Has my harddive crashed???????

I have another computer that I have (within the last year) put in a new cd-rom drive, floppy disk drive, modem and Harddrive.
The harddrive is 20Gb with 2GB used.
It'll boot up to where you pick the way to log on to windows.
When I pick normal, a window pops up saying that it's scanning
registy files. Then another message appears saying that it has
found errors and fixed them and to reboot. When I reboot it goes through the same thing.
On bootup also it says the HYMEM SYS is missing and to
check windows registry. I can't get to windows.
Another message when we are "fixing and repairing" registry
is An internal stack overflow has caused this session to be halted.
Change the stack settings in Config file and then try again.
If I can't get to windows, how can I access config sys.?
I can get to the dos prompt and c:/dir. Where do I go from here,
if anywhere?
I thought this might be a good brain twister. I would like to
solve this problem as the harddrive has a lot of space. It is
also one month past warranty.

Have fun

Thank you very much

 

edit

You say you cac change dir at the c prompt? type C:\edit config.sys [enter] this will bring up config.sys in a dos window for editing, be sure to SAVE tho. Also at the prompt type C:\scandisk [enter] this will correct files that can't be fixed while in windows as in ERRORS. After all this & it wont boot into windows then type c:\windows win [enter]

 

If you are using W95 or above, you shouldn't need config.sys or autoexec bat to boot. Everything below is assuming you OS is w95 or above.

If you have another computer copy himem.sys to a floppy and then copy it to the c:\windows directory on this computer (syntax---copy a:\himem.sys c:\windows). I would also rename config.sys (if present to config.old or some other extension and try rebooting. (syntax--ren c:\config.sys config.old ").

Have you done a virus scan with the latest def files?? Try to get a copy of f-prot with the latest def files burned on a cd. Start your computer from a known good boot disk (Win 98 floppy) with cd rom support enabled and run a scan from the cd rom prompt. You may have a virus in memory that a windows scan won't see. If the problem is caused by missing or corrupted system files, try reloading windows from the c:\prompt. to do this you will have to boot with cd rom support as before. You will get a message asking if you want to save your old system files. I would reply NO as saving them will move your windows directory to windows.000 and the old system files will be useless to you anyway. As a last resort, if you don't want to reformat and reload because of data loss, you can type "deltree c:\windows" at the command prompt. this will completely remove windows and then you can do a complete reinstall. CAUTION---if you do this, all drivers and applications will have to be reinstalled.

 

Here I am again,

My son helped me with your suggestions. I guess he
formatted the harddrive. Now it'll boot (with universal boot
disk) but only to install system information, then it will
say " please undo write protection on disk ". I do this and I get the same message.
The pc will lock up and most of the time reboot itself. Now
is there any hope?

Flora

 

no windoze

Hi owlidays , so the hard drive is formated via win98 startup disk?
You maybe should start over, just as fast & more clean. I see you have startup disk so boot to the a prompt with disk but select NO CDROM support when asked. type A:\format c:\ [enter]
After complete reboot & select with CDROM support. Now at the Prompt type setup [enter] If nothing happens the type A:\cd e:\ [enter] where "E" is your cdrom (D is tmp ram drive) [enter]

 

I can't even get to my dos prompt now.
When I boot up to floppy a installed I have to have
the boot disk in the a drive before it will go any farther.
With the disk in I've gotten up to cd-roms, but it
isn't recognized as it is not a gateway cd-rom. I
can't get any farther than that. After reboot it always
comes back to where I left off, then locks up and I have
to reboot. This is very discouraging. Maybe it' hopeless??

Thank you

 

lets do this

owlidays What boot disk are you using & why? Are you posting from a win98 system? Aren't we trying to install win98 after a format of "C" drive? Lets presume you have an extra win98 system. Make a "startup" disk from that computer. Go to control panel|add remove programs & click on the make startup disk, it's the 3rd tab. Have your win98 cd in tray, press continue. After you have this disk it's really simple & all ya need no matter what puter name you have. Now take your win98 cd & place in tray of target puter. Bootup with startup disk in drive A & select NO cdrom support, then at the prompt type A:\format c:\ [enter]. Reboot & this time select WITH cdrom support. Now type setup at the prompt. Forget your gateway cd's at this time. If the win98 is an upgrade ver: have the win95 cd ready or first disk of win3.1 will do & when asked for verify point to location, continue...........Rancher

 

Packard Bell used to send a set up floppy that pointed to the installed CD Rom drive. If you had changed the drive, forget using their recovery disks. Older Gateways were very "proprietary" also. I recommend the same thing as Rancher, but you need a regular (OEM) Win 98 boot disk and a regular version of Windows (not what came with the Gateway unless it is a separate CD Rom). After all this, you will have to find the video, sound and modem drivers on the internet.

 

Hi,
Just wanted to let you know that I haven't given up,
I'm trying to get my hands on a win 95 cd-rom. The dog
ate mine.

Still hanging in there
Flora

 

Hangin' in there

The first disk of win3.XX will work too, anyone can email you this at 1.3 mb. As a metter of fact I have the first disket of win95!

 

win951st

Flora, check your email

 

Thank you
I will keep you informed on my progress