME boot floppy (which is what you should be using)

FLATURIN - Hand-to-mouth goodness. It's good!

The C://S switch is unsupported not C:/U. My mistake about the /\ i don't see why there was a big deal made about it when you know what i meant.

Keyboard not detected. Hit F1 to Continue. BREAKFAST.SYS HALTED Cerial port not Responding!!

You don't need to use the S or the U switch!

"My understanding is that the /U (unconditional) paramter became redundant starting with DOS 7.x and was disabled with ME. Prior to this DOS provided the UNFORMAT command, which was coupled to whether a FORMAT /U had been done or not. When the UNFORMAT command was dropped there was no need for the /U option and all formats became "unconditional". The /U continued to be accepted, but was effectively ignored."

http://discussions.virtualdr.com/ar...

http://www.computing.net/windowsme/...

FLATURIN - Hand-to-mouth goodness. It's good!

I suspect the slash direction was mentioned simply because it is very important to get it right when using it.

Sometimes when I've ignored these details the poster has then come back to say the command didn't work.

DerekW

Well the problem still exsist.

Keyboard not detected. Hit F1 to Continue. BREAKFAST.SYS HALTED Cerial port not Responding!!

Windows Me bootdisk. I choose without CD-Rom support. I type.
Format C:\u
It doese work with a Windows Me bootdisk.

Keyboard not detected. Hit F1 to Continue. BREAKFAST.SYS HALTED Cerial port not Responding!!

I'm confused.

You say that this "incorrect command" does work:

Format C:\u

By "does work" do you mean you have now been able to format the HD? If so it must have ignored the \u part.

Or are we to assume you really mean:
Format C: /u (which might be OK but is unnecessary)

It's 2.40am here in UK so I'm off but if you are still in trouble then for the benefit of others I would try again sticking to the conventional commands that about everyone else uses (exactly as written, including the space where shown):-

fdisk

format c:

We can then move on to other ideas knowing that the correct commands are being entered.

DerekW

Really am off now but this might help:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/255867

They advocate format c: /s which is not usually necessary but I'll run with it.

DerekW

Have you tried the simple stuff first like unplugging the keyboard and mouse for a few seconds at the point just before you know where it's going to "stick" - then plugging them back in?

Yes i have tried unplugging the keyboard and mouse. And yes im sorry for the different name. I didn't realize i was logged in under this name.

Server
PIII 500 Mhz
256 MB Ram
40 GB Harddrive
Windows XP Pro

Laptop
Intel T2060 @ 1.60 Ghz
1GB DDR2 Ram
120 GB Harddrive
2 Partitions

C: 83.89 GB WinxpPro
D:

I would follow up by inspecting (and if necessary very gently buffing with soft card) the metal contact pins of the memory and reseating the memory stick.

....then I'd be running memtest on said stick.

I'm right with Viking. There is no "fix-all" for computers but tarnish on the RAM edge connectors is often the reason for all manner of general problems.

DerekW

You saying the ram is bad? Now i had some of the post removed. Why do people keep asking why im installing Windows Me? Like i asked before. Why ask Why? I really don't think the ram is bad. I can install XP With no problem. The computer is just too slow for XP.

Keyboard not detected. Hit F1 to Continue. BREAKFAST.SYS HALTED Cerial port not Responding!!

"The computer is just too slow for XP"

Only because you don't have enough RAM.

"You saying the ram is bad?"

No. But you should test it with memtest86 to confirm that it's good.

"Why do people keep asking why im installing Windows Me? Like i asked before. Why ask Why?"

I think it's interesting because a few months ago you said you didn't like WinME, had no luck with it, would never install it, Win98SE is much better, etc.....

http://www.computing.net/windows95/...

FLATURIN - Hand-to-mouth goodness. It's good!

Ok well l.o.l i say im not going to do alot of things and i do them again. This is a whole different computer anyway. Its another one that was in my dads office he bought home and gave me scence they upgraded.

Keyboard not detected. Hit F1 to Continue. BREAKFAST.SYS HALTED Cerial port not Responding!!

CTG, take your RAM (memory) stick(s) out of the motherboard slot(s).

Look it over and check the bottom edge metal contacts. Check for grime, gunk, dirt or anything else that shouldn't be there.

If you see a build up of crap, carefully clean it off using a piece of card, a hard rubber, etc.

Now put the RAM (memory) stick(s) back in the motherboard slot(s), put everything back as you found it.

If needed, you can now run memtest to see if the RAM (memory) is going bad.

You are now troubleshooting your computer for yourself and learning a little in the process.

The ram is new and has been tested ok.

Keyboard not detected. Hit F1 to Continue. BREAKFAST.SYS HALTED Cerial port not Responding!!

I'll take you at your word on that.

Assuming you got rid of the partitions you created using Fdisk, I would use a different hard drive wiping tool (other than the Hitachi one you mentioned).

Use DBAN. Don't forget to read the dban FAQ's before using.

After you've wiped the drive, shutdown the box and unplug it from the mains. Open the case up and unplug the hard drive's power and IDE cables. Same with the optical drive's power and IDE cables - I'll even let you double check that RAM while you're there ;)

After you've done that check the Windows ME disk isn't scratched.

Plug everything back in nice and tight and power up again ~ from the top, try the installation again ~ post exactly what happens this time round.

I used DBAN wiped the drive and cleaned the ram. Still have same problem. Also found a dell rescource CD for my model ran diagnostic test no problems. Thats why it took awhile for me to reply back.

Keyboard not detected. Hit F1 to Continue. BREAKFAST.SYS HALTED Cerial port not Responding!!