Command Interpreter???

Just ran jv16 powertools to clean registery and remove duplicate files. Upon restart I get a black screen with C prompt and message to type the name of the command interpreter (e.g.C:\windows\command.com)....Have tried starting up in safe mode and step by step confirmation but I get the same screen everytime. Using Dell Inspiron 7000 laptop w/ windows 98plus. What do I do ...HELP PLZZZZ..

 

Hmmm,

Seems the registry cleaner was little too thorough!!

Edit

On reflection, if we're getting 'enter command interpretor' we've got other problems besides the registry. Sounds like something may have hosed up the master boot record as well.

Try booting from a 98 startup disk and see if the directory structure of the hard drive is valid.......

Do you have a C: drive
Does it have a Windows or Win98 folder.

Let us know what you find.

Cheers,

ICE

 

Well, noahdfear, looks like you found out that sometimes duplicate files are there for a reason. I have no doubt that you also deleted some other important duplicate files. Here is something that may get you started again.
Get a Bootdisk, choose the one for 98, doubleclick the file with a floppy in the drive, and use it to start the ailing computer choosing without cd, and type in these commands pressing enter at the end of each line;
sys a: c:
copy c:\command.com c:\windows
If you get a bad file name or command, type them in correctly.
Take out floppy,and reboot.
If you get the message(s) that more files are missing, use the bootdisk, this time choosing with CD, and install windows. Be sure it installs into C:\Windows, don't bother using the option to save old files, as it is the old installation of windows and it is not working.
Visit the Windows Update Site.

 

OK........yeah the reg cleaner was too thorough (or I wasn't thorough enough when looking through what was being taken out), and yes.........there are obviously duplicate files for a reason
(wish i knew which ones were needed, since none of them looked important).........shame on me! lol.
I have tried everything suggested among other things.............even changed setup to boot from floppy first....got a message that i was using a 'non-system disk or disk error'...........have tried all sorts of commands from all forms of startup modes but still only get one thing....................
"Type the name of the Command Interpreter (e.g. C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM)
C>_
Thanks but still stuck!

 

Three possiblites for this:

1. Bad floppy drive
2. Bad floppy disk
3. Incorrect startup disk.

My money is on number 2 or maybe a combination of 2+3. Even without a hard drive if you have a good boot disk you should be able to get to an A:> prompt. You may wish to try it with a different floppy disk and create a new boot disk. If you have trouble doing it from the site markp62 provided you can make a startup disk from any Windows 98 machine by using the Startup Disk tab in add/remove programs.


ICE.

 

I have always warned that most users should :

(a) use only RegCleaner. Not the less user friendly power tools by same author

(b) never clean duplicate files, unless you are deeply experienced with and understand the workings of windows.

It is posted on this BBS 100 times just by me if it is posted even once.

This applies to several things and I will mention also HiJackThis.

So rant over, to fix.

It appears that the C: drive is there as you say it says c: and wants command .com.

Get windows Boot floppy. Borrow one or download this one:

http://utils.skull-tech.com/bootdisks/boot98.exe

After D/L the execute this file with a floppy in the A: drive and it will create a boot floppy. Take this to the problem computer and boot from it. It thinks you want to install windows so skip that to get to a: prompt.

Once you are at the a: prompt,

type

sys c:

then still on a:

type
copy command.com c:\windows

then

copy command.com c:\windows\command

You may get an overwrite existing file on the last 2 copy commands, yes or no is OK.

After the above is complete the restart the computer.

mike

 

Okay.......Now I'm getting somewhere. The boot disk download was a zip file......Unzipped, wrote to floppy, booted to disk, followed instructions given by Mflynn and Markp62, restarted computer, I got Microsoft Windows 98 splash screen, AVG bootup scanner, (no viruses found)...then it went to this screen....



C:\>rem TShoot: @SET PATH=C:\PROGRA~1\MSOFFICE\OFFICE;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND:C:\PROGRA~1\EPTEDGE3\LIB

C:\>REM [Header]

C:\>
C:\>REM [CD-ROM Drive]

C:\>
C:\>REM [Miscellaneous]

C:\>
C:\>c:\maestro.com
Bad command or file name

C:\>

C:\>_


Dont know where to go from here. Thank You for getting me this far...... but I need just a little more help please...

 

When it stops at the c: prompt, try typing win.

 

When it stops at c: prompt after this, do these steps:

type
ren autoexec.bat autoexec.bak

then

ren config.sys config.bak

Now reboot, this should get you back to windows, but

If it still ends up at c:>

then

type

c:\windows\win



Mike

 

I did everything as instructed, after typing c:\windows\win , I ended up stuck on this.....
HIMEM.SYS is missing
Make sure that the file is in your Windows directory.

I checked the boot disk Himem file, then recopied it to C:\Windows. I even put a copy of HIMEM.SYS from my windows xp system on another floppy and copied it to C: ....still the same error message. I have since recopied HIMEM from the boot disk....affected system even notes that file was copied, but still get message after restart. I have restarted with Ctrl\alt\del and also using power button.

 

Dave just do this!

Copy himem.sys from 98 boot disk to
c:\windows (overwrite the XP one)

then just hit ctrl al del without the floppy in the drive and tell me exactly what it says where it stops.

I will only be up for another 20 mins.

mike

 

Hi Mike. Sorry I missed you last night. Just finished doing what you said.........got just a black screen with this.....

Microsoft (R) Windows 98
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp 1981-1998

C:\>_


I had already written back over the XP file last night. Checked the windows directory this morning for himem.sys file. It's there. 33,191 (bytes?) in size with a date of 05-11-98, the same date as most other files. I still get the same message when typing ........c:\windows\win.............HIMEM.SYS is missing. Make sure that the file is in your windows directory.

 

Ok now try this.

At the c:>

type

ren autoexec.bak autoexec.bat

then

ren config.bak config.sys

reboot

give dedails about results.

We are getting close to resorting to an overlay install to fix this.

Mike

EDIT also do this

copy a:\himem.sys c:\windows\command

copy a:\himem.sys c:\

other words a copy in windows and c:\windows\command and root of c:

Gone to movie to see T3

 

Mike,
How was T3?
Thanks for hangin in there with me.Wish I knew more about DOS commands.......maybe make this easier on you.
After renaming autoexec and config files and rebooting it once again went through the AVG boot scan and stopped at C:> like it was in my 3rd post. And once again, even after recopying himem.sys it still says its missing after typing c:\windows\win......Let me back up.......after <ren config.bak config.sys> I got a message.....config.sys not found.......don't know if that means anything but I searched the directory for it.........found only config.ago (91 bytes) dated 12-11-98 in c:\......copied config.sys to c:\ but that took me back to black screen with prompt only on reboot so I deleted it and I'm back to AVG boot scan first again. Searched windows directory for config.sys.......it's in there (629 bytes) dated 05-11-98. There is also a CONFIG directory which has 1 file.......General.idf (654 bytes) dated 05-11-98...and 2 directories (981,536,768 bytes free). I also searched the boot disk for config.sys.........not found. Is it supposed to be there?

I am wondering if this message has anything to do with
this . Clicked on the 'how to edit' link and followed instructions for config.sys in DOS mode but only get 'Bad command or file name' message. As for checking that it's location being correctly specified in the config.sys file...........don't know how to do that.
I'm also wondering if the { C:>c:\maestro.com Bad command or file name } could be causing a problem..........just stabbing at something......anything!.........LOL.

 

Ok Back!

Movie was great, but I liked "28 Days latter" more.

Ok another shot at the problem.

at c:

type

c:\windows\command\edit config.sys

it will bring up the dos editor (if it is there)

if so then type the following lines beginning with dos=high, type exactly as below then save and exit then reboot.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
dos=high,umb

set PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\

device=c:\windows\himem.sys /v
device=c:\windows\emm386.exe noems i=b000-b7ff d=64 verbose

shell=c:\windows\command.com c:\ /p /e:1024

buffershigh=40,0
fileshigh=101
lastdrivehigh=k
fcbshigh=4,0
stackshigh=9,256

devicehigh=c:\windows\setver.exe
devicehigh=c:\windows\ifshlp.sys

 

This tells me that the Autoexec.Bat has not been renamed, as the AVG bootscan is called from Autoexec.bat.
If you were to do this command at the C:\>,

dir msdos.sys

Anything come up? This file autostarts windows by default, if there.

I do think an overlay install of windows is in order. We may be doing too much nitpicking around with individual files.

 

10-4 Mark

I agree it is time for an overlay install.

But by the last renaming of the autoexec.bat and config.sys this was "renaming" them back from *.bak. They did get renamed to *.bak and back.

I don't know what all else you deleted noah but below is a generic msdos.sys file. Cut and paste this into a a file named msdos.sys and copy it to the root of c:

If it still don't boot or now does get to windows and you have missing files problems then time to ovelay install for sure. Get everything between the ======= but not the =======. The lines with the xxxxxxxx are one line each with "a" thru "s" at the end. They wraped here only because of the BBS line length.

====================================
[Paths]
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C

[Options]
BootMulti=1
BootGUI=1
DoubleBuffer=1
AutoScan=1
WinVer=4.10.2222
;
;The following lines are required for compatibility with other programs.
;Do not remove them (MSDOS.SYS needs to be >1024 bytes).
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxa
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxb
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxc
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxd
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxe
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxf
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxg
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxh
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxi
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxj
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxk
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxl
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxm
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxn
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxo
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxp
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxq
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxr
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxs
=============================================

If you decide to do an overlay install of windows here are the steps.

1. put windows CD in drive
2. boot from the boot floppy; choose CD Rom support
3. go to CD drive type "setup "
4. click OK to all defaults "EXCEPT" install to c:\windows.000

edit this line to say only

c:\windows (remove the .000)

This will keep all your settings and installed software.

Normally anyway, if you deleted some of these files some of your programs will not work. But windows should be completely repaired.

Mike

 

Hey guys!

Good news and bad. First the bad. There was no msdos.sys file and for whatever reason the generic one Mike gave me wouldn't copy to the drive. Now the good news. I did an overlay install (didn't have to alter anything) , and almost everything is still there and intact. Lost 'Tweakui' and modem and sound card drivers (none of that a big deal) but looks like thats all. I have already repaired the modem driver ......sound card is next. As a matter of fact I'm using the ailing PC for this post.
Thank You to everyone for your help! And yes......I have learned my lesson about dumping duplicate files.........NO MORE till I know more about what I'm dealing with!!

 

Sounds like all went pretty well considering. Whenever I come across a file I think that I may not need, I first rename the extension, so that file.dll would end up file.old, and leave it in the folder. If needed, a simple renaming restores it.
DriversHq is a good place to look for drivers. When prompted use 'drivers' as username, 'all' for password.

 

Well.............all was going well. I was getting drivers and reinstalling......got modem back........got sounds back......got dvd back.........dumped IE6 so I could get to update page..........dumped and reinstalled msn messenger so it would work......but media player still had no sound, even after dumping and reinstalling it. Said I had no sound card although win98 cd intro music came through fine. Followed error to microsoft, told me to check and reset hardware acceleration in multimedia. Did that and also found speakers set to use external, which I dont have. Reset that and restarted PC as instructed but all that came up was this........

Impossible d' ex'ecuter Windows avec la version de MS-DOS install'ee
Mettez a' jour MS-DOS avec la version 8 ou plus
-

Now it does nothing! Wont even start in safe mode. I have to hold down power button to shut down. Inserted bootdisk and did sys a: c: , don't know if that was right but it didn't change anything. Don't understand this boot from floppy thing yet. Gonna go into the help file of the bootdisk for a while, try to get some understanding of this.