Question PC won't boot from a Windows 98 floppy boot disk ?

[sagaware]

Hi, i have old socket 7 motherboard. When trying from boot from floppy (a Windows 98 boot disk) its not working with ? its working a little bit then stopping from boot?

 

[helpstar]

Might be a faulty Diskette
Maybe using win98 2nd Edition or Ubuntu live on CD will work better?

 

[sagaware]

diskette working well it might be bios settings failure?

 

[TerryLaze]

diskette working well it might be bios settings failure?

How do you know it works well?
Even if the disc is freshly written the disc drive might not work well, unless you used the same one.
Also you have to tell us what the PC shows on screen / what exact point it stops booting, how else is anybody supposed to figure out why it's not working?

 

[Alabalcho]

There used to be a website to load a CD image with Win98 boot, as well as known-to-boot floppy disk images. Try booting that same image into a VM, to make sure it is not image problem, then look at FDD.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

If you have access to a PC which has a CD writer, you can create a Windows 98 Boot CD from an ISO file instead of using a floppy.
Get the ISO file here: https://www.allbootdisks.com/download/iso.html

If you've never created a bootable CD from an ISO before, follow this walkthrough: https://www.allbootdisks.com/cd_creation.html

 

[sagaware]

thanks for suggestions but i would like to use floppy disk to boot, trying to change bios settings, maybe it works

 

[DSzymborski]

thanks for suggestions but i would like to use floppy disk to boot, trying to change bios settings, maybe it works

I mean, you said it didn't work, which was the whole premise of the thread.

You are aware that nobody can see your screen, right? You still haven't provided any information that's been requested to help you or, well, any information at all beyond what socket your motherboard uses.

 

[TerryLaze]

If you have access to a PC which has a CD writer, you can create a Windows 98 Boot CD from an ISO file instead of using a floppy.
Get the ISO file here: https://www.allbootdisks.com/download/iso.html

If you've never created a bootable CD from an ISO before, follow this walkthrough: https://www.allbootdisks.com/cd_creation.html

CD boot wasn't a common thing back then, many systems need to boot from floppy.

 

[DSzymborski]

CD boot wasn't a common thing back then, many systems need to boot from floppy.

I'm trying to remember the computer I had in 1998. I think my Pentium 133 was my last PC that had a floppy drive, and I'm kinda sure that the Pentium III 650 I put together in 1999, I installed Windows 98 on from CD from boot. But it's been more than 20 years! My oldest PC still in service is a Pentium 4 from 2004.

People complain about prices today, but there were only like one or two Pentium IIIs of any clock speed that retailed for under $300. I got my 650 on sale for like $530. That's nearly $1000 in 2022 dollars. And I was 21 and had way less money; I drove a Ford Tempo!

Anyway, OP, you need to provide a lot more information about your situation, what you're doing, and what your PC is doing, if you're going to have a realistic chance of useful help. Nobody here is going to be able to make heads or tails if you don't do more than just post the occasional vague half-sentence.

 

[Grobe]

Maybe using win98 2nd Edition or Ubuntu live on CD will work better?

If using Linux, it have to be a 32 bit distro, such as Elive, Bunsenlabs or similar.

 

[itsmedatguy]

Here is the simplest method I've found for installing 98, but it does require that you can connect the drive you plan to use to a modern machine. You'll also need Windows 98 ISO and a copy of DOS, as well as "HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool". All of these are easy to find and download.

Connect your drive to modern system, if the drive is IDE you'll need an adapter to SATA or USB
Run DiskPart and use the clean command on it, as well as convert mbr
Open HP USB Tool, point it at the drive you plan to install 98 on, choose Fat32, Quick format, and "Create a DOS startup disk using system files located at..."
Point the DOS startup disk option at the copy of DOS you downloaded
Format with the tool
Now explore the Windows 98 ISO you downloaded and copy the Win98 folder
Paste the Win98 folder onto your newly formatted FAT32 drive
Connect the drive to your old hardware and boot-up
It will boot into DOS, type in cd Win98
Type setup
Windows 98 setup will begin

This is pretty much full proof, installs 98 much faster than off of a CD-Rom or floppy, and doesn't require anything special from your BIOS

 

[TerryLaze]

Here is the simplest method I've found for installing 98, but it does require that you can connect the drive you plan to use to a modern machine.

If you can connect your hdd to a modern machine you can just run a VM, mount the whole disk to it and do the first stage of the win 98 install that way, it only prepares the drive and copies the setup files over so it doesn't do any system specific stuff that would cause issues, after the copying is done the windows installation will ask you to reboot, just shut off the VM at that point put the hdd into the old system and it will do the drivers and initial setup for the specific hardware.