Can't install win98 on Emachine

[kimike]

Problem

I jus bought a new emachine

2.60 gig Pent 4
256 ddr
dvd-rom and dvd-r
80 gig hdd

Had XP on large 80 gig hdd, and I wanted 3 partitions,
so put in fdisk and made them..format all the partitions.
Put in win98 cdrom and reboot...boots from cd, starts install, loads files gets
to the restart part,

Now when it restarts it comes up on a black screen
"please wait while setup updates your configuation files"
"this could take a few minutes"

"completed updating files"

---the screen goes black for 4-5 minutes then

on a blue screen "disk write error"
"unable to write to drive c:"
"data or files may be lost"
"press any key"

--press a key

on blue screen
"a Fatal Exception 0E has occured at
0167:BFF86EAC"
"the current application will be terminated"

and there I am stuck...if I reboot and "boot from hard drive" I get..
"While initilizating device IS0
"Error: an I/O subsystem driver failed to load
"either a file in the .\iosubsys subdirectory is corrupt or system is low on memory"



I thought it was the cd (WIn98SE) so I tried plain old Win98 and got the same thing.
Win 95 started to install and came up with
Error- S0-0013...it just would not work at all.

So I tried XP...which was on it in the first place..no problemo...worked great.
Reformated the c: drive again and tried 98 same problem.

I need to get 98 on this machine as asome of my apps work much better than in xp.
and I want it to dual boot, but I need 98 on first right??

Is there some hitch installing win98 on a high end machine like this??

[Rudegar]

make sure the disk is not using ntfs
make sure you dont try to install both os's in the same dir
like c:\windows or something

[kimike]

I used a win98 start up disk to format all the partitions..and 98 must go on first anyway so its on its own directory.
Question..could the hdd be nt by default and unable to be made fat32

[Rudegar]

you partition your disk before you format it format dont change the partition type
fdisk is a tool which partition
format is a program which format

www.bootdisk.com should have images so you can make a real boot disk which is often easier when messing around with such things

of cause xp install should also display the partition type before the install really starts

[kimike]

you partition your disk before you format it format dont change the partition type fdisk is a tool which partition
format is a program which format

yea no ************************...I made the partitions w/ fdisk then formated each one w/ format...using a win98 startup disk...I said this in my original post.
My problem is with win98 not xp, as in the original post



Guess I'm ************************ out of luck...have to go with xp

[ADRAMELK]

I need to get 98 on this machine as asome of my apps work much better than in xp.
and I want it to dual boot, but I need 98 on first right??


Yes, install 98 first, the bootloader that xp installs afterward will allow you to choose which OS you want to boot.


yea no ************************...

Rudegar is just trying to help you, and hes a sharp guy so lets not be rude k.

[kimike]

Not trying to be rude..just getting frustrated...and pulling the hair.

Sorry Rudegar.

[Rudegar]

well no problem the reason i brougth up the xp install subject is that
when you deside early on in the install what drive and path and such you want it on
it tell what the filesystem is as in ntfs or fat or....

of cause you can also se that in a running install of xp
if you right click my com and choose manage
and go to disk management

[kimike]

xp is not the problem..98 is.

[Rudegar]

i know
but xp could show if the problem was that the filesystem was fat32

i havent messed with 98 in ages i dont know if it have some partition size limit
or if some of the newer bios settings could cause 98 grief

you could also remove as much hardware apart from optical, hd, video, cpu and memory to see if some hardware device could be confusing 98 causing a conflict

[kimike]

I'll give it a try...never thought to make the partition smaller.

[kimike]

I found the problem and thought I would share my findings...


"The original Fdisk accompanying Win98 can't partition HDrives larger than 64GB. Unless you pay close attention when partitioning this may not be apparent. Unfortunately you will need to redo the partitioning using the version of Fdisk capable of handling disks larger than 64GB. When using the new version of Fsisk to delete the existing partitions you may have trouble deleting them. If you do, use Delpart to delete and then Fdisk to create. Find both programs here: http://radified.com/Files/"

Hope this helps someone else....