window 98 help needed

[hyper7]

ok I really havent ever had to install windows 98 but my sister has an old hp that needs it reinstalled. i put in the recovery cd hit format and recover and after it was don reformatting it said recovery complete but it also said warning some files were not found. dont no what to do now

[Spike]

I would forget about recovery and just do a fresh install.... It would prally be easier. just format it and if you want a partation dust off the old 95/98 boot disk (doesnt matter which thwey will both work) and fdisk the bugger than make a directiory to copy all your files to copy the contents of the win 98 cd over to it and run installs. from there its like xp setup. takes 30-50 min depending on the hardware and when its done itll do its auto detect to find what hardware you have. more or less click next and i agree and all you have to do is set up a user account and network it... (its been a while since i worked with 98 but if you need the commands just email me and i could prally dig them up for you.)

[hyper7]

problem is i only have the disks that came from the manufactuer. my only options are format and recover or recover.

[djnes]

I don't know much about older discs, but when you boot off them you should be given an option to lay down the original image again.

[arkamw]

OK. Let me see if I can pull up some old memories here.

If you go far back enough in HP's restore disk history, you'll start running into the ones where they'll just copy files instead of being an image, per se.

IIRC, if you having problems with certain files not being copied, follow all the standard procedures on making sure that the CD is clean, the cable is good, etc.

Also, have you changed any hardware since the time that you bought the machine? Occasionally (and this isn't limited to HP, Compaq is notoroious for it), the restore disk will having problems copying to a partition that is larger than what it is looking for or is able to handle, if the hardware that was changed isn't part of the standard driver base included on the CD, etc. You might also be running into a problem if the BIOS version doesn't match what is being looked for on the CD, but that is usually a newer restore disk thing, not older.

What files is it missing? Is it missing application files (was there a second CD?)? Or is it missing critical windows files. If the former, you can problably safely ignore it and just move on. If it's windows files, that's a little harder to deal with. If it's just a driver issue, what you might be able to do is to get into windows and then get the drivers online somewhere (hp.com?).

If you still play with and can't get the restore to work for you, you might try a few things. Get a bootdisk (floppy!) from bootdisk.com and repartition the drive, but don't format it. If you added a larger HDD and can remember the size of the original, you might partition it to the size that it was orginally. You can try the restore again there. Something else to think about is that windows is on that CD somewhere. It could be in a zip file (or somehow archived) that you can get to. You might be able to get to it using the boot disk (with CD driver) and be able to install 98 that way. If you can't get to it through the boot disk, you should be able to break out of the batch file that it uses by using ctrl-c. If timed correctly, it should give you access to the file archive. I had to that for a Gateway once.

[PTNL]

from my work with many different models of hp's, the one you're describing probably only has 2 recovery cd's, maybe a 3rd cd that is purely an application reinstallation disc.

these recovery cd's are image cd's (much like norton ghost), and have a large script file that extracts all the files it needs to re-image the hard drive back to the factory settings.

as long as you have fdisk'ed the drive and created a new single partition, then the steps you described that you've tried are correct. if some of the files were not transferred, try these steps:
1 - clean the cd's ... a cleaner such as "disc doctor" works great, and has saved many cd's and dvd's for myself and friends
2 - try attaching a different cd drive and re-installing that way
3 - try removing all unneeded cards (nic, modem, sound), and running the install cd's
4 - run a memory test utility ... search for an app called "memtest 86+", get the latest *.iso version, burn it to cd, then boot the hp with it in the drive and have it check out the ram

if all of this fails, you may need to order a replacement set of cd's. you can try at "partsdirect.hp.com", but you may need to check other areas like "e-bay", and your phone book for any local authorized hp repair locations.

hope this helps.

[nylint]

Could also be that the recovery CD actually comes with an OEM Windows disc labeled like an HP disc with the actual cabs on them. Does it ever prompt you for another CD, or give you an option to provide a location for files?

[Spike]

problem is i only have the disks that came from the manufactuer. my only options are format and recover or recover. if you want a win 98 cd key i have one ill never use you can have it if you want than just borrow a friends cd and make a copy.