Win 98SE won't boot

[bill1971]

Hey, guys:

I had a similar prob on another machine that I posted on 02/04.

This is a different box, an old AT I think - 'cause I had to go pick up a serial mouse ; fortunately I had an AT keyboard adapter.

Can't get into safe mode - well, I can, but no icons, and the mouse pointer freezes.

Tried to restore the registry, which I did. Upon restart, and Scandisk, it finds "one long file name", <OK>, then it proceeds to scan up to 94%, where it just hangs or freezes.

If I bypass the Scandisk, it will get to the box "Updating driver info database" ; when that completes, everything freezes, teal background, no icons, frozen pointer.

I did the "logging" option, but how can I look at it in DOS?? How do I open C:\BOOTLOG.TXT ? (Last time I looked at this log, it was after hanging the drive off of another PC.

A lot of the MS Knowledge Base info seems to assume that you can boot into Safe Mode.

Now, I do get the "HIMEM.SYS driver not loaded" sometimes.

Did an extended diagnosis of the HDD using SeaTools. Physical integrity fine. Found 9 "minor errors" when checking directory and file structure.

So that's where I am right now. I would like to learn something here, as opposed to taking the easy(?) way out, and just re-formating and re-installing the OS, even though, given the age of this box, a fresh install is prolly in order.

Thanks for any suggestions, as always.

- Bill

[John Prophet]

to look at the bootlog.txt file--I think I would boot to a boot floppy and just do "more c:\bootlog.txt" or if you are in the C:\ then just do "more bootlog.txt"

more shows files one page at a time and you hit enter to scroll to next page. The bootlog file is longggggggg.


I THINK "more" is on floppy disks...if not you can use 'edit bootlog.txt'

I said use a floppy because I am not sure that if you boot to dos on w98se itself..will THAT bootlog show up or will the last bootlong going into actual windows show up?? Im not sure?

(just for info..the c:\bootlog.txt file is a "hidden" file....so if you look for it using "dir" you will not see it although it is there. If you want to see it on a dir command, you need to take away the "h" attrib...by going "attrib -h bootlog.txt". to add an attrib back on you go "attrib +h bootlog.txt")

to see what the attribs are set as you can do something like "attrib *.txt". That will show you the file attributes for the .txt files. If you just do "attrib" you will see the list of the attributes of ALLLLLL the fles, lol.


This problem though sounds similar to an issue I had a while back.....there is a fix to change the windows "shell" so that you can get in and run setup again from within windows....that did fix the problem I was having...I had no icons same as you....couldnt do anything or run anything etc...same in safe mode.

Give me a few minutes and I will find that post and link you to it.

(lemme finish my oatmeal breakfast first! lol)

JP

[bwcc]

On your harddrive, you may want to run Spinrite on it (http://www.spinrite.com). That is the more thorough test of harddrives around. HDD sounds like a problem - especially with the scandisk problem and the 'missing Himem.sys' file on occassion (almost as if the 2 FAT tables do not match).

To view your log file in DOS, you would type in :

'type filename.ext'

Obviously without the ' ' and replacing the 'filename.ext' with the file you need to read. (The 'More' command also works - thanx JP)

Minus the harddrive problems, what about this mouse? Was there a mouse on this system prior? Have you tried booting w/o the mouse? Is there an ISA modem on this system?

You can also change the default shell (in system.ini) to 'progman.exe' and try booting up that way. This will give you the ol Win 3.1 effect, but atleast it will let you in.

[John Prophet]

"type" is the normal command to use, but, in this case it wont do much good cuz the bootlog file is sooooo long that it will scroll off like 20 pages, lol...."type" just tries to put it all up there at once...."more" gives it one page at a time.

This also works---> "type bootlog.txt | more"

[John Prophet]

the other thread...check this out Bill

http://www.techimo.com/forum/showthr...33#post1002633

[bill1971]

Thanks Jon, and bwcc:

JP, yes I remember you showing me that link with the last box that wouldn't boot into Win98, (02/04). I didn't think I would get to try it out.( I finally looked at that,(02/04), particular bootlog from Windows, after hanging it off of a working XP box ).

Let me try this "more" thing out. (It's a rainy Saturday, so this is a good day for this sort of thing -lol). Thanks.

bwcc: Concerning the mouse, etc. - I always tell folks to just bring their box to me - no keyboard, no mouse, cables, etc., to make it easier for them. Didn't realize I'd be looking at an old AT box w/ serial mouse attachment only. . .

- Bill

That WinFile, shell thing is new to me, (as it was to you), so it's a little scary, since I know very little or nothing about it.

[John Prophet]

it was easy though..basically it looks like win 3.1

[bill1971]

Thanks,Jon:

Let me try this bootlog thing first, and see what I get.

Also,I hear there's a difference between Win98 and Win98SE, although I'm sure they share a lot of the same system files. Both have the same splashscreen. So I'd want to copy some folders over to my XP box, before doing the "shell" thing.
When I dwnlded and created startup disks for 98 and 98SE from www.bootdisk.com(?), they were not the same, and the site made reference to that distinction.

Hope you enjoyed your oatmeal, JP. I'll have mine tomorrow ; however, when I'm done preparing it, it's a lot less healthy than it started out- lol!).

- Bill

[John Prophet]

hehe....my current recipe is 3 packets of Apple and Cinnamom..then about 3 gobbing tablespoons of margarine

[bill1971]

Packets? Packets?

I don' want no stinking packets! Ya need the "Old Fashioned," made from scratch. Then you take this high-fibered nutrient, and smother it with butter, cinnamon, and sugar. So much for any healthy aspect of my oatmeal. . .

So far, the only bootlog using the Command prompt Only, or Safe Mode Command prompt, says HIMEM, DBLBUFF, and ISHLP(?) .SYS's were successfully loaded. So I guess I'll try to get there as suggested, using the startup floppy.

Ran the complete DOS Scandisk incl. the 1.5 hr. Surface Scan. All looks to be OK. It found 9 errors, same as the Seatools did, but I guess didn't fix them. But Scandisk did finally completely run for the first time. Scandisk recommended that I run Scandisk from within Windows, which I would, if I could get to windows.

Now I get to the Windows Logon box, and then everything freezes.

Let me crank this puppy up again.

Haven't had much luck trying to get into C:\Windows\system.ini or win.ini (?) Need some guidance here. Thanks.

Oh, to bwcc, there is no ISA modem, but there is an ISA soundcard, and PCI graphics card and modem.

- Bill