98 can't find win.ini

[Daveman]

Howdy,
Yesterday, when I turned my computer on; a message appeared on the screen that an error had happened and to press any key to continue. I pressed Enter, only to receive another message that windows (I'm running 98 by the way) could not find my win.ini file. I booted the machine up with another hard drive that had 98 on it. Checked my osb file in the original hard drive and my win.ini file is there. Any suggestions.

[EzyStvy]

Did you install some new software right before this happened?

Edit the autoexec.bat file. Look for any line that starts with PATH or SETPATH and type REM and a space in front of it.

[ktkendall]

You could even try going into safe mode and run the msconfig utility and uncheck the box's that are checked to load sys.ini and win.ini. I didn't realize untill recently that those are just for legacy devices and programs, which means you may not need them at all. I don't load them and I now boot faster and have more MEM available when windows starts. It may not work for you though as you may have some hardware or devices that are dependant upon those files being loaded. When I build or load new OS now that is one of the first things I do is uncheck those files from loading, and manually adjust the swap file usage.

[galaxian]

Out of curiousity, what OS are you running?

The Win9x swapfile (and vcache) settings are in System.ini.

And, there are still some dumba** pieces of software (recently developed), that still use Win.ini to store info.
(QuickTax is one example)

[Daveman]

EzyStvy, no I haven't installed anything new; and I don't have any experience editing system files so could you explain how to edit the autoexec.bat file.
Ktkendall, I did try Safemode today and was prompted with a message stating there was an error loading windows and that I needed to reinstall windows.
Galaxian, I'm running Win 98SE v.4.10.2222A.

[galaxian]

Hi,
The OS question was addressed to ktkendall, who indicated that he does not run with win.ini nor system.ini yet sets his swapfile params.

Daveman:
Try booting to DOS and at the command prompt enter

Scanreg/restore

And from the list of dates choose the one prior to your problem happening.

Reboot

[ktkendall]

I think your right, I tried that on my win98 laptop and it doesn't work, but all my other PC's/Laptop which I have winME/2000/xp it works to not even use win.ini or sys.ini!!

[Daveman]

Galaxian,
How do I boot to DOS? I tried to start in Safemode but was notified that there was an error loading windows and that I must reinstall windows. Still stumped.

[galaxian]

Hold the ctrl key as you boot. At the boot menu, choose Command Mode.

[Daveman]

Thanks Galaxian,
I Should have remembered that one.

[Daveman]

I'm back,
Well, i tried scanreg/restore 2 different times last night to no avail. Not it seems to go further through the boot process; but now I'm receiving the message "Error Loading Windows You must reinstall windows". I think I'm close but no cigar.

[galaxian]

Is that the complete message?

Can you boot to safe mode?

Reboot to a command prompt and enter

Scanreg /Fix

Also, edit win.ini and browse through it to see if it contains garbage or not

[Daveman]

Yes, that was the complete message. It appeared in a plain white box on what appeared to be a blank desktop. I say this because the background color was blue like my desktop. I did try scanreg/fix and it didn't help either. Safe Mode also won't completely load either. It starts loading and then I receive the same error message. Any clue?

[Daveman]

Galaxian,
By the way. Something you mentioned that I forgot. What is considered garbage in win.ini

[galaxian]

These aren't the messages you are getting, but try rebuilding WIN.com.

http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;q136630

If this fails, try doing an reinstall of Windows (over top of the existing one). This, sometimes, is known to correct problems.

Garbage? You'll know it when you see it. All of win.ini is textual in nature. You may not understand it, but you can read all the letters and numbers. If the file gets trashed, you will see portions of unreadable characters.

[RoyKelly]

Hey Daveman,

Have you checked out microsoft's support center at http://support.microsoft.com ?

Here's a couple of things I found on their site that came up with your error message that might help you.

+++++++++++++
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 192926
How to Perform Clean-Boot Troubleshooting for Windows 98

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;192926

SUMMARY
This article describes how to perform clean-boot troubleshooting for Windows 98.


MORE INFORMATION
WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

Clean-boot troubleshooting refers to methods of reducing behaviors that may occur because of your computer's environment. Many behaviors that occur when you run Windows or programs occur because there are conflicting drivers, terminate-and-stay-resident programs (TSRs), and other settings that are loaded when your computer starts. Your computer's environment includes settings from the following files:

• Msdos.sys
• Config.sys
• Autoexec.bat
• Winboot.ini
• Windows\Winstart.bat
• Windows\System.ini
• Windows\Win.ini
• Windows\Wininit.ini
• Windows\System.dat
• Windows\User.dat

These files are loaded as part of the boot process when Windows starts, and the files help create the environment that is used by the operating system and programs.

For information about the files, view the "Notes" section in this article.

+++++++++++++
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 188867
Troubleshooting Windows 98 Startup Problems

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;188867

SUMMARY
This article lists troubleshooting steps you can use if your computer stops responding (hangs), or you receive an error message, such as a fatal exception error message or an invalid VxD error message.

This article also provides information about how to use the System Information Utility (Msconfig.exe) to troubleshoot startup problems. After you restarting your computer several times, Msconfig.exe can help you to isolate a specific file or registry entry that is causing the problem. Once you determine the specific entry that is causing the problem, you should edit the appropriate file or registry key to remove the entry and then return the System Configuration Utility to Normal Startup mode.

For information about clean booting Windows 98 by using the System Configuration Utility, please see the "Narrowing the Focus" section in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

192926 How to Perform Clean-Boot Troubleshooting for Windows 98

[color=orange-red]IMPORTANT:[/color] This article describes troubleshooting steps that may help you solve problems starting Windows 98. This information is also available in our Windows 98 Startup and Shutdown Troubleshooting Wizard. We recommend using this wizard, but we have also created this text-based article for your convenience. The Windows 98 Startup and Shutdown Troubleshooting Wizard is located on the following Microsoft Web page:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/tshoot/default.asp

The following topics are included in this article:
Start Windows 98 in Safe Mode
Windows 98 Does Not Start in Safe Mode
Windows 98 Starts in Safe Mode
Additional Notes


+++++++++++++

[Daveman]

Thanks for the info. I'll be back again with my results.

[Daveman]

Well, shes up and running again. I had made a copy of the hard drive after the original install.So I set it up as the master and the bad drive as a slave.I took a look for the explorer.exe file that windows was having trouble loading and found that it was missing.So I used copy and paste to replace the missing file. Now it boots up fine and the problems seem to be gone. Thanks again for everyones help.

[kittyfire]

There's a few ways you can edit the autoexec.bat and similar files.

1. Boot up to a DOS prompt and simply type edit autoexec.bat and it places it in an editable format.

2. Within Windows, you can simply open it in notepad and make the changes then save it.

3. In 98, you can go to start, run, type in msconfig and one of the tabs is for the autoexec.bat. You can edit there, as well.

REM is our friend.

[mike breck]

Hmmm...

Win.ini is a good place to find Malware. Might be worthwhile scanning for virii, trojans, or malware.

For virii use an up to date anti-virus

For malware use AD-aware

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

For Trojans use The Cleaner

http://www.moosoft.com/

Just to be safe.

HTH

[Daveman]

Thanks for the input everyone.

Is there anything I can do to get my IDE controller on my mobo to work right or load its drivers? Windows wont even recognize my cd drives. I'm also having trouble getting online now too. Any suggestions would be a blessing.

Thanks again for all your help.

[mike breck]

What are your system specs i.e. mobo, CPU, other components?

Have you done a full system scan for Virii, Trojans, and Malware to make sure the systems clean?

Are you sure you've jumpered the HD and CD-Rom drive correctly?

How many IDE devices do you have and how are they configured on IDE 1 and IDE 2 e.g. Master, Slave, Cable Select - and on which channels?

Go into the BIOS and make sure the IDE devices are set to AUTO. Then "Exit Saving Changes" and see if that helps.