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Windows Forum / Windows 98 / General Topics / October 2006System problem
I get the following message when starting up after the Dell logo appears: Invalid System Disk Insert Disk and hit any key to retry What is this? =?Utf-8?B?bG10SUlJ?= wrote: > I get the following message when starting up after the Dell logo appears: > > Invalid System Disk > Insert Disk and hit any key to retry > > What is this? Remove the floppy from the floppydrive and/or the cd from the cddrive. both drives are empty. I have changed to BIOS to Boot the HD first and this did not help. When I use the Boot disk and type sys c: I get a bad command. > =?Utf-8?B?bG10SUlJ?= wrote: > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Remove the floppy from the floppydrive and/or the cd from the cddrive. Using the bootdisk, run the following (pressing <enter> at the end of each line): c: dir What happens?  SignatureGary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm > both drives are empty. I have changed to BIOS to Boot the HD first and > this [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >> >> Remove the floppy from the floppydrive and/or the cd from the cddrive. I get a list of directory files. In set up, the Boot order shows 3 labeled HDD w/ the prefix ARMD and IDE if I remember correctly. I am not sure which is the hard drive. > Using the bootdisk, run the following (pressing <enter> at the end of each > line): [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > >> > >> Remove the floppy from the floppydrive and/or the cd from the cddrive. > both drives are empty. I have changed to BIOS to Boot the HD first and this > did not help. When I use the Boot disk and type sys c: I get a bad command. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > > > Remove the floppy from the floppydrive and/or the cd from the cddrive. Are you able to get into Safe Mode? Alan The error messages that are presenting come well before the place where Safe Mode is even possible. SignatureGary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm >> both drives are empty. I have changed to BIOS to Boot the HD first and > this [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > Are you able to get into Safe Mode? > Alan > both drives are empty. I have changed to BIOS to Boot the HD first and this > did not help. When I use the Boot disk and type sys c: I get a bad command. This is the standard DOS message when the file called (SYS.COM in this case) is not in the filepath. So you probably left it off your bootable floppy. Copy it there and you can then SYS your C:\ SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) How do I do that? > > both drives are empty. I have changed to BIOS to Boot the HD first and > this [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > So you probably left it off your bootable floppy. Copy > it there and you can then SYS your C:\ Try creating a new boot floppy. Then use "sys c:". http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm Ben > both drives are empty. I have changed to BIOS to Boot the HD first and this > did not help. When I use the Boot disk and type sys c: I get a bad command. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > > > Remove the floppy from the floppydrive and/or the cd from the cddrive. I copied sys.com to the floppy boot disk (a:). Then used sys c: and said system transfered. Now when I reboot I get c:\. Now what? > Try creating a new boot floppy. Then use "sys c:". > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > > > > > Remove the floppy from the floppydrive and/or the cd from the cddrive. Start Notepad, copy and paste the following text to it and save it to a floppy as "a:\winboot.txt". Start the problem computer, insert the floppy, type "copy a:\winboot.txt c:\winboot.ini" and press "Enter". Then remove the floppy and restart. [Paths] WinDir=C:\WINDOWS WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS HostWinBootDrv=C [Options] BootGUI=1 ;end Ben > I copied sys.com to the floppy boot disk (a:). Then used sys c: and said > system transfered. Now when I reboot I get c:\. Now what? [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > > > > > > > > Remove the floppy from the floppydrive and/or the cd from the cddrive. Interesting. That looks like MSDOS.SYS. SignatureGary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm Start Notepad, copy and paste the following text to it and save it to a floppy as "a:\winboot.txt". Start the problem computer, insert the floppy, type "copy a:\winboot.txt c:\winboot.ini" and press "Enter". Then remove the floppy and restart. [Paths] WinDir=C:\WINDOWS WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS HostWinBootDrv=C [Options] BootGUI=1 ;end Ben > I copied sys.com to the floppy boot disk (a:). Then used sys c: and said > system transfered. Now when I reboot I get c:\. Now what? [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > > > > Remove the floppy from the floppydrive and/or the cd from the > > > > cddrive. Reboot the system without the floppy inserted. It now finishes at a C:\ prompt? If so, type in WIN then press <enter>. What happens? SignatureGary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm >I copied sys.com to the floppy boot disk (a:). Then used sys c: and said > system transfered. Now when I reboot I get c:\. Now what? [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] >> > > Remove the floppy from the floppydrive and/or the cd from the >> > > cddrive. Bad command or file name > Reboot the system without the floppy inserted. It now finishes at a C:\ > prompt? If so, type in WIN then press <enter>. What happens? [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > >> > > Remove the floppy from the floppydrive and/or the cd from the > >> > > cddrive. Yeah, I just tested and that would be a normal response. Sorry. I'll keep thinking but perhaps Ben has the right idea. SignatureGary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm > Bad command or file name > [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] >> >> > > Remove the floppy from the floppydrive and/or the cd from the >> >> > > cddrive. > > Reboot the system without the floppy inserted. It now finishes at a C:\ > > prompt? If so, type in WIN then press <enter>. What happens? > Bad command or file name This is to expected, because WIN.COM is normally installed in the folder C:\Windows. This is how DOS reports WIN.COM is not in its filepath environment. We do not yet know if Win98 has been (correctly) installed. If so, and if the PC was set to boot for Command Line Interface (DOS) and not in Graphical User Interface (Windows with icons), the utility WIN.COM will start Windows (GUI). So do the following from your C> prompt: CD WINDOWS this logs you to tolder C:\Windows then DIR WIN.COM and this DIRectory command will tell you if the file is there. If you see iit, just key WIN and see if Windows starts OK. Post back here. SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) OK, under DIR WIN.COM is list one file and 0 dir. At c:\WINDOWS>WIN it says HIMEM.SYS is missing and goes back to prompt > > > Reboot the system without the floppy inserted. It now finishes at a C:\ > > > prompt? If so, type in WIN then press <enter>. What happens? [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > Post back here. > OK, under DIR WIN.COM is list one file and 0 dir. At c:\WINDOWS>WIN it says > HIMEM.SYS is missing and goes back to prompt Windows requires HIMEM.SYS to boot. So this tells you: 1. The PC did not load Windows (CLI) when it booted up. 2. HIMEM.SYS is not in C:\Windows where it ought to be. It is worth trying to locate HIMEM.SYS to copy it into C:\Windows where it belongs. Default installations store a duplicate in C:\windows\command\EBD so you: First log to this folder from the C> prompt by CD Windows CD Command CD EBD then DIR HIMEM.SYS and if it is there COPY HIMEM.SYS C:\WINDOWS then go back to C:\windows by CD .. CD .. [that is twice CD + space + two periods + Enter] then try WIN If this fails to load Windows, you will have to reinstal Win98 from the correct Dell OS CD. There are other tricks but you may lack the knowledge to do them efficiently. SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) Thank you, I will give it a shot. > > OK, under DIR WIN.COM is list one file and 0 dir. At c:\WINDOWS>WIN it > says [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > tricks but you may lack the knowledge to do them > efficiently. Make sure there is no floppy disk in the floppy drive. If the message still appears, go into Setup, aka BIOS (on Dells, I think this is either F1 or F2 key durin gthe initial screen(s). Make sure that your hard drive is listed in the "boot order" menu. If you still have no success, then post back with your Dell model number. Look for an ID tag on the back or rear side(s) of the machine to make sure of that model number, since whatever shows on the front of the machine may not include enough detail. Alternatively, the Service Tag number will do. That will allow us to find out exactly what your BIOS interface looks like so we can conduct further diagnosis. Bottom line, we need to make sure that the machine is actually trying to boot to the hard drive. If so, and it still can't find the OS, we can proceed to fix that problem. While you're doing all these other things, do you have a Windows Startup floppy disk? If not, go to www.bootdisk.com and the appropriate download to create one. SignatureGary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm >I get the following message when starting up after the Dell logo appears: > > Invalid System Disk > Insert Disk and hit any key to retry > > What is this? It is a Dimension L550r, service tag FIZFA > Make sure there is no floppy disk in the floppy drive. If the message still > appears, go into Setup, aka BIOS (on Dells, I think this is either F1 or F2 [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > > > What is this? get Rid of Dell..... could point you to so many blogs, but seeing as how you can post, you can find them yourself. Dell and ms dont give a crap about customer problems, only that customers 'purchase'; figure it out yourself. have you 'tried' Dell yet? ho ho. I've read a few of your posts this morning, and so far, your "advice" is next-to-useless, outright useless or worse than useless. For the sake of users who post here and aren't savy enough to recognize how useless and/or dangerous your advice is, please desist. Go somewhere else. If nothing else, you'll be costing the rest of us a lot of work, following you around and cleaning up your messes. SignatureGary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User http://grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm http://grystmill.com/articles/security.htm > get Rid of Dell..... > could point you to so many blogs, but seeing as how you can post, [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > customers 'purchase'; figure it out yourself. > have you 'tried' Dell yet? ho ho. |
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