W98 Not Booting up

[hodunwun]

This is a friends computer. It's a PIII 450 on and Intell MB with 256 megs of memory. System boots past bios page and when Windows page comes up and error message directs to run 'scanreg' at the C:\ prompt. Says there is a problem with the registry. Runing scanreg gets " a bad command or file name" error. Help please. My knowledge is intermediate I would say. About the most technical thing I know is how to get in and out of the BIOS system. If this is major, would it be better to format and install 98 again? Can I rule out a bad hard drive? Has a Maxtor 20 gig drive.
Thanks for your attention. doug

[Redo40]

How long has this been going on? You may be able to type "scanreg /restore" without the quotation marks and select a date before the problem started. You could also try "scanreg /fix to see if it can repair the registry.
I would also download the Maxtor diagnostic program and check the drive.

[GaryRouth]

Just in case you might need a few more details to try Roger's troubleshooting:

To try the scanreg/restore command, you'll need to boot from either a Win98 cd, or a Win98 bootable floppy disk. If it's easier to download a ready-made floppy, they are available over at http://www.bootdisk.com Make sure to match the version of Win98 to what is on the machine.

If booting from the floppy, type the command from the A:> prompt.
If booting from a Win98 cd, choose "start computer with cd-rom support", and type the command from the prompt for the drive letter of the Cd-drive [on a one hard drive system, the cd-drive is probably drive letter D. To switch to it from any other drive letter at a command prompt, just type in the drive letter followed by a colon [:]

The Maxtor disk diagnostic program Roger mentioned can be downloaded from the link below. The downloaded program can be run to create a bootable floppy. When a computer is booted from that floppy, it will start DR-DOS and then start the Powermax diagnostic program.
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm

If the diagnostics show that the drive is OK, and if the scanreg commands don't help, you may want to try
1) Booting the computer from a bootable antivirus tool & running a scan from DOS (Norton 2003 can do this)
2) If no viruses found , try an over-the-top reinstall of Win98. Here's a quick guide http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.p...threadid=70846 I recommend trying the over-the-top if it's necessary, it can save your friend a lot of grief = especially if his backups are not extensive or recent. An over-the-top preserves most programs and data.

Best of luck & hi Roger - [I was in a typing mood tonight - I still haven't made it to the 12-step program to help long-winded typists find their way to brevity ]
. . . Gary

[Redo40]

Hey Gary, thanks for going into more detail....I just had rotator cuff surgery and typing one handed is tiring.

[hodunwun]

Thanks guys. That's plenty of ammo and I understand it.
It's going to be a few days before I get to it. I'll get back with you.
doug

[hodunwun]

Registry Scan fixed the problem. I leanred a bit more.
Thanks again guys.
doug

[GaryRouth]

Good work hodunwun. And Roger = hope your shoulder is feeling better.
. . .Gary