System w/ Win98 won't go past DOS

[alli5118]

After fixing a neighbor's machine, I've gotten pleas for help from their relatives. I have yet to look at the machine, and my only training is the trouble shooting I do in our office and under the direction of our IT company. All I know about the problem at this point is: it runs Win98 and would not recognize the CDRom; husband attempted to replace it; system will now not boot past DOS. I do not know if the mother-in-law still has recovery discs. Suggestions??? :confused: All are welcome. Thanks.

[ErnieK]

I am assuming you mean he replaced the CD-Rom drive.

Is it on the same IDE cable as his hard drive?

If so, did he ensure that the jumpers were set correctly on the new CD-Rom drive? (Hard drive is master and CD rom should be set as SLAVE. By default the majority of manufacturers set this as master).

If on second IDE cable has he checked to see if he has dis-lodged the primary IDE cable from either the board or the hard drive?

Also If it is a new CD drive he might have to boot into the CMOS (BIOS) to ensure that the new drive is registering correctly.

If not as above are there any error messages showing on the desktop whn it stops booting.

[Cavalier90]

Some stupid questions to ask but sometimes they are the ones missed.
When the PC stops in DOS, is the C:> prompt displayed, if not what is displayed?
Do you get a message saying something along the lines of system disk not found, insert one and try again? If so has a non bootable CD or floppy disk been left in the drives? What are the settings in the BIOS for the boot sequence - ideally it should be floppy drive, CD drive, Hard disk.
Have you got an Emergency boot disk for Win98? Try using that to see how far you get. This should definitely display the a:> prompt. If Ok then your BIOS would seem to be reasonably sound. If you have no emergency boot disk, it is possible to create one from a site on the web, if only I could remember it's address.
If all else fails, disconnect the CD ROM and try booting without it. If it starts OK, we need to concentrate on why the CD ROM is fouling the system.

Let us know how you get on.

[alli5118]

I got a look at the system last night. Note: There are no recovery discs & they would like to install XP onto this set up. The system is running Windows 95 - Version 1.51, 1996. 604KRAM, 063M Extendted RAM, 256K Cache SRAM. The message received is as follows: Drive C: is invalid. Do you want to format the Drive C:? [Y/N]?

They had selected Y before I arrived and received a message that the system could not read Drive C. I never could get that message to repeat to ensure the text.

Knowing they intend to upgrade - what do you recommend to do from this point? I thank you in advance for your input, and for your comments thus far. I will ask Gus in regards to your questions & suggestions posted earlier.

~Alli

[alli5118]

Neglected to mention - Beautiful dog - reminds me of my own...

[david eaton]

You do not give enough information to be certain, but it looks as if that system is not going to be able to run WinXP. 64meg of ram needs to be upgraded to as least 256meg, and preferably more. What processor is fitted? What size is the hard drive?

If the hard drive is faulty. it may be better to cut your losses, and just invest in a complete new system.

[ErnieK]

Thanks Alli
She is a lovely natured beast, a flamin pest but a great companion.