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Windows98 crashed...many error messages

Discussion in 'Legacy Windows' started by tryagain, 2006/05/24.

  1. 2006/05/24
    tryagain

    tryagain Inactive Thread Starter

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    I recently restored my Compaq Presario 1200-XL to factory settings..everything was working just fine...then I dropped it...which damaged something on the c drive. I selected the fix errors options, but it starts and never finishes. I again tried to reset to factory settings..the process started and froze after about 10% completion. I did an alt-ctrl-del to shut it down..when I rebooted a message stated "cannot find Operating System ". I rebooted several times and now it boot in Windows 98 startup menu...command prompt only.... I have a registry/configuration error
    There is an unrecognized command in your CONFIG.SYS file on line 1.
    The following file is missing or corrupted: C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
    The following file is missing or corrupted: C:\WINDOWS\DBLBUFF.SYS
    The following file is missing or corrupted: C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
    :6-05-24 22:02 c:\AUTOECEC.BAT: HIBCHK FOUND ON 1 LINES

    Cannot find WIN.COM, unable to continue loading Windows.

    Can I salvage this laptop or is it dead????????????

    I do not have a recovery disc and I do not have the Windows98 Operating System.
    I do have a WindowsXP 2002 Operating System that came with the purchase desktop pc a couple of years ago. It would be just great if I could remove 98 and load XP. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!! :eek:
     
    tryagain,
    #1
  2. 2006/05/25
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    tryagain - Welcome to the Board :)

    I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I think your hard drive is irreparably damaged. If you dropped it while the computer was booted up the read/write heads in the hard drive inevitably made contact with the disk platter surface and damaged it. This damage is not repairable. If the computer was not booted up at the time the drive heads are in theory locked and should not contact the disk platter and the damage lies elsewhere, but I suspect the hard drive.

    If the laptop has a floppy drive you could download the disk diagnostic software from the hard drive manufacturer's web site - you would need to know the make of the drive - probably IBM Deskstar (Hitachi) or possibly Fujitsu and run it - I would not hold your breath :)

    If the hard drive is readily accessible - not familiar with Compaq's, but it is straightforward on my HP - you could fit a new hard drive to which you could then load an Operating System of your choice. Note that XP can only be installed on one computer - your copy cannot be installed on a second computer.
     
    PeteC,
    #2


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  4. 2006/05/25
    mattman

    mattman Inactive Alumni

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    Sounds like the read/write heads of hard drive have smashed (touched) against the surface of the disk platters.

    If you have Windows partially loaded it is a good sign, but you will need to "repair" the bad sectors by having Windows mark them as bad.

    Try booting to Safe Mode (start tapping the F8 key after the startup screens...just before you would see the Windows screen). In Safe Mode, run Scandisk.

    If this does not work you will need to keep trying to reinstall Windows again, although it may take quite a long time for the sectors to be marked.
    "I selected the fix errors options, but it starts and never finishes." Leave it to run overnight if you are not certain that it has stalled.

    Seems like there has been some [serious] damage to your hard drive.

    Matt
     
    mattman,
    #3
  5. 2006/05/27
    markp62

    markp62 Geek Member Alumni

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    Choose Command Prompt, and do this command
    scandisk /all /surface /autofix
    This works faster than doing it in Safe Mode.
     
    markp62,
    #4
  6. 2006/05/28
    mattman

    mattman Inactive Alumni

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    Looking at the error messages again, it may be a problem with Config.sys itself. You can modify that file. Let us know if you can get into to Safe Mode, Config.sys is not loaded to go into Safe Mode.

    Matt
     
    mattman,
    #5
  7. 2006/05/29
    error

    error Banned

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    Wow People Still Run Windows 98? Thats like 8 yearsold Wow!
     
    error,
    #6
  8. 2006/05/30
    mattman

    mattman Inactive Alumni

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    I love my Win 98, it's lean and mean and will do almost anything if you throw a few drivers at it. Keep it trim and it will fly. You can work on it from DOS, not like the "behind the scenes" NT systems. Win XP is beyond SP2 (some of the Updates appear to need reworking), Win 2K had 4 Service Packs and I think NT had more.

    Pity it's going out of date. I'll have to update to bloatware, sorry, Win XP :D

    Matt
     
    mattman,
    #7
  9. 2006/05/30
    BillyBob Lifetime Subscription

    BillyBob Inactive

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    YUP !!!!

    Two 98SE and one XP Pro machine. My Wife and I spend many fun hours playing games between them.

    Other than a couple of NEWER programs the 98 PCs do everything this XP Pro does. Maybe not as fast. But that is not the OS fault. That is hardware limitations.

    BillyBob
     
    Last edited: 2006/05/30
    BillyBob,
    #8
  10. 2006/05/30
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    tryagain

    Thought you were desperate - where are you? - what progress?.

    We can omly work with feedback.
     
    PeteC,
    #9

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