Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Com Presents
Steve Litt is the documentor of the Universal Troubleshooting Process and author of Rapid Learning: Secret Weapon of the Successful Technologist.
LEGAL NOTE: I have done my best to make this document complete and accurate. However, any hardware or software installation carries the possibility of problems, including possible data loss and possible irreparable hardware damage. I take no responsibility for any problems you might encounter as a result of your use of this document, including errors and omissions in this document. If you cannot accept this, do not use this document. This document is copyrighted, but I hereby give you permission to print a paper copy for yourself, to refer to while your computer is taken apart. I have made this document one long page rather than a link hierarchy so you can print and use it without a computer.
Some people are lucky enough to have a smooth Win98 upgrade. Others have nightmares where ancient and evil commands from the old registry, config.sys, autoexec and system.ini reach out and eat their programs and data. I myself am a big believer in installing Win98 from scratch (that means no .ini files, and rudimentary registry, config.sys and autoexec.bat). Note also sometimes you don't have a choice, like when you're building a brand new machine. Here's how I do it: Prepare for the Installation Build the Machine Decide whether or not to FAT32 Decide on your partitions Install Rudimentary DOS Install Windows 98 Compress and/or FAT32 Your Drives (if desired) Install Your Parallel Iomega Zip Drive Restore Your Data Install Your Windows Software Install Peripherals One at a Time
you to bugs of machines past. However, things like email messages and received Faxes are data. WARNING: Tape backup programs are NOTORIOUS for not restoring!! I know it's a lot of work, but I'd recommend you back up to Iomega Zip disks. They're tried, true and dependable. If you need to buy the drive, so be it. Your data is worth it. Use old, reliable PKZIP (from PKWARE, Inc). For detailed information of backups and restores, see the 7/1998 Troubleshooting Professional Magazine. I'd recommend you make 2 copies. Use good media. A name brand is not a guarantee of quality, but it helps. I've had great success with Maxell and Iomega zip media. WARNING: The BACKUP.EXE included in Windows 95 backs up beautifully, and restores your files accurately, but it sometimes sets your file dates to the restore date, rather than the date of the backed up files. I consider the backup program that comes with Windows 95 to be UNACCEPTABLE for that reason. WARNING: Backup programs in general back up a lot better than they restore. I'd highly recommend you do at least a partial restore, to an unused location, of one or more directory trees before beginning any work which could destroy data. In addition, I'd recommend you keep your original drive intact, and buy a new one for the new computer. That way, you can always back out. Later, you can use the old disk to hold data and only data, which will make backup and upgrade much easier in the future.
These can usually be installed simply by copying, so simply back them up rather than reinstalling.. Don't back up Windows programs -- you'll re-install them from your distribution diskettes and CDs. NOTE!!! If you use a lot of DOS programs you're probably going to want to retain FAT 16. It's been reported that DOS programs that write directly to sectors or clusters can crash FAT 32 disks.
Win95 booter (easier) A Win95 Startup disk with DOS CD-ROM drivers, MSCDEX.EXE and the proper config.sys and autoexec.bat will boot you to a point where you can fdisk, format, install rudimentary DOS (which is really command only Win95). Reboot to the rudimentary DOS, and run setup from the Win98 CD. Easier and quicker. HOWEVER--- be sure you also have the DOS installer disks and the CD installer disks to fall back on if the Win95-only option doesn't work. DOS booter (foolproof) Boot to DOS from your DOS6 (or whatever) diskettes, fdisk and format, install your CD drivers, reboot to your rudimentary DOS on C, then run Win98 setup from your Win98 upgrade CD.
Win95 startup disk with CD driver and mscdex.exe Iomega Zip drive or tape drive driver diskettes Your backup program diskettes Installation diskettes and CDs for any Windows programs you want to install Windows 95 installation CD or Win31 install disk#1 Windows 98 upgrade CD
Driver diskettes for Iomega Zip drive or other removable drive or tape drive Your backup program diskettes Installation diskettes and CDs for any Windows programs you want to install Windows 95 installation CD or Win31 install disk#1 Windows 98 upgrade CD
From the working Windows 95 system, create a startup disk using start/settings/control_panel/addOrRemove_programs/startup_disk. Copy \windows\command\doskey.com to the root of the startup disk. Put the DOS driver for your CD on the root of the startup disk. This is usually available on the floppy that came with the CD, or from the 'net. Remember, booting to a startup disk loads no Win95 drivers, so you must have a DOS cd driver. Put MSCDEX.EXE on the root of the startup disk. This is sometimes available on the floppy that came with your CD drive, and is also available on your DOS installation disks or in your \DOS directory if you kept it. Put xcopy.exe on the root of the startup disk. You can find this in your c:\windows\command directory. Put xcopy32.exe on the root of the startup disk. You can find this in your c:\windows\command directory. Create directory \DOS on the startup disk. Move all files (except command.com and the hidden files) from the root of the startup disk to its \DOS directory. Create a config.sys with the proper CD driver command on the root of the system disk. If you don't know the syntax, you may be able to re-install the CD dos driver disk (after backing up your computers existing config and autoexec). Make sure config.sys has a LASTDRIVE=X command to enable the CD to be mapped to a drive letter. All driver syntaxes are different, but here's a typical example.
DEVICE=\DOS\AOATAPI.SYS /D:IDECD000 LASTDRIVE=X
Create an autoexec.bat that runs doskey and the proper MSCDEX command to enable the CD driver from config.sys. If you don't know the syntax, you may be able to re-install the CD dos driver disk (after backing up your computers existing config and autoexec). Typically the /D: on the config.sys driver matches the /D: on the autoexec MSCDEX command. Note the /L:X, which guarantees the CD will be mapped to X. This prevents the CD drive letter from falling between hard drive letters. Later the CD drive letter can be changed again in Win98. All MSCDEX command syntaxes vary with the driver, but here's a typical example:
@ECHO OFF PROMPT $p$g PATH \DOS CD \DOS \DOS\DOSKEY \DOS\MSCDEX.EXE /D:IDECD000 /L:X
DOS booter option (reliable, ultimate fallback) NOTE: This special "system builder" diskette is designed to eliminate the need to actually install DOS and Win31 before the Win98 installation. It will save about 1/2 hour in installation time. Since if things don't go well you may be making several installation attempts, this may amount to substantial time. If, for some reason, your "system builder" diskette fails to trick Win98 into thinking DOS and Windows are installed, you must use the actual DOS and Windows distribution diskettes, and actually install those two operating systems. Now make a special "system builder" DOS bootable (Format a: /u /s) diskette with the following files in the following directories: A:\COMMAND.COM (placed there when you format the floppy) A:\CONFIG.SYS (see Footnotes) A:\AUTOEXEC.BAT (See Footnotes) A:\XFER.BAT (see Footnotes) A:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS (necessary for Win98 setup) A:\DOS\FORMAT COM (for formatting drives) A:\DOS\FDISK EXE (for partitioning drives) A:\DOS\MSCDEX EXE (necessary to run your CD drive before Win98 complete) A:\DOS\DOSKEY COM (command line editor makes life much easier) A:\DOS\EDIT COM (your editor) A:\DOS\QBASIC EXE (required for edit.com) A:\DOS\XCOPY EXE (necessary for moving files around) A:\DOS\SETVER EXE A:\DOS\COMMAND COM
reasonably certain they're correct, call the store where you bought the motherboard. When you can get the self-test to count memory, go on to the next step.
[ If All Else Fails ]
Fat 16 Allows disk compression Compatible with old diskdirect apps Reputed to be slightly faster Can be easily converted to FAT32 later Wastes disk space on large partitions (but allows compression) 2.1 Gig max single partition Easier to corrupt
Fat 32 Does not allow disk compression Old disk-direct apps can corrupt Fat32 drives. Reputed to be slightly slower Can't be "put back" to FAT16 without reinstallation Conserves disk space on large partitions (compared to NON compressed FAT16). 2 Terabytes max on a single partition More robust. Harder to corrupt (except with old disk utils), easier to recover. Multiple FATs can be moved around. No limit on root directory files. Ability to mirror FAT on a different drive.
Fill out this worksheet after reading this section. Please remember that drive letters can also be accomplished with Win98's compression software. Phys Fat Purpose / drive Type Functionality # (16/32) Comp ressed? (FAT16 only)
Ltr C: D: E: F: G: H: I: J: K: L: M: N:
Size
Functionalities of Partitions Fat32 or Fat16 The number and size of physical drives Compression (FAT16 only) Your use of the computer Size of your backup media
Functionalities of Partitions
It's unwise to put everything on the C: drive. At the very least, your data should be on a different partition (or even better, a different physical drive. Here are some different functional partitions:
Program partition
Typical C: drive, incorporates the operating system and installed programs. This is the equivalent of an operating system partition and an application partition.
Small partition for the operating system only. A wise choice on Fat16 systems with lots of drives. Since it's the boot drive, it's always C:
Application partition
Installed applications only. There can be several of these. Especially useful on Fat16 systems with lots of drives.
Data partition
My convention is to always make this D: Data is defined as things I or my employees made, or other things I can't replace by buying a program or re-installing. The advantage of having them on a separate partition is backups and drive transfers. The ideal situation is to have this drive be a separate physical drive so it can physically move between computers (obviously, it must be backed up before the move as a safety precaution.
Fat32 or Fat16
Fat16 wastes lots of space on large drives, due to its large cluster size on large drives. A single byte file will consume an entire cluster, which can be up to 32K on a 2gig drive. Therefore, on Fat16 drives, it's best to keep drive size under 511meg so each cluster will be only 8k. This requires many partitions. Typically you can compress each to put up to a gig on each partition. Fat32 uses such small clusters that multi-gig partitions result in little waste. However, in what I consider the bonehead move of the decade, Microsoft doesn't allow compression of FAT32 drives, thereby erasing all space gains from the smaller clusters. Therefore, unless you didn't want to use compression in the first place, you'll want to use FAT16. In summary, with Fat16 you partition for less than 511meg per partition (8k/cluster), in order to reduce wastage, then decide on the use of each partition later. With Fat32, you decide partitions according to the functionalites you desire, keeping in mind you'll be sacrificing disk space because you can't compress. Personally, I'll go with compressed FAT16 except on my Data drive (D:), which won't be compressed.
Compression
I'm a big believer in compression. On fast CPU's compression INCREASES performance by shrinking the disk access bottleneck. It also gives you the maximum disk space, which is important considering application bloat. On the other hand, I keep my data drive uncompressed on the theory that if I need to recover the data it will be easier without compression. Compression makes small partitions more practical, so all other things being equal, I'd use smaller partitions on compressed drives. Note also that you can make drive letters with compression instead of with Fdisk. This has the advantage of being changable with minimum risk to the programs and data on the disk. However, these drivespace-created virtual drives require drivespace to format, and can't be formatted from format.com.
of your business (my situation), you'll need most of the partitions listed in the Functionalities of Partitions section.
(Substitute the actual drive letter for the X). When you're done, remove your diskette and reboot the system. You should boot to a C:\DOS prompt. Make sure you can see all the logical drives (all but C: and any you didn't FDISK and Format will be empty). If you can boot to C: and see all your drives, you're ready for the next step. Otherwise, check your work, troubleshoot, or get help. After all your drives are formatted, run the A:\DOS\XFER batch file you created earlier to copy a rudimentary DOS (or command line Win95) onto the C drive.
Install Your CD-ROM Drivers (if you've made a startup disk with DOS CD drivers, you can skip this section)
Your Windows 98 installation program comes on a CD-ROM, meaning you must have a working CD in DOS before installing Windows 98. Therefore you must install the CDROM drivers. Usually this is as simple as inserting the diskette that came with your CD, and typing INSTALL or SETUP. After the install or setup is complete, take out the floppy and reboot the machine. Place a CD in the CD-ROM drive and try to read it (probably on your highest drive letter). If you can't, try placing LASTDRIVE=X in your CONFIG.SYS, reboot, and try again. If still no luck, check all your cable and power connections to the CD-ROM drive, check the master/slave jumpers of the CD-ROM drive
and any hard drives attached to the same IDE cable, and check your BIOS setup for CDROM parameters. If your BIOS can auto-detect a CD-ROM, auto-detect it. Make sure MSCDEX.EXE exists in your DOS directory, and that it's being run in AUTOEXEC.BAT. If you have a later version of DOS, try stepping through the boot sequence with the F8 key (consult your DOS documentation). If you need to, seek help. Once you can read from your CD-ROM, you're ready for the next step. [ If All Else Fails ]
Install Windows 98
This is a tough step for both you and the computer. Start with a clean slate. Power the machine off, wait 15 seconds to clear all memory, then power it on. Make sure you have two diskettes, which you feel comfortable about formatting, handy. These will become your Windows 98 Startup diskettes. Place the Windows 98 CD in your CD-ROM drive, switch to the root of the CD drive with DOS commands, and type SETUP. Follow the instructions, and make choices as best you can. Windows 98 is pretty forgiving about anything you do. Since this is a fromscratch installation, the worst that can happen is you start over from booting to A: and running FDISK (or more probably just format). Windows 98 will tell you there's no previous windows on your computer, and to tell it the path to the old windows. Put your old Win95 CD in the CD drive, and assuming the CD is drive G:, browse to G:\win95. If your Win95 was installed from a floppy, put the Win95 install floppy #1 in A and browse to A:\. If you don't have a Win95 install media, you can put Win31 install diskette #1 and browse to A:\. If you have no install media --- I can't coach you on how to break copyright law. Note that the old trick of copying win.com and win31.exe to C: doesn't work with Win98. If setup repeatedly errors out it's probably a hardware problem, probably in the form of incompatible BIOS settings. Follow the instructions in the footnote section on "Dumbing Down" Your BIOS. If the setup crashes in the middle, reboot the computer with the Windows 98 CD in the CD drive. The computer will probably start back up in Win98 safe mode, and continue the setup. Win98 setup is very smart, and usually recovers from problems once the underlying hardware issue is resolved. Worst case, reboot to A: and reformat C:, following all the instructions to this point. Assuming the minimal Autoexec.bat and Config.sys described in this document, and assuming no .INI files existed on the system, repeated installation failures usually point to a hardware problem, probably in the motherboard. Bring the computer to the shop that sold you the motherboard. If they can't get Win98 to install, they should give you another motherboard.
Once you have successfully installed Windows 98, reboot the computer several times, and make sure everything works each time, including the CD-ROM, mouse, soundcard, printer and modem. If there are problems, troubleshoot them. Intermittent or reproducible loss of the CD-ROM's drive letter (in the absence of the DOS CD drivers) is often a BIOS setting problem. If the CD-ROM is absent or intermittent, perform the steps in footnote section Dumbing Down Your BIOS. If your mouse doesn't work, make sure your mouse is plugged into serial port 1, and that serial port 1 is configured as COM 1, 03F8-03FF, IRQ 4. I'd highly recommend you use a Microsoft Compatible mouse that doesn't require any special software. If you must use a special mouse, at least test with a generic mouse during installation. If for some reason it won't boot, press F8 during bootup to go into safe mode, or boot to the Windows 98 Startup Diskette you made during installation. Copy back the original autoexec.bat and config.sys, and start troubleshooting. When you can boot the computer and have everything including the CD-ROM work, you're ready for the next step. [ If All Else Fails ]
To Compress
Click Start, then Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools, then Drivespace. In the Drivespace program, select the C: drive from the list, then click Drive on the menu bar, the click Compress from the dropdown. Then just follow the instructions to compress the drive. If you get file errors, especially more than 1 or 2, it usually indicates a fundamental problem. Because you've installed only a motherboard and a video card, and because you've installed no software except for operating systems, suspect hardware. If you haven't already, follow the instructions in the footnote section Dumbing Down Your BIOS. If compressing the drive produced file errors, especially if some of them weren't "useless" files like .WAV's or .TXT's, you've probably corrupted your operating system. It may not show up now, but it might show up later, like when you install that new program your
career depends on. Do the right thing now. After "Dumbing down" Your BIOS, go back to the Install Rudimentary DOS section, reformat your drives and re-install all software.
To FAT32
StartButton/Programs/Accessories/SystemTools/DriveConverter(FAT32), then follow the wizard. [ If All Else Fails ] Take heart -- Once you can get Win98 to compress its drives error free, you've probably got a reliable computer with a reliable operating system.
and Zip drive, and after Windows 98 loads, run Setup off the Zip Drive's installation diskette. Setup will first run Guest95.Exe from the Zip Drive's installation diskette. (If you're lucky) Guest95 will assign a drive letter to the Zip drive, after which you can use it like any other drive. You then take the Windows 95 Zip media installation disk and install it to your hard disk. The last step is to use the Parallel Port Accelerator, PPAOPT.EXE, to allow as much throughput as your particular parallel port will take. However, my experience is that usually Guest95 will fail to find the zip drive and assign the letter the first time.
outlined in footnote section Dumbing Down Your BIOS. Save the BIOS configuration, then power everything down and up at the same time, and once again run Guest95.Exe. If it still doesn't find a drive letter at this point, you'll need professional help. [ If All Else Fails ] Once again, after a drive letter can be reliably created and maintained, use the Parallel Port Accelerator program (PPAOPT.EXE) to accelerate the port.
Install one at a time, following manufacturers instructions. If anything goes wrong, take them out again and see if the symptom goes away. Troubleshoot as necessary.
Modem
I recommend an internal modem because a serial cable is one more thing that can go wrong. However, a lot of people like the fact that you can see the lights and reset an external modem. The choice is yours. Either way, configure the modem as COM 2, 02F802FF, IRQ 3. If you use an internal modem, you'll go into BIOS setup and either disable the motherboard's second built-in serial port, or reconfigure it as COM 3. Keep in mind that you cannot use Com1 and Com3 at the same time, no matter how many com ports you have. Then configure all your communications software and Win98 Dial Up Networking. This can be complicated, so I'd recommend you call your Internet Service Provider for instructions. If there are problems, let them help you. Once you're online you'll feel much better because you can get technical information from the Web.
Sound Card
Traditionally the most challenging peripheral to install. I'd recommend buying a namebrand to minimize uncertainty, then try to have Windows 98 detect it as new hardware. If there are problems, use the Windows 98 Help diagnostics to step you through conflicts.
Network Cards
This is beyond the scope of this document. Refer this task to your Network Administrator. [ If All Else Fails ]
Footnotes:
These are link destinations in the original HTML, but on paper they're footnotes.
Disable Caching of system BIOS Set Caching and shadowing of the video ROM to disabled. Disable all caching and shadowing of memory locations C000-FFFF Don't worry about performance -- later you can turn most of the caching and shadowing on, 1 by 1, to gain back most of your performance while keeping any offending settings disabled.
[ Home page | About Steve Litt | Email Steve Litt | Training ] Copyright (C)1996 by Steve Litt. -- Legal