Cannot find DVD or my usb stick

I'm trying to instal a new operating system on a windows 98 computer but it will not find the DVD or my USB stick. Both show when the machine loads but does not appear in MY COMPUTER or in my system file. Unfortunately I'm working with win98 and trying to upgrade it to XP.
I have done everything I believe possible with the bios,
Sure hope U have a solution.:major:cry

 

Does this computer have a floppy drive?

 

Yes it does have a floppy drive and it shows in My Computer and it also reads and writes.

 

See if Plop can detect your USB flash drive. Do not install Plop to your hard drive. Download boot manager plpbt-5.0.14.zip here. Unzip the file to your desktop. You want the file plpbt.img. Download rawwritewin to your desktop. Double click it and a window will open asking where the img file is. Browse to plpbt.img and click the write button. You should now have a bootable floppy. Connect your USB flash drive and then boot the floppy disk. A menu will appear. Select USB and enter. If your USB is bootable, it should boot from it. To create a bootable USB for XP use WintoFlash.

 

Windows 98 is NOT plug and play for USB devices. Every device needs a driver added before the computer can use it. I do remember those headaches well from my windows 98 days!

Unfortunately, finding a driver for a hardware device that will work in Windows 98 will be like looking for a needle in a haystack because 98 support ended so many years ago.

 

Hello plodr,
I just booted up a USB flash drive on a very old Gateway Windows 98 machine which does not support booting from USB. I had YUMI installed on the flash drive. I booted the Plop floppy with the USB flash drive connected and selected USB. It recognized my USB flash drive and I then booted YUMI which uses syslinux for a boot loader. So I think the OP has a pretty good chance of having it work for him but it can be fussy. No guarantees.

Edit: what I am worried about is how much ram the OP has and if the computer is powerful enough to run XP.

 

Sorry, I'm not at all familiar with the tools you are using. (YUMI and Plop). In fact, I don't think I've ever heard of either until your post.

As you said, hardware running 98 might even be limited to 256MB or 512MB of RAM which can be painful trying to run XP.

 

I can tell U it is a 6 yr old Gamers computer with 512 of ram.
Looks like it has booted to the floppy and I clicked on USB, nothing is happening???
The flash drive did appear in the bootup window.

 

I do not think that computer would run XP very well. Did you create a bootable USB using WintoFlash?

Edit: I forgot something. Plop will also let you boot from a CD. Can you put your XP install CD into the drive and instead of selecting USB in the PLOP menu, select CD drive and see if the XP disk boots.

 

OK here is some more info for you.

AMD Athlon XP2500+
Intel MMX
640 RAM
Memory testing 655630K

The computer DOES boot to the floppy and once I click on the USB the computer screen freezes. Does not matter what I click on the screen still freezes, and stays that way.

The keyboard is a USB connection and right beside it I have the USB stick. (Part of the motherboard.)

BIOS setup is: floppy, dvd then HHD 0

:cry

 

"I do not think that computer would run XP very well. Did you create a bootable USB using WintoFlash?

Yes I did and right now it is in the USB connection

Edit: I forgot something. Plop will also let you boot from a CD. Can you put your XP install CD into the drive and instead of selecting USB in the PLOP menu, select CD drive and see if the XP disk boots."

The XP install CD is also sitting in the DVD player I have tried to boot with it but not going anywhere.

 

Does your computer support booting from Removable Devices? If it does, see if USB is enabled. If you have a USB keyboard, I am thinking you should have something in BIOS that lets you boot from USB.

Just as a precaution, when Plop boots, Press Ctrl+Esc. This should put you in text mode. Then go to Setup and set the USB mode to 1. If that does not work, try Mode 2. Press Esc to exist the menu and then scroll up to USB and hit Enter.

Can you try booting your USB from another computer that supports booting from USB to see if the WintoFlash installation went okay?

I have one idea left to try but I am still working on it. Is the USB flash drive detected when using Windows 98?

 

Does your computer support booting from Removable Devices? If it does, see if USB is enabled. If you have a USB keyboard, I am thinking you should have something in BIOS that lets you boot from USB.

USB is not listed in BIOS. BUT other devices is ON.

Just as a precaution, when Plop boots, Press Ctrl+Esc. This should put you in text mode. Then go to Setup and set the USB mode to 1.

After clicking on Setup it does not give a USB option.
There is no mode 1, mode 2 etc.
It does give a window with options to Partition, Profiles, and bootmanager.

If that does not work, try Mode 2. Press Esc to exist the menu and then scroll up to USB and hit Enter.


Can you try booting your USB from another computer that supports booting from USB to see if the WintoFlash installation went okay?

Looks like the WintoFlash is on the USB stick. It didn't seem to do anything So I just now have moved the files to the main file.
Pics attached

I have also reversed the KeyBoard and the USB to see if that would make a difference... Nope.

I have one idea left to try but I am still working on it. Is the USB flash drive detected when using Windows 98?

NO it only is detected when the computer first starts up.

 

In BIOS, can you press enter when Other Devices is highlighted? Does it give any options for USB boot? Is your DVD drive detected in BIOS? Is the DVD drive IDE or SATA?

It looks like Wintoflash was installed on the flash drive instead of XP.
I believe that is why nothing is happening.

Check this video on Wintoflash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SwZDboRv6U

I am going to double check on the Mode problems.

Edit: My mistake. You have to press enter after highlighting Bootmanager in Setup. Then go down to Force USB1.1 and press enter for mode 1 and enter again for mode 2. Press esc to back out of setup and then highlight USB and press enter. But, first you will need to fix your flash drive.

 

In BIOS, can you press enter when Other Devices is highlighted?
Does it give any options for USB boot? NO

Is your DVD drive detected in BIOS? Does not show

Is the DVD drive IDE or SATA? IDE

WintoFlash seems very unstable as it keeps changing. One bootup and I can move thru a couple of screens and the next time I can't go anywhere. One thing I have learned is that if the background is in motion I'm not going anywhere.

I think I will reformat the floppy and reinstall WinToFlash on it in the morning.

Good thing I am bald... no hair to pull out!

 

You have to install Win2flash on your computer, not a floppy. Then launch the program.

 

tgell, the computer he is using has Windows 98. I'm not so sure wintoflash will work on that. See this thread
http://wintoflash.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1708
Can you confirm that it will work in Windows 98?

 

That is a very good point plodr. Thank You. I thought he might have had another computer to work on. :-o

Yep, I can confirm that it only works on XP and later.

Lanceosh, do you have a computer that has XP or later available? If not, I am going to have to try another method.

Edit: Lanceosh, can you tell me what SP version your XP install disk has? It should be on the label.

 

The computer I am writing you on is XP3 uptodate. With a working Floppy, DVD and a USB.

The computer with the problem has win98 installed.and a working Floppy but that is it.
Therefore I can't instal WintoFlash on the win98 computer as the file is to big for a floppy.

 

Okay,
With the downloaded Wintoflash zip file on your desktop of an admin account of you XP computer unzip it to a folder on the desktop. Place your XP install disk into your CD drive. Double click the Wintoflash.exe file.

http://www.place77.com/article/48/wintoflash-tutorial/

When finished you should have all of your XP files from the install disk on your USB flash drive.

Then boot the floppy disk with Plop on your Windows 98 computer with the USB flash drive you created on your XP computer connected.

Edit: Here is a better step by step guide.
http://komku.blogspot.com/2009/09/wintoflash-guide-install-windows-xp.html

 

Ok so you want the

 

Ok I now have XP Pro on the Flashdisk and the plodr in the win98 computer... Restarted the win98 computer with the flash drive in and the plodr on the screen.... I have moved the curser down to USB........

NEXT?

 

At the Plop menu, highlight USB and press enter. Edit: does the USB boot?

If that does not work, go to setup, bootmanager and keydown to Force usb1.1 and press enter. It should change to Mode 1. Press the esc key to back out to the main menu and keyup to USB. Press enter.

 

At the Plop menu, highlight USB and press enter.

Computer freezes and has to be rebooted when enter is pressed.

Edit: does the USB boot? NO

Going to try your next step. BRB

Curser will not move past the setup.... ( Looks like other windows are open but so faint I can't read them and the curser does not go to them)

If that does not work, go to setup, bootmanager and keydown to Force usb1.1 and press enter.
It should change to Mode 1.
Press the esc key to back out to the main menu and keyup to USB. Press enter.

 

When plop boots, Press Ctrl+esc. This will put it into text mode. Then try forcing USB1.1 to mode 1

 

CTL Esc to get to text then the Curser will move to setup but Curser will not move off the opening window even tho the second window shows.

 

It looks like we are out of options regarding PLop. When you right click the USB flash drive when it is connected to your XP computer, in the General tab under file system, what does it say? Is it NTFS or FAT32?

On the second window. You are talking about the window that has Bootmanager listed, correct?

 

Fat32

 

Under Plop did it freeze at the warning sign or at the menu screen that had the bootmanager option?

 

Plop freezes on the first window I can sometimes move the curser down to USB and sometimes to setup but cannot move it off the first window. I may have to start the computer as many as 5-6 times before I get a proper startup window.

 

Okay,
It looks like Plop is not a solution for your computer. Keep the USB flash drive with windows. I want to try something else first. Do you have access to 4 floppy disks? I also need to know what version of XP (pro or home) and service pack the install disk is . Is it SP1 or SP2. Hopefully not SP3.

 

It looks like Plop is not a solution for your computer. Keep the USB flash drive with windows. XP Pro is on the flash drive. Not sure if it is 1-2 or 3 so I'm going to say 1.

I want to try something else first. Do you have access to 4 floppy disks? YES I do.

I also need to know what version of XP (pro or home) and service pack the install disk is . Is it SP1 or SP2. Hopefully not SP3.

 

If you go to the root directory of the XP install disk, there should be a readme.htm file. Double click it. Your browser should open. In the file it will say what sp version you have.

 

Can't see a root directory but I'd still say it is 1st edition as it looks like October 2001.

 

Okay,
What I meant by root directory what you see when you explore the install CD. When you put the install disk in the CD drive, it will spin up and the icon for Windows XP install will should show. Right click and select explore. The window that opens will be the root directory of the install CD. I am pretty sure it is the original release without SP with that date but I just want to be sure.

Here is an image of the root directory of an install CD. Notice the SP after the file name Win51ip. If it is SP1 it will show it on that file. This image is for SP2. If you have no SP, then you will only see win51ip. But see if you can open the readme.htm as shown in this image.

 

I've attached a screen capture that is different then yours.
So I clicked on instal and it said this computer has a newer version..
I already knew this computer had sp 3.

 

You did not try to install this install disk on your XP computer, correct? You should not have clicked install. Your XP disk is the original with no service pack.

I am not sure if these disks will recognize your DVD drive but it it worth a try. If these do not work, I will have to create a floppy with USB drivers and see if that can see your USB flash drive at boot.

I made a mistake. You will actually need 6 floppy disks. Download the file to your computer with the floppy disk. Double click it. It will prompt you for the floppies. Mark each one so you know which is 1,2,3... Then boot the first floppy disk with the XP install disk in the CD drive. It will prompt you to remove it and replace with the next.

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=8030

 

I have 7 blank floppy disks formatted and ready.

 

Took some work but I do have my 6 disks ready.

I made a mistake. You will actually need 6 floppy disks. Download the file to your computer with the floppy disk. Double click it. It will prompt you for the floppies. Mark each one so you know which is 1,2,3...

DONE

Then boot the first floppy disk with the XP install disk in the CD drive.

Is this correct? I think it should be first floppy in the floppy drive with NO disk in the DVD as the computer can't find it anyways?

It will prompt you to remove it and replace with the next.

OK

 

Disk 2 will not instal the computer freezes after installing disk 1.

I will try another instal on Sunday after I redownload the disks again.

Thanks for your patience tgell it really is appreciated!!

 

Keep the CD in the tray when you put disk 1 of the floppy set in the floppy drive and boot.

I am getting too old.
When you booted to Windows 98 with this computer, was the DVD drive working? I should have asked this question first. And one more question. Was the USB flash drive detected in Windows 98?

If the DVD drive was not working when you booted windows 98, then I will have to come up with a floppy disk with USB drivers and see if your USB flash drive is recognized. Even if the USB was not recognized in Windows 98, hopefully the floppy disk with find it.

Edit: I remember now that you said the DVD was not recognized in BIOS. If that is so, I am pretty sure you will not see the XP install CD with these floppy disks. It was a very long time ago but for some reason I remember having a computer with Window98 that did not show the CD drive in BIOS but was recognized when I booted to Windows but maybe that was in dream for all I know.

 

Sorry for the double post, but were you able to access the DVD drive with those floppies you created? If not, I have created a floppy disk that can access USB drives using DOS but the install procedure for XP will be a little different. Hopefully it will see your flash drive. Let me know and I will upload the floppy image.

 

Keep the CD in the tray when you put disk 1 of the floppy set in the floppy drive and boot. Check

When you booted to Windows 98 with this computer, was the DVD drive working? I should have asked this question first.
And one more question. Was the USB flash drive detected in Windows 98?

The DVD and the USB Flash are found in the Bootup but NOT in win98!!

OK so here goes with the boot disks:
Last night disk 1 asked for disk 2 then the comp froze.

Last night all disks downloaded with a couple of hesitations but I did get them to completely download.

Today I tried to redownload after clearing my cache etc!
disk 1 gave me 10 tries before I could get it and the same for disk 3. They would continuously download only 71-76% and I'm serious about the 10 times.

I just now put disk 1 in the floppy and it comes back
INF FILE TXTSETUP.SIF IS CORRUPT OR MISSING,STATUS 1024
SETUP CANNOT CONTINUE

Remember the bald head I had well the roots won't pull out hahahha

 

I am wondering if your floppy drive is failing. I will not be able to upload the USBboot floppy image tonight but will tomorrow morning. In the meantime, you will have to download this program. Unzip it to a folder on your desktop. You will need the program to write the image to a blank formatted floppy.

The image I am going to upload has USB dos drivers. These should recognize your flash drive. But, in order to start windows XP setup there will have to be some dos commands that need to be typed in. But first we will have to see if the floppy boots up and sees the USB flash drive. I will be signing off until tomorrow.

One more thing before I go. Can you download this file. Double click it with a floppy in the drive. It will create a bootable Windows 98 floppy disk with CD support. After it boots up, select "start with CD support" and press enter. Let it search for the CD drive. It will go through the different drivers until it finds one. If it does, it will give it a drive letter. Probably D: If it does find the DVD drive, we are in luck.

 

Before I upload the USB floppy disk, could you tell me if the boot98se floppy was able to find your DVD drive?

 

2 floppy drives and hundreds of floppy disks I've tossed 25-30 disks so far. NOT A HAPPY CAMPER.
Still working on this ..... Take the day off and know I do appreciate your help

 

Sorry you could not get it to work. I created the disk in one try. I believe there is a hardware problem that I would not be able solve. Don't throw out the disks, you should be able to reformat them for future use.

 

Forget the floppy image for the time being. Download this iso file of a bootable Windows98 disk. Download Imgburn, install it to your XP computer and burn the iso to a CD on your XP machine. Then boot the CD on your windows 98 computer and tell me it detects your CD rom drive.

How to write an image with Imageburn.