Invalid system disk with windows me on ibm netvista pIII?
Two ibm netvista computers were donated to the organization that I work for both running windows me. Both have the same problem, invalid system disk... There are no cds or floppies present in the drives. I was able to boot to a 98 boot disk and format the hard drive but now I have a fat32 file system, not desired. I want to install win 2k pro but the computer is not booting to the cdrom. I looked in the bios to change the boot order but I can not find any mention of boot order, boot sequence or anything remotely close to that. Anybody out there every work with ibm? Is this setting hidden somewhere? Does anyone know another way around this problem? I know that I could use 2k setup disks but I was looking for a faster install.
ASKER
I'll check the model the next time I am at work but I can say that these computers are pIIIs with 1 g processors and they came with win me on them. They are 2 or 3 years old and they should abosolutely support booting from the cdrom. Any other ideas anyone?
Press F10 or F11/F12 Key while the system is booting... it wud ask for a CD/Floppy/Network boot...
go here,
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm
and download the exe to make a bootable floppy with CD support on a working pc.
[personally, I like the W98 SE Custom No Ramdrive one.]
insert a blank floppy, and doubleclick the downloaded file.
It will install some files to the disk.
Take the disk to the dead pc's and boot from it.
watch as it boots, and it will allow access to the CDROM drives under a letter, normally D:
type D:
Insert the w2k cdrom and type SETUP
it should now start the installation.
as part of the installation process it will ask about partition types, and let you delete (and convert to NTFS) as desired.
Boot order - IBM's can be funny about that stuff, they just don't list it sometimes....
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm
and download the exe to make a bootable floppy with CD support on a working pc.
[personally, I like the W98 SE Custom No Ramdrive one.]
insert a blank floppy, and doubleclick the downloaded file.
It will install some files to the disk.
Take the disk to the dead pc's and boot from it.
watch as it boots, and it will allow access to the CDROM drives under a letter, normally D:
type D:
Insert the w2k cdrom and type SETUP
it should now start the installation.
as part of the installation process it will ask about partition types, and let you delete (and convert to NTFS) as desired.
Boot order - IBM's can be funny about that stuff, they just don't list it sometimes....
oh.. and if the w2k cd is burned, sometimes drives don't like this... try an original, or reburn using different burning software/media
Danny
Danny
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ASKER
Nothing has worked.
Serial #s on machines are 1074677 and 1325427. Machines look identical and present with the same problem.
Serial #s on machines are 1074677 and 1325427. Machines look identical and present with the same problem.
ASKER
I just tried to install 2k using the setup disks. Everything was going fine until I got to the format. It got almost through the format then gave me an error, something about an invalid partition? Help! I have installed this software many times with no problem.
Did you partition the disk? Also there should be a model number above the serial number on the front of the machine, let me know what that says.
ASKER
I partitioned with fdisk.
Model numbers are EP2 & G21.
I think that I might have a boot sector virus?! What do you think?
Model numbers are EP2 & G21.
I think that I might have a boot sector virus?! What do you think?
well, best way to fix that is fdisk /m or fdisk /b, I can't remember which, but both reset the boot sector.
ASKER
I removed the drive and slaved it to another drive on a computer that was working fine and then ran a virus scan, no virus. But before I was able to run a virus scan I had to format the drive. After doing this I put the drive back in the orginal computer and was able to load 2k. This worked but there has got to be a better way. I still have no idea how to change the boot sequence?
Did you read my comment above about changing the boot sequence in the bios?
ASKER
I tried your suggestion quickflash. Both F1 and F12, they both took me into setup. I even tried all the other function keys at boot to no avail. Model numbers are EP2 & G21 .
Netvista is many things, can you be more specific.?
I have 2 old comps: a compaq PII 450MHz that won't boot from CD and a "Bamboo" with a AMD K6-2 350 MHZ which does
I think generally the "brand" PC' s are a bit slower to implement "new features"