I was testing my new Win98 cd on my old 133mhz computer, and I kept on getting Cab extraction errors on both souce discs that I made. (one was acquired through FTP, and one was created from the cab files in C:/windows/options/cabs. Both cds are bootable, and the cabs are all 100% there on both.)

Setup.txt recommended the following:

1. Slow down setup by using the following command line:

F:\WIN98\> setup /c

This didn't work. setup seemed to hang and go into a loop at 5%. On the ftp-acquired disc, it took until 30% to do this.


After this happened, I formatted the HD again and started over from scratch.

Another potential solution was to extract all the cabs, etc. to the hard drive. This poses a problem, b/c the master disk on that computer is a very old 1.2 GB disc and I don't know if there's enough room to unpack the cabs and still install windows. (I can't install the drivers for the 8 gb slave drive on that comp until I get windows loaded.)

Anyway, I still got the same error. Formatted again and began at step 1.


Here are a few ideas that I have thought about:

1. The pentium 133 in that comp has no cooling fan (just a big heat sink. --yeah, I know, utterly s***ty. ), so it is probably getting cooked unpacking all those cabs. Maybe overheating is causing the errors.

2. My Cd rom drive on that comp is 8 years old and it has always worked great until today. When I was installing, I heard it GRINDING audibly and I could hear the Cd rattling inside. (I'm not talking about the whirring noise that Cd drives make, this thing sounded like it was going to start scattering parts) Maybe my CDrom is shot and that could be causing the cab errors every time the drive misreads. The gears inside are plastic (I looked inside with a flashlight once) and after 8 years they are probably worn as hell.


I intend to replace the cdrom with a generic CD drive to see if that helps. I can't afford to replace the entire comp, and it is still good for surfing the web and word processing.


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Most people regard me as the dark and immoral side of Massassi. At least I'm getting what I want out of life.

[This message has been edited by Pagewizard_YKS (edited January 01, 2004).]

I'd definatly try replacing the CD-ROM drive first, considering what you've said, and also the fact that drives are $25 AUS for a 52x drive...

Still, is the computer worth that much...?

Throw the hdd in a real pc, format the hdd, copy the install files across, and then boot from a floopy. Free, and easy.

why do you want to install win98 on a 133 anyway? there wouldn't be many games you'd want to be running on it you couldn't run in dos

there's got to be someone with the win98 cd copied to their HDD that you know.

I had over-heating problems with my p233MMX cos of all the ram, and the o/c'ed voodoo 2 until I pulled the case off and stuck a small house-fan to blow on it.

Just stick your finger on it, if it's warm, it's good, if it's hot(ie ouchy fingers) then that's bad

I was going to say something else, but emon and vedder reckon I'd get banned again...

I remember getting cab read errors with an official MS Win98 install disc, on a 1.3ghz system/52x cdrom. I was getting them alot. It kept doing it until I actully tried booting from the CD instead of a floppy. After that, it went right through.


In retrospect, I think it was an issue with the motherboard. I recently threw that board out because it was _eating_ power supplies. 4 of them in 2 years. Beyond that, that board _always_ acted strangely... It never froze up or BSODed under Win2k, but many a program crashed under odd circumstances....


Bah, Im babbling. In short, it could be your motherboard. I assume you cant boot from that CDROM, so thats not an option.... Just keep trying, it may go though.

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

Did you burn those CDs? It at least sounded like it to me. If that is the case, then older CD-ROMs have problems reading burned CDs. Especially ones burned at higher speeds. Just something to consider. . .

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I think everyone should have to take a test to determine their eligibility to have children. If they failed, they'd be fixed. We'd have fewer stupid people that way.

Before you even consider replacing the cd drive you should try reburning the cds and cleaning the drive.

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I want to keep the PC b/c like I already said, It's still good for word processing and web surfing.

Even though it's a whopping 133 mhz, it runs like a PII, so it leads me to consider the possibility that for whatever reason, the chip may be faster than advertised.

I just harvested a fan from an old PC that I found in a dumpster. Someone had already scavenged the CPU, RAM, and HD, but they left the Mobo and the fan. I'll hook it up and see if it works.

(It's raining outside now and it was raining last night, so there was some water on the mobo. B/c of this, I left it but I took the fan b/c it was dry. )

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Most people regard me as the dark and immoral side of Massassi. At least I'm getting what I want out of life.

[This message has been edited by Pagewizard_YKS (edited January 02, 2004).]

I can boot from the cdrom. I originally couldn't, but I was able to change the CMOS so I could.

Now, it tries to boot from the CD and the floppy (in that order) before it boots from the HD.



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Most people regard me as the dark and immoral side of Massassi. At least I'm getting what I want out of life.