initial console

Whenever I run install.bat to load linux, I eventually run into a message unable to open an initial console this message occurs immediately after the messages unable to load NLS charset . . . VFS: Mounted root (msdos filesystem) readonly I am installing from a dos

T1910 Toshiba laptop

Problem - I have 123M of HDD to work with on my Toshiba 486 laptop- I was just going to install Linux on it, but my T1910 uses a .exe file to manipulate BIOS settings, and this file runs under MS-DOS. SO . . .will Linux allow access to BIOS settings some other way, OR, can I run MS-DOS emulation