EMM386 won't load on boot

Hi,,,
When my computer boots I get the message......EMM386 not installed-Protective mode software already running.This is a brand new thing for my boot up info and I donot think it is a good thing.
I have run Spybot, Adware, Reg Cleaner, Easy Cleaner, Stinger AV, Panda Q Remove.
Something peculiar happens when I run Reg Cleaner and click Do Them All........No matter how many times I run the program and then select the 4 Registry Keys that appear,,these same Registry Keys reappear after I run the program again and again.
I have many problems that keep my computer from booting and running correctly so I have had to borrow a friends computer to access this site. That is one of the problems I can click up this site , but when I try to login it won't let me click on the login boxes and type my info.
Is there a new virus that is circulating recently? I think something has corrupted mysystem.
Anybody up to a major problem solving session?

 

Hi

what on earth is going in before EMM386? - is early on in the loading sequence... the only module before it is HIMEM.SYS on my machine (not SE)

this does not feel good!

Beware Boot Sector Virus! make sure friend's PC is protected before going any further.

(not that I have had experience of this thank goodness. I am trying to work out what the geblinking has occurred before EMM386 and there's not a lot else I can come up with.)

do you have to use any fudge to get the whole HDD recognised by the motherboard, pls? - that would be beforehand I think

Oh clever ones of the BBS - please help out here!

Can you boot from a startup floppy? if so try copying C:\BOOTLOG.TXT onto a floppy (is hidden file I think) use friend's PC to look at it, you won't have to look far down I feel

Also copy your CONFIG.SYS to the floppy do same thing

Also, if you can boot from a startup floppy: perhaps do the SCANDISK thing from the command prompt, see what happens

it sounds like it is restoring the registry for you every time you boot - 'coz Windows knows the last launch was unhappy.

Good Luck - this sounds either something fundamentally easy or something awfully heavy!

Best Wishes, Hugh

 

Restart in Dos Mode and type in these commands, or start up choosing Command Prompt and type in these commands, pressing Enter at the end of each line;

ren config.sys config.old
ren autoexec.bat autoexec.old

Reboot. It is not necessary for those files to be there for windows to boot.
Would you post the contents of the config and autoexec files?

 

Hi Hugh Arss.......Yeah there is very little before the memory Manager file. It seems I do not have one at present time,

Hi Markp62......I am going to follow your instructions......Do I go to msconfig to get the info you asked for????

 

Markp62......I clicked on the restart in DOS on my shutdown list twice....both times I got a black screen and no action.

 

Hi again

looks like you may have to boot from a startup floppy...

or, from power on, if you press F8 at the appropriate moment you can choose "Command Prompt Only ". This is usually when it says "Starting Windows98" (text only screen, before all the Windows graphic stuff starts)... but it flashes past very quickly; also I'm not certain you still get that message if you have no autoexec.bat

Startup floppy is by far the best way for these things

re: config.old and autoexec.old (hopefully they will be by then!) - easy way to post these:

use Windows Explorer; highlight config.old; holding down Shift, right-click on it

from the menu choose "Open With..." and select Notepad from the list - then cut and paste away

repeat for autoexec.old

up to you whether you choose to "Always use this program etc. "

Regards, Hugh Jarss

 

For now you can open a dos window, or Start\Run, type in Command and press Enter. Then type in my commands concerning "ren ".
Reboot.
You can use notepad to open those files, or Msconfig before you rename them.

 

Hi......I am not uderstanding the steps.
I did go to Start, then click Run, then type in COMMAND.
Then I did type in the 2 rens you gave me in the black window that appeared..
Do I close the window then restart or do a Control,Alt,Delete to reboot from this point?

You mentioned something about opening notepad and renaming files. Where do I find this Notepad and what and how do I rename files?
Sorry,,,,,,,,,,, I am not experienced enough in this area. I need simple step by step instructions.

 

Well,,,so far here is what happened when I booted up.
A blue screen appeared and ran Scandisk....During the Scandisk this message appeared,,,,,,,, "Scandisk detected an invalid long file name entry on this drive but was unable to fix it. To fix this problem run Scandisk for Windows ".
I clicked on 'Fixit half a dozen times and the same message reappeared, so I clicked on 'Don't fix it'.
Next after the scandisk finished I was informed that there was an error on Drive C that was not corrected. I continued and another blue screen appeared with the heading 'Microsoft registry Cleaner'. As this new program ran I received the following message: "Windows found an error in your system files and restored a recent backup of the files to fix your problem. Press enter to restart your computer ".
I pressed enter and I am supposing the change I put in concerning the 'ren' instructions were eliminated by this action.
At present time I am unable to boot my computer because I keep getting a message 'Invalid system disk. Replace the disk, then press any key.
I can't help wondering if something is attached to my system that is in the Registry and kind of hidden very well.
I made reference earlier to running the Registry Cleaner I have been using very successfully that I downloaded during one of my problems under the Post Nothing will Download.
Usually this JV1.6 Registry Cleaner finds invalid files and when I select them and delete them they are gone. Now when I run the program 'Do them All' the exact same files appear every time even after I supposedly deleted them many times.
All of these Registry files have Key for value and Key for entry's name. The Root is the same for all four programs,,,,,H-Key-Classes-Root. Another peculiar thing is the four suspicious programs all end in Shell\open\command.........Am I way of the mark? Is this normal or a wrong? occurence

 

Hi blakston6286

was writing a reply but have now seen your latest post

Important questions:

1 do you have a startup floppy disk?

2 does the PC use hard drive compression?

3 does the PC use a big hard drive that needs special software to let an older motherboard BIOS recognise (all of) it?

4 is the PC you are using to access this BBS running the same version of Windows as on your machine?

not necessarily, I think the rename (=ren) probably didn't work - unless you had typed cd \ before the ren lines you would probably have been in the wrong folder. But we have to find out.

for this, and for other things coming next, it is way best to boot from a startup floppy.

if you have one please make sure the write protect tab is set to "protect " before trying to use it!!! (the notch should be open not blocked)

If you could pls provide these answers I will know which way to go. If you don't know the answer to any of them post back with what's a-caring and we'll find a way to suss it out.

Good Luck, Hugh.

 

Hi Hugh,
Well an interesting development occurred when I tried to boot from my floppy and the Windows 98SE CD. My Computer went into Scan Disk and it AS ALWAYS SAID THERE WAS A UNUSUALLY LONG INVALID FILE NAME IN WINDOWS. But could not fix it without me going into Scandisk for Windows. Since I have no idea how to Scandisk for Windows I tried to reinstall My Windows 98 SE. That's when the fun started......I have spent the last hour pressing the enter button in the Scandisk mode of Windows setup.
It seems there are quite alot of funny looking files and or directories on my Drive that defy the norm.
These files have pictures figures and strange characters that are not on any keyboard I have ever seen. So I am assuming some jerk spent hours, maybe days writing these things and sent them out to random Email addresses to destroy computers.

What a productive way to live life.

I am wondering if there is a tool that I can download on this (my friends computer) computer onto a disk or floppy that can eliminate in minutes what I am certain will take me hours or more to do, if there is an end to this nonsense. Maybe I am dreaming and this is what must be done to rectify this moron's work.

 

Hi blakston6286

sorry for delay we are in the middle of thunderstorms I keep losing the dialup

what I meant was to do it all from the startup CD, ie not involving CDROM or anything from the hard drive - to start with.

All the tools you need are there (including a totally separate version of scandisk)

also they have (I hope) not been corrupted by whatever has happened to the HDD

(Floppies can get written to even when the tab is in the safe position; antivirus software can do this; also malware...)

were I in your shoes I'd format c: and reinstall everything - do you have user files on the machine that need to be salvaged (assuming this is possible - it may not be) pls?

Good Luck, Hugh.

 

Hi Hugh,
The latest development is I have succeeded in Scandisking the file.......The bad news is all Scandisk does is rename the file instead of repairing and deleting them......So as a result I am running out of space on my hard drive by crammimg old corrupt files with new names back into the system. What is wrong with these tools? It seems the very tools supposedly designed to fix problems simply add their own problem.

 

Hi again

answers to my earlier queries 2,3&4 would be of great assistance here!

we need to get information before proceding - as you have found out just doing repeated scandisks can make things worse

Note: I am trying to do this in a way to guard against possibilty you have boot sector virus on HDD

from power-off (give it a good 20 seconds)
boot from the startup floppy, nothing else

with luck you will get a menu:
1. Start Computer with CDROM support
2. Start Computer without CDROM support
3. View the help file

(if you do not see this stop here remove the floppy and let me know what you get)(why I needed the answer to query 3)

choose option 2.

(blue text is what you should see; purple indicates what to type)

type C: and press <enter>

you should see C:\>

type the following C:\>dir /p <enter>

look for the following files (among quite a few others; not all of them will be there)
AUTOEXEC.BAT
AUTOEXEC.OLD
CONFIG.SYS
CONFIG.OLD
HIMEM.SYS

type A: and press <enter>

you should see A:\>

**edit: got this next bit wrong, see next post**
type the following A:\>fc /b himem.sys c:\windows\himem.sys <enter>

let me know what you get; this will check what happened at the renaming (or not) and will confirm the integrity of HIMEM.SYS on your hard drive without compromising the integrity of your floppy - I hope!

I'm a bit worried that you may manage to scramble things at your end faster than I can type them at this!

Good Luck anyway

 

sorry blew it a bit with the fc /b 'coz it won't be on the floppy or even the RAMDRIVE

also you may have problems accessing the backslash \ depending upon which country keyboard you have; at this stage the keyboard mapping hasn't gone in

which country are u pls?

can try for the backslash on the ~ key (UK keyboards, some others too) or try the righthandmost key after where it goes HJKL etc... sort of in the corner above the RH shift key and next to the <enter>...

one way round the lack of FC is is to use your friend's PC to transfer FC.EXE from your CDROM to your startup floppy - it has to be the exact version I'm afraid else it will not run

if you hold down LH shift key while putting the CD in it will stop it going off by itself!

then use the file finder to look for FC.EXE on the CDROM - I cannot point you to it as my W98 isn't SE and the files are in different places on the CDs

I'd rather do that than trust to the FC on your hard drive if as you say weird things are happening - don't really want to run anything from your HDD if we can get away without it - yet

the reason for wanting to be 100% sure about HIMEM.SYS is it's the only thing that should be loading before EMM386

next up: instructions for transferring the CONFIG.SYS (or OLD) to a floppy, take to friend's PC, and then we might get it posted at last!

phew, Hugh
(hope this isn't too hassling at your end - you did ask for the blow-by-blow approach!)

 

Hi,
Sorry about not answering questions earlier. The situation got worse and I can no longer get past EMM386 not loading. on the boot.

To answer question 1. Yes, I have a floppy startup disk I made when all this trouble started.
question 2 I don't think my hard drive uses compression.
Question 3I have a 46 gigabyte IBM hard Drive partioned in 3rds.
I am not sophisticated enough at this to know the about bios. My chip is an AMD Athlon 900 Thunderbird with an ASUS V7 Socket A configuration,,,,,whatever that means.
Question 4 The computer I am using to access BBS is a laptop with Windows 98 Plus.

So far I followed your instructions on unplugging the computer,,,,,pluging it back in and turning it on with the floppy in place,,,,,selecting the 2cnd selection,,,,,,typing C: and pressing enter. This appeared....C:\>
I typed in dir/p and pressed enter A lot of listed files and directories appeared. Among them was AUTOEXEC.BAT,,,,AUTOEXEC.OLD,,,,,,CONFIG.SYS,,,,,,There was no CONFIG.OLD,,,,,and no HIMEM.SYS. were listed. At the end of the list C:\> appeared, not A:\> as you indicated should appear.
What should I do from this point of C:\> appearing?

 

Hi,
I am in USA.
I have a Microsoft Keyboard so \ and ~ is present.
What does FC mean?

 

Hugh,
You cannot get too basic for me, as my experience indicates......I am a beginner and I do need step by step instructions as I am not familiar with quite a few of the names and procedures that others find easy without step by step instructions. So far your instructions in the post before last were perfect. The last post lost me a little.

 

Himem.Sys will not appear there, it is a memory managing program needed by windows to load. Right at this point C:\>, type in these commands and press enter at the end of each:
ren config.sys config.bak
ren autoexec.bat autoexec.bak
dir c:\windows\himem.sys
That last command will just verify the existence of himem.sys, if there it's name will pop up.
Reboot.
To read the contents of either of the config and autoexec files. Go to Start\Programs\Accessories\Notepad. When Notepad opens, go to File\Open, when the Open window appears, browse to C:\ selecting All Files for Files of Type.

 

OK here we go again

with luck, this should enable you to transfer the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT (or OLD) to a floppy so you can get them to your friend's PC

this works best if you use another floppy for transferring the files

hopefully by now you've found the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT (or their renamed versions)
on your PC's hard drive in C:\

(ignore CONFIG.CTL)

boot your PC from startup floppy as before so that you get the A:\> prompt

remove the startup floppy; replace with the transfer floppy; as before type the purple bits, the blue should be already showing on the screen

A:\> copy config.sys a: <enter>
A:\> copy autoexec.bat a: <enter>

(amend the filenames as appropriate if the "rename" earlier on worked)

A:\> dir c: > a:dirlog.txt

remove the transfer floppy...

with the A:\> prompt showing on the screen or similar you can switch off safely

At your friend's:

insert your transfer floppy; use Windows Explorer, select the A: floppy drive

you should see three files, dirlog.txt, config.sys and autoexec.bat

(if you doubleclick on dirlog.txt it will raise NOTEPAD with the contents of the root folder of your HDD!)

It is now best, and safest, to rename the other two files to CONFIG.TXT and AUTOEXEC.TXT using normal Windows Explorer commands - 'coz if you do this
1 there's no chance of confusing them with the files on your friend's machine (perish the thought) and
2 its a bit risky and confusing having a file called autoexec.bat on a floppy and
3 if you do it the next bit gets a lot easier.

when you have done this - CONFIG.SYS should now be CONFIG.TXT - doubleclick on it and bingo! the contents should appear in NOTEPAD

Using NOTEPAD's Edit menu, choose "Select All "
Using NOTEPAD's Edit menu, choose "Copy "

switch (taskbar button or AltTab as you will) to the BBS where you should be writing your reply... position the cursor where you want the text to appear and from your browser's Edit menu, choose "Paste" (or use CtrlV)

this is what I get:
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE
device=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\display.sys con=(ega,,1)
Country=044,850,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\country.sys

and do the same for autoexec.txt

cross fingers and hope, maybe soon we'll have a few facts to work on, then we'll be cooking with gas. Or something.

Good Luck, I'll check back in a while in case you got problems...
phew, Hugh.