Two quick guesses....
After FDISK did he make the partition active?  Based on what you
have said, he probably did.

My second guess is:
The first time he ran FORMAT he forgot to add the /S to install the
system files, but the second time he did the FORMAT (to install Win3)
he remembered to add /S -- so it worked this time.

Jim Meagher
=====
Micro Solutions Consulting     Member of The HTML Writers Guild
http://www.ezy.net/~microsol   International Webmasters Association
=====

> -----Original Message-----
> From: PCSOFT - Personal Computer software discussion list
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Nancy Havenhill
> Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 1998 4:35 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [PCSOFT] Recovering after Win98
>
>
> My boyfriend successfully installed an upgrade of Win98 onto his
> computer.  One day, while passing a dull afternoon, he went to the
> Microsoft upgrade site and started downloading stuff.  This totally
> toasted his system.  So he decided to perform a Fdisk and start all over
> from scratch.
>
> The Fdisk was successful.  When he loaded Win95, everything appears fine
> until rebooting for the first time.  He gets a message saying that it
> cannot find Command.com.  It is either corrupted or missing
>
> The C> prompt will not allow him to perform a DIR or change directories.
> The Windows start up disk does the same thing.
> Just for Grins, he has been able to successfully install Windows 3.11,
> but since he does not have an upgrade version of Win95 he cannot proceed
> any further.
>
> He did not perform the FAT32 on his system.  He has a P133, 64mb RAM,
> clone - not a Compaq with CMOS hidden on the hard drive.
>
> What are we missing?
>
> Nancy Havenhill
>