corrupted files

[mransom]

Help! I am trying to get my husbands computer working again. All I wanted to do was get the CD Rom drive working. I reinstalled windows 98 (using an external CD Rom Drive). No luck. So I downloaded the windows 98 bootdisk and used it now I am getting messages that 6 system files are corrupted. The computer is a Compaq Presario 4712. We bought this computer in '97. I cannot access either of the cd rom drives now so I can't reinstall the corrupted files. What do I do.

[Murf]

On turkey day too, hope he knows they don't work lolol.

"I reinstalled windows 98 (using an external CD Rom Drive)"

Was this over the top of the existing installation?

Does Windows boot up OK? If so then do this:

START | RUN

Type in SFC hit OK

Select REPAIR

[Calpitor]

Hi Mransom and welcome to virtualdr. if you try to boot straight to Windows without aid from any disk what happens? What erros are being reported during and after boot? whats wrong with the CD drive is it not showing up in My Computer or do you get errors when attempting to play a CD? Lets take it slow and you'll get there.

[mransom]

This was an over the top installation. I was just trying to get the cd drivers back.

The system will not boot at all. I am booting directly to the C: prompt. The errors That I am recieving are
The following file is Missiing or corrupted C:\Windows\himem.sys
There is an error in your config.sys file line 2
The following file is Missiing or corrupted C:\windows\emm386.exe
There is an error in your config.sys file line 4
The following file is missing or corrupted C:\Windows\himem.sys
The following file is missing or corrupted c:\windows\dblbuff.sys
The following file is missing or corrupted: C:windows\ifshlp.sys
Cannot find Win.com, unable to continue loading windows

Thanks for the fast replies.
I hope someone can help me get this thing going again.
I don't don't want to spend all of Thanksgiving doing this.

[Murf]

Yep,

Ya got a corrupted installation.

Use the Windows98 Startup floppy to boot up the computer.
At the C:\> prompt, rename the config.sys and autoexec.bat as config.old and autoexec.old

It looks like this.
C:\> rename config.sys config.old <hit enter>
C:\> rename autoexec.bat autoexec.old <hit enter>

Then transfer the system to the C:\ drive as
A:\> sys A: C: <hit enter>

Restart the computer without startup floppy to safe mode and then restart to normal mode.

Let us know

[mransom]

ok
Still cannot boot. But now I am getting the following:

The following file is missing or corrupted: C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
The following file is missing or corrupted: C:\WINDOWS\DBLBUFF.SYS
The following file is missing or corrupted: C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS

CANNOT FIND WIN.COM, UNABLE TO CONTINUE LOADING WINDOWS

should I download a new startup disk?

[Murf]

OK,

You renamed autoexec.bat and config.sys file RIGHT?

Lets try another bootdisk;

Go HERE

Download the following file: (Remember where you put it)

98BOT10A.EXE
572 KB
(03-09-99)

After it downloads then double click on it and direct it to a clean FLOPPY.

Now reboot with this floppy and you shou;ld get to the A:\> prompt

WAIT

You say it goes directly to the C:> prompt using the bootdisk?

Then the boot sequence is not set to boot from the floppy.

When the 1st screen comes up (usually black - has info on it, numbers clicking etc), hit the DEL key or maybe the F10 key to get into SETUP (CMOS) - the screen may tell you what key to use.

In there you will see menu's go to the Advance one (each computer is different so may have to look around) find the boot sequence.

Need to set the 1st Boot Device to A: SAVE & EXIT and now let it boot with the bootdisk.

At the A:\> prompt type:

sys c: (hit <enter>)

Reboot without the disk

[mransom]

That didn't work.

The computer boots from the disk. I did what you suggested but nothing changed.

[mransom]

I just tried to run a scandisk on the drive. It is telling me to add a line such as devide=a:\himem.sys or device=c:\windows\himem.sys in the config.sys on my boot drive. How do I do this?
It has been at least 5 yrs since I have spent alot of time in dos. I cannot remember what to do to change the config.

[Calpitor]

At the C:\ prompt type PATH=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND and press the Enter key
At the C:\ prompt type EDIT AUTOEXEC.BAT and press the Enter key
A blue window titled Autoexec.bat should now be displayed. At the flashing cursor type SET DOS 16M=2
Press and hold the Alt key then press F this will display the File Menu
Press the X key to select Exit
When prompted to save the file press the Enter key
At the C:\ prompt type EDIT CONFIG.SYS and press the Enter key
Look for a line that reads device=c:\windows\himem.sys and remove the line by typing REM in front of the line when it is found. If the line is not listed continue to the next step.
At the flashing cursor type DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /M:1
Press and hold the Alt key then press F this will display the File Menu
Press the X key to select Exit
When prompted to save the file press the Enter key
Power off the computer by holding the power button on the front of the computer for 5 seconds
Power the computer back on by pressing the power button. The computer should now start normally.

[mransom]

see post titled vfat not present

[Murf]

OK,

I am going to delete the other post VFAT and post it here, as it is part of the same problem and we can keep everything in one place:

mransom
Junior Member

Registered: Nov 2001
Location: hattiesburg, ms, usa
Posts: 18
vfat not present
Help. I have been dealing with computer all day. I have a blue screen that says: vfat device initialization failed
a device or resource required by vfat is not present or is unavailable. vfat cannot continu loading. system halted.

before this screen came up it said that the dblbuff.sys was corrupted and the ifshlp.sys was corrupted.

I cannot access my CD-ROM so I cannot use my windows 98 CD. Does anyone know where I can find these files to put on a floppy to get to the broken computer and what to do about vfat.

Moved post to this thread Murf

Answer on VFAT

If the Ifshlp.sys file is missing from the Windows folder.

-or

If the Config.sys file contains a line that points to a previous version of the Ifshlp.sys file.

-or-

If the following Ifshlp.sys statement is deleted from the Config.sys file after you reinstall Windows:

DEVICE=C:\Windows\Ifshlp.sys

-or-

If the [Paths] section in the Msdos.sys file is incorrect.

-or-

If a Winboot.ini file from a previous incomplete installation is present in the root folder on your Startup disk.

-or-

If a "maxfilecache = 4096" line is present in the System.ini file.

FIX

Restart your computer, press and hold down CTRL after your computer completes the Power On Self Test (POST), and then choose the Safe Mode Command Prompt Only option from the Startup menu.

Use a text editor (such as Edit.com) to open the Config.sys file.

edit config.sys (hit <enter>)

Delete the line that loads the Ifshlp.sys file. Note that Windows automatically loads this driver when you start your computer.

Save and then close the Config.sys file.

Now type the following:

deltree winboot.ini (hit <enter>)

Restart your computer.

[mransom]

now I don't seem to have a config.sys.

I tried the deltree winboot.ini, it said bad command or file name.

[Murf]

Windows 98 does not use a autoexec.bat or config.sys, sometimes they are blank or not there at all. They would only be used to load DOS drivers.

At this point I would boot with the win 98 bootdisk that you just made, watch the screen and it should tell you what drive letter it is assigning to the cdrom, probably E:

Then go there and reinstall 98 again.

[mransom]

I have finally got to safe mode, but now it is telling me the desired metaphore did not start. I click ok but it will not load any programs. The screen is blank except for in the corners it says safe mode. I then have to turn the computer off with the power switch because when i tell it to shutdown by cntl alt del I get a black screen with a curser.

What now?