long file names

using win98 and can only boot into safe mode, but I have managed to run scandisk on drive and it has found a number of
long file name/s and yes oh yes it can't fix the problem, does anyone have any knowledge on this and maybe know of a program that may be able to help fix this issue.


Happy new year!!

Regards Rodger.......

 

Hi Rodger, What (error) messages do you get with a Normal
boot of Windows ? Normal and Safe boot mode should not
have problems with long file names - unless they are invalid.
Do you have registry or root drive copies ?
Have you tried a new install of Win98 ?
regards

 

hi thanks merlin for reply, well it boots ok with safe mode but will not boot to normal it just sits and the top part of the win98 splash
is missing never seen that before it just sits and all you get is the
movement at the bottom of the splash screen I had to run scandisk from another drive with windows on it and it picked up loads of truncated files and also mentioned that ther wer one or more long file names that it could not do anything for i have no
real backups either and was just hoping there would be a way around it as it boots into safe mode but can't get it to boot normally not sure if the scandisk has helped to much as i can't seem to find any dbx files now...

regards Rodger.....

 

Hi Rodger, You seem to have some errors in Windows registry
or corrupt Windows drivers. I am not a big fan of sfc but you could try it - Start/Run and type sfc
I would preferably try a new Windows install (setup.exe from
the CD-ROM.) - you can do this in Safe Mode with the CD
loaded.
Suggest you work out a scheme for saving your vital PC files
so that you don't have this problem again.
regards

 

Thanks merlin sfc reports user and setup may be corrupted but I am wary about this one as I have reset on another system before when sfc has come up on these and it sometimes locks me out completly cdrom is not showing in safe mode? not sure why not have you any ideas on that merlin ? if I can I will try and recover that way

regards Rodger.......

 

Don't allow sfc to replace user.exe. There's two user.exe files in the win98 cab files. One in the mini.cab file and the other will be in the Win98_42.cab file (win98 FE) or the Win98_46.cab file (win98 SE). If you sfc to replace the file, it'll replace it with the one from the mini.cab file and most likely render your puter unbootable. If you think it might be corrupt, use sfc to extract the file manually so you get the right one. Just don't replace it with the one in the mini.cab file.

 

thanks zander i will try as you suggest and report back

regards rodger.........

 

Have you tried running Scanreg? It might be able to fix your problem.

Info on it below:-

http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...port/kb/articles/Q183/8/87.ASP&NoWebContent=1

Regards
tel33

 

rodger--tel33's idea of scanreg is a good one. But the referenced article does not make it clear that what you want to do is go to a (true--not Windows) DOS prompt, type scanreg /restore, click enter. You should be offered at least five dates of Registry backups. If you still have one that comes from a date before the problem started, highlight that one, and click Enter. Wait for the grinding to stop and reboot.
I am assuming that if you can get to Safe Mode you can also get to a DOS prompt. If you cannot do that from the same menu which includes Safe Mode, then in Win98 another way is to click Start|Shut Down|choose Restart in MS-DOS mode|OK.

 

Just thought I would post this to make it a bit clearer its not that clear on the article

The only other way is to press F8 on startup and choose MS dos mode from the selection list.

Regards
tel33

 

You can replace the Setupx.Dll file that SFC found as corrupt, this is a common file to be found that way. User.Exe should be replaced as mentioned.
However this message coming from Scandisk, would it be an "unusually long file name "? maybe found in Track 0? is something like FAT file is mentioned in this?
Restoring the registry will not help on this. I would recommend backing up all data that you want to keep now. Then use Fdisk to delete all partitions, then recreate them. If Fdisk does not make it past 'verifying drive integrity' trash the drive, or make it past Format.
Or you can go to the drive manufacturer's website and download diagnostics for it.

 

Ok put in a win98 start up disk and then press Alt F5 when the selection screen comes up and when you get to a dos prompt type in:

sys c:

This then tranfers the system files back to the c drive, it might work

 

With all respect to those who know much more than I, I would suggest the scanreg /restore route before replacing individual files using System File Checker. SFC shows many false positives. It is just telling you that the file on the PC is different from the last SFC scan, but that does not mean different is corrupt--in spite of the words used by SFC. Windows gave up on SFC after Win98 (or maybe WinME). (However, SFC still is a good tool to "Restore" a file (the other button on the SFC window) from the OS CD or Windows\Options\Cabs.)

 

The scanreg route is the way I would go first but as I have mentioned before in my previous posts.

We shall have to wait till he reads these posts I guess.

So many people with so many answers, the problem is that when someone says something in a post it then puts doubts in others views and ways of thinking, still thats what we are all here for to help in any way possible.

Lets hope it works.

tel33

 

Many thanks guys for all your input I have recoverd the drive to normal and will be replaceing it soon!! Regards Rodger...

 

Before you go what did you do to recover the drive to normal?

 

Hi, I used scanreg/ restore however I am not sure if it was scanreg/ restore that was responsible but my emails and address
book are no longer and despite looking for dbx files I was unable to find them but all other data was ok
regards Rodger........

 

You maybe able to recover them by using programs you can get of the net, I have had this problem before in losing emails and nearly always have managed to recover them.

You might want to try and use scanreg to go back further to see if they are still ok.

Glad to see my suggestion worked anyway.

Regards
tel33