Get out of that!?

[frostbite]

I think I've outsmarted myself.

Thought I would try XP Pro on my old machine, using an OEM CD with no authentication numbers.

Ran OK but I wasn't greatly impressed and planned to reinstall 98SE before the 30 days expired. Forgot, and now can't find a way to fdisk the HD to do the job.

I could phone M$ for the code but I'd rather save the CD for another occasion, so is there any way I can bypass the XP startup? All I've managed to get so far is an offer to start in safe mode, which then demands the code.

[mixture]

hmmmm......

:=


(1) OEM is tied to the hardware it was supplied with. It lives and dies with that hardware. Licensing is very strict on it.

(2) Microsoft are not in the habit of dishing out license keys on the phone (unless you are a company with volume licenses, but that's a different story).

could say more, but I'll stop there.

[Saab Dastard]

now can't find a way to fdisk the HD to do the job.

I assume you mean can't delete the XP partitions with the 98 setup disk?

Surely you can boot from the XP CD, then remove all partitions - that stage is long before entering any license details.

Then start the PC with the 98 SE disk and install from scratch.

SD

[mixture]

You could download a linux boot disk and do it that way if 98 won't delete the contents.

[frostbite]

Thanks chaps, but no joy.

It won't boot from the XP CD although I've changed the BIOS to look there first.

Best I can come up with is 'Command prompt in safe mode' which means no drivers or DOS apparently.

Of course, I could remove the HD and put it in this machine, except the tightwads at Dell have saved themselves 10p by not providing a spare power or IDE plug.

[Lear_doctor]

I wonder if you have a floppy disk drive? - In a similar situation I would try downloading a DOS boot disk from the net, put it onto a floppy and boot from that. You could then use the tools that normally come on the boot disk to 'clean up' the HDD to a point where you can start the WIN 98 installation.

Hope this helps

regards

The Doc

[Keef]

As the Doc says. Use a DOS boot floppy (indeed, any boot floppy with FDISK on it).

[frostbite]

Yes but

I don't have a boot floppy (that I can recall) and the current computer doesn't have a floppy drive for me to make one.

[Saab Dastard]

Make a bootable CD then!

Lots of versions of Linux will do whatever you want with your disk partitions for the cost of a blank CD.

Similarly there are lots of sites with free boot disk utilities.

Why will the 98 disk not do it? Is it not bootable?

AFAIR, 16-bit DOS will delete NTFS (i.e. non-DOS) primary partitions - it's only extended partitions it has a problem with.

SD

[frostbite]

Ah but (I think) it gets worse!

I get the distinct impression that the CD driver is either not loading or perhaps is being inhibited by this validation thingy.

[Saab Dastard]

You have got the wrong idea here - if you are booting from a CD then the OS installed on the hard disk has no bearing on things whatsoever.

The boot process is all in the BIOS up to the point that it finds a bootable device, so if you have the CD drive first in the boot order and there is a bootable CD in it, then the system will boot from it.

No drivers involved (at least not at the windows level).

SD

[frostbite]

Tried a change of tack and put Mandrake Linux 9.2 CD in and eventually got it all installed, BUT I've already fallen foul of it because I didn't enter a user name and password.

On initial bootup it asked for both, won't accept an empty field, won't accept anything else! Way round that or reinstall?

Incidentally, when it rebooted the (Trend Chipaway) BIOS reported a virus - presumably something in Linux it doesn't like/recognise?

[Saab Dastard]

Why are you installing any OS other than WIN 98?

All you need to do is use the install CD to remove all the partitions on the disk. You don't need to actually install the OS to do that.

Then use your Win 98 install CD to boot and install.

SD

[frostbite]

Because the W98 CD refuses point blank to do anything in the nature of auto-install and if I manage to get to it and click on SETUP then it says it doesn't like the environment (can't remember exactly what).

Any (polite) thoughts on the Linux problem?

[Keef]

What exactly happens when you try to boot the W98 CD?

There was a time (but I think it was before W98) when you needed a floppy disk to start the install process from CDROM.

It's a very long time since I installed W98 on anything, and memory gets hazy when you reach my age.

Are you trying to get back to W98, or just to install an OS that you can use?

W98 won't like NTFS, so if you've still got the HD formatted that way, expect it to complain. Maybe Mandriva can delete all the partitions on the hard drive and set you up for W98 to partition and format it.

Otherwise, get thee to eBay and buy a cheap hard drive.

[Keef]

Did you say Mandrake Linux 9.2?
That's pretty old by Linux standards, and not likely to be the most user-friendly.

I've got an old machine here that I "play with" using various Linux distros. They all have pros and cons, but I'd suggest Debian or Fedora if you want something that will work more or less "out of the box".

Ubuntu is clever, but it treats you like an idiot and won't let you see what it's up to half the time. I've never been able to get it to work the way I want it to.

For an old machine, I'd steer clear of the latest KDE (version 4) which is sadly bloated. Either use Gnome as the desktop, or pick an earlier Linux.

If you're stuck, give me a yell and I'll see if I can find a recent-ish distro on a CD. (I tend to download the full kit, on a DVD, but those won't work on your machine with a CD drive).

[Saab Dastard]

I could remove the HD and put it in this machine, except the tightwads at Dell have saved themselves 10p by not providing a spare power or IDE plug.

Well, you could completely remove the hard disk in the Dell and put in the disk you want to fdisk, if that system has a floppy drive or will actually boot from CD.

You would not affect the existing Dell HD at all.

SD

[frostbite]

Thanks for the suggestions, SD & Keef, also for the kind offer, Keef.

As stated, it's my old machine and I think I will put it on the back burner* for a couple of days until this heat dies down. (26c in here atm)








*Quite literally, if it really annoys me.

[Keef]

I will put it on the back burner for a couple of days until this heat dies down.
It's always 26ºC in my study. Must be all the computers running in here...

PM me a snailmail address and I'll stick a Fedora 8 CD in the post.
Or if you're near Thundersley, I'll pop one through the door ;)

[frostbite]

Many thanks again for the kind offer, Keef.

I did eventually get ML9.2 up and running but it seemed to be lacking any way of file listing or manipulation (the main object of installing it!). Tried all that was offered in the menus but the nearest it would get was listing the drives without showing what was in them.

All appears to be academic now as it looks like the PSU has objected to all the activity and gone on its holidays.

[PPRuNeUser0211]

If you're after a boot cd with decent disk management, google Ultimate boot cd windows

It's basically going to give you (using your existing windows CD (iirc it works with an OEM CD)) a version of XP installed on a CD. You boot from the cd, then you can format the HDD/ Fdisk it to your heart's content as you've got nothing installed/running on it. After that, you should have a shot at installing 98 from the CD (easier if you have 2 cd drives though!)

[frostbite]

Thanks for that. Assume you mean UBCD4Win? which came top on Google.

Seems like a useful thing to have around but I'm not sure about the exe file which downloads. Are you meant to copy it straight to CD, or run it on a healthy machine in order to produce something to then copy to the CD?