This section describes Setup problems and how to diagnose and correct them.
You can also get useful troubleshooting information from the SETUPLOG.TXT log file that Setup creates in the root directory of your startup drive, as described earlier in this chapter.
If Setup fails, attempt to restart it by using the following procedure.
If the system does not respond, restart the computer by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL. If this fails, turn off the computer, wait 10 seconds, and then turn it on again.
You can use the information in SETUPLOG.TXT and DETLOG.TXT to check for the device or devices that caused the problems. Also review any messages added by Setup in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file for instructions on correcting setup problems.
The following sections describe specific setup problems and how to resolve them.
If Setup fails to start, you should check memory, check for hardware detection conflicts, and check the access to the source for the Windows 95 installation files. Use the following checklist and procedures to find a solution.
Windows 95 requires 420K. If this is not available, check for unnecessary drivers or TSRs, remove them and then try again. You can also run the MS-DOS MEMMAKER utility to optimize conventional memory.
For MS-DOS 4.x or earlier, settings should contain the following:
For MS-DOS 5 or later, settings should contain the following:
Note The path to these drivers is not specified in the preceding example. If you don't specify the path, you need to copy the drivers to the root of the startup drive. Using emm386 and dos=high,umb enables UMBs, but it is optional.
When Setup fails when it is being run from floppy disks, you might see a message asking you to insert a disk in the floppy drive when a disk is already in the drive. Or, you might use the dir command to examine a Setup floppy disk and find that it fails or that garbled characters appear on the screen.
To solve this problem, first disable any BIOS-enable virus checking routine. Then check your computer hardware documentation or check with the manufacturer to ensure that the computer's CMOS settings are correct. If changing settings as advised by the manufacturer does not solve the problem, you can use the DRIVPARM utility.
For a 1.44-MB A drive, add:
For a 1.44-MB B drive, add:
If this procedure is not successful, the problem is related to the CMOS settings on the computer. For information and assistance, contact your computer manufacturer.
For more information, see Chapter 7, "Introduction to Windows 95 Networking."
When Setup stalls during hardware detection, you might need to disable hardware detection for a device or class of devices. Before you do this, wait until at least three minutes have passed with neither disk nor screen activity (that is, the mouse pointer cannot be moved). Some detection routines take long enough that the computer might appear to stop temporarily.
If Setup cannot communicate with a specific hardware device on the system during the installation of Windows 95, a message states that Setup has found a hardware device on your computer that is not responding and prompts you to try this device again. For persistent problems, the message provides instructions on how to exit Setup and restart the computer.
This error message can be caused by one of the following:
Follow the recommendation in the message to turn off the computer, turn it back on, and then rerun Setup with Safe Recovery. If the problem persists, identify the problem from the preceding list and correct it.
A B1 error message indicates that Setup has detected an older 80386 processor that is not supported and instructs you to upgrade your processor. Intel 80386 microprocessors dated before April 1987 are known as B1 stepping chips. These chips introduce random math errors when performing 32-bit operations, thus making them incompatible with Windows 95. If your 80386 chip was manufactured before April 1987 or has a label on it that reads "For 16-bit operations only," contact your hardware manufacturer about an upgrade.
If this occurs, exit Setup, restart your computer, and then rerun Setup. When prompted, select the Safe Recovery option and click Continue. The installation process should complete successfully.
If your computer stalls after all files have been copied, or if you receive an error at this point, it might be due to virus-protection software. Some computers have virus protection built into the ROM BIOS. You should disable the virus protection software or run your computer's configuration program to disable virus checking and then restart Setup. Select the Safe Recovery option, and the installation process should complete successfully.
When starting Setup from MS-DOS, you might receive an error stating that MS-DOS 3.1 or greater is required. MS-DOS versions earlier than 3.1 are not compatible with Windows 95.
This error can also occur when starting Setup from MS-DOS if you are using the 386MAX software utility. If this error occurs, temporarily disable the 386MAX commands from the startup files, and then run Setup again.
When running Windows 95 Setup from MS-DOS you might receive this error, indicating there might be a conflict in the upper memory region. To resolve this, either disable UMBs or remove EMM386 statements from CONFIG.SYS and rerun Setup. Or run Setup from Windows 3.x.
If you receive an error that states that an *.INF file cannot be opened, you might need to free memory by disabling SMARTDrive in AUTOEXEC.BAT, or by closing any applications running in Windows.
If this occurs, check the file source (the floppy disk drive or the CD-ROM drive).
– Or –
A valid MS-DOS partition must exist in order for Setup to install Windows 95. If Windows 95 Setup is unable to find a valid boot partition during installation, it displays an error message. If you receive an error message, there might be an actual partition error, but it is more likely that disk compression software or network components are mapping over the boot drive. This might occur if you are mapping a network drive to E, but E is the hidden host drive for your disk compression software, or you are using a LANtastic network and drive C is being mapped or shared.
To resolve the invalid partition error:
If Setup does not find sufficient space to install Windows 95, check for space on the destination and boot drives, and if you are using compression, check actual free space.
Setup disables OS/2 Boot Manager to ensure that Windows 95 can restart the computer and complete its installation. Therefore, if you are using OS/2 Boot Manager to choose operating systems at startup, OS/2 Boot Manager must be reset after Windows 95 is installed. Boot Manager can be reactivated by starting the computer with an OS/2 boot disk and by using the OS/2 Fdisk utility.
If you are not using Boot Manager, you should configure the computer to use Boot Manager, and then follow the preceding instructions. If you start MS-DOS from a floppy disk and run Setup, you will no longer be able to start OS/2 after Windows 95 has been installed. To avoid this, rename or delete the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files that OS/2 uses before running Windows 95 Setup.
If the automated installation fails, check the following: