Booting problem

[wfreedman00]

Boot up. windows shows, does scandisk because it says not properly shut down. Screen goes blank. Tried soft boot and then above repeated. Tested all connections. Put in restore diskettes but still no action to allow reformat. Help appreciated

[Matt]

Wow.... what is the configuration of the computer? And, have you added/removed any hardware or software?

[duke]

Have you set your BIOS to boot from the A: drive (with the restore disk in the drive) before the C: drive?

That should get you to where you can possibly re-install if necessary.

Good Luck.

[Charles Kozierok]

Tough problem. Unfortunately, without more information about your system, what started the problem happening, and whether it worked before, there's not much I can do to help...

------------------
Charles M. Kozierok ( ixlubb@PCGuide.com )
Webslave, The PC Guide (http://www.PCGuide.com)
Comprehensive PC Reference, Troubleshooting, Optimization and Buyer's Guides...

[wfreedman00]

Originally posted by Matt:
Wow.... what is the configuration of the computer? And, have you added/removed any hardware or software?
It is a friend's computer and I am helping him.It's an AST Adventure 210 Pentium running Windows 95 and he said that he hadn't added or removed any hardware. Having said that, his grandson (supposed to have Computer smarts) has been working on it, so I wonder??

[wfreedman00]

Originally posted by duke:
Have you set your BIOS to boot from the A: drive (with the restore disk in the drive) before the C: drive?

That should get you to where you can possibly re-install if necessary.

Good Luck.

[wfreedman00]

Originally posted by duke:
Have you set your BIOS to boot from the A: drive (with the restore disk in the drive) before the C: drive?

That should get you to where you can possibly re-install if necessary.

Good Luck.
I'm assuming the BIOS is set to go to A first as I was successful once but I typed autoexec.bat assuming that I would be taken to the questions on the Restore diskette but the same problem occured. How do I check the BIOS? This is an AST Adventure 210 Pentium running Windows 95. (It isn't my computer, I'm helping a friend).

[wfreedman00]

The system (not mine, am helping a friend) is an AST Adventure 210, Pentium running Windows 95. Warren said his grandson had been using it (aged around 13 and supposedly computer savvy) and when he went to boot it up this happened. Very frustrating. Thanks for any input.

Originally posted by ixl:
Tough problem. Unfortunately, without more information about your system, what started the problem happening, and whether it worked before, there's not much I can do to help...

[SpaceMonkey]

Booting to A: previously may not mean that it boots "A,C" (A first, then C). Perhaps your h/d has some instabilities.

To force it to boot to A:, you need to enter the BIOS "Setup Utility" in the beginning. You can do this during or immediately after the memory integrity check. Here's how you get to the BIOS Setup Utility:

When you first turn your PC on, it will notify you of your Processor speed, and then perform a memory check. During this time there should be a note on the lower left part of the screen telling you to hit a particular key to go to "Setup." Some computers use "Del", some use F2, etc. Once you're in the Setup Utility menu, arrow-down to the second entry from the top on the left and hit enter -- this will bring up a different menu. On the left side of this menu there should be an entry that says "Boot sequence (or order)". Page-down to get the "A, C" option. Esc up to the previous menu, and be sure to "save settings to CMOS" before exiting the Setup Utility.

Now it should boot from A: first if it finds a diskette there.

Good luck on diagnosing what happened to your system with the "start-up" disk.

[wfreedman00]

Great instructions. Changed the BIOS. Loaded okay and then finished with A: I went c:\windows\win and then ended up with "VFAT Device Initializaton Failed. A device or resource required by VAT. VFAT cannot continue loading, system halted". The light was still going on the 'A' drive so I shut down. Waited and the switched on. It came on in the safe mode. I'm now lost. Haven't dealt with 'fat' (except my own!).

[wfreedman00]

Went back today and switched on, armed with info on VFAT from a Microsoft help site and what do you know....it started fine and all is well. Love this site. Thanks so much.

Originally posted by wfreedman00:
Great instructions. Changed the BIOS. Loaded okay and then finished with A: I went c:\windows\win and then ended up with "VFAT Device Initializaton Failed. A device or resource required by VAT. VFAT cannot continue loading, system halted". The light was still going on the 'A' drive so I shut down. Waited and the switched on. It came on in the safe mode. I'm now lost. Haven't dealt with 'fat' (except my own!).