Great!!! - Re: Partition and Dual Boot MkII (longish)

"Hawkeye23" <me@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ke10p19jpv1lmvfp38fm4v7trdo02kj087@xxxxxxxxxx
> On Fri, 02 Dec 2005 00:33:59 GMT,
>>"Hawkeye23" <me@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>> news:1mbuo1t1ddqhph59hn2vqh1sqv6qh89e50@xxxxxxxxxx
>>> On Thu, 01 Dec 2005 11:27:14 GMT,
>>> "pmj" <post@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
<snip>
> This second attempt has the slightly broader purpose of what
> W98SE OS recovery capability exists on my PC more generally
> (CD+HDD). I believe/hope there is positive news.

Yes!
There certainly is!...
:-)

Great!
:-)

<snip>
>> But the "PRELOAD" Directory sounds hopeful (& interesting?) -
>> What's in that then?
>
> It's a load of files 0000Ninp.inp where N=1to12 plus some other .inp
> files plus some DOS-looking .exe files.If that sounds important to
> you I can provide a list.

I'm not familiar with the particular (3rd party) "Recovery" Software
that is on that CD, but it *sounds* to me as if those .inp Files may
be some sort of Scripting, or "Batch" Type Input Files, which Control
what gets Loaded & Installed, on (perhaps) different (OEM) Versions
of the PC

<snip>
>>> & Also an Autorun.inf File
>>> Yes I do have one of these in the root.
>>
>> OK - What's in that?
>
> [autorun]
> OPEN=INSTALL.EXE
> ICON=INSTALL>ICO that's all.
> When the CD does autorun a GUI(?) appears called
> MASTER CD INSTALLER by AS MEDIA V6 1999.It provides buttons
> to test WAVE/MPEG/MIDI/AVI files and more buttons for
> DEVICE INSTALLN of SOUND/VIDEO/MODEM/NETWORK cards.
> Nothing about W98SE or OS recovery.

Ah, right, so that is what you get when you Run it from *within*
windoze then... (& yes, "GUI" stands for "Graphical User Interface",
which will only show up (work) in wiindoze - the other sort of
Interface (a Text based one) is what you get in MSDOS type Programs,
which Run *before* (or without) windoze Running.

<snip>
>>>> WIN98_21.CAB up to WIN98_74.CAB & WIN98_OL.CAB
>>>
>>> I do not have any WIN98_**.CAB files
>>
>> That's a pity!
>>
>> Cos those .CAB Files are what contains the bulk of the windoze
>> Files that get Installed.
>>
>> Are they in the "PRELOAD" Directory, by any chance?
>
> No.What's in PRELOAD dir described above.
>
>> Can you do a "Find Files" on the CD (for "*.cab") & see if the
>>WIN98_21.CAB - WIN98_74.CAB Files are *anywhere* on the CD?
>
> I have done and these WIN98_21to74 are not there but see below.

Yes, I have!!!
:-)

> There are a load of *.cab files in E:\ADD-ONS\PWS with strange
> sounding
> names.You might know if these have significance.

That's just the w98 "Personal Web Server" - Which you aren't likely
to need/use.

If you *do* want to Run any kind of Web Server on your PC, you would
do *far* better to Install something like the Industry Standard
(& Open Source) Apache Web Server, or one of the other light weight
(but Secure) Web Servers.

>>>> There will also be various other Files & .COM & .EXE Files,
>>>> but you will also need:
>>>> Setup.exe & w98Setup.bin
>>>
>>> There are indeed many and various other files and .COM and .EXE
>>> files.
>>> I do not however have Setup.exe or w98Setup.bin.
<snip>
> I'll hang off on these slightly hairy experiments until I get your
> reaction to the news below.I'm full time on providing the info you
> need for the mo'.

Well, you *did* let the thing "AutoRun"!
:-)

& that (for all we, or you) knew could have been just as "Hairy"!
:-)

Anyway, half the reason I keep mentioning/suggesting Booting off the
CD is to ccheck that you *can* actually Boot your PC up OK, off a CD!
:-)

Many people hear about how you have to do that, but don't actually
know *how* to, (or whether their PC BIOS is Set to be able to Boot
off a CD) cos they have never tried it...

& so then, when they do actually *need* to (when their PC has been made
thoroughly Brokted & won't Boot into windoze, they are a bit Flummoxed
& Confuzzled by it - either they can't do it, or they get "overawed",
when faced with ataht very Plain looking, forboding Black MSDOS Screen!

I was hoping to establish that you were OK with (& able to) Boot up
your PC off a CD whenever you need to OK.

>> We are aiming (at the mo) to establish for definite whether this
>>"Factory Recovery" CD that you have is, in fact, a windoze Install
>> CD!
>> :-)
>>
>> Many of them are.
>> They are often either a fairly normal Install CD, (possibly
>> Customized by the OEM), or sometimes a sort of "Boot Loader",
>> which then Installs windoze, using the .CAB Files that are on the
>> Hard Disk - either in a Folder somewhere, or in a Hidden Partition.
>
> Now you're talking.With this clue I now see there is a C:\CABS dir
> which contains all the missing WIN98_21thru74plus_OL plus the .CAB
> files that were on the Recovery CD plus the missing Setup.exe and
> w98setup.bin and much much more.

Brill!!!
Great!!!
:-)

> What do you make of that.

Well, actually I reckon that's pretty (no *very*!) good news!!!

Cos it means that yo ucan burn that lot to a CD & thus make your *own*
w98 SE Install CD!!!
& that is what I was *hoping* (& fairly sure, one way or another),
you would be able to do.

It solves the (perceived) prob of "not having a proper windoze Install
CD", in one fell swoop!
:-)

> There are other dirs in the C:\ called \RESTORE \DRIVERS \Erd and\eru
> which may also be relevant.You will I hope advise me.

I reckon they will all be useful (possibly/probably)

Especially if you (now that you can, with the windoze Install CD),
decide to wipe the existin gInstallation & Install it from fresh.

Having an Install CD opens up lots more really useful possibilities,
that without one, you were precluded from doing, or would have been
constrained & forced to do certain things, in certain ways, just so
as to avoid accidentally losing the existing Installation.

If yo uneed more Help with actually *making* a proper windoze Install
CD from a bunch of .CAB Files & things like Setup.exe & w98setup.bin,
then we can help with that.

You can even (& I would recommend it) make the Install CD a *Bootable*
CD, so you can Boot up the PC, even when it has no Operating System
at all on it (which may well happen, while doing some of what has been
suggested.

Since you're going to need some kind of "Boot Disk" anyway, to do what
Jeff Gaines has suggested (from what I can make out) & a Boot Disk is
useful anyway, you may as well have a Boot Disk that is a CD?
:-)
& an Install CD that is a Boot Disk! (like a normal one is)
:-)

<snip>
>> Can you tell us whether or not the Hard Disk does actually have
>> a "Hidden" Partition on it?
>
> I did have a little go a day or so ago to look for a hidden partition
> with FDisk and to my inexperienced eye it looked as if there wasn't
> one.It was all 40GB in one big partition.Ican have another go but I
> don't want to delay further sending the above info.

Fair enough.
A lot of the things like this, I only ask about, so as to get a clearer
idea of what the Machine is & how it's Set up, which helps with coming
up with sensible & practical suggestions.

>> Use FDisk to find that out.
>> Or something like PTInfo (or PTInfo32)
>> Or PTEdit (or PTEdit32)
<snip>
> Yes indeed but there's alimit to the number of issues my mind will
> bend to at one time so I'm sticking to W98SE OS installn facilities
> for the moment.

Which you have doen now & come up with *exactly* the stuff you need!
:-)

> I look forward to hearing what you both think of the above info.
> Many thanks for your enthusiastic support.

LOL!!!
"Enthusiastic Support"?
:-)

Does it show then?
:-)

Yes - I do like to think of this sort of thing as *not* being anything
of a "Chore", or something that you can't do, so yes, I do like to try
to give encouragement & support - cos I know it can all be a bit
"daunting", when you first get involved with it.

BTW - I won't be around as much over this weekend, (cos of work stuff),
but I'll be looking in, when I can & marking stuff for Reply later,
when I get a chance. (I'll be available on the phone though, like Jeff
suggested, if you need any quicker Help - sometimes a Phone call can
help a lot when trying to "get your head round" this sort of thing)

& I'm sure others can also point you in the right direction, for making
a proper, Bootable Install CD from those .CAB Files that you found -
it's basically, a bit like making a "Slipstream" Install CD for WinXP,
(the same principles & concepts are involved) except this is for w98.

HTH

--
pmj


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