himem.sys missing,

I am running win98se, I took my computer in for a cleaning, and to add 128 of ram, to make it a total of 256. I also wanted what they call a tune-up. I picked up my computer and they said the tech said to do a total restore because my software is all 'jacked up' what ever that means. OK heres where I get, my start up floppy doesnt work, says its not an os system when I try to boot with it. My cd rom driver is not loaded so I cant do a system restore. When I boot I can get to the 98 start up menu, the only one that will run is Safe mode comand prompt #6 when I run a scan reg it says not enough memory there is no extende memory driver loaded, make sure you have a himem.sys file on your disk. I have also tried the register restore, and it has no back up files. So basically I am at a dos prompt and dont know where to go. I have some very important files that I have not made a current back up of. Where should I go from here?

 

Go to Bootdisk, and download the file for your version of 98 OEM. Put a floppy in the drive and run this file and it will create a new boot floppy for you.
If you are trying to get the current version of windows running, it would not hurt to do these commands first.
scandisk /autofix
copy a:\himem.sys c:\windows
sys a: c:
fdisk /mbr
The last command appears to do nothing, it repairs the Master Boot Record on the hard drive. Take out floppy and reboot, and post back any results.

 

windows 98se up but nothing works

That got me up to windows, but none of my programs work, everything is there. It didn,t load my cd rom, it only has the floppy and c drive showing in my computer. Under device mgr it shows them as unknown device with a yellow exclamation! I need cd support to do a restore. Do you suggest making floppy back ups of my important files befor I go any further. Thanks for the help.............

 

Making backups is a good idea anytime.
If your installed programs will not work, it is because they are not in the current registry. If you were to boot to a Command Prompt, or Restart in Dos Mode, do this command.
scanreg /restore
You may be able to have windows use a backed copy of the registry by selecting one. Even though there may be 5 copies, you have only 3 attempts as the current registry is backed over one of them each time this is done. Your programs and CD drives may be working after this. If this is no good for you, read on.

These exclamation points are telling you there is a problem. There is typically a error code telling you what is wrong. What I would do at this point is go into Safe Mode, then go into Device Manager and remove all CD entries, then reboot and allow windows to boot up normally. It should redetect the drives and install them properly.
Installing windows will not fix a failing hardware problem, it can get worse.

You have mentioned doing a restore, this gets me to thinking that you do not have a MS windows CD, but a Restore CD from the computer manufacturer. A Restore CD that has 98 on it may be the older type where it wipes the drive clean and installs windows and any software that was included when the computer was new. The files you have created will be gone using this method.
If what you mean by a restore is installing windows with a MS windows CD, use the boot floppy you just created, choose with CD Rom support when prompted. Before the A:\> appears there is a message giving you the drive letter for the CD, it will not be the usual letter, it could be E. Use this letter in place of the X below, this will start the overlay installation of windows.
X:\win98\setup
If you do have a Restore CD from the computer manufacturer, they usually copy the windows installation files into the folder C:\Windows\Options\Cabs. If there are there, you can use this command to install windows.
c:\windows\options\cabs\setup
Before you install windows, you must have the Product Key for the CD. Setup will halt without it. If you do not have it, do this. This will work in Normal or Safe Mode. Go to Start\Run, type in Regedit and press Enter. In the left pane, navigate to this Key [folder].
hkey_local_machine\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion
Look to the right pane and look for the words ProductKey, with a bunch of letter and numbers to the right of that, write it down. It will look like this.
XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

If the Scanreg /Restore does not restore your installed programs, doing an overlay install of windows as above will not put them back. You'll need to install them, the only good news on this is you should not have to delete or uninstall anything.