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Thread ID: 79246 2007-05-13 22:39:00 nightmare install starrekin61 (10116) Press F1
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549603 2007-05-13 22:39:00 hi guys. have recently tried installing both 98 and xp on an older system - both hang in middle. have tried numerous times.
i have no clue what actually happened to system as someone else decided to "help" by installing the new hard drive and memory for it and somehow ended up formatting my system as well. :horrified
could this be a hardware problem - both disks have worked before. have checked the bios and it does recognize all new items.
if anyone has a clue, please help. pulling my hair out here. thanks.
starrekin61 (10116)
549604 2007-05-13 22:50:00 How much memory is in it now then??

As 98 wont recognise a GB if there's a GB in it now.
Speedy Gonzales (78)
549605 2007-05-13 23:18:00 256 mb starrekin61 (10116)
549606 2007-05-13 23:22:00 Hmm XP might be ok on 256MB. If you kill all the colour.

Might be a bit slow tho.

So, you changed the 98 cd to the bootdisk in the BIOS, and tried to boot from it?

Where did both hang? In the setup screen?
Speedy Gonzales (78)
549607 2007-05-14 03:07:00 I've had similar problems in the past caused by faulty or incompatible RAM corrupting the files as they are copied across - crashed at different stages of the XP pro & x64 bit version installs.

If you have more than one RAM chip try taking them out 1 at a time. 256 is really the bare minimum if you want to run XP though.

Another thing is if the optical drive is a bit old try running through a lense cleaner - even a standard audio one. A little difficult to manage without windows installed I realise, but suprisingly effective for a lot of read problems.
dugimodo (138)
549608 2007-05-14 05:20:00 Run memtest86. OS installation does lot of uncompressing large files. This requires lots of memory, and doesn't tolerate any errors. It requires perfect memeory. Graham L (2)
549609 2007-05-14 06:54:00 try this
If need to back up your data first

boot with 98 cd rom
format your disk
copy the directory win98 from the cdrom to c drive
type these commands in

c:
cd \win98
setup

That may work, it has for me in the past for a stubon install

If you want to try an xp install using this method instead of win98 use i386
and if I remember correctly use install instead of setup (might pay to check that on google)
beama (111)
549610 2007-05-16 22:24:00 thanks guys. will try all suggestions. two questions: this system originally ran 2000 sp4 on it with only one memory stick (128ram), but no way xp will run?
second - can i run memtest off the win98cd (system is already formatted) to check memory first? thanks. will let you know how it goes.
starrekin61 (10116)
549611 2007-05-19 21:04:00 thank you guys. took out extra memory card - now no problems with cd's. appreciate the help.:) starrekin61 (10116)
549612 2007-05-20 03:22:00 Memtest is distributed as a system image to make a bootable floppy or CD which doesn't rely on any OS on the machine being tested. Graham L (2)
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