Can't Upgrade 98 to 98SE

[julielou2]

Hello Board

I got my new graphics card (thank you for your help with that - got a GF4 MX 440) and on the box it states that it requires 98SE. Fortunately a friend gave me a copy of his 98SE as I didn't have a hard copy of my W98 O/S. I thought that I would be able to upgrade my 98 to 98SE using this CD but it scans my system and says that it can't upgrade using a full disk and that it needs an upgrade disk.

This does seem silly, is there anyway around it? Does the GF4 MX 440 need 98SE or will it work with old 98? If not, do I have to uninstall Windows 98 before putting 98SE on and if so, how do I do that? I'm not an experienced techie so please could you explain in simple terms.

Thank you in advance.

 

[jlanka]

from usenet:
<pre>Does anyone know how I can upgrade from WIN98 to a full version WIN98
second edition disk (not an upgrade but the full install for a new PC)?

Message 2 in thread
From: Doug Knox MS-MVP (dknox@mvps.org)
Subject: Re: Upgrade from WIN98 to WIN 98SE using full installation CD



No, you cannot install Win98 from an OEM CD on a computer that already
has an operating system. You need to purchase the Updgrade or Updates
CD for Windows 98.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/highlights/windows98se.asp and see
the Already Running Windows 98 section for the Updates CD ($20 US)

--
Doug Knox, Microsoft MVP MPS-D


Message 3 in thread
From: Richard G. Harper (rgharper@email.com)
Subject: Re: Upgrade from WIN98 to WIN 98SE using full installation CD

A real "Full" install disc won't care if Windows 98 is already present.
What you probably have isn't a "Full" disc, but rather an "OEM" disc that
isn't supposed to be used or sold except with a computer system purchase or
a qualifying hardware purchase. It is, in fact, labeled as such if that's
what it is.

If so, you're out of luck, this disc will not install on any system with any
version of Windows present. You should return it for the correct disc -
either a "Full" or "Upgrade" Windows 98 Second Edition disc will do what you
want.


</pre><p><i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[julielou2]

Bummer!

Thank you Jlanka for your response. At least I know now.

Next question would be: can I uninstall Windows 98 original(without losing all my other files) so that the W98SE OEM cd-rom will install correctly?

Failing that, does anyone know where I can get hold of W98SE upgrade in the UK. Ebuyer.com doesn't have it, neither does simply.co.uk or dabs.co.uk. Is it sold anymore?

 

[jlanka]

well, depends on what files you don't want to lose. For me, the only important files I have are data files (word processing docs, excel spreadsheets, maybe mp3s and jpgs etc.) all the applications can always be re-installed. So I would (if you can) burn a CD with that sort of stuff, then wipe the disk and install 98SE. OR, you could try deleting the entire C:\windows tree which would save all the other stuff (although the new registry won't have all the shortcuts etc. in it).

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[julielou2]

I haven't got a CD-RW drive so can't back my stuff up. Would just deleting the windows directory work? When I rebooted the machine after deleting it would the CD-ROM work so I could autorun the W98SE setup? Is there anyway of testing all of this without losing the info forever before committing.

 

[WingDing]

I honestly wouldn't try wiping the Window file, I attempted this once and it was a bloody nightmare.

Remember it's only a crime if you're caught

 

[jlanka]

do you have another disk drive?

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[DaveP]

I would try it with 98. But, you should to back up anything that you don't want to lose, somehow. Do you have more than one partition on your hard drive? Or, better yet, two hard drives. Or, an old hard drive you have left over from an upgrade you've made, or something. Whatever, you can back up your files there. Check for latest drivers at the nvidia web site, they may include win98. After you back up everything, I would go ahead and try it.

 

[Crashman]

You should be able to do a FULL INSTALL of Win98SE from an OEM CD by deleting a file. I think the file is Win.Com. I've done this before. Afraid to delete the file? Rename it and try. If that doesn't work you can always change the name back in DOS mode.

Anyway, you should be able to do a new installation from the OEM CD that way, without having it tell you that you can't upgrade from that CD. It will probably ask you to put the new installation in a weird directory like C:\Windows000 or something. Change the directory name back to Windows using the "change directory" button, and it will say "this directory already exist, do you really want to overwrite it" say yes. It will then do a normal install and overwrite all your old files with the new ones, leaving everything else intact.

I'll recheck that file name to make certain it's the right one and get back to you.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[Crashman]

But all those guys are wrong, no need to repeat their misinformation.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[Crashman]

Ooops, I guess it was Win.Com If you're already stuck with an unbootable machine, you can delete win.com in DOS mode from the boot disk by using the CD command to change directory: cd c:\windows and the del win.com command to delete it

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[jlanka]

so whats the correct version of their misinformation?

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[Crashman]

Neither. Both said it couldn't be done with an OEM disk. It can. I've done it. I've done it several ways in fact. Once I edited the information in the registry to put the OEM SE info in there and reloaded Windows from the SE CD after a reboot.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[jlanka]

I wasn't inferring that either of them was right, BTW (thats why I prefaced it by saying "from usenet")

Is there a step-by-step list somewhere that outlines the procedure?

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[julielou2]

Crashman, please ignore my other post for information from you in the graphics card forum. Although my need to upgrade has been forced purely by my new graphics card, this really is to do with W98.

Ummm, the next question is how do I rename win.com in DOS if I need to (the only dos command I know is >rem) and where in the windows directory structure does win.com live? Is it always on the windows root? (I'm writing this message from my work pc) If I copy win.com to floppy before deleting it would I be able to reinstall it in DOS if necessary and finally, how do I make a dos boot floppy? I know that to make a windows system floppy I select the check box on the format a: drive dialogue box.

Yes, I really am this green. <g>

I did install the new graphics card and drivers ok though. AND I managed to delete the old card's drivers. <proud girl> Unfortunately I know that I need to upgrade to Win98SE as the card box states because it's behaving oddly in Everquest which is very pernickity with driver stability.

 

[jlanka]

1) how do I rename win.com in DOS? rename win.com newname.txt

2) where in the windows directory structure does win.com live? It should either be in the C:\windows directory or the C:\ root directory

3) If I copy win.com to floppy before deleting it would I be able to reinstall it in DOS if necessary? Yes.

4) how do I make a dos boot floppy? I know that to make a windows system floppy I select the check box on the format a: drive dialogue box? That will work fine.


<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[Crashman]

Maybe in a place like this, but definately nothing "official".

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[Crashman]

You can coppy it anywhere. Easiest thing to do is type the following at the command prompt:
c:
cd windows
copy win.com a:\
del win.com
d:
md c:\Win98
copy win98 c:\win98
c:
cd win98
setup

Now, that will move Win.Com to the floppy, put the Win98 directory from the CD onto the C drive, and allow you to run setup from the C drive. Why go through the extra move of coppying to the C drive? Once you install from the C drive, every time Windows looks for a file, instead of asking you to insert the CD, it will simply look for it in the file you created, and you'll never need the CD again.

In fact, if you just click and drag the Win98 directory from the CD to the C: drive in windows, your boot disk won't need CDROM drivers.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[Crashman]

Been chasing you around! OK, you can do a lot of this in windows and not types as much: Copy the Win98 directory from the CD to the C: drive and you won't need the CD for setup. Copy the Win.Com to the floppy and you won't need to mess with that later. Then you can boot off the floppy, "c:" to change to the C: drive, "cd windows" to change to c:\windows, and "del win.com" to delete win.com from the windows directory. Then "cd .." to go back to the root directory c:, "cd win98" to move to the folder you made c:\win98 earlier, and "setup" to run setup from that directory. If you get stuck and can't setup, you can get win.com back to the windows directory by typing "copy a:\win.com c:\windows"

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>