Have a old laptop problem. Trying to reformat and install windows 98 it wont let me.

[PCTechie316]

I have my dad's old laptop and I'm trying to blowout the hard drive. I put in the windows 95/98 boot disc in to the drive. I wiped out the partion and created a new one and also reformated it by typing a:format c:/s. Thats done.

Now, I put in the windows 98 CdRom Disc. And the setup says that there is a window 98 already on it. How is that possibe I reformated the hard drive ?. So I just continue the setup and when I get to the point where the computer restarts, it boots up saying "windows is booting up for the first time". Then it just freezes. What am I doing wrong, can anybody please help me ?

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to TechSpot

Did you also set that partition as 'active' (in FDISK)?
Without that, W98 can't run.

 

[PCTechie316]

Not 100% sure if i did

I am not sure if i did set the partition active. How do I set it active again? And when windows 98 installs, should i chose the laptop installation - for portable computers?

 

[Lunatic]

To set an active partition go into dos, use boot disk, at the command prompt, type fdisk. When you are prompted to enable large disk support, click Yes.
Choose Set active partition, press the number of the partition that you want to make active, and then press ENTER. Get out of there, Esc, and restart.

The installation choice is up to you. You can choose custom and install only what you want.