I'm unsure what you did and what might be wrong, so I'll tell you what
you SHOULD have done, and you can compare what I say with what you
did.

The basic scheme is --

Run FDisk
Run Format with the /s option
Set up drive C: so that DOS can access a CD-ROM
Install Windows

To run FDisk and Format, you need a bootable floppy disk in the right
version of DOS and that contains the programs FDisk and
Format.

Download a "Windows Startup Disk" for Win95. You can obtain a Windows
Startup Disk at:

http://www.bootdisk.com/

Put the floppy in drive A: and turn on the computer. You should get a
DOS prompt. Run the FDisk program.

Restart the system with the floppy still in drive A: and run Format,
using the command:
    format c: /s

This will format drive C: and put the Windows system files on it.

Restart the system, this time with no floppy disk in drive A:. The
system should boot from drive C:.

You will not be able to access the CD-ROM at this point because Win95
does not allow for that. Thus,  you will have to add CD-ROM
capability. Here is how to add your CD-ROM driver to the boot disk.
The boot disk might be drive C: or it might be a Windows Startup Disk
that you can insert into drive A:.

The CD-ROM driver will normally have a name with the letters CD in it
and it will have the extension .SYS. One way to get a CD-ROM driver is
to run the installation program that came with the CD-ROM. Also, you
can usually get a driver from the web site of the company that made
the CD-ROM. Or you can search your C: drive for *CD*.SYS.

Using Notepad or any word processor, make a text file, name it
CONFIG.SYS and add it to the boot disk.  This file should look like
this, but with the name of your CD-ROM driver in place of
CDDRIVER.SYS:
DEVICE=CDDRIVER.SYS /D:MSCD000
DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS

Add a copy of MSCDEX.EXE to the boot disk. You can get MSCDEX from the
folder C:\Windows/Command.

Using Notepad or any word processor, make a text file, name it
AUTOEXEC.BAT and add it to the bootdisk.  It should look like this:
MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD000

Now you should be able to access the Windows CD-ROM. Execute the
program setup.exe that is on the CD-ROM.

Bill Starbuck (MVP)

Go to http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm and create
a Windows 95 boot floppy.  Use it to start the problem
computer, insert the Windows 95 CD, then type
"R:\win95\setup" and press "Enter".

Ben