ThE sPaCeCoWbOy

I thought this would be a easy fix but its not....

anyhow, my friends computer was running slow, etc....so I thought that I would just go clean it up and delete windows, etc...and reinstall...

I formatted the drive, fdisked it, and when i put in the recovery disk, it says wrong machine....

I put in windows 98, 2000, and ME disk, started it up to read off the disk and setup that way, nothing....goes to prompt and will read the disk, but won't set up....plus the setup file is zipped...

anyhow, can anyone help?

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icat

After you fdisked the drive did you make the partition active?

Brian McCoy

You wouldn't need to create the partition if you're using a boot disk/bootable CD (the recoverey disk, on the other hand, is useless at this point). Anyway, are you trying to boot from a floppy? Use a CD. You should never go to a prompt as there's really no need for it. You'll be able to set up your partitions and format them from within the setup disk.

Just as a matter of curiousity, are you using downloaded stuff, or real disks? If downloaded, have you ever tested them to make sure that they actually work? (most OSes I've DL are crap).

icat

I'd suggest starting over from scratch and trying again. Using a boot disk, fdisk the drive and recreate the primary partition. It has been my experience that you have to create an active partition once you have fdisked the drive, otherwise nothing will load. In the BIOS, change the boot order to boot from CD first. Then run the Windows 2000 CD. Should boot from the CD without any issues. As Brian said - no floppy needed (except for fdisk) - at least with Windows 2000. If I recall, Win98 requires a boot disk - not sure about ME.

schnellfahrer

Where does it say it's the wrong machine?
Some OEM installation disks will check to see if the computer is the same brand as the one the CD's were deliveres with.

ThE sPaCeCoWbOy

the window cd's are burnt but do work since used them in prior computers

the recovery disk is from factory...when i instert the recove. disk and boot fom cd, it runs....says press f1 to reinstall to factory settings, then it does it thing and then really big on the screen it says wrong machine....the cd is made for the toshiba...

any ideas?

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icat

The only thing the Recovery CD will have that is valuable is the drivers for sound, video, NIC, etc... You should be able to download all of the drivers needed from the Toshiba's web site. I'd toss the recovery disk and run the Windows CD version you want, then download the drivers you're missing.

ThE sPaCeCoWbOy

thats what I've been trying to do....but this is what it does....Toshiba screen pops up...

f2 to go to setup, c to force cd rom boot...

I pressed c....then the screen goes blank with that blinking underline cursor....thats it....

i downloaded a boot disk, put it on CD maybe that it will work (keep in mind this is a laptop, no 3.5 disk drive)....didnt work....

i'm out of ideas....i'm about to take it to a computer speacialist...

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turbo944

Check the Windows site for startup book disk downloads. There are some machines that simply refuse to boot from the CD-ROM, no matter what you set it to. I know for certain that XP on the MS site has a download that you put on like 7 floppy disks that will put the initial files on your computer to start installing the OS with when you can't read from a CD-ROM to start with. Definitely worth checking out, might get you around the CD-ROM boot issue.

And as suggested, I would definitely go in and remove all partitions and put them back again if they exist or at least make sure one is setup.

Brian McCoy

There's nothing a 'specialist' can do without a working OS disk. They might use their personal copy to test the machine out, but then they'll delete everything off and hand it back to you in the same state you handed it to them, only with a $150 bill and an assurance that everything's working as it should.

The recoverey disk doesn't sound like it's for that computer. If it can wait, you can get intouch with Toshiba and have them send you a new disk, usually free of charge. If it can't wait, you need to try different OS disks. I assure you that you do NOT need to have a boot disk, or set up a partition on the hard drive first (I've built litteraly thousands of computers in my life, everything from Dos 5.0 to Server 2003). The fact that the recovery disk does its thing till the point where it checks for the hardware key means that all the hardware os working correctly. If your disk isn't working, then it sounds like the disk is scratched, doesn't have a boot partition (non-bootable, would require a boot disk) or is having another problem. This is a common issue for copied disks.

SoCal Driver

Dedicated systems CD's, Toshiba, HP, Compaq, etc., will not format and load on a blank hard drive.

If you are trying to remove any NT OS you have to nuke the drive to load another OS. Nuking means totally remove the boot partition taking the drive back to the manufacturers out the door configuration. I use a "program" called Delete Partition or delpart.com.

I use delpart.com for most any problems includine virises. Warning! Have only the target hard drive on the system and use a windows 98 boot disk with delpart.com on it. When you run delpart.com it will whack any hard drive that is connected.

You are going to need a general Windows OS CD to be able to reinstall the OS.

led

Why does the "windows boot disk" take up ~7 floppies when it used to take just 1? IIRC, the windows setup allows you to set up the partitions on the disk.

ThE sPaCeCoWbOy

ok....how can I run a program if the computer doesnt load up or even read the disk...it doesnt make sense that all it does no matter what CD I put in, is nothing.....

I dont have a 3.5 drive for it....its a labtop....

i'll try the delpart thing...

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SoCal Driver

Windows XP takes up to seven.

Windows NT takes up three to four.

Windows 98 is only one.

The W98 has the general drivers to let you use the CD drive as a start up option. This will let you use any other OS CD that can do a clean install (not an upgrade) in cluding the XP CD. It also has the Fdisk and Sys functions.

944S2NUT

You are going to have to install a raw copy of whatever windows, then find all the drivers that machine uses. Good luck. Oh yah set the partition active like the other guys said.