Re-installing windows, no CD, software on HD

I have been dealing with this problem for almsot a month now and I would liek to finally fix it. Don't laugh at me, but I am trying to get this crappy Emachine to work again. There are numerous problems with the registery and DLL files that prevents me from installing a lot of programs (Like firefox) and leaves me with a twisted hulk for a computer. I had to edit a html file i found just to be abel to use IE

Using winblows 98 and since it is an E-Machine the win 98 software is on the harddrive and not a CD. I have a 2nd hard drive working on it to transpher the info, but I dont know how to get that one to be the boot up drive. (Yes, I know how to get into Bios)

This is my plan.. transpher the WIn98 stuff to the 2nd drive, boot the computer using the 2nd drive.. which I think still has win95 on it (probly one of the problems) format what used to be the 1st drive, and install win 98 onto it from the second drive.

I think I can do it on my own, but I would liek to have step by step instructions so I dont end up with a useless slag of a computer. Or if that fails a copy of win98 sp2 you can mail me... since I finally got the comp to boot from the CD (The floppy drive is not working).. all I have is a CD-ROM not a R/W-CDrom

help?

anyone? To let you know what I am going thru right now

I push window's "start" button in thetray and nothing happens. So I have to use the "My computer" icon to run any programs. and Ctrl+Alt+Del to turn it off.

I have to ALT+Tab in order to see what is in the tray if I minimized a window since it is a big black bar.

No sound

And then with IE (since firefox doesn't load):

I cannot acess any flash or Javascript, so I have to use a differnat computer to read my E-mail (hotmail account)

The menu and URL adress bar are non-existant, I had to edit an HTML file on my comp just to get google

I cannot copy and paste text into text fields (like in replies) so quoting sources is difficult, while submitting ATSNN articles are virtually impossible for me to do without spending more time then it is worth (to me)

Right clicking does not wrork in IE, and i have to use "Alt+Left arrow" in order to go back to a previous page.

P-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-please halp!

Honestly, heres the best advice I can offer. Cough up 50 bucks and take it to a computer repair shop and tell them what you want to do. Pretty simple and not alot of headaches or $$. If you take it to bestbuy or something, they will charge ya a hundred and it will take a month. A private shop will do it in a day.

I do it to mine once a year. I tell the guy what I want saved and he cleans up everything. Its awesome. Screw trying to do it yourself.



Just my $.02 worth

Another option is to replace the dll files and and system files, although the system files may not be available to you if you don't have a windows disk. Win98 is barely available in stores now, so you better find a good buddy with one to lend or give you. dll files on the other hand are a dime a dozen and easily found on the internet.

You can always go to the system file checker and choose the option to restore your system files, but if your CABS folder is corrupt or the files are missing from there, it will prompt you for the windows CD, which you don't have. I think going to a computer repair shop is your best option, as the above poster stated, unless you come up with a full install windows CD.

Try buying one on ebay.

Reboot to DOS and run Fdisk and remove your partitions. When you get the DOS prompt again, change your directory to the C: drive and format. Then insert your windows CD and a boot disk if need be and run the CD from the setup executable. If you cannot do this, for whatever reasons, you really need to find the windows CD and a good buddy who can, or hire a cats arse dude who works cheap and can.

I know it has been a week, so if you have not done this yet, perhaps I could add a few bits of information to the advise you have already been given. Although this forum is not the proper place to learn all the variables involved.

Apparently the big problem with re-doing an emachine with win98 is finding the drivers for the emachine. Some of the video and other drivers are not on the win98 CD/restore disk.

You could attempt to go to emachine website to download all the drivers that you can, before you try to reinstall win98.

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If you really, honestly and truly want to re-install windows98, you may have an image of the CD on your hard disk. In the I386 directory are two files:

winnt32.exe is the "32 bit" version of the character mode Windows setup. You may be able to run this from within Windows.
winnt.exe is the "16 bit" version of the character mode Windows setup. Why a 16 bit version? If you can't run winnt32.exe and are able to boot from an MS-DOS floppy, or are able to boot to Win9x DOS mode, then this setup program will work for you.

WARNING: character.exe and winnt32.exe are the start-from scratch, do it all over setup programs. Use them only if you want a complete re-install of Windows.

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OR:
If there is no winnt32.exe file, check to see if the installation files for windows you have has a cabs/setup.exe file. *Note that you could execute this within windows, just launch the c:\windows\options\cabs\setup.exe if you have the space available.

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Or:
If you are not using the win95 on the second disk, format it as fat32 before you copy the win98 files to it. After that, copy the files you want to save to your 2nd hard drive.

Make a directory on your 2nd hard drive called windows\options\cabs.
Copy the windows CAB files to this folder.

make a windows 98 floppy boot disk

Set your bios to boot to floppy. Put the floppy in and restart.
after the floppy boots type:
c:
cd windows
cd options
cd cabs
Setup.exe /ie

The /ie flag tells Windows 98 not to make a new Startup Floppy during the installation.


Well, that is enough info for now.

You have probably fixed it by now anyway.

Best of luck
makeitso










[edit on 26-6-2005 by makeitso]