>I allowed Norton to monitor my system, and then after about 24 hrs or so, I
>tried to hook to my parallel port a zip drive, that triggered everything. I
>can't explain it how.

Hmmmm. I couldn't begin to explain . . .

>yes I know the dir /p command and a few more, but to me DOS is still very
>intimidating, I was trying to "see" everything in a more familiar
>environment so
>I installed my 3.1 from floppies. My win 95 is only on a CD

Well the vaue with trying to see it from DOS is that if windows is what is
screwed up, you can see that the drive is sitting there all right.

>Frank please be more explicit. After formatting C how can I install from D
>if I
>don't specify to DOS that I have a D drive?

OK. If the drive is already formatted, you can install it by connecting the
cable and then while booting up, access your BIOS (usually you would press
some key while booting). From there each bios is different. Its not DOS
that needs to see the drive, its the BIOS (called CMOS in some circles).
Once the BIOS gets it right, DOS will follow. I can't give you specifics
for this process because each motherboard manufacturer impliments then BIOS
slightly differently. Usually, you enter in the drive specs from off the
sticker on the drive into the appropriate boxes (ie. number of Megs, number
of sectors, etc).

Perhaps other can add some input.

Good luck,

Frank

Frank Ippolito    [log in to unmask]
American Museum of Natural History

"Wherever you go..., there you are."
                                                -Buckaroo Banzai