Argh - Computer help!

[ChrissyChick]

Err no.

Windows can only install what it supported when it was made


Win98 will not support new MB's without the software being loaded


please bitch, I run a business.....on your knees and suck dick

ARE YOU STUPID OR JUST BLIND. No one is installing a new motherboard, he is reformatting his hard drive!

 

[ChrissyChick]

He is formatting the disk, so MB drivers will have to be loaded on after the reinstallation

don't talk piss

Your full of shit, think what you want.

 

[Guest]

 

[ma_guy]

If you are running Win 95/98/ME/2000 or XP then Windows will find everything it needs for the motherboard itself on the install disk unless you have some really off the wall system.

If you have a CD Burner I'd go and download drivers for you monitor and modem and burn them onto a CD along with all the data files you want to keep (i.e. your "My Documents" folder for example..). If you are running on a high speed connection using a NIC you'll want the driver for that instead of the Modem driver.

Then you can reformat, run the base Windows install, reconnect to the net (write down your ISP's settings before starting!) and download what you need. The Windows Update site isn't a bad idea since you'll want to install all the service packs anway.

Both Soblue and I have done this in the past month when installing Win2000 and it takes less than a full day to get everything up and running again.

If you happen to be working on a laptop then you'll probably want to collect as many drivers as possible since they tend to be pickier..

 

[Guest]

 

[ChrissyChick]

Funny you are the only one who feels that way!

 

[Guest]

 

[I'mVan]

Ok everyone, thank you so much for the help. Especially WH, for his consice and direct approach . Oh, and please stop quoting, I use ignore for a reason

 

[The Heretic]

Harold came to the rescue as usual, but I would add one more caution, even though it is probably covered by his instructions:

Some older computers will not boot from the primary CD drive as they don't recognize it until a driver for it is loaded. This gets you into a Catch-22 situation where you can't boot because your computer doesn't recognize the one device for which you have a bootable disk - the CD.

Sometimes it is necessary to be able to boot from the CD drive, and it is always necessary to be able to read from the CD. As Harold suggested; create a bootable startup floppy disk - always - whether you are reinstalling the OS or not. You never know when you may need that disk as your hard drive may go bad. Even if you have a computer like mine that can boot from the CD, it is a very good idea to also have a bootable floppy as the CD drive could go bad, or your IDE controller could go bad.

Make sure that the bootable floppy can recognize your CD drive. It should be able to do this with its generic ATAPI CD-ROM drivers, but you may have to setup the floppy so that it comes up with that driver installed.

Beyond that, you should have handy the latest working drivers for your important devices, such as your video card, your CDR drive, your sound card, and your modem. The modem is very important because the internet is where you will find driver software and help.

Motherboard drivers? Probably not needed unless you have something totally weird and unrecognized by the OS, and then those should have come with the computer. I have a CD that came with my motherboard, but I have never needed to install anything from it; it mostly contains stuff that is not needed. I believe it does have the program to update my BIOS and a few other odds and ends that I might need someday, but when my hard drive went south last year I only needed my OS CD and other drivers, such as for the CDR and sound card.

 

[The Heretic]

Harold came to the rescue as usual, but I would add one more caution, even though it is probably covered by his instructions:

Some older computers will not boot from the primary CD drive as they don't recognize it until a driver for it is loaded. This gets you into a Catch-22 situation where you can't boot because your computer doesn't recognize the one device for which you have a bootable disk - the CD.

Doh! Just reread WH's instructions and he had this covered - sorry for the waste of bandwidth.

 

[Guest]

 

[I'mVan]

Doh! Just reread WH's instructions and he had this covered - sorry for the waste of bandwidth.

lol

That's cool STG, I appreciate it. I'm gonna blow this thing now. I have a working boot disk, a Windows CD and my modem/ network card drivers. See ya on the flip side.

 

[I'mVan]

god damn mofo piece of shite

"Recording Current Bad Clusters . . ." Gets as high as 9% then says "Insufficient memory" this is part of the format process. Grrrrr


Any more hlep all you smart folks?

 

[Guest]

 

[I'mVan]

Originally posted by Hanns_Schmidt
This person is on your Ignore List. To view this post click [here]

Thanks for the bump

 

[Guest]

He has a point, Van. If you're reformatting, you should be off the pc entirely, with all windows closed.

 

[Weird Harold]

god damn mofo piece of shite

"Recording Current Bad Clusters . . ." Gets as high as 9% then says "Insufficient memory" this is part of the format process. Grrrrr


Any more hlep all you smart folks?

Run Scandisk first to block out the bad clusters. That should compile the list for format to use without it requiring the extra memory to compile it's own list.

If you have that many bad clusters, you probably need new harddrive.

 

[I'mVan]

Run Scandisk first to block out the bad clusters. That should compile the list for format to use without it requiring the extra memory to compile it's own list.

If you have that many bad clusters, you probably need new harddrive.

Heh, no shit buddy. I need a whole new machine. But I'll work on rent first. Of course, I'm running format from dos, off the startup disk. So I don't have any windows open. And I've run scan disk. Is it worth going to 'Thorough'?

 

[Weird Harold]

And I've run scan disk. Is it worth going to 'Thorough'?

Thorough mode (surface scan) is the mode that locks out the bad sectors. The normal mode just checks the file structure for errors.

A second thought: The Startup Disk that Windows 98 creates uses a Ramdisk to hold all of the utilities and drivers it needs.

Format a second floppy using Format /u /s to mke it bootable, and copy FDISK and Format onto that disk and boot from it to free up the memory that the ramdisk uses. Once you get the drive formattd, reboot with the Startup disk to get your CD support back to load windows.

 

[ma_guy]

god damn mofo piece of shite

"Recording Current Bad Clusters . . ." Gets as high as 9% then says "Insufficient memory" this is part of the format process. Grrrrr

It sounds like your Hard Drive has quite a few bad clusters and that would be an explantion for your problems all along. Based on current prices you may just be better off replacing it in the long run (You can buy a 40GB IDE drive right now for $39).

If you want to try and salvage the drive you have you'll probably need some better diagnostics/utilities. Start with figuring out who made your drive and check their WWW site for disk management utilities. You may have to find a utility to allow you to do a low-level format but if it's on it's last legs it won't buy you much more than a few months and then you'll be doing all this again.

 

[I'mVan]

(You can buy a 40GB IDE drive right now for $39)

Really? Dude, if that's the case, I'll be replacing it in a week then. Still gonna do this in the mean time.

Stay posted for Disk installaion help

 

[fgarvb1]

having gone through this shit twice in the last thirty days.

With older computers that did not have the install drivers for the modem, display adapters and such, i can tell you first listen to WH!

And if you want to be on the safe side, take the SOB apart and look at what is in it and TRY to find them on the net.

I spent a week and a half looking for one of the bastards!

Your cdrom drivers may not be on your windows disk either!

(I bought driver detective because i was wore out to tell me both what the hell was on there and help me find the drivers)

Oh, one more thing that cost me $35.00 US, and three hours on the phone with microsoft.

MAKE DAMN SURE the calender is set to the right year and the day is right or windows update may not work!

 

[Lancecastor]

Drivers?

http://www.witi4hire.com/companies/img/apple.jpg

 

[fgarvb1]

Yeah, Drivers.

 

[The Heretic]

Re: Drivers?

http://www.witi4hire.com/companies/img/apple.jpg

You think MacOS doesn't use drivers?

And it gets even better - can you say Unix (OSX)?