Having Trouble, and lots of it

Loopss, can you please tell us more about the hardware? You say it is used. What do you know about it (make and model, CPU speed, total RAM, total hard drive size, etc.)? Any and all information is helpful.

Also, I'm not sure what you are trying to do. Are you trying to load Windows 95 on it, Load Mepis on it, repair Windows that might be on it? If you're trying to load Mepis, what version of Mepis do you have and where did you get it?

There are plenty of people on this forum who can probably help you, but you need to let us know what you really want to do.

Jon

it is a gateway lp minitower (ev700), 800 mghz, 128 ram, 80 gig hd, want to load windows 95, currently have linux 7.3, i am totally lost, i didn't know it would be so difficult to install windows onto the system

loopss,

From your description of "linux 7.3" I'm guessing that Some version of Red Hat Linux or maybe an older version of Mandrake (they both had a 7.3 version). Your statement, "I didn't know it would be so difficult to install windows onto the system", is a valid one! Welcome to the "behind the scenes" of computer building! MOST people don't realize how difficult Windows is to install because it was pre-installed.

In any case, are you wanting to blow Linux away and install Windows? If so, you state that you have a Windows 95 CD, but during the days of Windows 95 computer manufacturers were notorious for having legitimate modified (custom to the hardware) versions of Windows 95.

Unless you have a legitimate Windows 95 CD (and probably a boot floppy for Windows) you will not be able to load Windows on the system. By "legitimate" I mean a copy of Windows 95 for that specific PC or a copy of Windows 95 that is "for new PCs". If it's an "upgrade" version, you're probably also out of luck.

Assuming that you have a legitimate boot floppy and CD, then it should be a matter of booting the PC with the floppy, having it recognize your CD, inserting the Windows 95 and following the instructions.

You will not be able to run .exe files because the system is not running Windows. BTW, how do you know that nothing will run? You have not posted any description of what you see when the system boots up.

If you would like further help on installing Linux, specifically Mepis Linux, then I and others on this forum will be happy to help you. But if you're only interested in reloading Windows 95, then you will probably find better help on other forums.

Can we help you further?

Jon

i can't seem to find windows anywhere on this pc, and nothing happens when i load the cd

Just curious... how did you end up on the Mepis forums? Mepis is at only release 3.3.1, so whatever Linux you have (at 7.3) is clearly not Mepis. Also, you want to install Windows... well, we'll try to help, nonetheless.

First of all, what happens when you boot up your computer. Try to be as descriptive as possible. Is there a graphic? Is there text? What does the graphic look like? What does the text say? Do you ever get to a screen where you can launch programs? What does that screen look like? What programs can you launch?

Do you have a Windows CD? Do you know how to install Windows? What's your course of action? We can help you only if we know what you're trying to do and what tools you have to do it with?

Thanks for chiming in aysiu

Yes, based upon some of the things that loopss said at the beginning of the thread, with rev 7.3 I'm guessing that it's possibly Red Hat.

Loopss, aysiu is right. You haven't answered some very basic questions and it is difficult for us to help without those answers. You mentioned at the top that your computer has Linux and that you want to install Windows 95. I seem to recall that Windows 95 did not have any Bootable CDs; you have to have a bootable floppy disk! And you may need to change the BIOS settings so the system will boot from the floppy and/or CD. Do you know how to do that?

Next, if the used computer really only has Linux on it, then it only has Linux on it. There will not be any Windows operating system.

Again, as aysiu states, please be as descriptive as possible as to what you see. Simply telling us that that "it still doesn't work" doesn't get us any closer to a solution.

We are trying to help

Jon

Windows 95 won't cut it for you. It doesn't support USB and Microsoft hasn't supported it for years.

As for it not installing, have you configured your BIOS to boot from CD? You have to boot from the Windows CD to install it.

But I suggest that instead you boot from a Mepis CD! If you install Wine (or Crossover, which is a commercially packaged version) I daresay you'll be able to run as much contemporary Windows software as you will under Windows 95.

Or, for that matter, stick with the existing Linux (Red Hat?) implemenation. If you download Fedora Core 3 (or Fedora Core 4 if you're brave) it should be prepared to upgrade your system for you. You'll be able to install Wine on that if it isn't already there. But RedHat/Fedora does not come preconfigured with multimedia stuff like Flash, Quicktime, mplayer, etc. to you'll have a bit of work to do. Hence my previous recommendation that you install Mepis.