Help with booting

by webster7014 Jul 29, 2007 12:06PM PDT

Hi,

I am trying to fix an old packard Bell desktop. It originally came with Windows 95, but through time...it has taken a beating and somehow has windows 98 on it. My brother wants to use this computer for gaming, but it always says that there is not enough memory.

However, there is nothing on there that should be taking up that much space. We even put in RAM at one point. Anyways, we found the Packard Bell "master" start-up disc. We just want to boot from that and start fresh. Pretty much by wiping everything off and starting new.

I have no clue how to do this. It seems windows 98 conflicts with 95 and blah blah. We do have a windows 95 start-up disc as well...which could go along with the packard bell disc. I don't know which one to boot first...or how to boot it. Mainly because when turning the computer on, you don't get a boot from disc option...just click "f1" for something. In the boot area...I do have boot from disc listed as number one...but it doesnt boot the disc by itself.

Any advice would be appreciated!!

Discussion is locked

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p.s.

by webster7014 Jul 29, 2007 12:09PM PDT

P.S. By boot disc...I mean that the discs I have are cd-rom type.

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Re: bootimg.

by Kees Bakker Jul 29, 2007 10:33PM PDT

Please tell:
- how much RAM?
- how much total disc space?
- how much free disc space?
- what video card?
- what CPU?
- what game?
- if you know: what are the system requirements of that game? Few games nowadays run under Windows 95 or 98 any more.
- what is the exact error message, and when do you get it (installing or running)?

If this originally was a Windows 95 machine, the original "master start-up disc" should make this a Windows 95 machine again. And, most likely, if you have "boot from CD first" set in the BIOS setup (please check!), the machine should boot from it and it should work to restore the machine. Can you tell exactly what goes wrong? "It seems ... and blah blah" isn't exactly informative.
Windows 95 didn't have a start-up CD from Microsoft. You need a good old floppy to install Windows 95, unless - like you maybe? - got a bootable "restore CD" (or whatever they called it) from the manufacturer.

Kees

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by webster7014 Jul 30, 2007 12:44AM PDT

What I meant by blah blah, was that I tried to create a boot disc (since it wouldn't boot automatically)...but it told me to insert windows 98 disc. However, the disc I have is for windows 95 and so it won't allow me to do it.

The computer ran slow and so a friend of ours tried to "pimp" it. That is where I guess windows 98 got installed. Since I want to start new with its original windows 95...well that's where it conflicts.

Whenever I have computer issues, it is best to erase everything and start new. That is, if I have the start-up master disc and a windows disc(which I do). So if you know how to do that, then please let me know. Thanx for your help

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edit

by webster7014 Jul 30, 2007 12:45AM PDT

and yes...boot from disc is set up in the Bios area

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Re; boot fdisk

by Kees Bakker Jul 30, 2007 5:15AM PDT

To install Windows 95, do as follows.

Go to www.bootdisk.com and download a program to make a boot diskette. Boot from that diskette. Then go to the cd-drive (could be d:, e:, r: or in fact any letter) and run setup from the Windows 95 CD.

If you choose the right boot diskette and make it correctly, this should work.

Hope this helps.

Kees

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And a useful link.

by Kees Bakker Jul 30, 2007 5:20AM PDT

http://www.windowsreinstall.com/

Choose Windows 95 from the column at right.

Good luck.

Kees

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by Me, Myself and You Jul 30, 2007 1:23PM PDT

"Erasing everything and starting new" is what I used to do -- and you dont learn a thing. If you actually learn how to deal with any problems you encounter, thats when the real learning takes place.

Also, Windows 98 is a hog compared to 95, and has a massive bloated shell. What I did, for max compatibility, was I did a shell swap on Windows 98 and completely removed Internet Explorer (as I dont browse the internet on 9 except for the core DLL files needed for compatibility. The result is the base of Windows 98 running Windows 95's shell for maximum speed. You might want to look into doing that to get the most out of that machine.

http://www.litepc.com

Download 98lite, and IEradicator, to remove Internet Explorer -- however I only advise doing that if you DONT use the machine for internet!

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