Windows 98 Computer question

[ns_in_tex]

My hard drive crashed on an old computer, used mostly for some old dos programs.

I was running Win98 & years ago we read a tip to make it boot straight to dos. It would just stop the boot process at dos prompt. If I wanted to load windows, we just typed win from the dos prompt. I think it may have been done by changing a switch on one line of the registry. We have been unable to find this info.

We will be getting a new hard drive & wanted to set it up this way again.

Can anyone help?
Thanks,

 

[Lgim]

you can press the the F5 key just after the cpu boots but before the operating system loads. you might have to try it a couple times to get the timeing right. I never tried to make it automatic but I have a CPU that I'm going to put 98 back on in the next couple days so I'll give it a look then.

I think your bigest problem will be finding a new hard drive that is small enough for 98 to use. - gotta luv windows programers.

good luck

 

[ultrarunner]

Hey... there are still some of us using Windows 98 First Edition...

 

[bgoodman]

From this page: MsDos 7.0 from Windows 95/98

There is a file in your root directory called MSDOS.SYS. This file used to be a binary file, but now it's a text file. First you have to get rid of the Hidden, System, and Read-Only file attributes.

Then you bring up an editor on this file and make two changes. Change the line BootGUI=1 to BootGUI=0

It's been awhile since I messed with Windows 98, but this sounds correct from what I remember.

Bobby

 

[jinman]

Neal, this is not exactly the answer to the question you asked, but in Windows XP you can select "Programs" and then "Accessories" and there is an option for the DOS Command prompt to open a DOS window. That might let you run the old programs and still have access to windows programs. I'd bet that might work for you.

When you finish running your DOS program, just type "exit" at the C:> prompt and you will close that window.

 

[Luremaker]

Another thing that can be done which would make any windows98 computer more reliable and flexible would be to install a desktop version of linux OS and then install DOSBox on it. DOSBox is a dos emulator. You can run almost all of your older dos programs. DOSBox also works for OS/2 and Mac users as well. BTW DOSBox and most desktop linux OS's are available at no cost.

For older computers you can install a linux desktop OS like Mepis (my favorite) or AntiX but there are many others available. I run AntiX on an old 400 Mhz pentium 2 with 128MB of ram. Believe it or not but it screams compared to Windows 98 that came on that old computer.

You can also install DOSBox on windows XP to give you an actual DOS window to work in.

DOSBox - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
DOSBox, a x86 emulator with DOS
MEPIS | Now Shipping Version 7.0

I know this is not what you were asking about but tinkering with computers sure is fun.

 

[rgood]

Neal - You can go here and make a boot disk
Bootdisk.Com - Free Windows Bootdisks, Free DOS boot disk

 

[MossRoad]

I was running Win98 & years ago we read a tip to make it boot straight to dos. It would just stop the boot process at dos prompt.

Turn the computer on and hit the F8 key every few seconds while it is coming up. Eventually you will be promtped with a screen that says:

Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu
1. Normal
2. Logged
3. Safe Mode
4. Step by step confirmation
5. Command prompt only
6. Safe Mode Command prompt only.

If you choose #5 you will have a command prompt within a few seconds and can navigate around from the C:\ prompt.

At the C:\ prompt you can type in "win" and it should load up Win98.

Is this what you are after or do you always want it to load up to the C:\ prompt each time you turn it on?

 

[ns_in_tex]

Thanks fellows,

I think you all have helped greatly.

 

[Soundguy]

As fro not finding a hard disk small enough.. that won't be a 'real' problem.. grab a name brand like a western digital.. it will come with a drive program disk.. this disk contains a program that sets up the drive for your new system along with some pre-install directions and what to tell the bios about the drive. essentially you use a generic setting to get it to at least be recognized, then a dynamic drive overlay is installed. you also may or may not have to partition the disk for size issue. only real concern is that cluster size grows a bit... not a biggie... Backa couple years ago before I got an xp machine for the wife. she had an old w982nded machine.. it had a ( quantum fireball ) 6gig and a 10gig drive... boot drive took a dump ( now i know why they called them fireballs... ).. didn't want to muck around with the 10 as it was a storage drive and nearly full.. hit walmart and bout the smallest wd drive they had.. mighta been 80 gig or something.. had to jimmy the bios, and use the disk and the drive overlay and make a 2nd aprtition in order to get it to all play nice.. but it worked just fine.. and in fact still sets in the corner with an old 1200 dpi flatbed scanner hooked tot he parallel port... has no usb port.. only a 250meg zip disk hooked to it... I have a 250 meg usb zip on my xp machine.. and if I need something scanned.. the 98 box fires up.. scans it.. then I xfer it via zipdisc...

soundguy