I have a gateway, 200 Mh, running 98 se. Windows tries to boot up in DOS. The message is Windoes 98 is now starting your MS-Dos-based program. Windows XMS Driver Version 3.95, Extended Memory Specification (XMS) Version 3.0, ERROR: An Extended Memory Manager is already installed. XMS Driver not installed. Can boot up with emergency disk, but can only work in DOS, can't open windows. Can get into safe mode after re-booting a second time. Have run SFC and all is OK, virus scan says no problems. Can't access the CD-Rom drive to try and re-install. Have 128K RAM with 2 G of drive space. Any ideas on how to get windows to boot up normally? Thanks, Lisa

Allow your system to boot off the hard drive as normal.
when you reach the dos prompt C:\ type in “exit” this will exit the dos mode and start windows or cause a reboot.
then it should restart into windows as normal.

What is happening,, Windows was restarted in dos mode and it hasn’t gotten an exit message.
So it thinks it is in mid boot.

Thanks Rick, but have already tried that. The system does not acknowledge the exit command. Have tried quit, booting from DOS, and none of the regular commands work.

Originally posted by Rick:
Allow your system to boot off the hard drive as normal.
when you reach the dos prompt C:\ type in “exit” this will exit the dos mode and start windows or cause a reboot.
then it should restart into windows as normal.

What is happening,, Windows was restarted in dos mode and it hasn’t gotten an exit message.
So it thinks it is in mid boot.

Another place to look.
In the msdos.sys file should look something like below.

[Options]
BootGUI=1
BootMulti=1
DoubleBuffer=1
AutoScan=1
WinVer=4.10.1998
;
;The following lines are required for compatibility with other programs.
;Do not remove them (MSDOS.SYS needs to be >1024 bytes).
******(X 's removed to shorten this example)*******

[Paths]
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C

The BootGUI should be as above =1
if it has zero (0) change it to 1

You can / should also check the autoexec and config.sys files for commands starting dos programs

If I were to guess, it could be the Msdos.sys file.
More specifically the BootGUI line could be set to 0 (zero).
Which means you won't be able to load Windows.

You might want to check out the Msdos.sys file and see if that is the problem.
Here is a couple of links that might help.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q118579
and
http://members.aol.com/axcel216/msdos.htm#SM3

If this is not the problem, reply back and we'll figure something else.


Edit: Doh. Rick beat me to it. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/tongue.gif

[This message has been edited by John0904 (edited 05-04-2002).]

Hello, Lisa and welcome to The PC Guide Forums
When did this start? Have you installed any programs recently? Have you tried typing WIN at the DOS prompt to callup win.com to load Windows?
It sounds like you have a DOS program trying to load from your autoexec.bat and two memory managers trying to load from config.sys. You may need to edit these files to get things back to normal. Boot to safe mode and open autoexec.bat by right clicking and choosing "open with" or "edit" if available. Look for a line that starts with "run=" referring to a DOS program type ";REM;" in front of that line. Do the same for config.sys looking for a memory manager loading after emm386. Another thing you can try is look in C:\ for autoexec.bak or some other extension and rename it autoexec.bat after changing the extension of autoexec.bat to something else like .old do the same for config.sys and maybe msdos.sys.

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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)
How to multi-boot Windows XP (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/gettingstarted/multiboot.asp)
Microsoft Expert Zone Multi-booting made easy (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/columns/russel/september10.asp)
MSKB How to multi-boot Windows XP (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q306559)



[This message has been edited by rond36 (edited 05-04-2002).]

No need to type " ;REM " ,either by itself { the ; or REm } will work, no need to use both.

I would go along with the above post in most ways except to add just rename the current autoexec/config file to .old-windows doesn't require them to boot/run and this will at least get you into window's. Unless it is a path problem in MSDOS.sys.




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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 }