win 98 no boot troubles

[Colonel Sanders]

I have a friend running Win98 on an old IBM Aptiva.

Now, when it boots it loads MS-DOS then says "type exit to return to windows", type it loads splash screen, then finally crashes.

Have ran scandisk, have tried restoring the registry.

What else should be done? I think a re-installiation of Windows is on order, but I'm not sure what that will do to all the files, mostly word files.

Should the word files be fine?

I think the worst case would be pluging the HDD into my PC, getting Win2K to recognize it(near impossible) and then burning the files on a CD.

Logan

[N/A]

how old is old?does it meet the minimum requirement?

word files should be fine as long as hard drive is not physically damaged..or reformatted.
i think its a very good idea that you should take out hdd and put it on win2k system.win2k should automatically reconize a new hdd and assign a drive letter.what file system win2k uses?ntfs?or fat32?whatever it is,it should reconize and use your FAT32 HDD..

[Nuclear Krusader]

It would be wise to make sure your friend's HD doesn't have a virus on it.

If you can't check that, then update your virus definitions before hooking up his HD to yours.

What AV program do you have, Logan?

[GaryRouth]

As n/a mentioned, Win2k will read it if it's a functioning drive (remember to jumper the drive if you slave it). . . And by all means, remember Nuclear's advice to scan it for viruses as soon as you can.

Can you boot into Safe Mode? (press F8 or hold down the Shift key at startup, or hold down the CTRL keys and select from the boot menu).

If you can boot into Safe Mode, see if anything unusual is in the startup folder. That message seems to indicate that a Dos program has run at startup. Start/Programs/Accessories/System tools/System Information . . . select "System Configuration Tool" if you'd like a more detailed look at what's going on at startup. While you're in System Information Tools, give a run of System File Checker a try.

You also can run a diagnostic on your hard drive from the manufacturer's website (though some Aptiva's come with a troubleshooting disk full of diagnostic programs . . . see if your friend has one).

Wouldn't surprise me if it's a virus.
. . . Gary