Topic: Problem with old PII when trying to re-install O/S

[-Minter-]

Hello

We've got some new PC's at work & I've asked if I can have all the old ones. Nothing special, just old EloneX Pentium 2's mostly (x5) a CompaQ running a Celeron & an age old Gateway which I haven't looked at yet.

The boss said I can have them providing I wipe the hard drives first so no company info is freeley avalible ( I know it can be restored by someone more clued up on computers but it's not that important). He thinks I want them for parts but I actualy just want to sell them to local people as a first PC dirt cheap.

I started on the Compaq Celeron today, went into DOS & typed in FORMAT C: & it did it, then found the Win 98 disc & book for it & put the o/s back on with hardly any problems at all.

Then I got one of the Elonex PII's & did the same thing. But, & heres the problem... when I re-booted it after wiping the C drive & put in the Win 98 disc a message comes up NON SYSTEM DISK. LOAD CORRECT DISC AND PRESS ANY KEY or words to that effect. What system disc? We have files for each PC & there is only the Windows 98 stuff in there. What do I do now? I don't want to do it to the rest of the machines incase I hit the same problem.

I know these are old, naff computers & I'm not that into the in's & out's of how PC's work, in fact this is the first time I've even gone into DOS! (Can't tell can you? :wink: )

[chorleydave]

Hi, Minter.  

From what you have said, I suspect that the PC you are currently working on is set in the BIOS to boot from the C: drive and as there is nothing on it (as it is wiped clean) you are getting the non-system disk message.  You can easily check whether this is the case by putting a floppy disk in the drive, switch on the computer and watch to see if it first tries to access the floppy.  If not, you need to enter the BIOS menu, usually by pressing either the delete key or the F2 key as the computer is starting and then find and change the boot sequence settings so that it boots from the A: drive first.  To change the boot sequence, highlight the menu item using the arrow keys and then use the Page Up and Page Down keys to change the sequence. For example, depending on how many drives you have in the PC it might show C: A: D: and you need it to show A: first.

Hope this helps.

[-Minter-]

Thanks Dave. I will give it a go tommorow at work & let you know how I get on.

Thanks again

[-Minter-]

Thanks for the advice. It pretty much worked what you said & I've learnt a lot from it too! Never been into DOS or the BIOS before!

[chorleydave]

Hi again, Minter.  Glad you got it sorted.  You might want to stick around and have a look in here now and then.  It's amazing what you can pick up just by reading the threads.

 

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I will    I've got questons about sorting my website out, well getting it actually up as I paid for it & have the homepage designed but can't sus out how to upload it.

Thats for another thread anyway

[sam]

yeah but just say if u need any more help, we are all here to help.