Trouble Loading Windows 98

[NINA821]

Hi All! I volunteered to help my friend get her computer going again, and I bit off more than I can chew. She has an IBM Aptiva. She had Windows 95 in it. Her disk is scratched, and she couldn't get windows-95 back in it after doing format. She decided to try my copy of Windows-98. We did fdisk and format, and then installed Windows-98. The computer will only start in Safe Mode, and then it takes an eternity to do that. I checked what I could in Control Panel. Under System, Performance, i get the message that Both drive A and Drive C have compatibility mode paging that reduces overall system performance. Otherwise, when you try to start Windows, the screen just freezes when the Windows logo comes up. We are both at the end of our ropes.! Seems like Something is missing in the Windows setup, but where do I start looking? Thanks for any advice you computer guys (and gals) have for me. Lord knows, I need all the help I can get !;)

[Budfred]

Howdy NINA821, Welcome to PCGuide!

First question: what are the details of the Aptiva's CPU, harddrive and so on? The more you say, the more likely we will be able to come up with helpful answers. My first thought is that her system may simply not have the power to handle Win98. Also, when you say the disk is scratched, do you mean the Win95 disk or the Harddrive? And why did you have to help her get her computer going again, what was wrong with it to begin with?

Budfred

[Paul Komski]

If you don't know your specs here are a couple of links to help.

Belarc PC Audit (http://www.belarc.com/Download.html)

IBM Aptiva support (http://www.pc.ibm.com/support?lang=en_US&doctype=&subtype=Cat&page=brand&up=unknownuser&menu=none&brand=IBM+Aptiva&family=&brandButton.x=7&brandButton.y=13)

[NINA821]

Thanks for your replys. I guess I really didn't give much info, did I? The computer is an IBM-Aptiva Model 2176-C32. It has a hard drive of 1704 MB, CD-Drive, Floppy Disk drive, System memory of 46 MB, Pentium Processor 133 MHZ, BIOS version: BFLUS4H *8/15/96). Guys, I know it's an old system. She had it up and running, then she decided she wanted a faster modem. She had a 28K dial-up modem, and upgraded to a 56-K dial-up. That's when her troubles started, I think. She kept getting her connection dropped. She messed around with the settings, I think. She decided she would reformat, and reinstall Windows-95 from a CD-ROM. That's when she found out that there was something wrong with her CD (bad scratches). It seems we can't find anyone around her that has a copy of Windows-95 to do a clean-install, only Restore disks that work for the different brands of computers in our neighborhood. We did find one copy of Windows-98 that could be used for a clean-install. That's the main reason she decided to go to Win.98. It goes thru the installation until the final 10 minutes, when it should be setting your hardware settings and PNP. If it does start at all, it's in safe mode. Other than that, you get an error that says "Can't find a device file that might be needed to run Win. or a Win.application. Windows registry of SYSTEM.INI file refers to this device file, but device file no longer exists. If you deleted this file on purpose, try uninstalling the associated application, using its uninstall or setup program. If you still want to use this application associated with this device file, try reinstalling that application to replace the missing file. vnetbiox.vxd " Now, can someone please help me?????? THANKS!

[mjc]

When you started to install 98 was it to a freshly formatted drive?

If not, use a 98 bootdisk to boot up and format the drive. Also remove any hardware that is not needed to begin with (like the modem)

[Budfred]

You may need to cold reboot at times during the install as well.

You may want to consider getting a fresh copy of Win95 from eBay. You can find it pretty cheap and that computer is pushing the limit on running Win98. It probably can, but it won't be as easy as it would with 95.

I agree that it would be best to install either way on a newly reformatted HD.

Good luck,
Budfred

[Paul Komski]

If you want to go with Win95 (it often works better than 98 on older pcs), I wonder if the 95 install disk can be copied to HD or whether you could do a disk to disk copy on a burner - but maybe that disk is no good at all though. After formatting etc, use the 98 boot disk to install 95 since it has CDROM support on it.

[Sylvander]

Hello NINA821
From
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q126574

Damaged .VXD or .386 File Causes Incorrect Error Message
SYMPTOMS
When you start Microsoft Windows, an error message erroneously states that a .386 or .VXD file referenced in the SYSTEM.INI file cannot be found.
CAUSE
This error message can occur if the file in question is damaged. The message may be incorrect in stating that the file is referenced in the SYSTEM.INI file, as the file may be referenced in the registry or be loaded by VMM32.VXD.
RESOLUTION
Locate and replace the file referenced in the error message.

For information about extracting the file from your original Windows 95/98 disks or CD-ROM, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q129605 How to Extract Original Compressed Windows Files

HOW TO: Extract Original Compressed Windows Files
Go to
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q129605#7

Best of luck!