Windows stuck in MS-Dos Mode

My computer is stuck in a loop with MS-Dos mode. I loaded a DOS game (Solitaire Royale) from Windows with the shortcut. The shortcut Properties>Program>Advanced is set to shut down Windows and restart by loading the game in DOS. When I exit the game it restarts windows. This is where the problem occurs. Windows does not restart. I get the message "Restarting Windows 98...." but what happens is the DOS game restarts instead.

I can get into Safe Mode windows. The only way I can get into normal windows is by using the step-by-step configuration. To do this I do the following:

Yes to load registry
Yes to config.sys
No to DOS-Single ( I think this line is part of the problem??)
Yes to all other lines like himem.sys, dos-high, umb etc
No to Autoexec.bat
Yes to everything else, e.g. windows drivers etc.

Windows then boots normally and seems to run normally.

Things I have tried:
scanreg /restore -- no change

rename the dos program -- reboot comes up with "not found press any key to continue ". When key is pressed, computer reboots and DOS game loads again.

Rem out the lines in the autoexec.bat file that refer to the DOS game. - this just produces a "press any key to continue.." message and the DOS game starts again.

What I think caused the problem was when I went to run the DOS game it did not properly shut down Windows and restart in DOS. I had to C-A-D from the task manager and then it seemed not to do it correctly. Can't be more specific.

I am at a loss as what to do next.

 

Update - I fixed it!!! Back to Normal

Well, after much frustration, some choice words not printable here, I finally got the problem fixed.

Somehow the MS-DOS mode got hung when the Solitaire program loaded or unloaded causing Windows to call the autoexec and config files for the DOS game when starting up.

When using the step-by-step configuration from the bootup screen I realized that the system was calling the autoexec.bat and config.sys files from the root C:\ directory and putting itself into the loop of reloading the game on startup.

How I fixed it: Started the computer in safe mode, ran msconfig, and under Selective Startup checked the autoexec and config boxes to run them. These are different files than the ones noted above. Restarted the computer and lo and behold it started normally into Windows. Went back to msconfig and unchecked the autoexec and config files, rebooted again and started normally.

I guess somehow running different files cleared out the problem and put everything in it's rightful place.

Have since run the MS-DOS Solitaire game and loaded and unloaded OK with a normal Windows restart.

One more for the good guys over Windows

 

Hey John...

Sounds like you had some fun...Pretty kewl when the answer comes to you aint it!!!!

 

Well I don't know if "fun" is the right word. Sure took up the afternoon, and it was the first sunny day in about three weeks here. It was nice to get it fixed tho'. I would never had guessed running the other auto../config..files would do it. When you get stuck, I start trying left field solutions. Just lucky this time I guess.

Tomorrow, it's Spybot; Ad-Aware; Scandisk and Defrag and anything else clean up day so that should kill a few hours.