Hello,

First post on here and its a problem:-

Attempted to update my dads computer from Windows 98 to ME off a CD which was given to me some years AGO. When I updated my own computer (again some years ago) I used this disk and all went well, I ran ME until I updated to a genuine XP programme.

Having hit setup.exe all went well until I popped out of the room and LEFT my dad in charge of it. During installation it somehow froze and I had to re boot, he may have pressed some buttons I'm not sure....

Now when I switch the computer on the following error messages appear on the screen:-

C:\>mode con codepage select = 850
incorrect msdos version

C:\>keyb uk,,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\keyboard.sys
bad command or file name

C:\>

This version of Windows runs only on MS-DOS 8.00

C:\>

This SEEMS to indicate to me that its trying to boot up ME but cant because the MS DOS version is 7 or similar (off the WIN 98 OS)

Have just downloaded 98 and ME boot DISKS off BOOTDISC.com

Question is what do I do now? am I on the right lines or have I lost everything on the computer? Which boot disk do I use and then what do I do?

Hope someone can help :-?The first thing you would want to do is hook up that HDD as a slave on a known working machine and save any data that they don't want to lose...
After that do a format and clean install of WinME...Thanks for that, anyone else out there have any other ideas?That's the best idea. What is wrong with that? Why the hesitation?Not over confident with computers...

Assume I will have to re set jumpers to be able to slave the HD onto my computer?

ALSO, if i do that what will I see re the contents of the slaved HD? what files will I need to save if I want to keep email addresses etc?

:-?When your format a drive all data on it is lost. Basically any documents or files you wish to keep you will need to store else where. If they are small you could try a floppy disk. Email address and passwords you will need to remember.Setting the jumpers and putting it into a known working machine are relatively easy...google has pictures you can review for the process. It would be best to have a burner on that machine so you can save all the data to a CD/DVD.
If you need more assistance on how to back up certain items please post a list of what exactly you need so we can assist further...Have tried to format the hard drive by the command 'format C:/s' as per the help file on this website.
Still get the error message 'incorrect dos version' so I cant even format the HD.

Cant boot it up with a ME or 98 boot disk and if I try to switch to the CD drive it cant find that either.

If I buy a new HD and hook it up will I be able to load ME on it somehow?Where are you getting the bootdisks from ? ?
These should work.
Try bootdisk.com DLoad the WinME bootdisk and follow the instructions.from bootdisk.com, read another thread which explained about how to load them onto floppies (as opposed to copying them) but the comp wont boot..Try again with cleanly formatted floppies...something has gone wrong.You may need to alter the boot sequence in your bios to boot from the floppy drive first.