I'm trying to install Windows 98 SE on an old PC and it's not going well. I run into this problem. Searching for Boot Record from Floppy..OK Starting Windows 98... TOSHIBA Enhanced-IDE CD/DVD-ROM Device Driver (ATAPI) Version 2.24 (C)Copyright Toshiba Corp. 1995-1999. All rights reserved. Device Name : TOSCD001 Number of units : 1 MSCDEX Version 2.25 Copyright (C) MIcrosoft Corp. 1986-1995. All rights reserved. Drive Z: = Driver TOSCD001 unit 0 TOSHIBA MACHINE Invalid drive specification Path not found - C:\TOOLS\CDROMDRV.SYS Invalid drive specification Invalid drive specification After that last line, it leaves me at a bitmap image displaying instructions to reboot with Ctrl+Alt+Del. It doesn't say why I have to reboot, and it doesn't state any error type, it just want's me to reboot for no apparent reason. After reboot, it just boots up from Floppy again and it cycles through the same thing all over again. The computer has been restored to original specification. Original system recovery "CD-ROM" discs are available and they are not scratched or anything, they are in very good condition. It's a set of 3 CDs, and the first disc labeled "1/3" should be the one holding the OEM version of Windows 98 SE. There is also a boot disk for Windows 98. I'm not sure what the other two discs are for. This computer came with three language support, so those could be holding different language versions or additional OEM discs. But I'm quite sure that the first disc holds the main operating system. BIOS has been set to optimized defaults. Boot priority is as follows; Floppy, IDE-0, CD-ROM. Under Standard CMOS settings, BIOS scans and autoconfigures both the hard drive and the CD/DVD drive. On POST it finds them both, and it finds the DOS bootdisk and starts preparing for installation, as you can see above. So what's this "invalid drive specification" about? Why isn't the installation starting? Updates Update 1 Booting from CD disc 2 In desperation I tried booting from the second CD. Boot order was; Floppy, CD-ROM, IDE-0. It boots normally from floppy disk, just like above, but then returns following. File not found - Z:\3LNGINST\TOOLS\PARTINFO.TXT I accidentally pressed some key on the keyboard, and before I knew it, the following screen showed up. Create Primary DOS Partition Current fixed disk drive: 1 Verifying drive integrity, 16% complete. After completion another screen showed up. Create Primary DOS Partition Current fixed disk drive: 1 Do you wish to use the maximum available size for a Primary DOS Partition and make the partition active (Y/N)?....................? [Y] Verifying drive integrity, 7% complete. I didn't choose Yes, it was set automatically. After completion the computer was automatically rebooted. Then I got a new screen. This is in Norwegian/Swedish/Finnish. Here's the message in Swedish. Hårddisken är inte klar för återställning av programvara. Installationsprogrammet måste skapa nya partitioner (C:, D:, ...). VARNING! ALLT INNEHÅLL PÅ HÅRDDISKEN KOMMER ATT RADERAS! Tryck på en tangent om du vill fortsätta (eller CTRL-C för att avbryta). Let me translate that. Hard drive is not ready for restoring the software. Setup program has to create new partitions (C:, D:, ...). WARNING! ALL CONTENTS ON THE HARD DRIVE WILL BE ERASED! Press any key to continue (or CTRL-C to cancel). I pressed Enter and it started formatting the hard drive. WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK DRIVE c: WILL BE LOST! Proceed with Format (Y/N)?y Formatting 14,67.53M 1 percent completed. It automatically sets the "y" option and starts formatting. Rebooting with CD disc 1 After completing this operation it rebooted automatically. I inserted CD disc 1 and there was no issue with "invalid drive specification" anymore. Instead, a bitmap menu was displayed where it asked me to choose a language. And I thought I had it there for a while but it didn't work out. After choosing the language, another menu was displayed asking me to choose a type of recovery (restore pre-installed software OR restore hard drive partitions and pre-installed software). I opted for the second option. Then a data destruction warning showed up where I just pressed 1 to Continue. It did something and then just rebooted and the same formatting screen shows up as before. So something is not right. Am I doing it wrong? I seem to have come past the CD-ROM driver issue at least. But now I'm stuck with this problem... it seems to have something to do with the hard drive. Like... why is is it always trying to format it? Isn't it enough to format it once? By the way, it needs to be formatted as FAT32, right? Windows 98 doesn't support NTFS? I think FDISK should have taken care of this already. I know this is an old hard drive, but I connected to my main computer and it was able to read and write to it without a problem. It does have bad sectors though, but it's expected on an old hard drive like this. Any ideas?.. Update 2 I seem to be repeatedly getting stuck at the format screen where it asks to press any key to continue. So tried to cancel it this time with Ctrl+C. This leaves me at: A:\TOOLS> I can do DIR and CD and I tried to change to Z: drive. I tried running "setup" but there is no such thing. Z:\>setup Bad command or file name Update 3 Floppy structure Here's the file/folder structure of the floppy disk. A:\>dir /s Volume in drive A has no label. Volume Serial Number is 1700-1069 Directory of A:\ 1999-10-11 10:44 <DIR> BMP 1998-05-11 22:01 93 880 COMMAND.COM 1999-10-11 10:44 <DIR> factory 1999-10-11 10:44 <DIR> lang 1999-10-11 10:44 <DIR> TOOLS 2000-05-19 15:32 339 CONFIG.SYS 1999-10-26 13:38 0 BOOTLOG.TXT 2000-06-08 08:32 3 691 AUTOEXEC.BAT 4 File(s) 97 910 bytes Directory of A:\BMP 1999-10-11 10:44 <DIR> . 1999-10-11 10:44 <DIR> .. 0 File(s) 0 bytes Directory of A:\factory 1999-10-11 10:44 <DIR> . 1999-10-11 10:44 <DIR> .. 2000-06-08 13:09 2 662 3LNGINSF.BAT 1 File(s) 2 662 bytes Directory of A:\lang 1999-10-11 10:44 <DIR> . 1999-10-11 10:44 <DIR> .. 1998-11-24 08:02 49 575 FORMAT.COM 1998-11-24 08:02 63 900 FDISK.EXE 2 File(s) 113 475 bytes Directory of A:\TOOLS 1999-10-11 10:44 <DIR> . 1999-10-11 10:44 <DIR> .. 1998-05-06 22:01 49 575 FORMAT.COM 1995-10-27 20:29 28 164 BMPVIEW.EXE 1999-01-26 15:54 15 MAKEPA32.TXT 1998-05-06 22:01 3 878 XCOPY.EXE 1998-05-06 22:01 41 472 XCOPY32.MOD 1998-05-06 22:01 33 191 HIMEM.SYS 1998-05-06 22:01 125 495 EMM386.EXE 1998-05-06 22:01 18 967 SYS.COM 1996-01-31 21:55 18 CLK.COM 1994-04-02 08:20 22 HARDBOOT.COM 1999-02-03 15:46 15 MAKEPA16.TXT 1999-04-14 16:36 7 840 PARTFO32.EXE 2000-05-19 15:01 1 169 PARTFORM.BAT 1996-10-02 01:47 1 642 MBRCLR.COM 1999-07-01 11:58 8 175 BIOSCHKN.EXE 1998-06-23 08:55 5 904 PAR-TYPE.EXE 1998-11-24 08:02 29 271 MODE.COM 1998-11-24 08:02 15 252 ATTRIB.EXE 1998-11-24 08:02 19 083 DELTREE.EXE 1999-04-21 15:01 23 304 NTBB.EXE 1997-05-07 14:19 1 SYS.TXT 1999-07-01 12:23 61 566 F3DCHK.EXE 1998-05-11 20:01 34 566 KEYBOARD.SYS 1998-05-11 20:01 19 927 KEYB.COM 1999-10-26 14:31 910 partinfo.txt 1998-06-16 15:58 5 936 CHKDRVAC.EXE 1998-05-06 22:01 63 900 FDISK.EXE 1998-05-06 22:01 45 379 SMARTDRV.EXE 1992-12-03 19:48 10 695 SCISET.EXE 1997-06-25 15:49 6 YENT 1998-05-06 22:01 25 473 MSCDEX.EXE 1998-05-06 22:01 5 239 CHOICE.COM 1997-07-18 17:41 6 876 MBR.COM 1997-07-01 15:01 6 545 CHK2GB.COM 1998-06-10 20:04 8 128 PARTFORM.EXE 1990-01-04 02:09 19 MAKEPAR2.TXT 1990-01-04 01:00 27 MAKEPAR3.TXT 1990-01-04 01:00 27 MAKEPAR4.TXT 1998-02-13 13:47 15 MAKEPART.TXT 1999-04-14 13:47 5 200 DISKSIZE.EXE 1999-05-06 14:56 7 856 PARTFO16.EXE 1999-01-13 11:13 13 720 CDROMDRV.SYS 42 File(s) 734 463 bytes Total Files Listed: 49 File(s) 948 510 bytes 12 Dir(s) 268 800 bytes free A:\> CONFIG.SYS contents Here's the content of CONFIG.SYS. DEVICE=A:\TOOLS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF REM I=B000-B7ff for Desktop BIOSes rem DEVICE=A:\TOOLS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS I=B000-B7ff x=C000-D000 DEVICE=A:\TOOLS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS x=C000-D000 DEVICE=A:\TOOLS\CDROMDRV.SYS /D:TOSCD001 BUFFERS=10 FILES=69 DOS=HIGH,UMB STACKS=9,256 LASTDRIVE=Z SWITCHES=/F SHELL=A:\COMMAND.COM /P /E:2048 AUTOEXEC.BAT contents :BEGIN @ECHO OFF PATH=A:\;A:\TOOLS; MSCDEX /D:TOSCD001 /L:Z /M:10 smartdrv 1024 128 SET TOOLS=A:\TOOLS SET COMSPEC=A:\COMMAND.COM SET EXITDRIVE=C: SET EXITPATH=\ CALL Z:\SETENV.BAT > NUL :TOSHCHK BIOSChkN IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 1 goto C_ACCESS BMPVIEW Z:\3LNGINST\BMP\NO_TOSP3.bmp /X=120 /Y=80 PAUSE > NUL SET EXITDRIVE=A: GOTO END :C_ACCESS CALL PARTFORM.BAT :C_EMPTY IF EXIST C:\*.* GOTO C_NOTEMPTY call z:\setenv.bat>nul goto PREPDU :C_NOTEMPTY REM ------------------MENU------------------------ :STARTMENU CLS BMPVIEW Z:\3LNGINST\BMP\LANGSELC.BMP /X=120 /Y=120 CLK CHOICE /C:123 /N >NUL REM L is the language that is selected IF ERRORLEVEL 1 SET L=%LNG1% IF ERRORLEVEL 2 SET L=%LNG2% IF ERRORLEVEL 3 SET L=%LNG3% SET BMP=BMP%L% BMPVIEW Z:\3LNGINST\%bmp%\HDDMENU.BMP /X=72 /Y=82 CLK CHOICE /C:129F /N > NUL IF ERRORLEVEL 4 GOTO FACTORY_MENU IF ERRORLEVEL 3 GOTO EXIT_MENU IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO PARTFORM_MENU IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO FORMAT_MENU GOTO END :FACTORY_MENU BMPVIEW Z:\3LNGINST\%bmp%\qformat.bmp /X=120 /Y=140 CLK choice /c:12 /N >nul IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO STARTMENU IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO FORMATF GOTO END :EXIT_MENU BMPVIEW Z:\3LNGINST\%bmp%\9.bmp /XC /X=96 /Y=267 choice /C:1pause /T:1,01 >nul SET EXITDRIVE=A: SET EXITPATH=\lang cls mode mono rem keyb xx>nul cls GOTO END :PARTFORM_MENU BMPVIEW Z:\3LNGINST\%bmp%\2.bmp /XC /X=96 /Y=216 choice /C:1pause /T:1,01 >nul BMPVIEW Z:\3LNGINST\%bmp%\partform.bmp /X=120 /Y=140 CLK choice /c:12 /N >nul IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO STARTMENU IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO PART_FORM SET EXITDRIVE=A: GOTO END :FORMAT_MENU BMPVIEW Z:\3LNGINST\%bmp%\1.bmp /XC /X=96 /Y=165 choice /C:1pause /T:1,01 >nul BMPVIEW Z:\3LNGINST\%bmp%\qformat.bmp /X=120 /Y=140 CLK choice /c:12 /N >nul IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO STARTMENU IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO FORMAT SET EXITDRIVE=A: GOTO END REM ------------------ MENU END ------------------------ :FORMAT bmpview Z:\3LNGINST\%bmp%\1.bmp /XC /X=145 /Y=235 choice /C:1pause /T:1,01 >nul CLS IF (%QFORMAT%)==(NO) GOTO FULLFO FORMAT C: /Q /V:"" <A:\TOOLS\YENT >NUL call z:\setenv.bat>nul goto PREPDU :FULLFO FORMAT C: /V:"" <A:\TOOLS\YENT call z:\setenv.bat>nul goto PREPDU :FORMATF CLS IF (%QFORMAT%)==(NO) GOTO FULLFO_F FORMAT C: /Q /V:"" <A:\TOOLS\YENT >NUL call z:\setenv.bat>nul goto PREPDU_F :FULLFO_F FORMAT C: /V:"" <A:\TOOLS\YENT call z:\setenv.bat>nul goto PREPDU_F :PART_FORM bmpview Z:\3LNGINST\bmp\1.bmp /XC /X=145 /Y=235 choice /C:1pause /T:1,01 >nul MBR /! HARDBOOT REM ====================== Triple Select ====================== :PREPDU XCOPY z:\3LNGINST\*.* C:\*.* /E /S /V >NUL ATTRIB -H -R -S C:\TOOLS\CDROMDRV.SYS COPY A:\TOOLS\CDROMDRV.SYS C:\TOOLS /Y SYS C: >NUL goto REBOOT :PREPDU_F copy A:\TOOLS\SMARTDRV.EXE C:\ /Y ATTRIB -H -R -S C:\SMARTDRV.EXE copy A:\FACTORY\3LNGINSF.bat c:\ c:\3LNGINSF.bat cls REM ====================== Dual Select END ====================== REM --------------- END ------------------ :REBOOT SMARTDRV.EXE /C bmpview Z:\3LNGINST\BMP\reboot3.bmp /X=120 /Y=140 :FOREVER pause >nul goto FOREVER :END SMARTDRV.EXE /C %EXITDRIVE% cd %EXITPATH% echo on CD structure S:\>dir /s Volume in drive S is T3ELK4SC Volume Serial Number is 2042-5BC9 Directory of S:\ 2000-08-22 14:14 <DIR> 3LNGINSF 2000-08-22 14:14 <DIR> 3LNGINST 2000-06-15 15:57 <DIR> CRC 2000-06-15 12:04 387 667 767 T310C1NO.W98 2000-09-07 15:36 273 setenv.BAT 2 File(s) 387 668 040 bytes Directory of S:\3LNGINSF 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> . 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> .. 1999-10-27 10:51 1 806 AUTOEXEC.BAT 2000-08-22 14:14 <DIR> BMP 2000-05-19 15:29 265 CONFIG.SYS 2000-08-22 14:14 <DIR> POSTINST 2000-08-22 14:14 <DIR> TOOLS 2000-08-22 14:14 <DIR> WIN98SYS 2 File(s) 2 071 bytes Directory of S:\3LNGINSF\BMP 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> . 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> .. 1997-04-22 09:43 718 1.BMP 1997-04-22 09:44 718 2.BMP 1999-01-04 02:38 718 3.BMP 2000-07-05 11:22 60 118 Cdchg2.bmp 2000-07-05 11:22 60 118 Cdchg3.bmp 2000-07-05 13:37 60 118 Fin.bmp 2000-07-06 14:18 120 118 Menu.bmp 2000-07-05 13:34 60 118 Nor.bmp 2000-07-05 11:53 35 318 Progress.bmp 2000-07-05 13:40 60 118 Swe.bmp 2000-07-05 12:09 84 118 Wrongcd2.bmp 2000-07-05 12:09 84 118 Wrongcd3.bmp 12 File(s) 626 416 bytes Directory of S:\3LNGINSF\POSTINST 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> . 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> .. 2000-05-19 09:15 33 POSTINST.BAT 1 File(s) 33 bytes Directory of S:\3LNGINSF\TOOLS 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> . 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> .. 2000-07-06 14:49 3 593 3LNGINST.BAT 1998-11-24 08:02 15 252 ATTRIB.EXE 1995-10-27 18:29 28 164 BMPVIEW.EXE 1999-01-13 11:13 13 720 CDROMDRV.SYS 1998-05-06 20:01 5 239 CHOICE.COM 1996-01-31 19:55 18 CLK.COM 1998-11-24 08:02 19 083 DELTREE.EXE 1998-05-06 20:01 125 495 EMM386.EXE 1999-07-01 12:23 61 566 F3DCHK.EXE 1998-05-06 20:01 49 575 FORMAT.COM 1994-04-02 06:20 22 HARDBOOT.COM 1998-05-06 20:01 33 191 HIMEM.SYS 1998-05-06 20:01 25 473 MSCDEX.EXE 1998-05-06 20:01 12 663 RAMDRIVE.SYS 1998-05-06 20:01 45 379 SMARTDRV.EXE 1997-05-07 14:19 1 SYS.TXT 1995-09-27 14:25 6 813 VOLCHECK.EXE 1998-05-06 20:01 3 878 XCOPY.EXE 1998-05-06 20:01 41 472 XCOPY32.MOD 1997-06-25 13:49 6 YENT 20 File(s) 490 603 bytes Directory of S:\3LNGINSF\WIN98SYS 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> . 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> .. 1998-12-04 20:00 222 390 IO.SYS 1998-05-06 20:01 18 967 SYS.COM 1998-05-06 20:01 93 880 command.com 3 File(s) 335 237 bytes Directory of S:\3LNGINST 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> . 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> .. 1999-05-31 09:51 1 576 AUTOEXEC.BAT 2000-08-22 14:14 <DIR> BMP 2000-08-22 14:14 <DIR> Bmpfin 2000-08-22 14:14 <DIR> Bmpnor 2000-08-22 14:14 <DIR> Bmpswe 2000-05-19 15:30 265 CONFIG.SYS 2000-08-22 14:14 <DIR> POSTINST 2000-08-22 14:14 <DIR> TOOLS 2000-08-22 14:14 <DIR> WIN98SYS 2 File(s) 1 841 bytes Directory of S:\3LNGINST\BMP 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> . 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> .. 1997-04-22 09:43 718 1.BMP 1997-04-22 09:44 718 2.BMP 1999-01-04 02:38 718 3.BMP 2000-07-05 11:22 60 118 Cdchg2.bmp 2000-07-05 11:22 60 118 Cdchg3.bmp 2000-07-05 13:37 60 118 Fin.bmp 2000-07-06 14:18 120 118 Menu.bmp 2000-07-05 13:34 60 118 Nor.bmp 2000-07-05 11:53 35 318 Progress.bmp 2000-07-06 14:08 40 518 Reboot3.bmp 2000-07-05 13:40 60 118 Swe.bmp 2000-07-05 12:09 84 118 Wrongcd2.bmp 2000-07-05 12:09 84 118 Wrongcd3.bmp 2000-07-05 13:52 48 118 langselc.bmp 2000-07-05 11:47 57 318 no_tosp3.bmp 15 File(s) 772 370 bytes Directory of S:\3LNGINST\Bmpfin 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> . 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> .. 1997-04-22 09:43 718 1.BMP 1997-04-22 09:44 718 2.BMP 1998-06-13 00:07 718 9.bmp 2000-03-08 15:02 78 486 Hddmenu.bmp 2000-03-08 15:31 25 318 No_tospc.bmp 2000-03-08 15:37 36 518 PARTFORM.BMP 2000-03-08 15:42 36 518 Qformat.bmp 7 File(s) 178 994 bytes Directory of S:\3LNGINST\Bmpnor 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> . 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> .. 1997-04-22 09:43 718 1.BMP 1997-04-22 09:44 718 2.BMP 1998-06-13 00:07 718 9.bmp 1999-05-05 13:26 78 486 Hddmenu.bmp 1998-07-13 11:36 25 318 No_tospc.bmp 1998-07-13 11:41 36 518 PARTFORM.BMP 1998-07-13 11:45 36 518 Qformat.bmp 7 File(s) 178 994 bytes Directory of S:\3LNGINST\Bmpswe 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> . 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> .. 1997-04-22 09:43 718 1.BMP 1997-04-22 09:44 718 2.BMP 1998-06-13 00:07 718 9.bmp 1999-05-06 08:14 78 486 Hddmenu.bmp 1998-07-10 16:25 25 318 No_tospc.bmp 1998-07-10 16:29 36 518 PARTFORM.BMP 1998-07-10 17:08 36 518 Qformat.bmp 7 File(s) 178 994 bytes Directory of S:\3LNGINST\POSTINST 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> . 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> .. 2000-05-19 09:15 33 POSTINST.BAT 1 File(s) 33 bytes Directory of S:\3LNGINST\TOOLS 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> . 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> .. 2000-05-19 14:52 3 898 3LNGINST.BAT 1995-10-27 18:29 28 164 BMPVIEW.EXE 1999-01-13 11:13 13 720 CDROMDRV.SYS 1998-05-06 20:01 5 239 CHOICE.COM 1996-01-31 19:55 18 CLK.COM 1998-05-06 20:01 125 495 EMM386.EXE 1999-07-01 12:23 61 566 F3DCHK.EXE 1998-05-06 20:01 49 575 FORMAT.COM 1994-04-02 06:20 22 HARDBOOT.COM 1998-05-06 20:01 33 191 HIMEM.SYS 1998-05-06 20:01 25 473 MSCDEX.EXE 2000-07-06 14:41 910 PARTINFO.TXT 1998-05-06 20:01 12 663 RAMDRIVE.SYS 1998-05-06 20:01 45 379 SMARTDRV.EXE 1997-05-07 14:19 1 SYS.TXT 1995-09-27 14:25 6 813 VOLCHECK.EXE 1998-05-06 20:01 3 878 XCOPY.EXE 1998-05-06 20:01 41 472 XCOPY32.MOD 1997-06-25 13:49 6 YENT 19 File(s) 457 483 bytes Directory of S:\3LNGINST\WIN98SYS 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> . 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> .. 1998-12-04 20:00 222 390 IO.SYS 1998-05-06 20:01 18 967 SYS.COM 1998-05-06 20:01 93 880 command.com 3 File(s) 335 237 bytes Directory of S:\CRC 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> . 1601-01-01 02:00 <DIR> .. 2000-06-15 12:07 181 422 T310C1NO.ALL 2000-06-15 12:09 215 427 T310C1NO.CRC 2000-06-15 12:07 2 157 T310C1NO.HID 3 File(s) 399 006 bytes Total Files Listed: 104 File(s) 391 625 352 bytes 42 Dir(s) 0 bytes free S:\> Now which line or lines need to be changed? Do I really have to change drive letter Z: to C:? Proposed solutions Solution #1 Ramhound proposed to change the boot order to following; CD-ROM, IDE-0, Floppy This didn't help. In fact, here is the result of it. Searching for Boot Record from CDROM..Not Found Searching for Boot Record from IDE-0.. OK Missing operating system Any other ideas?... Solution #2 Rik proposed to run Z:\setup. Now that I have found a way to drop to DOS prompt with Ctrl+C as described above (Update 2), I did try running setup but there is no such command or file in there. So that didn't work.