DOS question

[ms]

Sorry to ask here, but my newsreader won't subscribe to any DOS newsgroups.
Maybe someone here still remembers DOS 6.22?

A used 486 computer. I get the message "missing operating system" as
previous owner probably wiped the hard disk.

i want to start with DOS 6.22, then maybe W95 or something depending on
what the hardware turns out to be.

I tried booting with a DOS 6.22 setup disk, got the message (IIRC):
"missing system disk, replace and hit any key"

How to start with DOS?

TIA

[Ben Myers]

Try creating a new boot floppy.

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

Ben

"ms" > wrote in message =
...
> Sorry to ask here, but my newsreader won't subscribe to any DOS =
newsgroups.=20
> Maybe someone here still remembers DOS 6.22?
>=20
> A used 486 computer. I get the message "missing operating system" as=20
> previous owner probably wiped the hard disk.
>=20
> i want to start with DOS 6.22, then maybe W95 or something depending =
on=20
> what the hardware turns out to be.
>=20
> I tried booting with a DOS 6.22 setup disk, got the message (IIRC):=20
> "missing system disk, replace and hit any key"
>=20
> How to start with DOS?
>=20
> TIA

[Ingeborg]

ms > wrote in :

> Sorry to ask here, but my newsreader won't subscribe to any DOS
> newsgroups. Maybe someone here still remembers DOS 6.22?
>
> A used 486 computer. I get the message "missing operating system" as
> previous owner probably wiped the hard disk.
>
> i want to start with DOS 6.22, then maybe W95 or something depending
> on what the hardware turns out to be.
>
> I tried booting with a DOS 6.22 setup disk, got the message (IIRC):
> "missing system disk, replace and hit any key"
>
> How to start with DOS?
>
> TIA

Check in BIOS setup the boot sequence. Floppy has to be before harddisk.

[ms]

Ben Myers wrote:
> Try creating a new boot floppy.
>
> http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm
>
> Ben
>
> "ms" > wrote in message ...
>
>>Sorry to ask here, but my newsreader won't subscribe to any DOS newsgroups.
>>Maybe someone here still remembers DOS 6.22?
>>
>>A used 486 computer. I get the message "missing operating system" as
>>previous owner probably wiped the hard disk.
>>
>>i want to start with DOS 6.22, then maybe W95 or something depending on
>>what the hardware turns out to be.
>>
>>I tried booting with a DOS 6.22 setup disk, got the message (IIRC):
>>"missing system disk, replace and hit any key"
>>
>>How to start with DOS?
>>
>>TIA

I don't know what OS was on there before, so boot floppy for what?

[Tim Slattery]

ms > wrote:

>Sorry to ask here, but my newsreader won't subscribe to any DOS newsgroups.
>Maybe someone here still remembers DOS 6.22?
>
>A used 486 computer. I get the message "missing operating system" as
>previous owner probably wiped the hard disk.
>
>i want to start with DOS 6.22, then maybe W95 or something depending on
>what the hardware turns out to be.
>
>I tried booting with a DOS 6.22 setup disk, got the message (IIRC):
>"missing system disk, replace and hit any key"

That message is displayed when the computer finds a disk, tries to
boot from it, but the disk is not bootable. There are two reasons why
this may have happened:

1. You're not booting from the disk you think you're booting from. For
example, if the BIOS is set to check the hard drive first then the
floppy, that would work fine as long as an OS existed on the hard
drive. Clean off the hard drive (as seems to have happened in your
case), and now the BIOS never looks at the floppy you're trying to
boot from. So bring up the BIOS configuration and make sure it's
checking the floppy drive first, then the hard drive.

2. The disk you are trying to boot from is not actually bootable, or
has no OS or a corrupted OS. If the BIOS is checking the floppy drive
first, then there must be something wrong with your floppy disk. Go to
www.bootdisk.com and get a bootable floppy. I'd recommend getting a
Win98 version, since that one contains *lots* of nifty, useful tools.
This disk will also include drivers for your CD-ROM, so you'll be able
to read a Win95 or Win98 CD-ROM.

--
Tim Slattery
MS MVP(DTS)

[ms]

Tim Slattery wrote:
> ms > wrote:
>
>
>>Sorry to ask here, but my newsreader won't subscribe to any DOS newsgroups.
>>Maybe someone here still remembers DOS 6.22?
>>
>>A used 486 computer. I get the message "missing operating system" as
>>previous owner probably wiped the hard disk.
>>
>>i want to start with DOS 6.22, then maybe W95 or something depending on
>>what the hardware turns out to be.
>>
>>I tried booting with a DOS 6.22 setup disk, got the message (IIRC):
>>"missing system disk, replace and hit any key"
>
>
> That message is displayed when the computer finds a disk, tries to
> boot from it, but the disk is not bootable. There are two reasons why
> this may have happened:
>
> 1. You're not booting from the disk you think you're booting from. For
> example, if the BIOS is set to check the hard drive first then the
> floppy, that would work fine as long as an OS existed on the hard
> drive. Clean off the hard drive (as seems to have happened in your
> case), and now the BIOS never looks at the floppy you're trying to
> boot from. So bring up the BIOS configuration and make sure it's
> checking the floppy drive first, then the hard drive.
>
> 2. The disk you are trying to boot from is not actually bootable, or
> has no OS or a corrupted OS. If the BIOS is checking the floppy drive
> first, then there must be something wrong with your floppy disk. Go to
> www.bootdisk.com and get a bootable floppy. I'd recommend getting a
> Win98 version, since that one contains *lots* of nifty, useful tools.
> This disk will also include drivers for your CD-ROM, so you'll be able
> to read a Win95 or Win98 CD-ROM.
>
Thanks, Tim. I'll try the W98SE boot disk, see what happens.

I looked in BIOS, the floppy drive is enabled on bootup. The DOS 6.22 setup
disk was a copy of a disk that reliably sets up a hard disk that had W3.1
on it, so maybe this hard disk had W9X on it, and then I'll be back as to
how to convert this to true DOS, I've never been able to do it in the past.

Mike

[ms]

ms wrote:
> Tim Slattery wrote:
>
>> ms > wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Sorry to ask here, but my newsreader won't subscribe to any DOS
>>> newsgroups. Maybe someone here still remembers DOS 6.22?
>>>
>>> A used 486 computer. I get the message "missing operating system" as
>>> previous owner probably wiped the hard disk.
>>>
>>> i want to start with DOS 6.22, then maybe W95 or something depending
>>> on what the hardware turns out to be.
>>>
>>> I tried booting with a DOS 6.22 setup disk, got the message (IIRC):
>>> "missing system disk, replace and hit any key"
>>
>>
>>
>> That message is displayed when the computer finds a disk, tries to
>> boot from it, but the disk is not bootable. There are two reasons why
>> this may have happened:
>>
>> 1. You're not booting from the disk you think you're booting from. For
>> example, if the BIOS is set to check the hard drive first then the
>> floppy, that would work fine as long as an OS existed on the hard
>> drive. Clean off the hard drive (as seems to have happened in your
>> case), and now the BIOS never looks at the floppy you're trying to
>> boot from. So bring up the BIOS configuration and make sure it's
>> checking the floppy drive first, then the hard drive.
>>
>> 2. The disk you are trying to boot from is not actually bootable, or
>> has no OS or a corrupted OS. If the BIOS is checking the floppy drive
>> first, then there must be something wrong with your floppy disk. Go to
>> www.bootdisk.com and get a bootable floppy. I'd recommend getting a
>> Win98 version, since that one contains *lots* of nifty, useful tools.
>> This disk will also include drivers for your CD-ROM, so you'll be able
>> to read a Win95 or Win98 CD-ROM.
>>
> Thanks, Tim. I'll try the W98SE boot disk, see what happens.
>
> I looked in BIOS, the floppy drive is enabled on bootup. The DOS 6.22
> setup disk was a copy of a disk that reliably sets up a hard disk that
> had W3.1 on it, so maybe this hard disk had W9X on it, and then I'll be
> back as to how to convert this to true DOS, I've never been able to do
> it in the past.
>
> Mike
An update: It must have had 9X on before, the 98SE boot disk ran fine.

chkdsk showed the harddrive is full of files, yet no OS? If they wiped the
HD, it would be empty?

It has 16 MB RAM, looks like a 1.4 GB hard drive. I'm not an expert, but
got a similar P133 working for my wife for casual use, loads 98SE slow, but
it works.

This machine is a 486 something, so a question:
There are some programs I would like to try out on another machine than my
regular W98SE machine. With 16 MB RAM, if I can format, then load W98 on
this 486, will this be useful?

Or, how to get 9X totally off the machine so I can boot up in DOS 6.22?

Advice?

TIA

Mike

[Tim Slattery]

ms > wrote:


>> Thanks, Tim. I'll try the W98SE boot disk, see what happens.
>>
>> I looked in BIOS, the floppy drive is enabled on bootup. The DOS 6.22
>> setup disk was a copy of a disk that reliably sets up a hard disk that
>> had W3.1 on it, so maybe this hard disk had W9X on it, and then I'll be
>> back as to how to convert this to true DOS, I've never been able to do
>> it in the past.
>>
>> Mike
>An update: It must have had 9X on before, the 98SE boot disk ran fine.

What was on it before makes no difference. If the new bootdisk worked,
then the old one must have been faulty in some way. Floppy disks do
not last forever.

>chkdsk showed the harddrive is full of files, yet no OS? If they wiped the
>HD, it would be empty?

That's what "wiped" means to me. Clearly they removed or crippled the
OS.

>It has 16 MB RAM, looks like a 1.4 GB hard drive. I'm not an expert, but
>got a similar P133 working for my wife for casual use, loads 98SE slow, but
>it works.

>This machine is a 486 something, so a question:
>There are some programs I would like to try out on another machine than my
>regular W98SE machine. With 16 MB RAM, if I can format, then load W98 on
>this 486, will this be useful?

I think so. It will run fairly slowly, so it depends on whether you
think it's running too slowly.

>Or, how to get 9X totally off the machine so I can boot up in DOS 6.22?

You could use the format tool on the boot disk if you don't want to
keep any of the files that are currently on the hard drive. That will
leave you with an empty partition.

--
Tim Slattery
MS MVP(DTS)

[Brian A.]

"ms" > wrote in message ...
> An update: It must have had 9X on before, the 98SE boot disk ran fine.


>
> chkdsk showed the harddrive is full of files, yet no OS? If they wiped the HD,
> it would be empty?

Not necessarily, a formatted drive may have data on it that can be retrieved.
It also may be that they didn't format the drive, yet they simply deleted either
what they thought was vital to remove or simply what they were capable of
getting at/seeing/finding.

>
> It has 16 MB RAM, looks like a 1.4 GB hard drive. I'm not an expert, but got a
> similar P133 working for my wife for casual use, loads 98SE slow, but it
> works.

The memory is at the least required and the drive is small but possibly large
enough for your app trial needs.
Win98 requirements:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;182751

>
> This machine is a 486 something, so a question:
> There are some programs I would like to try out on another machine than my
> regular W98SE machine. With 16 MB RAM, if I can format, then load W98 on this
> 486, will this be useful?

Depending on the size of the apps when installed will determine if it's useful.
If they're small enough, have at it, although as you note it will be slow.
However if the apps are not compatible with Win98, then it's not useful unless
there is a way to get them to run properly. Bottom line, it all depends on the
apps.

>
> Or, how to get 9X totally off the machine so I can boot up in DOS 6.22?

If there are files on the drive, then there must be a partition (volume), at the
a: prompt type:
format c:\

also have a read here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;221829


--

Brian A. Sesko
{ MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

[Stanislaw Flatto]

ms wrote:
> ms wrote:


> Or, how to get 9X totally off the machine so I can boot up in DOS 6.22?
>
> Advice?
>
> TIA
>
> Mike
Don't "format c: /s", it will wipe the drive of anything that is on it.
Boot from diskette, at A:> prompt invoke "dir /w", it will list all
files on it. If one of them is "sys.com" invoke the command "sys c:".
It would put a bootable system on drive without touching anything that
exist there.
If "sys.com" is not there you can add it from another install of win9x
at \command directory.

HTH

Stanislaw
Slack user from Ulladulla.

[ms]

Brian A. wrote:
> "ms" > wrote in message ...
>
>> An update: It must have had 9X on before, the 98SE boot disk ran fine.
>
>
>
>>
>> chkdsk showed the harddrive is full of files, yet no OS? If they wiped
>> the HD, it would be empty?
>
>
> Not necessarily, a formatted drive may have data on it that can be
> retrieved. It also may be that they didn't format the drive, yet they
> simply deleted either what they thought was vital to remove or simply
> what they were capable of getting at/seeing/finding.
>
>>
>> It has 16 MB RAM, looks like a 1.4 GB hard drive. I'm not an expert,
>> but got a similar P133 working for my wife for casual use, loads 98SE
>> slow, but it works.
>
>
> The memory is at the least required and the drive is small but possibly
> large enough for your app trial needs.
> Win98 requirements:
> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;182751
>
>>
>> This machine is a 486 something, so a question:
>> There are some programs I would like to try out on another machine
>> than my regular W98SE machine. With 16 MB RAM, if I can format, then
>> load W98 on this 486, will this be useful?
>
>
> Depending on the size of the apps when installed will determine if it's
> useful. If they're small enough, have at it, although as you note it
> will be slow. However if the apps are not compatible with Win98, then
> it's not useful unless there is a way to get them to run properly.
> Bottom line, it all depends on the apps.
>
>>
>> Or, how to get 9X totally off the machine so I can boot up in DOS 6.22?
>
>
> If there are files on the drive, then there must be a partition
> (volume), at the a: prompt type:
> format c:\
>
> also have a read here:
> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;221829
>
>
Thanks for the data.

I am pretty sure this is a 486/25- the app note says 66 min???

I have another 486/25 that runs W95. When I got it, the previous owner had
Office, Excel, etc. on it- wonders will never cease.

Mike

[ms]

Brian A. wrote:
> "ms" > wrote in message ...
>
>> An update: It must have had 9X on before, the 98SE boot disk ran fine.
>
>
>
>>
>> chkdsk showed the harddrive is full of files, yet no OS? If they wiped
>> the HD, it would be empty?
>
>
> Not necessarily, a formatted drive may have data on it that can be
> retrieved. It also may be that they didn't format the drive, yet they
> simply deleted either what they thought was vital to remove or simply
> what they were capable of getting at/seeing/finding.
>
>>
>> It has 16 MB RAM, looks like a 1.4 GB hard drive. I'm not an expert,
>> but got a similar P133 working for my wife for casual use, loads 98SE
>> slow, but it works.
>
>
> The memory is at the least required and the drive is small but possibly
> large enough for your app trial needs.
> Win98 requirements:
> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;182751
>
>>
>> This machine is a 486 something, so a question:
>> There are some programs I would like to try out on another machine
>> than my regular W98SE machine. With 16 MB RAM, if I can format, then
>> load W98 on this 486, will this be useful?
>
>
> Depending on the size of the apps when installed will determine if it's
> useful. If they're small enough, have at it, although as you note it
> will be slow. However if the apps are not compatible with Win98, then
> it's not useful unless there is a way to get them to run properly.
> Bottom line, it all depends on the apps.
>
>>
>> Or, how to get 9X totally off the machine so I can boot up in DOS 6.22?
>
>
> If there are files on the drive, then there must be a partition
> (volume), at the a: prompt type:
> format c:\
>
> also have a read here:
> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;221829
>
>
After reading the appnote about install w/o prior windows:

After I format (don't care what was on it), how do I get it to recognize
the CD drive?

Also, I have a MS disk labeled "W98 for PC without Windows"- so if the CD
drive is recognized, I guess this disk will install W98?

Mike

[Brian A.]

"ms" > wrote in message ...
>>
> After reading the appnote about install w/o prior windows:
>
> After I format (don't care what was on it), how do I get it to recognize the
> CD drive?

The floppy boot disk you created should have CD Support. When you boot with the
disk, you should have an option for either CD Support or not, selecting CD Sup
will assign it a drive letter which you will see near the end of booting to DOS,
take note of it.

>
> Also, I have a MS disk labeled "W98 for PC without Windows"- so if the CD
> drive is recognized, I guess this disk will install W98?

It certainly should, Without Win means it's not an Upgrade disk.
At the Prompt type:

cd notedCDdriveletter:
CDdriveletter:\setup.exe

--

Brian A. Sesko
{ MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

[budgie]

On Thu, 12 May 2005 10:52:54 -0400, "Ben Myers"
> wrote:

>Try creating a new boot floppy.

The DOS 6.22 setup disk IS a boot floopy.

[Lil' Dave]

"ms" > wrote in message ...
> Tim Slattery wrote:
>> ms > wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Sorry to ask here, but my newsreader won't subscribe to any DOS
>>>newsgroups. Maybe someone here still remembers DOS 6.22?
>>>
>>>A used 486 computer. I get the message "missing operating system" as
>>>previous owner probably wiped the hard disk.
>>>
>>>i want to start with DOS 6.22, then maybe W95 or something depending on
>>>what the hardware turns out to be.
>>>
>>>I tried booting with a DOS 6.22 setup disk, got the message (IIRC):
>>>"missing system disk, replace and hit any key"
>>
>>
>> That message is displayed when the computer finds a disk, tries to
>> boot from it, but the disk is not bootable. There are two reasons why
>> this may have happened:
>>
>> 1. You're not booting from the disk you think you're booting from. For
>> example, if the BIOS is set to check the hard drive first then the
>> floppy, that would work fine as long as an OS existed on the hard
>> drive. Clean off the hard drive (as seems to have happened in your
>> case), and now the BIOS never looks at the floppy you're trying to
>> boot from. So bring up the BIOS configuration and make sure it's
>> checking the floppy drive first, then the hard drive.
>>
>> 2. The disk you are trying to boot from is not actually bootable, or
>> has no OS or a corrupted OS. If the BIOS is checking the floppy drive
>> first, then there must be something wrong with your floppy disk. Go to
>> www.bootdisk.com and get a bootable floppy. I'd recommend getting a
>> Win98 version, since that one contains *lots* of nifty, useful tools.
>> This disk will also include drivers for your CD-ROM, so you'll be able
>> to read a Win95 or Win98 CD-ROM.
>>
> Thanks, Tim. I'll try the W98SE boot disk, see what happens.
>
> I looked in BIOS, the floppy drive is enabled on bootup. The DOS 6.22
> setup disk was a copy of a disk that reliably sets up a hard disk that had
> W3.1

Depending how the msdos 6.22 setup diskette was copied may be the problem
with how it won't boot. A drag and drop, or copy *.*, won't put the boot
files in the proper location on the diskette. The boot files would be
there, just not in the correct location.

You should use the 98 startup disk. This will allow you to use the newer
version of fdisk. This version will write either the newer FAT16 with two
FAT tables (one a backup), or FAT32.

Real mode msdos operation is not needed prior to installing windows 95,
98/98SE, or ME when booting from the hard disk. A hard disk with an active
and primary partition that is formatted is all that is required. Setup on
the installation CD will do the rest.

Prior installation of msdos was needed for Win 3.x

Win95 and version A did not have the updated version of fdisk, nor could its
base msdos work with those type partition tables properly.

> on it, so maybe this hard disk had W9X on it, and then I'll be back as to
> how to convert this to true DOS, I've never been able to do it in the
> past.
>
> Mike

[[email protected]]

If you want to know more about partition problems and their solutions
and programming related issues, you can find the Book Contents ("Data
Recovery with & without Programming") on following link:

http://www.datadoctor.biz/author.htm

regards

Sachin