The boot process begins, gets to the win 98 startup screen, then goes to a dos screen with "data error reading drive c:\, abort, retry, fail?" message. I can get into the bios and it recognizes the drive, but what do I do from here? Thanks for any help...

Welcome to the PC Guide GreyC123. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

Do you have a startup ( boot ) floppy? If so, then use it to boot your system up, then at the A:/ prompt type this;SYS C:

This will transfer three files to your drive, IO.sys, MSDOS.sys, and Command .com-these are the three main system files 98 needs to boot with.

Post back with your results to let us know what has happened.



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iisbob

Computer-Show me the Enterprise; no bloody A, no bloody B, and no bloody C-just the original...Mr Scott { from a STNG episode }

Are the system files taken and transefered from the Start-up disk using the "SYS C:" command? or are they replaced some other way? I have heard of this command before, but never used it, I thought it was used to make a boot disk??? shows how much I know...lol

I have always re-installed windows over the top to replace any missing start-up files?

Yes those files are used to make a boot disk but they can also be used to make your C: bootable.

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How to Use the Fdisk Tool and the Format Tool to Partition or Repartition a Hard Disk (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q255867)
WindowsBBS.com (http://www.WindowsBBS.com/index.php?referrerid=115) Is back online, check it out

I used the sys c: command, the files transferred successfully, and I still have the same error message. Tried scandisk but it only got so far before hanging. Is this as ominous as it seems? Thanks~Grace

Grey i had the similar thing happen. Turned out it was a virus. In my case the virus wouldnt let C: be switched to at all nor would a boot disc see c:. Bios would see it but booting from a floppy and overwriting the MBR didnt help because it wouldnt see C: as a valid drive. It wasnt there. This may not be the problem in your case, I certainly hope not. But it rang a bell.

Heres how i had to fix it. I had to take the drive out of the machine. Install it on a machine as a slave AFTER freshly updating Norton Anti Virus. Norton slammed the virus like Tonya Harding on Paula Jones , was wonderfull to behold. I tried iisbob idea and i tried Norton rescue discs hmm i tried everything i could think of. Nothing worked. If you want to know more read on but thats how i fixed it.

I thought it was a virus when it happened. I was installing a printer and a zip drive for a buisness. They didnt have the printer driver (figures) so i went online and downloaded the driver from HP. After this is done and i install the driver i see a cryptic message come up on the AOL internet interface/spam/add screen, says something like "NEW FEATURES! There are new features for AOL they are downloading automatically" and with that a big bar comes up showing the progress of the download. I was baffled and looked to some of the folks in the store "Whats this?" I ask "oh that happens at home , its the way AOL updates" .. I liken AOL to syphillis personally and tend to stay as far away as possible so i had no idea. I let the update happen. I then rebooted the machine and recieved the error message that you got. Much hair pulling and gnashing of teeth insued..So either the virus came from the HP web site or the AOL update thingy. I emailed HP just to be safe and assumed it was by product of comeing into contact with AOL/syphillis. cheers
V

Grey, one of the prossible answer is your harddisk is dead...or your ide connection not connected properly then when u boot with the 98 boot disk can u get into ur C drive? if can then perform the fdisk/status test see if the partition is there or not. usually this problem occur when ur harddisk is not format after u partioning it.... http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

so to clear this up.

If my start up files were damaged, I could put a startup disk in the drive a:, then use the command sys c: to transfer them from a: to c: so it will boot?

What Does sys a: used for then?

sorry to be a pain, just never repaired windows boot files using these commands

thanks

sys a: is used to create a "barebones" bootdisk...it will boot to that floppy but it will not have any diagnostic or driver files on it like the normalWindows bootdisk.

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

Thanks for all your thoughts on this. Finally got scandisk to run all the way through and it identified a bad cluster. I could move around the dos environment (if i knew more dos commands, that is) but never regained windows ("fatal exception" yadda yadda). I'm ready to reformat and do a clean install. Does this seem like the appropriate thing to do and if so, any helpful hints on not screwing things up any further?

~Grace

Bad sectors are BAD NEWS!!!!!

Go to the website for the manufacturer of the hard drive. Download the diagnostic software.

Run the diagnostic software and see what is going on with the disk. Also, just to humor us, check the IDE ribbon cable at the drive and at the motherboard.

If the disk is going bad, it's better to replace it and it may still be under warranty...

By the way,

BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACK UP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP--BACKUP

yes, but should I back-up? lol

warranty inapplicable, the ribbon's fine but I don't get the joke (lame, sorry)

will check on the diagnostics and file report in triplicate