What OS to install?

[Mr. Three]

I have already completed a four player cocktail cabinet and have placed an elderly Dell l667r into it, which worked for a short while then, due to driver soundcard problems, became inoperable. I decided to reformat the drive and reinstall something that would allow this machine to run with a bit more robustness. This was about three or four months ago.

So here this thing sits, unworking, with no operating system on it. I have tried many, MANY different installation CDs - TinyXp, Ubuntu, Xubuntu, an original Win98 disk, etc. etc. etc., only to just get a hint from another message board that the l667r doesn't allow booting from CD. Great. Super. 


I just found an old floppy drive I scavenged from an even older machine, but I see no connector for a floppy connection on this motherboard. Sigh.

I just don't know what to do with this machine. Part of the appeal of building it was recycling older material into something new, and I am not buying a dedicated computer for this project. I want to make this one work, but have no idea how to install an operating system on it, much less a good one. I need your help and opinions! Before I go even more insane! Help!

[SGT]

It would be extremely weird for this motherboard to not support booting from CD.  Go into the BIOS and make booting from CD the priority.  While you're in there make sure the IDE for the CD drive hasn't been disabled.  If it is already set to boot from CD, I would swap out the CD Drive like this guy did with the same computer:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/fedora-installation-39/fc3-installer-wont-boot-from-cd-324725/

It's also extremely weird that you do not have a floppy controller on this mobo.   Look more closely.  Is this the original motherboard for this Dell?  For Win98, you'll need a floppy disk as Win98 CDs weren't bootable as I recall.  If you can hookup a floppy drive, you can get a bootdisk from here:

http://bootdisk.com/

[BORIStheBLADE]

It has to boot from cd, thats the only way you would be able to load the OS.

[Mr. Three]

It does have a floppy socket, I may have misspoken. How can I load anything onto a floppy that is connected to a computer that won't boot?

Ubuntu is as close to an actual working install I ever got, but it produced error after error after error during its "install".

I wish this was easier. I don't know how to install any operating system on this computer.

[Mr. Three]

This (http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_bios&message.id=45060&c=us&l=en&cs=&s=gen) was what led me to believe that I couldn't boot from CD. I have tried lots of different options and burned many many CDs now, and none of them work.

[BORIStheBLADE]

When the pc starts up does it say in the top right corner F2 for setup or bios?

[Mr. Three]

Top right corner? I can enter the BIOS and already have it set up to boot from CD before other devices.

[BORIStheBLADE]

Ok so first off what your burning to disc should be a .ISO burned in data mode. On the screen it should say press a key to boot from cd. Make sure you have a .Iso.

[Mr. Three]

I do have these things. My post requests which operating system may be right for me. I have had no luck installing Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Win98, TinyXP rev06, or TinyXP Beast. I don't know why these won't work, but they don't allow me to install anything on this formatted empty hard drive. I know how to make a ISO into a data disk, and I have set the BIOS to boot from CD before hard drive.

[BORIStheBLADE]

So when you put these cd's in the drive nothing pops up?

[SGT]

I do have these things. My post requests which operating system may be right for me. I have had no luck installing Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Win98, TinyXP rev06, or TinyXP Beast. I don't know why these won't work, but they don't allow me to install anything on this formatted empty hard drive. I know how to make a ISO into a data disk, and I have set the BIOS to boot from CD before hard drive.

I have to use bootable (BartPE) CDs on client computers all the time.  Invariably, if the Bios is setup correctly, swapping out the CD drive gets me going when I can't boot up on a CD.  An alternative is to create a win98 boot disk from the link I gave you.  Boot on the floppy with cdrom support.  Then use Dos commands to startup the setup program on the CD.

[zelony]

You can not boot the Windows 98 CD without a floppy, there is no boot sector on a Windows 98 CD.

Go here. http://www.bootdisk.com/ and download the Windows 98 boot floppy.  Then you should be able to load Windows 98 from the CD that you have.

Jeff

[loadman]

You can not boot the Windows 98 CD without a floppy, there is no boot sector on a Windows 98 CD.

..Just to be a nerd there is an exception I know of.

If you have the CD rom named:
'Win 98 Second Edition for PC's without windows"

I just tried it and that works but the other upgrade and earlier versions don't work without floppy.

[Mr. Three]

I have to use bootable (BartPE) CDs on client computers all the time.

Like UBCD? Yeah, that won't boot the machine either.

Also, I can't make a boot floppy unless I can boot the machine with the floppy drive on it.

So when you put these cd's in the drive nothing pops up?

Mostly, yes. Only one of the installer disks asks me to press any key to boot from CD, but no amount of key pressing does anything.

I can go through all of the install CDs and report the results here if this will help.

[Mr. Three]

So I guess my question is, ultimately, can someone suggest a site where I can download a working operating system that will run on this dinosaur and allow me to run Mame32 and Mala? That's all I want to do. Just that. Nothing else.

[SGT]

So I guess my question is, ultimately, can someone suggest a site where I can download a working operating system that will run on this dinosaur and allow me to run Mame32 and Mala? That's all I want to do. Just that. Nothing else.

Dude!  Do you want a miracle?  Unless you are willing to do one of the following, that's what it is going to take.  Until you resolve the boot issue you can download all the O/Ses in the world but it's not going to help

1) TRY swapping out the CD DRIVE....or
2) You've got a computer that you use to post here with, BUT YOU CAN'T MAKE A BOOT DISKETTE???  Is it a laptop?  Do you not know anyone that has a computer that you can hook a floppy drive up to and make a boot diskette?
3) Take the hard drive out and have someone image it for you.

[crummy]

Only one of the installer disks asks me to press any key to boot from CD, but no amount of key pressing does anything.

Excuse me for skipping through the thread, but you don't happen to be using a USB keyboard, do you?

[Mr. Three]

Heh, a miracle. That would be an acceptable solution.

I post here wondering if anyone has a similar situation, that's all. I wanted opinions. It helps to have a fresh perspective on a problem if you're looking too closely at it, which I think I am somehow. I hoped that there was something which, in my frustration, I was overlooking.

Not a USB keyboard, but the IPAC is USB (and currently disconnected). Regular keyboard.

So I can just jam this floppy drive from like 1995 into my Intel D975XBX board and it will actually work?

[crummy]

So I can just jam this floppy drive from like 1995 into my Intel

Yeah, floppy tech hasn't changed much in the last decade

[loadman]

So I can just jam this floppy drive from like 1995 into my Intel

Yeah, floppy tech hasn't changed much in the last decade

I second that.  You  just need a floppy type cable. Give it a whirl. And once connected ensure that the floppy is enable in bios as a bootable source

[Mr. Three]

Floppy drive installed, boot floppy created, Win98 Install CD inserted, computer restarted.

Device driver not found: 'OEMCD001'.
No valid CDROM device drivers found.

The Windows 98 setup files were not found.

Your machine is cursed.

Have a nice day.

[SGT]

Go into the BIOS ...<snip>...While you're in there make sure the IDE for the CD drive hasn't been disabled.....<snip>..... I would swap out the CD Drive....<snip>

[crummy]

You may also need CD drivers for DOS, I guess. I can't remember back that far right now

[SGT]

The win98 floppy has cdrom support built in.  Unless his floppy diskette is corrupt, the cd drive is not showing up as a device or is malfunctioning.

[EwJ]

What manufacturer/make/model is the cd-rom?
Yank it out and look at the top  - it should be labeled.

Some old (really old) cd-roms will give you problems unless
you add drivers for them to the boot disk.
I had an old one (Matsushita i think) that would not work
at all until adding specific drivers to the win95 or win98 boot disk.

You may find a suitable driver here?
driver?

[Mr. Three]

CD drive ia an Acer model 640p 002.

I guess it is possible that it could be the CD drive itself... I don't think it is, but I can't rule it out.

[loadman]

Device driver not found: 'OEMCD001'.
No valid CDROM device drivers found.

The Windows 98 setup files were not found.

Your machine is cursed.

Have a nice day.

Bugger.. You notice in the picture I posted before.  I have 3 Windows 98 boot disks as they had diffrent drivers. Some would work on some drives.

Can you borrow another CD rom from someone to to see if your driver is compatatble with those. Worth a shot. Once windows is loaded I'm sure Windows will be happy with your originbal CD rom when you swap it back ...

Or I could send you the floppy files I have?

[Mr. Three]

Or I could send you the floppy files I have?

That's kind of you, but I pulled out a very old and dusty box of floppies and found the original install floppy that came with the CD.

I never thought I would use a floppy again.

This is why I save stuff.

[loadman]

Or I could send you the floppy files I have?

That's kind of you, but I pulled out a very old and dusty box of floppies and found the original install floppy that came with the CD.

I never thought I would use a floppy again.

This is why I save stuff.

....As do I .    Or that is my excuse anyway.

How did you go with that. Did it mount your CD drive so you could then install windows from the CD?

[Denverlatino]

i remember i had the same situation, this is what i learn from my mistake,

1 umplug the power source from your motherboard and take the battery on your motherboard off for a 30minutes period to ensure that your bios goes back to factory  settings.

2 connect everything back again, turn your PC on and enter your bios, the only thing ill change there is, boot from CD first

3 get a copy of regular windows xp , load the CD and follow instructions.

if you want win98 then get a win98 bootdisk insert the disk into your floppy drive and follow instructions.
i wouldn't install Linux on this machine because i can see that you will have some problems in the future. god luck

[SGT]

I'm officially taking bets that the cd drive needs swapping out.  I'll hold the bets in the meantime.  Please send all monies to:

SGT
South Carolina, USA

[loadman]

I'm officially taking bets that the cd drive needs swapping out.  I'll hold the bets in the meantime.  Please send all monies to:

SGT
South Carolina, USA

How about poll for Fun?   

[SGT]

How about poll for Fun?   

I don't know.  Can we trust the OP to tell us what really fixed it?  Just kidding, OP.   

[Mr. Three]

Oh, I'll fix it, given enough time. I'm still struggling though. I'll let everyone know when I finally get this thing going.

[slycrel]

I feel old.

Am I the only one who remembers how to edit an autoexec.bat and config.sys file?  And know what MSCDEX.EXE is?  Gone are the days of tweaking DOS drivers to get your games working but I didn't think that it was uncommon knowledge.  =)

The short answer is you need a DOS CD-ROM driver for your CDR, you should be able to get one from the manufacturer...  The page linked above by EwJ that has the oakcdrom.sys would be a good place to start, it's got instructions linked close by as well.  I used that doing tech support for cybermax computers back in the day.

From your error message, you can also check your spelling of MSCD001.  Technically you can change the name of this to anything you want, but it needs to match between your config.sys and autoexec.bat files.  It might be as simple as a typo.  =)

Check out this link, it may help to get things set up:  http://home.ptd.net/~don5408/win98/install/cddos_diy.html

You can also look here:  http://www.everythingcomputers.com/windows_boot_disk.htm

As others have suggested, you may want to try checking the power and IDE cable on your CD-ROM drive, check the jumper settings on the back (it should be master on it's own IDE cable or slave to your HDD) and make sure it spins when you first start the computer (from the sounds of it it ejects and spins up just fine).

I know this is an older post but I was reading through things and didn't see a good answer here.  Hopefully this helps someone in the future.

[muzland]

Hi,

Most Dell's I know need the CD drive to be setup as Cable Select, not master or slave. I encountered this problem a few weeks ago and googling solved my problem. Could this be the issue?

Does the bios detect the CD drive? If it does then it is probably not Cable Select that is the problem.

Cheers
Muz

[SGT]

The short answer is you need a DOS CD-ROM driver for your CDR, you should be able to get one from the manufacturer...  The page linked above by EwJ that has the oakcdrom.sys would be a good place to start, it's got instructions linked close by as well.  I used that doing tech support for cybermax computers back in the day.

The win98 boot disk that was linked already has the cd rom drivers.  I have used it on a thousand computers and never had one that would not work.

[slycrel]

The short answer is you need a DOS CD-ROM driver for your CDR, you should be able to get one from the manufacturer...  The page linked above by EwJ that has the oakcdrom.sys would be a good place to start, it's got instructions linked close by as well.  I used that doing tech support for cybermax computers back in the day.

The win98 boot disk that was linked already has the cd rom drivers.  I have used it on a thousand computers and never had one that would not work.

I wasn't meaning to offend, I just was trying to sum up some of that.  I don't have the means to try out your boot disk, I had to stick with what I know works, thus my comments.  There are lots of options out there.

[SGT]

I wasn't meaning to offend, I just was trying to sum up some of that.  I don't have the means to try out your boot disk, I had to stick with what I know works, thus my comments.  There are lots of options out there.

No! No offense taken.  Its all good. 

[loadman]

Vic=20 'Press Play on tape'  .. Good Times...  Good Times