Hey guys,

Success at last!! After trying several things I got from the instructions
for using fdisk, to no avail, I saw a seemingly illogical instruction in the
Dell reference manual, in the section for reinstalling WINDOWS. It said to
set the boot sequence in the bios to the CD ROM first, to run the install
program THEN reset the sequence to FLOPPY first. When I did this, it booted
to WINDOWS ME with nothing in either CD or Floppy drive. Doesn't make sense
(to me) but it works.

The MS instructions said to format the DOS partition with format c: /s.
When I tried this, I got a message that DOS no longer supported the /s
argument. This with the WIN ME boot floppy DOS. I had reformatted and
re-installed several times before I stumbled on the floppy first bit.

Thanks for your interest and suggestions.

Don Robertson

"Droberts34" wrote:

John and Mart,
Thanks guys. The sys c: trick didn't work, but there is a good chance I
didn't do the fdisk right. I know just enough about this to be dangerous. I
will read the recommended document on how to use fdisk. I'm not sure I
understand about dos partitions, extended partitions etc. I HAVE tried
several combinations of jumper settings, trying both Master and Cable Select
as well as both connectors on the ribbon cable. I can access the c: drive
from the dos boot floppy. I have found an autoexec.bat file buried deep in
WINDOWS subdirectories. I was thinking somehow the problem is in this file,
but don't really understnd what is going on.

Will try to figure out what I did with fdisk and format. This hard drive
was used elsewhere and is not brand new, but passes the scandisk tests.

Don

"John John" wrote:

And also, is the new hard drive correctly "jumped" and at the proper
location on the IDE cable. The Master/Slave relationship might not be
proper. Assuming of course that it is an IDE drive and not a SATA. I
doubt that computers with ME originally installed have SATA controllers.
The drives have to be properly recognized in the BIOS and shown to be
in the right order. DOS/Windows 95/98/ME don't like to boot on slaved
drives.

John

Mart wrote:
Hi John, I did wonder about that too. When fitting the new HDD, did the OP
run FDISK correctly?

"How to Use the Fdisk Tool and the Format Tool to Partition or Repartition a
Hard Disk"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/255867/en-us

Mart


"John John" wrote in message
...

Or the disk doesn't have an active partition, or necessary system files
are missing.

John

Mart wrote:


Did you fit a large hard drive - larger than the original?

Sounds like you may have some sort of 'drive overlay' installed on your
HDD. Can you see your HDD if you boot from a 'Standard' WinMe floppy
Startup Disk?

See "Cannot Access Hard Disk After Booting from Floppy Disk"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/245162/en-us

Or, does the Dell CD install GoBack?

See "Error Messages May Be Displayed When Using Windows Me Startup Disk
with Adaptec GoBack Software"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/266342/en-us

You may need to consult the User Manual to see if there any non-standard
OEM 'features' provided by Dell.

Mart



"Droberts34" wrote in message
...


No, I thought of that. I even temporarily disabled the CD drive. Then I
get
the invalid boot disk error even when the CD is in the drive.

Don

"Mart" wrote:



Sounds like the BIOS boot sequence needs re-setting. It's probably set
for
CD first then HDD or FDD next etc. Just change to the appropriate
sequence
of your choice.

Mart


"Droberts34" wrote in message
...


I have just re-installed WINDOWS ME in a new hard drive using the OEM
(Dell)
system CD. After the initial installation, I removed the system CD to
install some other drivers. After the subsequent "restart your
computer"
instruction, I found a text message on the monitor that it was an
invalid
boot disk and to insert a boot disk in the floppy drive. After
puzzling
over
this I realized I had removed the system installation CD. When I
reinserted
the system installation CD, I then got a two line screen asking if I
wanted
to boot from the CD or the Hard Drive. There was a time out and it
defaulted
to the hard drive. Either way, selecting the Hard Drive resulted in
the
ME
system starting normally. So it now appears that every time the ME
system
is
booted, it must see the system installation CD in the CD drive to make
the
choice of CD or hard drive, otherwise it gives the "invalid boot disk"
error.
I went through the whole install procedure again, with the same result.
This is a friend's system, and I have not had any experience in
installing
an
ME system. Any ideas as to why this is happening?
Obviously, keeping the install disk around for every time the system is
booted is a workaround, but this should not be.

Don Robertson