Partially Installed Windows and Start probs

Jak

On behalf of a friend who is having issues, and prior to offering some devastatingly poor advice, I decided to ask here.

This is the note I got;


Hi,

Long story short:

My comp was given me a lot of fatal exception errors etc.
I decided when I got back into the C drive to load Windows ME
Windows ME stalled at 79%
I can't get into my comp, even in safe mode.
I can turn it on and error message received is:

This version of windows runs only on MS-Dos 8.00 .
C:\>

I can insert the start-up disk but it won't seem to boot from here, my knowledge is slim.

My drive and stuff is intact.

I did a scan and the results were:

Directory Structure was fine
File allocation table was fine
File System - 3 lost clusters in 1 chain structure. Scandisk saved the lost cluster chain as a file.
Surface scan - scandisk did not perform any tests.

I also did a:

scanreg/restore - you have restored a good registry. Windows found an error in your system file and restored a recent back up of the files to fix the problem. Press enter to restart/

Then I'm back to the DOS error message.


Formatting HD aint really an option as a whole lot of work databases, contacts etc are on it. Though this stuff is backed up, ideally It'd be nice to avoid that extreme.

My though (posssible a poor one) was to maybe delete the win directory and try to reinstall the earlier version of Win 98?

Any thoughts?


Ta,

JayK.

WhiteWashMan

if you have a spare second drive id saqy install on that and save your data by putting it as a slave.
if you MUST insist on setting your current hard drive up as a master, then i would sugget just booting with a win 98 cd and let it do its thang. should install just fine. either let it install in the windows directory
im not sure how you install ME, i presume it instals of the cd-rom? but you might try running a boot disk and then running d:\setup or e:\setup (depends on whether or not it has created a virtual drive.
cant think of anything else off hand...

Evil Phil

You could try booting from the Windows ME CD. You may have to change your boot sequence in the BIOS so you machine will look for the CD first. When you first boot up the machine watch the messages on screen. One will say some like "(F") for startup". Press F2 to get into the BIOS. Then look around for the boot sequence and change it.
Basically you machine will access the CD instead of the HD. You should then be able to re-run the setup, and install windows into the same directory (hopefully).

Evil Phil

WhiteWashMan got there before me.

mayhem#

Boot up from a floppy into DOS (an old win95/98 bootflop would be the best to use), and do a "deltree/windows".
This will effectively wipe out your Windows folder. Reboot from CD or floppy and install your OS. Should be easy, if not post back here and I'll spread some more wisdom....

Canaboid

Yes, but why did it stall at 79% ?
Open case and check everything is seated correctly. No pci/isa/gfx cards coming loose ?
Boot from win98 floppy.
type sys c: (to restore correct version of boot files).
Run 98 setup again. Install in original windows dir to keep registry and program settings (may also keep problem) or install in diff directory e.g win98 for clean install of windows without losing data.

WhiteWashMan

only thing i can think of is dod*** cd, as the only time you get a percentage is when its copying files to your hard drive (i think) perhaps get another cd? or is it a copy of winME and not an original?

Jak

Ack lost big reply ..

Anyhows I'll give that stuff a shot later on.

I setup a new Master HD (temporary) and installed Win98 OS on it so he has access to his mail folders and docs which are on the now Slave drive.

As for the CDs Eamo, no they are both original, the disturbing thing is, when I installed win 98 on the blank HD I setup as Master, it got thru fine but also had some errors when finalising setup (which I clicked through and it now works).

Anyhows I'll take another look later,

Cheers,

JayK.