Plz help bootlog excerpt, win98 not loading

[nightsky]

Win98se, 639mb ram. Tried shift + F8 Confirmation and just after I load (emm386 ?) windows stopped loading. Seems like alot of repition in Boot log Excerpts:

LoadStart = gdi.exe
LoadStart = C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\GDI32.DLL
LoadStart = GDI.EXE
LoadSuccess = GDI.EXE
LoadStart = GDI.EXE
LoadSuccess = GDI.EXE
LoadStart = GDI.EXE
LoadSuccess = GDI.EXE
LoadStart = GDI.EXE
LoadSuccess = GDI.EXE
LoadSuccess = C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\GDI32.DLL
LoadStart = C:\WINDOWS\fonts\vgasys.fon
LoadSuccess = C:\WINDOWS\fonts\vgasys.fon
LoadStart = C:\WINDOWS\fonts\vgafix.fon
LoadSuccess = C:\WINDOWS\fonts\vgafix.fon
LoadStart = C:\WINDOWS\fonts\vgaoem.fon
LoadSuccess = C:\WINDOWS\fonts\vgaoem.fon
LoadSuccess = gdi.exe
LoadStart = user.exe
LoadStart = DDEML.DLL
LoadSuccess = DDEML.DLL
LoadStart = C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\USER32.DLL
LoadStart = USER.EXE
LoadSuccess = USER.EXE
LoadStart = USER.EXE
LoadSuccess = USER.EXE
LoadStart = USER.EXE
LoadSuccess = USER.EXE
LoadStart = USER.EXE
LoadSuccess = USER.EXE
LoadStart = USER.EXE
LoadSuccess = USER.EXE
LoadSuccess = C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\USER32.DLL
---------

LoadStart = NVMODE.DLL
LoadSuccess = NVMODE.DLL
InitDone = DISPLAY
Init = Display Resources
InitDone = Display Resources
LoadStart = C:\WINDOWS\fonts\serife.fon
LoadSuccess = C:\WINDOWS\fonts\serife.fon
LoadStart = C:\WINDOWS\fonts\sserife.fon
LoadSuccess = C:\WINDOWS\fonts\sserife.fon
LoadStart = C:\WINDOWS\fonts\coure.fon
LoadSuccess = C:\WINDOWS\fonts\coure.fon
LoadStart = C:\WINDOWS\fonts\symbole.fon
LoadSuccess = C:\WINDOWS\fonts\symbole.fon
LoadStart = C:\WINDOWS\fonts\smalle.fon
LoadSuccess = C:\WINDOWS\fonts\smalle.fon
LoadSuccess = user.exe
LoadStart = MSGSRV32.EXE
LoadSuccess = MSGSRV32.EXE
Init = Final USER
InitDone = Final USER
Init = Installable Drivers
InitDone = Installable Drivers
Init = TSRQuery
InitDone = TSRQuery
Thnx

[bob_man_uk]

what happens when it doesnt boot... for example does it give any errors or just a black screen or halt even?

personally mate i think its worth a re-install, not a format just a re-install

(here i assume you dont know how to do this so bear with me)

just boot off your CD (must be a CD) load the command line with CD support

go to c drive

cd to windows directory

del win.com (or copy win.com to win.bck)

go back to D (where D is your CD drive)

mkdir c:\win98

cd D:\win98

copy *.* C:\win98

go to c:\win98

type setup /?

look for the options that stop billboards and scandisk

i think it comes out something like this

setup /nb /ns or setup /iv /ns

make sure you dont stop registry check otherwise all windows settings will be overwritten, the only reason we removed win.com is so that windows setup doesnt think an OS already exists and allows you to re-install windows 98 or upgrade from a full product disk instead of needing an upgrade disk... a few little tricks of windows setup for you.

MattyG

[nightsky]

The System boots up but hangs when it is supose to load windows. I am running a dualboot and I would hate to lose my setup and hav to do it all again.
Dont hav money for a backup system. I am sooooo frustrated I feel like just trashing windows altogether. Can I just replace whatever files r responsible for loading windows? Thnx

[GaryRouth]

nightsky -

What does your config.sys file look like on that system? Make sure that if you see references to HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE, that HIMEM.SYS is loaded first.

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE

The only devices I've seen needing a reference to that file (it's an expanded memory manager from the 386/486 era) are old sound cards.

bob_man_uk's suggestion for an over-the-top reinstall might fix your Windows boot problem, but then you'd have to reload your Linux bootloader to get your multiboot menu back (since the reinstall will overwrite the MBR). Putting LiLo or Grub back on shouldn't be too difficult - but it's been ages since I had to, so you might have to check your slackware documentation for more info there.

You can post your Config.sys & Autoexec.bat files here if you'd like us to try and spot any other gotchas.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

P.S ... Since you have over 512mb of RAM on that system, did you ever add the VCACHE line to your system.ini file? You could try adding the value maxfilecache=524288 to the [vcache] section of your system.ini file if you haven't yet.

[edfair]

I would probably try one time starting up without either the config.sys or autoexec.bat. Neither is needed on the plain jane 98SE since the windows loads the high memory manaagement file automatically.