win 98se missing file/wont boot...

[MaxRat]

Okay I need help...

I just did a full wipe and re-format of my mothers old gateway....(3 months agao) I totally erased the drive and all partitions...

Re-installed 98se and it worked beautiful after all the hour to find the drivers I needed...

Long story short....She called me and said the pc cannot find windows? I went over and it's stuck in dos with C:\ and thats all

I rebooted and it tries to boot and come to the safe mode menu with an error..."Windows cannot boot please boot using command promt only and run scanreg"....(option 5)

I press ok and I get " windows could not load because WIN.COM is missing"

so I type scanreg or scanreg c:, or scanreg c:\ and All I get is "Bad
command or file name"

I tried to boot from the start-up floppy and tried to scanreg this way...no go... I typed "help" and read about SYS and EXT....tried them both...SYS says tranfer complete...EXT says cannot find file....

I am at a loss here... I really haven't done any work like this in dos....never had too....I am a total newbie to this part....

My mother just called and said she was some where in windows and "unckecked" something and that is when it would not boot...

Is there a way to put this file back in the registry...? there may be others but this is the 1st one it shows while trying to boot...

I do not know where it goes when I do find it...? I really do not want to wipe it and reinstall it again.... I did it for free...

Should have took Hal9000"s advice about charging family and friends double....but double of nothing is still nothing....

I have in my arsenal....
start-up disk....
win98se cd...
a burned cd of all the set-up files that were loaded to the H/D from my 98se rig....It had a folder on C: labeled win98se

any suggestion....other than ignoring the problem....

[Panama Red]

Might be easiest to do an over-the-top repair. Here's how from out Tips & Tricks area:

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=70846

Oh yeah, and I think it was me that said charge double to relatives! hehe

[MaxRat]

Thanks I'll give it a whirl...

[MaxRat]

This was and wasn't a sucess for me....

I tried to rename win.com to win.bak as mentioned....I got a error "no file win.com"

I managed to complete the rest....switch to cd drive...setup.... load to c:window....

The pro is...98se is up and running.......con is....all the drivers are gone....all of them....I really need some advil now....

Boy family sure is impatient.... I left it at the desktop for now as I am aggrevated to the point I need some relief.... It didn't repair it as I thought it would...but it's working....

Maybe just maybe.... when I get done being aggrevated by my family for there stupid mistake....I may load the drivers....I have to open the box and recheck the hard ware....I can see the folders where the prior install put the installed files... so this time I will load the install.exe's to a folder so I can just open it and run them.....

I was sure I made a disk with all the drivers on it as I always do for these types of repairs....but they can't find it.....

Next time for future use I will tape the cd to the inside bottom of the pc.... wont loose it then...

If this seem like a rant it is.....

All I have been hearing the last to day is..." just put the cd in and copy the file back..." If it were only that easy....

When installing 98se again I got all kinds of missing or corrupted files... during the install after copying files.....

It's got to be 5:00pm somewhere....

[tacoeater]

I would suggest you get the drivers with my instructions that follow. Then do another complete zap/wipe and reinstall. You should be able to go to Gateway website and find drivers for the particular Gateway computer you are having problems with. The model number and serial number should be on a sticker on the back of the computer. Here is the link for input of the serial number from the sticker on the back (or mayhaps the side) of the computer.
http://support.gateway.com/support/a...nfo.asp?sn=new

good luck,
alan

[MaxRat]

Originally Posted by tacoeater You should be able to go to Gateway website and find drivers for the particular Gateway computer you are having problems with. The model number and serial number should be on a sticker on the back of the computer. Here is the link for input of the serial number from the sticker on the back (or mayhaps the side) of the computer. http://support.gateway.com/support/a...nfo.asp?sn=new good luck, alan

Nope....only driver listed is for the dial up modem.....I have the video and sound and nic in cd somewhere I always make copies... extra anyhow

[HAL9000]

If you're getting that much file corruption, I would consider doing some hardware tests on RAM and HD.

[MaxRat]

Hal....

The error I got was missing or corrupted... I checked... The files are missing.... My mom just deletes stuff without thinking... and as I remember this gets you introuble on 98.... there was 1 system32 file and 2 other program files... I just have to reload drivers and not answer the phone next time...

[glc]

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...cts/trueimage/

Spend the 50 bucks. Go over there and install it and use it. Create the Secure Zone and do a full image to it. Next time she blows something away, just talk her through a restore over the phone.

[MaxRat]

glc.....

thats a real good idea.....but...

you don't know my mom very well.....she's one of those that knows more than you on every subject.....

The only way to fix this is....get her to leave the house and go fix it....on the phone with her to fix it would require more advil than they make...

hurts but true...

Thanks for the info...will try it though

[glc]

she's one of those that knows more than you on every subject

Then why can't she fix it herself?

[MaxRat]

lol....If I knew that answer... I wouldn't be totally gray at the young age of 34....

[MaxRat]

Okay...

I got it working...for now that is....

I finally calmed down enough to go over and finish this and get it going....Well all went pretty well I installed the sound and video drivers and put the install.exe's in folders for next time....

The NC100 nic card was another pain I had to deal with... It would not install correctly and kept not finding the rest of the install file or what ever....I finally got it to install correctly after a 1/2 hour of trying diferent stuff...

After installing the nic I still could not get on the internet... I kept getting a error "could not load internet connection wizard"...what...???

I finally figured I could access the wizard by going to the IE properties and then click "find target" in there I found it and ran it....then I had internet...

What a time....back when 98 was new I loved it...now I been on XP so long....argh...I remember how lack luster 98 is.....Thanks..

[Panama Red]

Ok, so you're happy cuz the job is done. But the important question is, "Is your mother happy?". If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!!

[MaxRat]

Well it's more like Grandma now....

They are both very impatient and very pc iliterate....But mom has been in a nursing home (due to poor health) and comutes home when she can....There are 3 dummies hovering over this pc and none of them really no how to turn it on....

Funny thing...My Grandma swears the pc is a Apple brand....because she sees that power symbol on the power switch...and it looks like an apple to her....there is NO convincing her other wise....

Mom is now in the hospital for emergancy heart bypass surgery...at 50...so till she heals and come home she'll be happy....as long as she gets to come home....

[Panama Red]

Prayers for your mom, MaxRat. Hope all goes well.