98 Installation problem

[Ballistic223]

I am stalling windows 98 (I know but it is all that I right now to put on it) and I am having a problem that I have never had before. It gets to the collecting information about your computer part and is checking for available disk space part and freezes at 61% every time. Across the top of the screen there is a black line appear that says "Insert diskette for drive B: and press any key when ready" I don't have a Drive B: or an A for that matter. What diskette is it asking for?? I dont have a diskette. I have installed windows on many computers and have never seen this before. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

The computer is

Biostar M7NCG 400
XP 2000+
256 megs PC2700
14 gig Maxtor (old but still works, gonna get a new one soon)
Phillips CD-RW

Thanks

 

[Zugzwang152]

unplug everything except your CDROM and hard drive. if that fails, run the manufacturer's test utility on the hard drive.

 

[moonshinemadness]

Give up, win 98 sucks at installation on anything but the most stable systems or if not do what Zugz said

 

[Ballistic223]

i know that it sucks but like i said it is all that i have to put on right now. Gotta do what ya gotta do
Thanks for the tip ZugZ

 

[mikecel79]

The other thing to check is make sure the BIOS is up to date. Have you tried this media on another machine also?

 

[Bozo Galora]

uninstall all pci cards, disable everything in bios like usb/audio - sounds like its looking for driver
for install make boot order is CD first

 

[Ballistic223]

Well I got a new HD, still have the same problem. Disabled the integrated sound/lan/usb, still the same problem. Also tried installing 95 and I get a Windows protection error While initializing device IOS:

I think that the problem may possibly be the ram. What do you all think about that?

I still need to try flashing the BIOS to the newest version, but I need to find a floppy cable first

 

[buckmasterson]

My bet is that it is the RAM. Ram does some very strange things.

 

[Bozo Galora]

O.K. First you partitioned (using a Win 98 bootdisc)
Then you formatted
Did you make primary active?
Did you format C: with the /s switch?
Is HDD set to master?

 

[THUGSROOK]

its getting hung up looking for a floppy drive, that you dont have.

in bios:
set "floppy drive A" = none
disable the "floppy disk controller" or "FDC"
enable "report no FDD for OS"

not sure if your bios has those options, but it will work if it does.
if you dont have those options at all youll need a floppy drive in the system.

HTH

 

[kamper]

Did you check the disk for a utility that creates the boot disks for you?

 

[Ballistic223]

Bozo

It has been partitioned, set active, formatted and all that good stuff I used the disc utility CD that came with the new HD. The HD is set to master and on the primary IDE connector, the CD Rom is on the secondary IDE also set to master

I think that tomarrow I am going to take the ram to my brothers and test it in his computer and if it works I am going to try his RAM in mine. That way I could test if for some reason the RAM is good if it may not function properly with my MB.

I am also going to install a Floppy drive so that I can flash the BIOS to the newest version.

Man this is frustrating :|

 

[niall]

I still have Win98SE (you're not alone!), and I must say that a floppy drive is an absolute requirement to keep it running. It still functions in the era of bootdisks and floppy upgrades. Thankfully, they're extremely cheap now, as are diskettes, and extraordinarily easy to install. Good luck on the rest.

 

[Ballistic223]

It was the ram. Put the ram in my brothers computer and it wouldnt do as much as it would in mine. Called NewEgg got a RMA number, sending it back tomarrow. SO hopefully I will have it up and going next week.

Thanks for the input yall

 

[THUGSROOK]

you still CANT install W98 w/o a floppy drive unless you make those bios adjustments.

 

[Ballistic223]

I now have a floppy drive But those changes in the bios were made

Hopefully the ram will be here on monday or tuesday