Stuck at Command Prompt when booting from CD

[SuedKAT]

Hello,

I got an old Compaq Presario 5722, recently I've been fixing it up a bit and it's now performance wise a lot better than before, 256MB more RAM and a new PSU as well as a lot less dust.

However when I try to reinstall Windows 98SE on it I run into an issue, when I select "Boot from CD" i get a flashing command prompt and nothing more. Normally I'd see something like "install Windows 98SE", format drive, install DOS partition and so on, but nope it stops at a flashing command prompt. Booting into the system without a CD in the drive works just as it should, Windows 98SE starts and I can utilize the OS however I want.

So I thought I'd messed up the IDE order, so I checked it and tried every possible combination, HDD on first IDE controller and CD on second, both on the same and so on. However I can't set boot from CD first in BIOS if the HDD and CD ain't connected to the same IDE cable, still get the menu boot from CD regardless.

So now I tried all different locations on the IDE cables in combinations with different jumper settings, default is cable select but when I changed to an master and slave setup I still got the same result. Tried the boot CD in another computer, works great, put in 2 new drives in the computer, same result when using those regardless of IDE position and jumper setting. Decided to run ScanDisk which didn't find any issues.

Removed the new RAM and removed thew new Sound Card (on-board audio is by default off via a jumper setting on the motherboard), cleared CMOS both via jumper settings and by removing the battery. Tried a Windows 98 clean boot, removed everything that was set to startup as well as cleared the related registry key as well as temp folder.

Tried a Boot Disk from here: http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/98.html

Found drivers for the CD/DVD drivers I'm using, installed those. Put in an Promise Ultra 100 TX2 IDE controller card and connected the HDD to that, now I get past the command prompt and into the "DOS" part of the Win 98SE installation but it tells me that I don't have an HDD and should press F3 to quit. Removed the IDE controller card and checked if I got some other IDE drive or computer I can use, but nope.

Restarted the computer into DOS, but DOS can't access the CD regardless if MSCDEX.EXE is present or not.

Ohh and yeah when I boot into Windows 98SE all 3 drives works flawlessly, same with the floppy and the ZIP, depending on which one I got connected via IDE and Molex.

PS: Can't boot from USB and the BIOS is very locked, but can at least adjust the boot order.

So before I get even more insane here, what am I'm missing, what should I do to get past the command prompt and into the actual Windows 98SE installation?

// SuedKAT

 

[TerryLaze]

MSCDEX.EXE alone does not give you access to the CD you need the correct commands in the autoexec file to load the driver and assign a drive letter.

Win98 used to keep a copy of all the install files in a directory check if it's still there,if not make a directory and copy all the files from the CD to the HDD then enter clean dos NOT the reboot into Dos option form windows,get into this directory from dos and run the setup from there.

 

[SuedKAT]

Hello,

Thanks for the reply, that gave me an idea, I had totally forgotten about the autoexec file, so I opened that and put my drives in, still stuck at the command prompt if I start the computer with the CD in. However that made it possible to first start the computer and via the advanced start option get into DOS, now it sees my 3 drives just fine and I'm currently formatting the C drive, hopefully the installation will go smoothly from now on.

 

[ragnar-gd]

prepare the HDD from a boot floppy with "sys c:", and then copy the installation files via another computer to i.e. c:\instgall.w98\*.*, and start setup from there