Reformatted. Now what do I do?

[Dillinger4]

I reformetted an old amd 600Mhz system from safe mode. I wanted to run the OS disk from dos that was in the cd rom drive but none of the commands that I entered were correct. I exited out of dos and and the system system did search for a boot record from floppy which wasn't ok but it found a boot record from the IDE. It also said invalid system disk. Replace disk, then press any key. What should I do?

[-TPM-]

What OS are you tring to install?

[Datacide]

I think you need to restart your computer with a boot disk

DOS has no CD Drivers so you will also need the boot disk for that

[si_the_geek]

You may be able to tell your computer to boot from CD rather than a hard disk (depending on the computer - I think 600MHz is after this became standard).

Most recent OS CD's are bootable, and will install for you from the CD.

To turn on the option to boot from CD, you need to go into your BIOS settings. Generally you need to press a key (usually Del or F10) to enter the BIOS settings, from there you should be able to find "Boot order" or similar, and hopefully CD or CD-ROM will be in the list.

[Dillinger4]

Posted by -TPM-

What OS are you tring to install?

Windows 98 second eddition.

Thanks for the help guys. Si I will see if I can get into the BIOS tomorrow to change the settings so the comp boots from the cd rom.

[dglienna]

You will still have to press a key (usually space) within a few seconds of booting if you "want to boot from CD"

If the BIOS doesn't support it, you may be able to flash it with an upgrade.

[si_the_geek]

If that isn't possible (I'm not sure if 98SE supports booting), then you will need a bootable floppy disk with CD-ROM support as DataCide mentioned (you should be able to create this in Win98/95).

[GaryMazzone]

Win98SE does contain the boot sector. I have installed on my wife's PC starting from the CD.

[Dillinger4]

Getting into the bios is a no go. All I keep getting is "Boot failure. Insert BOOT diskette in A: Press any key whe ready" I made a boot disk from http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm but when I press "any key" The system searches for a boot record from floppy. Then says non-system disk or disk error. I also tried pressing and holding the spacebar at boot up to see if the system would boot from the cd rom. Didn't work.

[GaryMazzone]

You need to really read and pay attention to the screen as the systems starts up. Getting into the BIOS is different based on what BIOS is on the computer. Some say Press ESC to Enter Setup others might say Press F2 to enter setup. You need to pay attention to those messages as they appear on the screen. Once into the BIOS you should be able to find the location to select the boot device.

[Dillinger4]

The BIOS gives no message as to how it can be accessed.

[si_the_geek]

The keys I've seen used before are:

F1
F2
F10
DEL
ESC
Print-Screen


You'll need to press one of them (or maybe something else!) in the first few seconds of boot-up.

[Dillinger4]

Tried all the above listed. None work.

[-TPM-]

I seem to remember Dell's using either Ctrl,shift or Alt and F1

[dglienna]

You might have fast boot enabled, which doesn't count the memory. To see the screen, press the shift-pause key to lock the screen, and any key to resume.
Write down the information and post it. It usually says how to get into Setup, or BIOS.
What kind of computer is it?

[RobDog888]

Fast boot is when the memory is only verified once and not 3 times.

Usually to get into startup options its the F8 key during post. You need to press it several times until the DOS boot menu options display.

[dglienna]

When I turn it off, the memory counts up. Sometimes takes a few seconds.