win 95 will not start

[jptobias]

ok ia friend of mine bgourht me this comuter and it is a gateway 2000 pentium (1) ,75 mhz, 8mb ram, and looks like 2 gig hhd, when it starts all looks ok but right after win95 background shows up it goes black and c:\ prompt apears and on top of screen says "to return to windows type exit at c prompt, i do that and it restarts and comes to same screen over and over.

[stylin19]

for whatever reason you appear be booting to dos.

Some of of the early Win95 installs were over an existing version of Win 3.x.. Sometimes the OEM's coded the autoexec.bat & config.sys files they same way they were used in Win 3.x, and they really didn't need to.

For starters:

-you might be able to type: cd\windows at the c: prompt.
if so, can you then type WIN ?

-you may have a line in the config.sys file that looks like this:
DOS=single.

- the msdos.sys (or winbot.ini) controls booting. you could have a line that looks like this: BootGUI=0, which boots to dos, not windows.

not much...good luck...

[jptobias]

ok i went to cd windows then win and it tells me i am running ms-dos hit enter to go to windows , then i hit enter and it goes again to same screen as before. to c\ prompt. how can i change from c: to windows?

[GaryRouth]

Did your friend also give you any System Restore disks? (or "Recovery Disk"). Those would offer to reformat/reinstall things back to their original condition (but you'd lose all the data added since). Just a thought - you probably want to save this for a last ditch effort, since it'd be nice to see what capabilities (and programs) the machine has first.

If you have something in your autoexec.bat file, or in your System Registry files, or perhaps an .ini file (like win.ini), that asks to load DOS, or tells the computer to boot into MS-DOS mode (via a shortcut in the Start/Programs/Startup folder, for example) - - - all these could cause what you are experiencing.

If you can boot into Safe Mode, that will bypass those startup files, and let you check on those files that stylin19 and I have mentioned. Don't worry about the registry for now, an easier way to quickly take a look a startup programs is to type msconfig.exe in your Start/Run box (if you are able to enter Safe Mode that is). Then look at the Startup tab. If you put a checkmark in the box before a Startup item, you can have the system bypass that on the next boot (called a "selective startup").

You can try getting to Safe Mode by holding down either the Shift key or the CTRL key just after the POST beep (Power On Self Test sounds a single beep on the case or motherboard speaker if all is well). Pressing F8 at that moment should do it as well.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[. . . and to answer your C-to-windows question: it sounds like you got the the C:\Windows directory in your first try. You would have typed
cd \Windows
win
. . . but the problem is, somewhere in your windows startup files is a command to start in MS-DOS mode. ]

[stylin19]

When the Windows logo comes up on the screen during boot up, hit the ESC key and it should go away. You may be able to see what files/drivers are trying to load and/or commands that are being executed.

Not sure how familiar you are with DOS commands.
Also, the files may have attributes set that make them hidden.
(MsDos.sys is a hidden system file)

The config.sys and the autoexec.bat are in the root directory ( c:\ ). If you are in dos, you should be able, at the c:\ prompt, to type: TYPE CONFIG.SYS.

The contents of the config.sys file will be returned to the screen.

Do the same for AUTOEXEC.BAT
Then post back the results.

Mabe we can make heads or tails out of it.

We then may need to tackle the msdos.sys (or winboot.ini) file.