Windows 98 boots to dos prompt only

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pete - 28 Aug 2005 20:26 GMT

When I boot up, It takes me directly to the c prompt. Cant sem to get it to
launch into windows (normal, safe mode, or anything Any suggsetions? Am I
missing some file, or is there some command missing from Aotuexec or config
sys or something?

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Don Phillipson - 28 Aug 2005 20:36 GMT

> When I boot up, It takes me directly to the c prompt. Cant sem to get it to
> launch into windows (normal, safe mode, or anything Any suggsetions? Am I
> missing some file, or is there some command missing from Aotuexec or config
> sys or something?

The OP omitted why you think this PC has Win98.
If the PC loads Win98 at boot and reverts to the
DOS prompt, you should be able to shell to Windows via
WIN
and
WIN /?
ought to get you a help screen listing parameters.

Standard Win98 installations do not need AUTOEXEC.BAT
or CONFIG.SYS. If these exist, try renaming them something
else then rebooting.

Signature

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

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pete - 28 Aug 2005 23:16 GMT

I typed WIN and WIN/? and got "bad command or file name."

> > When I boot up, It takes me directly to the c prompt. Cant sem to get it
> to
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> or CONFIG.SYS. If these exist, try renaming them something
> else then rebooting.

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Mikhail Zhilin - 28 Aug 2005 21:47 GMT

>When I boot up, It takes me directly to the c prompt. Cant sem to get it to
>launch into windows (normal, safe mode, or anything Any suggsetions? Am I
>missing some file, or is there some command missing from Aotuexec or config
>sys or something?

1. Do you see the startup menu, or it boots directly to C: prompt?

2a. If you don't see it -- hold down the left Ctrl key when BIOS counts
memory, and see if this menu appears. If yes -- can you boot normally using
it? If yes -- run Notepad, and open Msdos.sys: File -- Open; type the file
name:

c:\msdos.sys

What is its content (excluding the lines with ;xxxx)?

3a. If there is no Startup menu even with Ctrl key pressed -- are there any
error messages on the screen while booting?

3b. And in this case I would boot from the standard Win98 Setup Disk
(diskette), that can be prepared at any computer with Win98:

Control Panel -- Add/Remove programs -- 'Startup Disk' tab

and see the content of Msdos.sys first; type:

edit c:\msdos.sys

followed by Enter key. What is its content, excluding the lines with ;xxxx
(there may be some lines below these lines, too)? Write it down by pencil.
Exit Edit (press ALT or F10 key, and select: File -- Exit)

5. Then type:

dir c:\win*.*

What do you see on the screen after you press Enter?

(It is only the first step to understand what happened; the other steps will
depend on your answers).

--
Mikhail Zhilin
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
http://www.aha.ru/~mwz
Sorry, no technical support by e-mail.
Please reply to the newsgroups only.
======

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pete - 28 Aug 2005 23:59 GMT

Ok, the MSDOS.sys file in the root dir (c:\) has the following
;sys

I see the WIndows directory when I type dir c:\win*.*

> >When I boot up, It takes me directly to the c prompt. Cant sem to get it to
> >launch into windows (normal, safe mode, or anything Any suggsetions? Am I
[quoted text clipped - 44 lines]
> Please reply to the newsgroups only.
> ======

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Mikhail Zhilin - 29 Aug 2005 07:00 GMT

Pete,

It seems as someone replaced Msdos.sys by the wrong one -- it looks like
Msdos.sys from the diskette.

Boot from the diskette again now, and reset Msdos.sys attributes so you can
edit it; type:

attrib -h -s -r c:\msdos.sys

Then run "edit c:\msdos.sys" again, and type, assuming your Windows folder is
c:\windows (you can delete the existent line ';sys' -- but that is optional;
don't print the lines with ;--- .... ):

;--- beginning of msdos.sys is at the line below ---
[Paths]
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C

[Options]
BootMulti=1
BootGUI=1
DoubleBuffer=1
AutoScan=1
WinVer=4.10.2222
;

;--- end of msdos.sys is at the line above ---

Save Msdos.sys and exit Editor (ALT -- File -- Save -- ALT -- File -- Exit).
No need to restore its attributes, but you can do that later, when make sure
all is Ok. And if all will be Ok -- it would be better to add 20 dummy lines
like

;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

to the end of this file:

Then rename Autoexec.bat and Config.sys as, say, Autoexec.ba$ and Config.sy$
(that may be, the wrong files were copied along with Msdos.sys -- and, as it
is said already, these files are not necessary for Win95/98 if there are no
specific requirements -- like the non-English language settings for DOS). Type
for that:

ren c:\autoexec.bat autoexec.ba$
ren c:\config.sys config.sy$

Remove the diskette, restart (Ctrl-Alt-Del) and see if all is Ok now.

We can analyze autoexec.ba$ and config.sy$ after that -- to see if there are
some settings, which is better to leave in the startup files. Run Notepad,
open (one by one) these files and copy/paste their contents to your reply
here.

--
Mikhail Zhilin
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
http://www.aha.ru/~mwz
Sorry, no technical support by e-mail.
Please reply to the newsgroups only.
======

>Ok, the MSDOS.sys file in the root dir (c:\) has the following
>;sys
[quoted text clipped - 49 lines]
>> Please reply to the newsgroups only.
>> ======

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