To start your computer with the Startup Disk
This section describes the Windows 98 Startup Disk. You should make a Startup Disk and keep it on hand to help you boot your computer when you are having problems.
The Startup Disk has changed significantly for Windows 98. The following items have been added:
For a complete list of the contents of the Windows 98 Startup Disk, see "Contents of the Windows 98 Startup Disk" in Appendix B, "Windows 98 System File Details."
If you boot the computer using the Startup Disk, a boot menu appears allowing you to start the computer with or without CD-ROM support. The drivers on the Startup Disk support a variety of ATAPI CD-ROM drives. An example of the menu is shown below.
Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu
Start the computer with CD-ROM support.Start the computer without CD-ROM support.View the Help file.Enter a choice: 1 Time remaining: 30
If you use the Startup Disk to boot the computer and choose to load the real-mode CD-ROM drivers, but cannot access a compact disc in the drive, it is likely that the CD-ROM is connected to a sound card. The CD-ROM must be connected to the controller on the motherboard.
After you make your selection, the Config.sys file loads the CD-ROM driver (if selected) and then loads a 2-MB RAMDrive.
The Autoexec.bat file calls a second batch file, Setram.bat, to find a drive letter for the RAMDrive. The temp variables, path and comspec, are set to the RAMDrive. The files Command.com, Mode.com, Keybrd?.sys, and Keyb.com are copied to the RAMDrive root directory.
The following line in the Autoexec.bat file expands the files to the RAMDrive:
%RAMD%\extract /y /e /l %RAMD% edb.cab > NUL
Finally, if a CD-ROM driver is loaded, MSCDEX is launched.
The Windows 98 Startup Disk includes a real-mode generic ATAPI CD-ROM driver (Oakcdrom.sys) that allows the CD-ROM to function when the protected mode of the GUI interface is not available. This occurs when booting into either MS-DOS or Windows fails to boot into the GUI. Although CD-ROM manufacturers accompany CD-ROM drives with a floppy disk with the specific drivers to use, they may or may not be available when needed most.
Real-mode generic SCSI CD-ROM drivers are also supported (Mylex Btdcrom.sys and Adaptec Aspicd.sys) to allow a SCSI CD-ROM to function when booting into MS-DOS.
The RAMDrive created from the Config.sys file is 2 MB in size. Keep in mind that the tmp path points to this location. After the files are expanded and placed here, there is only about 1.384 MB of space available.
Warning
The RAMDrive is created during the processing of the Config.sys file. Drive letter assignment for a CD-ROM is not performed until MSCDEX is loaded in the Autoexec.bat file. Therefore, customers who normally boot without a RAMDrive will find their CD-ROM drive moved one letter back.
The Ext.exe command is a new and simple extract command designed to work with Extract.exe. You type ext at a command prompt. Ext.exe detects if the Win98 CDROM is in the drive and defaults to that directory for its source location. If it is not available, it defaults to A:\. Otherwise, you are asked to enter the path to the Windows CAB files.
You then enter the name(s) of the file(s) you want to extract and enter the path to the directory to extract the files to. The CAB files scroll up the screen until the file is found. A sample of the display is shown below.
Microsoft (R) Extract Command Line Helper
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Please enter the path to the Windows CAB files (a:) : d:\Win98
Please enter the name(s) of the file(s) you want to extract:
explorer.exe
Please enter the path to extract to ("Enter" for current directory) C:\Windows
The Options you entered were:
------------------------------------------------
Source Path : d:\Win98
File(s) to extract : explorer.exe
Destination Path : C:\Windows
Is this okay? (y/n) :
Note
It takes a long time to expand the file (a 60-KB file expands in 77 seconds on an Intel 266MMX Pentium machine).
You might have to reset the TMP variable for large files, because it points to the RAMDrive and there is a limited amount of free space available. Use the command Set TMP=C:\. Because EXT uses TMP, resetting the TEMP variable does not work. If you do not reset the TMP variable, you may get the following error message:
"Error: Out of memory while processing cabinet file Win98_41.cab"
Tip
If you receive an error "Unable to write to disk" or "Disk initialization error" when creating a Startup Disk, the disk may be defective. Insert a different disk and start again.
Follow the following procedure to start your computer with the Startup Disk.
To start your computer with the Startup Disk
For more information on setup problems and the Windows 98 Startup Disk, see "Troubleshooting Setup" later in this chapter.
Note
The generic CD-ROM drivers may not work with all CD-ROM hardware. If these drivers do not function with your hardware, you will have to use the drivers that shipped with your CD-ROM.