you really don't need to do f-disk or anything.
you have the windows 98 bootdisk right? just boot that little baby up with the boot disk, when it asks at the begining say, start with cd-rom support. then when it all loads up( first note right above the prompt there should be a note saying what drive letter that you cd-rom is located), type
"format c: /s"
(always without the astrisks) it depends on what windows, but if it says "no longer suports the /s" then just type
"format c:"
/s saves your system files, not your registry mind you.
after it finishes, name the drive whatever you want. then when you get the prompt again say
"d:"
d is the default drive association for your cd-rom. if your cd rom was located on f: then type that.
then type "setup" if it says "bad command or file name" type
"cd\win98" (then) "setup"
then follow the onscreen instructions