Message appears on startup, then computer shuts down

I posted this on two forums (hope that's OK) because I wasn't sure where it belonged. It has to do with the Windows 98 O/S not starting.

I'll start with the problem, then I'll describe the two things I was doing immediately before it occurred. BTW, the computer won't start up in NORMAL mode or SAFE mode. I can get the command prompt (C:>), but I don't know what DOS command to enter in order to solve the problem.

Restarted my laptop and got this message:

Cannot find a device file that may be needed to run Windows or a Windows application.

The Windows registry or SYSTEM.INI file refers to this device file, but the 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 the application associated with this device file, try reinstalling that application to replace the missing file.

Press a key to continue

I do, but same message repeats. 30 seconds later, this new message appears:

Either memory is insufficient to run KRNL386.EXE or the value of the Windowmemsize entry in the SYSTEM.INI file is too large. You need to run the Setup program again.

Press any key to continue...

WHAT I HAD BEEN DOING IMMEDIATELY BEFORE:

1. I accidentally double-clicked the installer for a program called "CallCenter." Since I already installed it a while ago (and have had no trouble with it; it never required any additional devices), I canceled the install. But a dialogue appeared stating that some temporary files wouldn't be deleted. Is this the problem? Is there a DOS command I can enter to clean out my TEMP FILES directory?
2. The reason I restarted my computer is because I updated to a newer version of my anti-virus program (which I've done before with no problem), and it prompted me to restart once the updated files were installed.

P.S. One of the startup mode choices is "Logged," which creates a BOOTLOG.TXT file (which I assume may shed light on the problem). But how do I read this file?

Can someone please help?

Hi Glomedia

The probable answer to your first error message is detailed in this solution which is same for Win95 through WinME.

http://support.earthlink.net/mu/1/ps.../2172.psc.html

Googleing the second error message did not provide any really promising results..you may try the following

Try booting with an Emergency Boot Disk. Change to c:\windows\command
Try edit at prompt. If you receive error then their is a file called EBD.cab on the bootdisk. Switch to A:

Extract edit.com
At prompt type: Extract edit.com c:\windows\command

Back to C:\windows\command
At prompt type: edit

Use Alt + F, choose open and navigate to C:\windows\system.ini

use arrow keys and place semi-colon

Code:

---

;Windowsmemsize

---

in front of Windowsmemsize entry.

Alt + F, close save changes, remove bootdisk and try booting again.

As to bootlog.txt it also can be read by edit.com


Post back and perhaps one of the Virtual Doctor specialists will guide you further.

smitee

See if restoring a previous Registry works by typing "scanreg /restore" (without the ") at the C:\> prompt, press Enter, select a Registry that predates the problem, and press Enter.

Thank you so much smitee and ski. I'm so glad you replied. Unfortunately, the problem is still exactly the same.

smitee, I don't know how you found that link; but it describes my error message exactly. The problem is I can't get into Windows 98 in order to follow the instructions. I have a CD that was given to me by the vendor of the laptop, but it will only INSTALL Windows 98 onto my HD (overwriting everything currently on there). It won't boot up into Windows 98. Is there a way around this? :confused:

Thank you for the command, ski. I used "scanreg" to check my registry and it said it found no errors. I then used "scanreg/restore" to restore from one of my backups, which it did. Upon restarting my computer, though, I get the same error messages as described in my original post :(.

I have some additional information here. These are some of the more suspicious looking entries from my latest bootlog.txt file:

[001230F6] Loading Device = C:\AECU.SYS
[001230FE] LoadFailed = C:\AECU.SYS
(Logo disabled)

... next are a bunch of lines that say "Loading Device" followed by "LoadSuccess"...

[001231A5] 386 processor.
$You should not load Windows into high memory.

Do not use "load high" commands to start Windows.
$Windows is already running.
$Cannot run Windows while the currently installed protected-mode software is running.
Quit the protected-mode [00123209] Loading Vxd = vnetsup.vxd

Note: I don't see any line [00123209]. The closest number is [00123211] LoadSuccess = C:\WINDOWS\system\VMM32\IFSMGR.VXD

The following lines occur a few screens later:

[00123245] Starting Unknown (HTREE\ROOT\0)
[00123245] Started Unknown (HTREE\ROOT\0)
[00123245] Enumerating Unknown (HTREE\ROOT\0)
[00123245] Enumerated Unknown (HTREE\ROOT\0)
[00123245] Starting Unknown (HTREE\RESERVED\0)
[00123245] Started Unknown (HTREE\RESERVED\0)
[00123245] Enumerating Unknown (HTREE\RESERVED\0)
[00123245] Enumerated Unknown (HTREE\RESERVED\0)


I don't know how the above relates to my problem, but I hope the secret to fixing it is there (or somewhere). I hope an expert can decipher this and help me out. Thanks again.

Things seem to be pretty messed up. Did some Googling, and the one solution that appears at the sites that contain the messages in your latest post is to reinstall Windows.

To do this in DOS, insert a Windows 98 emergency boot floppy(you can make one on another Win 98 system, or at www.bootdisk.com if you do not have one. Also, make sure your floppy drive is listed ahead of your HD as a boot device in BIOS before inserting the floppy.), select 'Start with CD-ROM support' from the menu, press Enter, note the letter assigned to your CD-ROM drive after the A:\> prompt appears, at the A:\> prompt type X: (where X is the letter for your CD-ROM drive) and press Enter, at the X:\> prompt type setup, insert the Win 98 installation CD, press Enter, and Windows should reinstall on top of itself.

If that does not work, then you'll probably have to reformat the HD, and do a clean Windows install.