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* Repair Windows 98 *


brucekrymow

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brucekrymow

Hi, All ~I am wondering if any posters may know of a very simple, step-by-step set of directions for noobs for repairing Windows 98 that might be found on the web and also same for attempting to restore from an earlier point before a problem was found.The story is my sister who is far from savvy has a laptop with Win98SE that needs Windows repaired but not lose her documents. I can't simplify it enough for her (we're 2300 miles apart) without her getting upset and have looked through the forum here but see nothing that would be simple enough for her.She is getting a 'Invalid System Disk' error and cannot get into Windows or to a DOS prompt. I tried to get her to a DOS prompt by hitting F8 or holding Ctrl when rebooting, but have been unsuccessful.There is no virus or spyware as this unit has never had access to nor does it ever use the internet.I was thinking of sending her a Win98 CD to try a repair of system files or to restore so she won't lose her work documents, but not sure how. The install CD I have I've booted to on my system, but see no repair option - only setup.The laptop does not have a floppy drive, so she cannot use a bootdisk.TIA :P

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attempting to restore from an earlier point before a problem was found.
Unlike XP, Win98 does not have System Restore. But if my memory is good, it does have the "Use last known good configuration" option in safe mode upon rebooting.Someone please correct me if I'm wrong here.
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Check this out. I hope it's what you're looking for.(I should add that I know there's a way to reinstall 98 from within Windows itself, without any loss of personal files or applications, because I've done it before. But it was a year or more ago, and I can't recall the exact steps. I don't want to suggest something that could cause undesired loss. I'll do some more looking through my books.)

Edited by Jeber
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nlinecomputers
Invalid System Disk
If she is getting THAT error then it is more likely that she has a bad hard disk. This is not something for a neophyte to handle. Best thing she should do is take the thing into a good computer shop for repairs.
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She'll also get that warning if she's trying to start the computer with a disk in the CD-ROM drive that the system tries to read as a boot disk. If she sees that when the drive is empty, follow nlinecomputers' advice.

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She is getting a 'Invalid System Disk' error and cannot get into Windows or to a DOS prompt.
Or the MBR or partition boot block is corrupted (by a boot sector virus---from an infected floppy disk or CD-ROM).
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Or she has left a floppy in the floppy drive.Have her check both the floppy drive and CD drive, if there is one, to be sure they are empty.Once she has her problem resolved you may want to look into how her BIOS can be changed to boot from the hd 1st.

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The only way I've seen, I'm sure there are others that may be easier (and if it's the problem) is to have her build (or make one for her ) a win98 boot cd. ( if the the bootable files are bad) and have her do the following ..That might work? Haven't done it in a long , long time though..http://www.putergeek.com/win98_boot/index.shtml 1. Boot from a bootable 98CD . 2. At the prompt :\> type fdisk <press enter> 3. If you receive a message no fixed disk present read Hard Disk drive is bad or not connected properly. 4. If you are able to get into fdisk, choose option 4 to display the partition information. In the partition information, if the System is listed as FAT16 or FAT32 then continue to step 5. If you have a message indicating no partitions defined, no information is on your hard disk drive and you will need to create a new partition. 5. If you see FAT16 or FAT32 in fdisk press the ESC key until back at the Prompt:\> 6. Once at the Prompt:\> type, sys c: <press enter> (only do this command if you are using the same operating system that this CD was created on). 7. This should return a message 'System Transferred', if you receive bad command or file name and have verified you have type the command properly you will need to obtain a bootable cd with the file sys.com on it. (easy way is make sure it's included on the CD Edit: forgot part...You'll have to copy it from someones 98 boot floppy/rescue disk or make a startup floppy disk , copy the files to your HD, then to the cd or copy files from another 98 system..like i said it's been awhile) 8. If system was transferred successfully, reboot the computer and issue should be resolved.....that is if bad files were the problem :thumbsup:

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nlinecomputers

Windows 98 CDs from Microsoft are bootable. Fdisk is on it in the win98 directory but not sys. You'd have to get a custom image for that.

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nlinecomputers

Oh by the way. You can do a repair install of a sort simply by installing on top. This sometimes will fix many issues in Windows or the other hand most likely you end up with the same problem all over again as Windows maintains the setup found previously. Warts and all as they say.But this will likely bring up the system with the wrong drivers and she would have to know how to tell that and figure out what drivers to install. And you have to have a copy of the same drivers or newer then what is already installed.. And you said she doesn't have an internet connection?IMO this in not a virus because she doesn't have an Internet connection and has no floppy. Most boot sector viruses come from the floppy swapping days which really hasn't been an issue for the last 6 or 7 years. This most likely is a hard ware failure of the hard drive itself.If you are going to send her a CD. I send here a copy of the ultimate boot CD. http://www.ultimatebootcd.comIt has disk drive diagnostics and with it you can find out if the drive is bad or not.

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I agree it's most likely a drive failure (the drive no longer works or the MBR/boot block are sitting on bad sectors)--- though a boot virus infection is still a possibility and a much better circumstance.It is best to bring the laptop to a repair shop where qualified people can perform the right diagnostic and any recovery solution.

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