Older computer, XP upgrade failure

I recently bought a older computer with 98 installed on it to tinker with. I Tried to upgrade it to XP (it met all the system requiremetns) and after the normal restart it would go to the blue sytem setup screen and frezes everytime. Ok, so i just thought to reformat and try a fresh intall. When i boot up it wont read the CD and says "invaid system disk." Odd to me but ok. I get a 98 disk...nothing. Take out the HD and reformat it in another computer and put it back in. it says, "no operating system," Duh, ok but it still wont read the CD. The CD drive works but do i need a start up floopy? I dont have a floppy dive so I hope not.

Is there anyway to install windows xp on a separate harddrive in a different compouter and switch in into the older one?

A lot of old pc's cant boot fom cd without a dos cdrom driver on floppy.

Go to http://www.bootdisk.com and make yourself a Windows 98 boot disk if you don't have one. Boot your system from this floppy disk. Fdisk and format the drive from the A prompt if necessary. Insert the XP CD. From the A prompt select the CD drive letter. Now type cd i386. From the i386 directory type winnt, and follow the on-screen instructions...

Dang...I dont have afloppy drive. Looks like i am making a trip to Staples. Thank you for the information!

So...there is no way that I can install XP from a different computer and swap in out into the other computer?

Nope, installing it on another pc of different spec wont work.

Floppy drives are cheap. $20 or less (Newegg $10 or less) Staples may be $20+

yea...but it means that i have to get floppy discs too! floppy drives are just so lame...

If you want the pc to boot, you have no choice in the matter!!

So true Rik!
I work on a lot of older systems so I use the infamous Windows 98 startup disk all too often. I can network most systems to my wired network and transfer files that way, but sometimes the floppy is the fastest way... as in this thread

yea, i am going to do it. It doesnt mean I have to like it. I do appreciate the help dont get me wrong...just venting.

It won't cost too much. You can remove the floppy after you fix this and keep it handy if you ever need it again

Or even return it 2 the shop for a refund!

Hahaha! Yes...i have done that many times before. That is an option.

Ok, sorry to revive a old thread but i ran into some snags again.

Got the floppy and the 98 boot disk. Followed the instructions of Tmagic650 but when the windows sceen pops up it says that "SmartDrive" is not installed. I can continue without it, so i do. The next screen tells me that I don't have enough space to install windows on and it's just enter to exit. This is odd because I have a 20 gig HD in there. I Switched out the HD's and the same thing happenes.

I looked at the useful help file but everything i tried did not work. I tried Fdisk, format, Sys, and Checkdisk but they all came up "missing parameter." Scan disk worked but it said that nothing was wrong.

Any advice? Am I doning something retarded?

Maybe i have to instal 98 again and then upgrade to XP?

Ok kane702,
You have to copy SmartDrive from the Windows 98 install CD to the Windows 98 boot floppy. From the Windows 98 CD, go to Tools, OLDMSDOS, SmartDrive, copy and paste SmartDrive to the Boot Floppy. Boot from the Windows 98 boot floppy disk.

At the A prompt type FDISK and make sure you enable "large block" before you delete the current DOS partition and create and make a new full partition on the 20GB hard drive active.

Insert the XP install CD and type at the A prompt, smartdrv, enter. At the A prompt type E: where E is the CD drive. At the E prompt, type CD i386. At E: i386 type winnt, enter, and follow the on-screen instructions to install XP

Awesome, thank you for you help!

but what if when I try to do the FDISK is says "missing parameter?"

Be aware this is a good indicator of hardware failure (bad hard drive, memory, overheating etc..).

Best of luck with Windows 98, but you might want to run a manufacturer's drive diagnostic and memtest+ on it before spinning your wheels.

Aw thanks. I will make sure to do that if i get it installed correctly. Hopefully it will go smoothly until i get Windows installed.

OK, got the smartdrive working ok. I ran FDISK fine. But then when the Windows setup comes up it still says that i need atleat 533 Mb of space and that nothing that bug was detected. I have a primary DOS partition with all of the 20gigs labled as C: and I have the large disk enabled.

What else am I doing wrong?

Seriously, thank you guys so much for your help.

"At the A prompt type FDISK and make sure you enable "large block" before you delete the current DOS partition and create and make a new full partition on the 20GB hard drive active"...
Did you miss this step?