Problem with Ghost and DOS

[kittiemeow]

Hi...

Here is my problem. My daughter got a computer from a program at a corporation that
gives older PCs to their employees. It is a Pentium 2, has a 3 gig hd. I am guessing
that the hard drive has been wiped. She will be using it primarily for email, AIM and some light browsing.

It came with instructions for starting it up. Apparently it has Symantec Ghost on it.
The instructions say:
Turn computer on with CD provided in drive.
Computer will boot to a dos prompt (black screen with blinking cursor)
At prompt type Ghost and press enter
After this it tells you how to transfer the image from the cd which has Windows 95 on it.

The problem is that when I get the black screen with the blinking curser there is no DOS prompt. Just the blinking curser. If I try to type ghost nothing happens.

I also have a copy of XP I could put on it instead if it is easier.

I am guessing that this is some kind of problem with DOS but I haven't a clue about how to fix it.
Thanks for any insight.
Kittie

[Kodo]

try using a win98 boot floppy to boot with CD-ROM support.. then execute GHOST from the CD.

[kittiemeow]

Thank you Kodo. Did as you said. I was able to run Ghost from the
cd...for about 1/2 of the install. Then I get a message:

Output A:\Ghosterr.txt ?

If I click yes or no I get:

Cannot read from File
Application Error 437

Any ideas how to proceed?

Thanks,
Kittie

[Kodo]

look for that file on the floppy drive..open it up and see if if shows an error message some sort like "can't access CD-ROM device " etc.

[Wisewiz]

Originally Posted by kittiemeow

Any ideas how to proceed?

Just passing through, and I have an idea how to proceed: toss that CD in the trash and install Win98 on that old PII. You must know somebody who's got an old copy of the Win98 CD and is no longer using that licensed copy of the program who would let you have it for a song/a smile/nothing, and you'd be all set.
Bye, now.

... Ww

[kittiemeow]

Originally Posted by Wisewiz

Just passing through, and I have an idea how to proceed: toss that CD in the trash and install Win98 on that old PII. You must know somebody who's got an old copy of the Win98 CD and is no longer using that licensed copy of the program who would let you have it for a song/a smile/nothing, and you'd be all set.
Bye, now.

... Ww

I actually tried that but when I tried to install Win98 I get another error saying
that I have to get a boot partition disk....I am a pretty advanced user but I have never
had to do that...so I got stuck there too.

[Wisewiz]

Originally Posted by kittiemeow

I actually tried that but when I tried to install Win98 I get another error saying
that I have to get a boot partition disk....I am a pretty advanced user but I have never
had to do that...so I got stuck there too.

OK, now we're cooking. Go to Bootdisk.com and download the files for a boot floppy. You'll get an executable that will create the boot floppy when you put a clean floppy in drive A and double-click the exe file. I recommend the boot floppy from Win98 or Win98SE. Either will be good.
You can find full instructions for using FDISK here:
MS FDISK help
and here:
Techweb FDISK help
and if you search for FDISK on this fiorum, you'll find some pretty helpful stuff, too. Come back with questions if you have 'em.

[kittiemeow]

Thanks a bunch. I got the disk partitioned and formatted.
I was all set to install win98 but the disk I have is for the
upgrade which won't work without a previous version on the machine. ( Or will it?)
I do have a legal license for win98. I will see if I can borrow a disk from someone.

I appreciate the help.
Kittie

[snakefoot]

Originally Posted by kittiemeow

The disk I have is for the upgrade which won't work without a previous version on the machine. ( Or will it?)

Not sure if this works but there is a rumor about "hidden" parameter when launching the Win98 install from DOS like this:

setup /NTLDR

It should make Win98 ignore the fact that it is an upgrade version.

[kittiemeow]

Thanks...I tried that but no dice. I'll keep trying to scrounge up a Win 98 disk.
I am grateful for all the help and advice I received.

[ACE 256]

some win 98 upgrade cds ask for you to insert a 95 cd to varafy that you have 95. might work