I have 2 questions actually
1. If I have windows 98 with the SE upgrade and I have to reinstall windows do I need to reinstall windows 98 or windows 98 SE? Which one is best to install windows over current install without risking a clean install and losing data?

2. I have a windows 98 SE. upgrade CD when I boot with my win 98 startup disk and start with CD rom support. I type dir and it shows the files, but when I try to run a command I get "bad command or file name" and when I try change to a directory on the CD I get a message saying "invalid directory." At first I thought my CD was corrupt, but I had no problem acessing it and changing directories etc. On my laptop which has windows ME. Any ideas. I can not access the CD w/o booting from floppy. Is their a way around that?
Thanks for all your help.

first run sfc to restore windows correctly. Reinstalling windows doesn't affect other files, u don't loose anything. Reinstall cd contains ur first windows 98. If u made an upgrade, u'd better reinstall over it with a w98se

What command are you trying to run? Use "dir/p" or "dir/p/w" to show files a "page" at a time so you can tell if the command is actually there. For example, I don't believe that "format.com" is on the upgrade CD. (The only command I can imagine that you would want to run is "setup"

By the way, is this actually, really the UPGRADE cd, or is it the "UPDATE" cd?

AND, is it really a real cd, or a copy? (Could be corrupt) and of cours, a scratched, dirty, factory CD could also be causing trouble--clean the thing.

If your laptop won't talk to the CD in whambows, then you need to run the hardware wizard and see if it will reinstall, and or go to the manufacturer's website and see if there is a driver you need for it.

You could try booting directly to the CD by going into BIOS and changing the boot sequence so the CD-ROM drive is first.

Regards - Ray

"I type dir and it shows the files, but when I try to run a command I get "bad command or file name" and when I try change to a directory on the CD I get a message saying invalid directory."

It sounds to me like you must be mistyping the commands.

I should have mentioned I am not able to boot into windows or safe mode, I keept getting error loading gdi.exe. Long story but iexplorer screwed me up. I tried to uninstall it and it all got corrupt. I don't have an install CD all I have is a copy of an upgrade CD that someone gave me,but it's working right. Someone mentioned that my autoexec and config files on my floppy may be the reason and to copy them to my hard drive, which I did but I get all kinds of boot errors that way. I checked my bootlog and I get
LoadFail = C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\GDI32.DLL Failure code is 0002
"LoadFail=GDI.EXE Failure code is 0000
Can anyone help me figure this out?
Thanks

This "bad command or file name" foxes me too.

Like #2 I assume you are trying to run the setup.exe file on the CD.

Describe your individual steps exactly, what you type in and what responses/screen displays you get.

Have you tried moving up one drive letter (if you are normally D then try E) because it you may be getting a temporary ramdrive on your normal one.

Derek

Ok, here's what happens I bootup with my startup floppy I chose start with cd rom support. I change over to E: drive no problem I can do a dir /w no problem I try to change to the directory, I get invalid directory. I try to run setup I get bad command or file name. I insert some other CD and I have no problem with changing to the directory.I put The same Upgrade CD in my laptop, run ms-dos prompt it has no problems. Remember I have no operational windows on my desktop at this time. All I can do is either startup from my floppy or boot to the menu and choose dosprompt which has no CD rom support, is it supposed to? Is it possible. The other angle I have been persuing is trying to get around error loading gdi.exe. One question is vga850.fon supposed to be invisible? My fonts folder does not show it, yet I have copied it to the folder.
Thanks guys for all your help.

I formatted a startup disk on my ME laptop but when I tried it on the deskotp I got an error abort, retry etc. But the floppy works fine on the Laptop, why is that?
Thanks

Thanks for spelling it out in detail. Yes it does all seem very odd indeed. What happens if you go to the C: drive and try to change directories, does it let you do that?

Yes it does let me change to a:

Sorry, looks like I phrased that badly.

What I meant was that if you go to the C: drive can you then change to C: drive sub-directories. It would also be interesting to know if you can get to sub-directories in the a: drive.

If you can do both of the above then the problem must be related to the CD drive in some way. If the internal connections are sound then I suppose you could check to see if everything is set up OK in BIOS. Maybe the battery could be playing up.

The most odd thing is that you can see the directories on the CD drive yet not switch to them.

Maybe worth reposting this because it is now off page one and I doubt too many folks will respond.
In the meantime I'll save this link and keep an eye on it in case you want to pop back. I'll think about it but don't hold your breath.

Derek