new computer cant find c:\

[Les_Dennis]

I have bought a new computer and cant install windows because it cant find c:\ the boot up disk and windows CD wont run because of this. I have explained this to the company who have just sent me an e-mail saying "Is the hard drive in bios?". Does anyone know what this means or how to fix this. All the wires are firmly in their correct place by the way.

Cheers

[filburt1]

You might want to partition and format the drive.

[scoutt]

Originally posted by filburt1
You might want to partition and format the drive.

not everybody has to partition like you Arien. if he bought this computer from a company then it should already have windows installed. unless he took it off.

what kind of computer is it? and do you know how to get into the bios?

[Les_Dennis]

I dont want to sound thick but how do I do that?

[HarryW]

The boot disk should work without a fixed disk drive. You can run a basic OS like DOS from a floppy disk.

Is it an old computer? If so you'll probably have to set up the hard disk yourself in the BIOS, telling it how many cylinders there are and so on. If the computer is new or if you're just lucky, the BIOS should pick up the HDD settings without you telling it.

If you startup the computer with a Windows 98 startup disk it will create a small C: drive which is actually a RAM disk - the data on the floppy disk gets decompressed to an emulated hard disk which actually resides in RAM, and the utilities it uses are then run from the RAM disk. You should at least get this with a Windows 98 startup disk.

If you want to install Windows from a CD you can either setup your BIOS to boot from the CD (some BIOSes support this) or use a Win98 startup disk to boot up, which will start up the drivers necessary to get to the CD drive.

Win98 startup disks are very handy.

[scoutt]

well it can be a lot of ways.

it all depends on what computer you have. on the very first screen you see, try pushing these combainations

the del key
or
F1
or
shift F1
or
esc

try each one and see what the response is. but like I said it all depends on the brand name of the computer.

[Les_Dennis]

Its not actually my computer, its my father in laws and I need to impress him with my knowledge by sorting this out.

How do I get into BIOS and how do I look for the hard drive when i'm in it?

[Les_Dennis]

also when i'm in dos mode I can bring up d:\ & a:\ but when I type cd\ or c:\ it cannot find it. It is a new computer with supposedly all the trimmings

[Skitchen8]

at the dos promt type cd .., if the next line says "C:\" then u r ok

[scoutt]

if you are in A: or D: then typing cd.. or cd\ will not get you to the c: prompt

if you are at those prompts just type C:

[Skitchen8]

oh yeah, sry i haven't used dos in awhile...i was thinkin that he was in windows folder or sommit like that

[scsa20]

Originally posted by scoutt
well it can be a lot of ways.

it all depends on what computer you have. on the very first screen you see, try pushing these combainations

the del key
or
F1
or
shift F1
or
esc

try each one and see what the response is. but like I said it all depends on the brand name of the computer.

hey, you forget F2

[nishantp]

Originally posted by Les_Dennis
I have bought a new computer and cant install windows because it cant find c:\ the boot up disk and windows CD wont run because of this. I have explained this to the company who have just sent me an e-mail saying "Is the hard drive in bios?". Does anyone know what this means or how to fix this. All the wires are firmly in their correct place by the way.

Cheers

OK i havnt read the rest of the thread, but in the BIOS, somewhere, theres a boot-sequence. This tells the bios where to look for boot files (command.com or cmd.exe i think). You have to make sure C: is in the sequence. The exact process varies. You should try looking in your bios manual.

Another thing...One time when i was re-formatting and reinstalling everything on my computer, i accidentally forgot to set c: as the boot drive. You can do this (in most cases...) my booting into Dos and then typing "sys c:" (Win 9x only).

[scoutt]

Originally posted by scsa20


hey, you forget F2

yes I realized that once I got off the compuer.

uhhh JP, he can't get into the bios

[scsa20]

I like DOS and the BIOS...so many opatuaties you can make a sweet boot up virus (well...not really a virus) that well pervent you from getting into your computer