spyke31

I have never felt more like a newbie in my life as I do now with this computer! Anyhow...I looked at all the files you asked about. They all display as the following: Autoexec.bat @echo off xbios /P- /Z /I /M /V=Z substtoz VDISK Letter %RAMDRIVE% Config.sys DOS=HIGH,UMB DEVICEHIGH=ACTCD.SYS /D:ASPICD0 LASTDRIVE=Z BUFFERS=40 FILES=40 ER.bat @echo off Rescue /ve:32 MODE CO80 25 Actcd.sys-->gives some funky looking characters and the system beeps Win.ini-->text is too long for me to get the first screenful of it and DOS is not recognizing and switches or the edit command Last night, I was able to do a boot where it asked before initiating any drivers. I had it ignore any lines that booted to A:. That allowed me to get to Windows--but today I'm still having problems getting it to boot up. This morning--all it wanted to do was hang right after telling me the IDE Bus Master was confirmed. That's all I have for now! (Sampson...I'm soo wishing you lived close to this area! I'd have ya troubleshoot this machine in person! lol)

Welp...I'm trying to remember what drive letters were assigned to everything pre-crash. A: was the 3.5, C: was hard disk of course, D: was primary CD-ROM, and I can't remember what my CD burner drive was assigned to. It was either E or F. As far as system specs...its is an Intel 450 MHz P-III with 512K cache, 256MB 100MHz SDRAM, 16MB nVidia RIVA TNT AGP Graphics, 13.5GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA hard drive with UATA 66 Controller...those are the basics... Its not really letting me do a whole lot now. Still going on about drives and then jumpts to %Your Ram%...with another error message about the config.sys file. I thought I was making progress...not any more.. AAGGHHH!!! ~Spyke

I've started resembling the little grey smiley over the past couple days. I thought I was making some progress last night. I was <finally> able to get a boot disk to run and appear to function from DOS. It booted back to A:\ so all looked innocent enough. I was able to run scandisk--no disk errors reported--and then run Win 98 Setup from CABS. Herein lies the new battlegrounds. Earlier...whenever I tried to run C:\CABS\Setup it would hang at the initial "system preperation". Gertrude--my computer--was able to push through that and--with a full cheering squad on the sidelines--looked as though she was going to complete a beautiful 9.9 install. However...she must not have had her full breakfast of vitamins and minerals--because she started stutter-stepping and stumbling about 1/3 into the installation. I began receiving error messages alternatingly reporting that Drive E: and Drive A: were not functioning. I would hit Close--it wouldn't register...so I'd try Cancel--the computer went on with its business. Upon completing installation, it rebooted...but now has decided it is illiterate and cannot read drive A: What's going on here? When will the little hamster that runs the wheel that powers the system return from vacation? ~Spyke

Contents of "letter.bat" After using "type letter.bat"...the following is what was displayed: %DESTPATH%fileset.exe%DESTPATH% del%DESTPAT%fileset.exe if exist a:\fdisk.exe copy a:\fdisk.exe %DESTPATH% if exist a:format.com copy a:\format.com %DESTPATH% %DESTPATH% if exist APICD0 goto HAVECD LOAD ASPI /c : HAVECD if not exist ASPICD0 goto NOTHAVECD REM Here's where we set the CDROM drive letter SET CDROM=X A:\NWCDEX /D:ASPICD0 /L:%CDROM% :NOTHAVECD RDRINT13 /V=O mouse CALL a:\ER.bat cls echo Your RAM is %DESTPATH% if exist ASPICD0 goto NOTHAVECD2 checo Your CD-ROM drive is %CD-ROM% :\ :NOTHAVECD2 I'm starting to think it came from the rescue disk...maybe?? ~Spyke

OMG! I have been sitting here for some unaccounted for amount of time running through the mood swings of a millenium while reviewing this thread! I believe I have gone from sympathetic understanding to 100% empathy to tears of laughter while reading this! I've decided several of you should be honored as "Rulers of Kingdom Tech" and given thrones upon lovely green electronic-encoded boards....maybe sceptors made from that shiny crystaline material that crackles when exposed to light! Anyhow--I started reading the thread with the mention of the Pop-Up ads from Hell--or whatever spawned hell and its fearsome fires... My computer issues seemed to center on the freakin' "grandcasino" ads. Upon sifting through the endless lists of sneaky .pifs and other absolute crap.....i musta deleted something of value or something has eaten its way into my computer and refuses to come out until it has sucked every ouce of my sanity out through my left pinkie toe. (Yes...it is as painful as it sounds)... La de da.. if anyone feels like showering the sympathy--feel free to hop on over to my plead for assistance (not of the backup and reformat kind)... I value any and all input--humorous...helpful...or even busy work assignment. I really thought I sorta knew my computer basics until this metal lugnut blinked out on me!! ~Spyke

Nope--no friends have tinkered with my computer--i'm the only "tinkerer" in the house! Let me see if I can address all the lil parts and peices. My partner acts like even adding a program to her computer will end in her computer becoming inoperable and makes me do anything that requires more than a double click on hers. --> BIOS: I've been in BIOS a couple times--reordering what gets booted and when to see if it helped a couple times. After each unsuccessful attempt, I made sure to restore default settings. (Don't want to change too much too quick). I'm not understanding how to make sure the computer is recognizing that A:, B:, and C: (and somwhere my CD-R/RW rom) are alive and kicking. I've been able to access a:/b:/C: from Dos and see the directories--but as far as seeing something in BIOS that actually states they are present...I must be missing something. The settings do have my two IDE's listed as Secondary..and nothing as Primary IDE's. Additionally, when attempting setup--I have the "view system messages" enabled and I always see that it lists 2 drives as being present. -->Memory being full.. When I tried the fdisk/mbr command yesterday, I had it display the Partition information. It stated that there was was one C: partition, status was listed as active, under type it said it was Primary/DOS, the volume label was Gateway (this didn't show up the first time I ran it), it listed 12943 Mbytes, system is FAT32, and usage 100%. When I attempted to run Scandisk--it told me that an extended memory driver was not loaded on the system and could not proceed. I was sorta wondering if this is why the computer is saying the usage is 100% or something. Either way...I don't know what driver to look for to make sure the extended memory driver is loaded. Do I need to copy the FAT32 files over from the Win 98 CD? -->Letter.bat : I had run the "type letter.bat" command earlier. (Remembering my so-much-easier-experiences reading code on XeMacs in java classes). I've been reading all bat and sys files for the fun of it--makes me feel like i'm doing something! lol At this moment, my computer is running scandisk--it decided to work this time--and is checking scanning the physical disk, so i can't run it and copy what it displays. I do recall that there were lines about NOCD...something about VDisk...and then the quit command at the end. (I know that probably gives you no info whatsoever, but I'll be sure to run it and copy it down whenever scandisk decides to complete--its at 56% right now. It says there are 1,655,000 clusters....and approx 950,000 have been examined.. So far it lists 0 as bad. (Thats good...i think). Okay...I believe that concludes this hours updates... Thanx again for the replies and your help!! ~Spyke

Thanx for the reply! I think I follow pretty well--but I want to make sure. Once in BIOS--exactly how do I know if all the drives are being recognized? "If it is askew, replace the battery."-- Are we talking the battery within the tower? How does replacing that help get out of the evil clutches of a boot sector virus? "..may have to flash the BIOS.." This one is a new one. I know BIOS has a line about something with both "flash" and "bios" in it--i'm just not all that sure what it means. The last line--about only way to be confident knowing the system is clean is to reformat--Was that you're summing up recomendation? I'm trying to figure out what all is possible BEFORE resorting to the starting from scracth deal. UPDATE--> I attemped to run the windows setup utility-- (C:\CABS\setup)--to install on top of what's running now. Instead of telling me the Himem.sys files were missing, it displayed "Please wait while Setup initializes. Windows Setup requires 'largest executabe program size' to be at least 442368 bytes to run." huh?? Also--I noticed that in my C: drive there was a "letter.bat" file. I don't remember seeing it before and I'm not sure what it does. Is that something to keep on the drive? Lastly.. my autoexec.bat file types as the following: @echo off xbios /P- /Z /I /M /V=Z substtoz VDisk letter%RAMDRIVE% This is completely different than what the autoexec.bat file displays from the Win 98 CD. Should I delete it and copy the autoexec.bat from the CD? I believe those are the last of the questions for now. If you happen to be online and reading this--my MSN screen name is nostophobic@hotmail.com Feel free to send an instant message! Thanx for the assistance! ~Spyke

Hello All! I have been working on troubleshooting my computer the last two days! Gertrude--as its being called--has refused to listen to most commands, pleads, and bribes thus far. Two days ago, I was battling the ruthless grandcasino.com pop-ups and ended up doing a system scan to delete cookies, tmp files, and *.pif's that had accumulated. Since then--Win 98 has gone berserk! Upon attempting to boot up without any CD's or 3.5's inserted--the computer will run through the typical startup messages, but partway through, displays the Error message "Invalid system disk; replace disk & press any key". The error message repeats, ad infinitum. On to the next step.. If I use the 3.5 Rescue Disk--the computer will begin to load, but hangs when it gets to the "Analyzing hard disk subsystem". If either the Win 98 or Fix-It Utilities CD is used, I can get to the Win 98 Startup menu or the Fix-Utilities menu. Through those--I can make journey over to DOS. Once in DOS--I have been able to check my drives--they all seem to have been re-assigned. A: used to be my 3.5, but is now my Master CD-ROM drive. B: is now the 3.5 floppy. C: remained the hard drive. I have not yet found out where my slave CD-R/RW drive was assigned. I am able to access A:, B:, and C:--sorta run *.exe's and stroll amongst the directories. When attempting to be snazzy and load C:\windows\win...the lovely Gertrude stomped her foot and said that the "himem.sys" file was missing. Even though I saw it in teh windows file--I copied a new one from the Win 98 CD to ensure it was not corrupt. The computer is still not recognizing it. According to ScanDisk--which will not run either--I do not have an Extended Memory driver loaded on my computer. I attached teh suggested "device=c:\windows\himem.sys"...but its still not working. Does anyone have any sort of suggestions? Might this be the works of a boot sector virus? Is there anything I can do short of reformatting?? I'm currently accessing teh internet via my partner's computer--across the room from my puter. Any help that can be offered would me greatly appreciated!! My email is spyke31@sbcglobal.net Thanx! Spyke31