Complete Windows 98 crash.

Windows 98 crashed. Cannot boot from by bootdisk, says its invalid or corrupted. Downloaded a new one from bootdisk.com. Doesn't work either. Floppy drive make a horrible racket when it tries to read disks, BTW. This just started. Does not recognize my CD drive.

Upon powerup, goes to startup menu in dos with the following:
"Warning: Windows has detected a registry/configuration error. Choose, Command prompt only, and run scanreg. "

Did that only to get: "The following files or missing or corrupted: C:\Windows.000\himem.sys
C:\Windows.000\dblbuff.sys
C:\Windows.000\ifshlp.sys

And then, "Cannot find WIN.COM, unable to continue loading Windows "
and goes back to c:\ prompt.
Have tried scanreg/fix, restore etc. nothing works.

Any ideas on how to get my pc working............?

 

For the record, tried to reformat the hd. No response.

Boots up C: but doesn't respond to any commands and will not read a: at all.

Seems the whole thing is fried.

 

Seems your HD is not good.

 

T&s

If it boots to C: the hard disk is working, although windows is damaged and possibly DOS (command.com) as well. You can't boot from a floppy so you have another problem as well: a bad floppy drive.

At c:> try dir/w and see what's on the root. You should see the folders [in square brackets like these] and the files. You should have a windows folder; a windows.000 folder is unsual and implies that an attempt was made to reinstall. Another command I'd suggest to use at the c:> prompt is:
scanreg /restore
at the dos c:> prompt. If successful you'll be prompted for a recent date, before the problem occurred, to restore to. Usually if the problem is more than 4-5 days old this won't help.

If you have access to a CD/DVD writer, you can make a boot CD from the boot floppy you have and use that to boot DOS. Then you can do fdisk at the dos a:> prompt and examine the drive and if the dos commands above didn't work, delete the partition and then reboot and run fdisk again and remake the partition and reboot again and format it. Then a win98 CD should be run from DOS after you boot with the CD you just made if it won't boot directly to Setup.

Don't hesitate to enter the BIOS Setup program to rearrange the boot order if necessary, to boot from the CD - usually hit the del key during booting, or watch the screen for the key that works on your machine..

Try these and let us know what happens.

 

T&S

How did you download the bootdisk ?

OK guys check me out here.

But I believe that having C:\Windows.000 may well indicate that Windows has been installed more than once. If this is true then ALL KINDS of problems exist.

I believe it was SPARROW that mentioned SCANREG /Restore If it is a fact that Windows was installed more than once and in two different locations, scanreg /restore will be USELESS.

BillyBob

 

Use Bootdisk With CDROM support

Go to http://www.shaneo.com/bootdisks/ and download a bootdisk with CDROM support if you have a bootable install disk. If not, if you can get someone to get online and burn a bootable CD, that would be the best way to bootup. Burn the windows cab files from the windows installation CD and copy them to the hard drive after running fdisk and format. This will install windows from the cab files on your hard drive to your hard drive. If you need help with this email me at izzoaf@yahoo.com and I'll send you instructions on how to.

Tony

 

When you download a file from bootdisk's and copy it to the floppy, it doesn't work that way.
You need to have a floppy in the drive, then run the downloaded file, and it creates the floppy for you.

Your CD drive will not work, unless you choose with CDrom support on the boot floppy. Watch the screen for a message giving you the drive letter assignment for the CD, it will not be the usual letter. This message appears before the A:\> does.

 

OK.

(1) tried scanreg/restore initially, does not work.
(2) tried dir/w. Shows only 2 directories and 44 files. The directories it shows are : [INTERN~1.01S] and [WINDOWS.000].
(3) You are right about having a second install of windows running. I unstalled the one and found the second when I was trying to debug problems with my psc. Then, the crash occured just as I was getting things working well.

I can try to burn a boot CD later this week, not where I can now.

Actually, with the bootdisk in the a: drive, I can pull up the a: prompt, but all commands say "Bad command or file name ".

 

T&S

Still looks like a problem with the hardware, but would try a new bootable floppy that's never been in that computer and write protect it (open the little slider in the left back corner) before using it, to be sure you haven't been infected by something that can damage the disks.

 

markp62

A bootable CD will work (=boot) and will produce an A:> prompt as well as be accessable to an X:> prompt on the command x: at th a:> prompt, where x is the name of the CD given at boot by the CD driver loaded when one selects boot with cd support from the boot menu, or loaded in config.sys, exactly like when you boot with the floppy you used to make the CD.
The boot order in the BIOS Setup must be appropriate, e.g., floppy, CDROM, HD0.

 

T&s

Better use a floppy that hasn't been in the sick computer to make a boot CD.

 

OK. Trying this with new floppy disk, write protected............boots up, gets to "Verifying DMI Pool Data "....................and stops????

Took the disk out, and hit enter.
Goes through startup menu to Command prompt.yadayada............get c:\ prompt.

Trying a:\prompt..................Ok. But can't go any further. When I type in fdisk at the A:\ prompt, it says "Sector not found reading drive A" abort,retry,fail?

 

As an added thought, I typed in A:\dir a and got the following:

Directory of A:\

File not found

Sector no found reading drive A

 

T&S

Think you'll probably need a new A drive if the problem with C is solved, otherwise the problem could be on the motherboard since both drives are involved similarly. Have you tried making the boot CD?

 

Do you have a windows 98 CD rom? That is bootable and you can either install 98 from it or do a format amongst other disk utilities. Also, if you access to nero burning rom, you can create a bootable cd to boot from, which you can do disk utes from. Hope this helps.

 

Tried to boot with Window98SE CD. Worked to this point: "Incorrect DOS Version........................The Windows 98 Setup files were not found." Then goes to A:\ prompt.

What now?

 

If that is the CD you made with the floppy (hope so, sounds like it may be?) you can run fdisk at the a:> prompt and delete and remake the partition(s). Suggest a 10GB partition for the OS and equally divide the remainder for programs and data, e.g., 10, 35, and 35 for an 80GB HDD. i like a small partition for the OS so I can make images sized to fit on a DVD for backup. After you've made the partitions, reinstall the OS and when reinstalling programs be sure to put them on d:.

 

Hey Sparrow,
Hope your still online as the fdisk seems to be working. Have this long spill with the question at the end: "Do you wish to enable large disk support (Y/N)" Should I say yes? (Its been a long time since I've had to go back this far with a pc.)

 

Say yes to LD Support.

 

Most interesting.......................
Rebooted with both bootdisk (floppy) and CD in and when prompted, I again!!!, applied to start with CD.

It indicated that there was already a version of windows installed, but whatever...............I went ahead and indicated to continue installing windows. So far, so good.

But, if I end up with 2 installs of windows again, how do I fix THAT problem without ending up where I was?????????????????????