• 98 SE REINSTALL…from 0 to go

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    WSwillow
    AskWoody Lounger
    November 8, 2002 at 11:23 am #379127

    I think it is about time I started to take on a bit more with my machine (hopefully if I know more about how it works, I won

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    • WSjkipk
      AskWoody Lounger
      November 8, 2002 at 10:40 pm #630377

      I’m sure others will chime in here, but if I had to do it all over again…..

      The best step by step advice I can offer is to go Step By Step!!! Don’t rush into installing a lot of software and new drivers just to see how they look. Make sure Everything is running smoothly before adding the next item.

      First, take a little time to search for and retrieve the most current drivers for your hardware and the most current updates for your software. If you could store these on CD, great, or alternately make a list of sites where the updates reside.

      Install the hardware you are planning to use. It may be a good time to spring for a new video card, etc.

      Decide on HD partitions and OS placement. I don’t have any advice here, but pre-determining where things go will save headaches later.

      Install the OS. Take a look around to make sure everything is stable and happy. Check out the device manager, and note the drivers for all of your hardware. Resolve any and all yellow ! before you go any further.

      Install new drivers, one by one, of course. Again, play around a bit to make sure the system is stable.

      Establish network and internet connections. Make sure everything works, and everything’s talking to everything else.

      Fine tune your OS, again step by step, setting performance tweaks and personal preference settings as you see fit. Check on stability.

      Add your software, and define your folder structure. Make it easy to back up, and know where each program stores it’s data.

      Remember to reboot often, each time you make a change to drivers, when tweaking the registry, etc, etc.

      As for #2, Are you planning on upgrading software, or are you just re-installing the software you were using. You shouldn’t have any problems reading your data if it’s from the same program you wrote it on. If it’s new, you may want to keep a copy of the old software handy in case you can’t get to your data with a new version (an unlikely scenario)

      I’m doing this off the top of my head, and am no “expert”, but as a matter of fact I’m getting ready to build up a new “barebones” box and have been thinking about a lot of the same issues.

      good luck, and take this with a grain of salt!!

      kip

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    • WSdmp
      AskWoody Lounger
      November 11, 2002 at 7:23 am #630736

      Haven’t had to do this myself yet (fingers still crossed), but here are a couple links I chased down for that fateful day. Use your own judgement on them, I’m sure a little googling would turn up more.

      http://www.everythingcomputers.com/reformat.htm%5B/url%5D
      http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/clean1.html%5B/url%5D

      Dave

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      • WStdmiller
        AskWoody Lounger
        January 1, 2003 at 3:13 pm #641627

        HELP! I have followed numerous directions (individually, of course) to reinstall Windows 98SE and all goes well until I’m supposed to run the setup.exe file. I always get stopped at that point with a “bad command or filename.” When I look in the directory of the Windows 98SE reinstallation CD (the one provided by Dell), there isn’t a setup file, only a setupnm.bat file. I’ve even tried the Windows 98 CD. What am I not doing right? I really need to get this accomplished and it’s getting very frustrating. Thank you for your help.

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        • WSWyllyWylly
          AskWoody Lounger
          January 1, 2003 at 9:01 pm #641653

          Teresa, what is the command line you are using? The SETUP.EXE program may not be in the location you are trying to run it from – meaning, if your CD ROM drive is letter D:, the setup program might me in D:WIN98SETUP.EXE.

          You can also type in EDIT SETUPNM.BAT and see what it does without harming anything.

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          • WStdmiller
            AskWoody Lounger
            January 1, 2003 at 10:17 pm #641663

            Thanks, Mark. I tried running it from c:windowsoptionscabssetup.exe (there was no setup.exe file) as one site said and also from the cd-rom drive, but nothing. Typing “edit setupnm.exe” brought me to a DOS screen that only said “set setup…” and that was all. Why can’t I find a setup file on either the boot disk or the OEM Windows CD? Thanks.

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            • WSbigaldoc
              AskWoody Lounger
              January 1, 2003 at 10:28 pm #641664

              [indent]

              Typing “edit setupnm.exe”

              [/indent] You said it was a BAT file. Why did you type edit setupnm.exe? You ought to be able to search you CDs and find the setup.exe program…..

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            • WStdmiller
              AskWoody Lounger
              January 1, 2003 at 10:33 pm #641665

              Sorry. I did mean setupnm.bat and did type that on the computer. I also did search my bootable floppy and my CD, but can not find a setup.exe file anywhere.

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            • WStdmiller
              AskWoody Lounger
              January 1, 2003 at 11:25 pm #641672

              I finally got it. Thanks for your patience.

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            • DaveA
              AskWoody_MVP
              January 2, 2003 at 1:03 am #641681

              “I finally got it” what did you do, so others who have this problem will know what the fix was?

              DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
              Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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            • WStdmiller
              AskWoody Lounger
              January 2, 2003 at 2:50 am #641696

              I followed the directions on the Dell website for reinstalling 98 from Dell’s Reinstalling Windows98SE CD. It was a breeze from that. Phew!

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            • WSPhil Rabichow
              AskWoody Lounger
              January 2, 2003 at 4:25 am #641716

              Hi Teresa:
              Could you post the link? I couldn’t find it (although my browser isn’t downloading pictures right now).

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            • WStdmiller
              AskWoody Lounger
              January 2, 2003 at 2:28 pm #641784

              (Edited by DaveA on 02-Jan-03 07:28. )

              This is the general location. I’m giving this location in case someone is interested in a different OS. From here, you choose the operating system you’re running and component category. I chose “Windows 98” as the operating system and “Operating System” as the component category.

              http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/org/%5B/url%5D

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            • WSPhil Rabichow
              AskWoody Lounger
              January 3, 2003 at 4:56 am #641993

              Thanks, Teresa. I didn’t realize that you had to register, but maybe sometime I will. (Next Dell, maybe) evilgrin

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            • WSCyberdance
              AskWoody Lounger
              January 3, 2003 at 2:20 pm #642102

              hello Hi Phil, not that I know much about anything, but the laptops provided for me at work are Dell (the last 3 they supplied me with, 98, ME & XP). I believe Dell use specific “Dell” drivers, and the O/S disc that came with these various machines have all stated they are only for use on that Dell notebook etc. The only one that work gave me which also had a tiny Trouble shooting book with it, indicated a generic version of the OS would not work on their machine, only the disc that came with it.

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      • WSMichael Evans
        AskWoody Lounger
        January 1, 2003 at 9:33 pm #641656

        Great sites David.

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