Thread: How to reinstall Win98 OS?

Hello.
Anyone up to the task of helping me reinstall the OS? I have an older Micron here someone gave me. It needs a clean install and I'm afraid I'm at a loss of how to do this. I've tried to reinstall over top but I keep getting all kinds of errors.
Thanks!

I made a floppy boot disk for Win98 and also Win95B just in case, but the computer doesn't read A: and I can't even select it in the BIOS. I have a Win98 CD and I have the keycode, which I pulled out of the computer using Belarc Advisor while I could still get the computer to boot up.

The install I tried to do "over" the OS kept giving me error #65 "Setup Interrupted" while trying to copy files...each error was for a file in the C:\windows\help directory, i.e. cannot copy c:\windows\help\dcomcnfg.001=dcomcnfg.chm (probably a dozen or more). The installation eventually completed, but when it tried to boot from the hard drive it eventually just came up to a blank screen with a blinking cursor.

Well, I'm ready if you are! Just remember, I am a novice.......this is a first for me.
Thanks!

Actually, I think I have the OS installed now. The only problem appears to be drivers - PCI Mass Storage Controller, PCI Multimedia Audio Device and USRobotics 56K FAX INT all have yellow question marks on them in Device Manager.

I downloaded the drivers zipfile from USRobotics and tried to update the driver for the fax/modem and it doesn't want to update. (I'm at a loss here.)

Additionally, it appears I need a graphics driver of some sort: I have terrible graphics in IE and can only select 16 colors 640x480 pixels in display/properties/settings. It's using a Standard PCI Graphics Adapter (VGA) from C:\windows\inf\msdisp.inf. Not sure how to attack this....

Thanks.

Okay. I found the Yamaha driver and the MOBO driver on the Intel site. I was successful updating the Yamaha driver, but the MOBO is giving me trouble. I followed all the instructions, extracted the update files to a floppy, rebooted and it appeared to update (I got the update successful message) Then, when I rebooted and went into setup, it still had the old driver version. Now, looking in device manager, I see that both CD drives are not working, the Iomega drive is also not working (red Xs on them), and the primary and secondary IDE controllers have exclamation points on them. The CD drives and zip are not working because they are dependant on the IDEs; the IDEs say that the system must be rebooted (Code 14). Every time I reboot, I get a message that the system needs to reboot for the settings to take effect - it appears to be in a loop.

I wonder - in the SETUP there is an option to clear the ESCD Extended System Configuration Data - do I need to do that?

Thanks.

Update: Well, I finally was able to get the thing out of the loop - turns out I had to restart the system from within Device Manager (figure that one out). I will check the MOBO version on the next boot. First I will try to install Diamond Viper V770 driver.

Another update. Wrong - I am still having this boot loop. Whatever is trying to update, isn't. I lose the 2 CDs & Iomega drive every other boot. The install of the Diamond 770 gave me an error blue screen, and the BIOS version of the MOBO has not changed, even though it told me the update was successful. I did change the ESCD so it could recapture everything, but it doesn't seem to have made any difference. One other problem: Every other boot, the thing hangs and never loads the OS. [pulling my hair out now]

Yes, I found everything. When I went to the Micron web site and entered the serial number, everything was there for me to download. It took hours, but I got it all. Then, when I flashed the MOBO to the proper firmware rev, I somehow lost the ability to boot into windows. It's been too many years since I've used DOS, so, rather than go bald pulling out the rest of my hair, I started over and put Win2k on it instead. Runs like a champ now - just have a bad CD-ROM to replace (opens constantly, won't stay closed).

Thanks for your help. I will keep that Win98 link for future reference - I've got 2 more Win98 systems here to work on after I finish the Micron.

Cheers!