win 98 boot proccess

does any body know the win 98 se boot proccess. like what files are loaded and when? i'm trying to trouble shoot my system and i need to know.

What files are needed for the boot process or what form of temp files are created when a 98 machine boots up?

i can't quite remember the exact phrasing since i've long ago dumped 9x but...you can check the file order by selecting "manually confirm drivers" from the f8 start up...it will ask you whether you want to load each or not...

What specifically is the problem you are trying to resolve?

From Technet website:

Q192926


Clean-boot troubleshooting refers to methods of reducing behaviors that may occur because of your computer's environment. Many behaviors that occur when you run Windows or programs occur because there are conflicting drivers, terminate-and-stay-resident programs (TSRs), and other settings that are loaded when your computer starts. Your computer's environment includes settings from the following files:

Msdos.sys
Config.sys
Autoexec.bat
Winboot.ini
Windows\Winstart.bat
Windows\System.ini
Windows\Win.ini
Windows\Wininit.ini
Windows\System.dat
Windows\User.dat
These files are loaded as part of the boot process when Windows starts, and the files help create the environment that is used by the operating system and programs.

Do you want the step by step POST process? I can provide that. I still have all my A+ books & notes.

Check in \bootlog.txt, it gives the order of drivers and virtual device drivers being loaded...

Or do like was said earlier and use F8 to manually step through it...

Neb

See my tut Why is NT/2k so much more stable? Part 2/5. It will explain the entire boot process for DOS/win 3.1, Win9x, and winNT/2K. Hope that helps.
x

thanks guys for your help. here is my problem my computer crashed and when i try to reboot i get the "Invalid system disk" message. if i stick in a boot disk i can get to the dos prompt with cd rom support. so what i'm trying to do is figure out exactly what is cuaseing the system to hang. i've gone into bios and mad sure that the boot order is not messed up and i fdisked and c is set as the primary active drive so that leads me to believe that some thing is wrong with the OS files

Boot into dos with a disk, at the propmt type fdisk /mbr, that will reinstall the boot files into the partition table. That should fix it, if not let me know and we can go from there.
x

thanks X i tried that and then restarted and got the same thing. fdisk is recognzing the drive and dos is recognizing it too. but it still wont boot to windows

Okay.. can you get to the startup menu? Push F8 many times till you get there. Once in choose Logged mode. Once it goes as far as it can, rebbot to floppy, lookin the drive for bootlog.txt and post it. If you can't get into the the startup menu, I would suggest booting with a 98 boot disk, and then copy all the system files over to your c: drive. The system files should overwrite any bad files. But try the bootlog first.
x

Sounds like your bootup system files (command.com, etc) have been corrupted (did you lose power or shut off your pc without shutting it down ?) The error message is essentially telling you that you have no OS on the disk it is trying to boot from...

Warning, I have been fortunate enough over the years to avoid having to do this, but here is what I would try:

Might want to try a get something like scandisk on your floppy and then when you boot up off of the floppy run it. If you are fortunate, it can recover the FAT.

Might want to consider copying your system files from the diskette (make sure it is same version of OS or you are in for a headache) over to c:\ (command.com, etc) (I would make this a last resort).

Might want to consider putting your harddrive in another win98 computer and then running scandisk on it from there...

Either way, good luck.

Neb

Not sure if you can do this but (I think I remember doing this at one point in life but I am getting old so what can I say) after booting the system to dos can you sys the C: drive. just like you would sys a floppy drive.

you might have to do what M$ calls an "in-place" upgrade. run the installation of Win98 over the top of the exsisting installation to reinstall. It should (mind you... should) as long as you do not format the drive maintain the registry files and your software may not have to be reinstalled. I have done this in the past but mind you it was a LONG TIME AGO...

I believe like neb it is a problem with the system files rather then a BIOS issue. If it where BIOS you would not be able to boot the system with a boot disk... and read the c drive. It might be a bad sector on the hard drive where the boot files are and runnign scandisk might help this but more then likely it wont becasue scan disk will make the secotr bad and you still wont be able to read the data from that sector.

coping the files is also another idea I might try before I did the inplace upgrade. but as stated they have to be the exact version of the OS to work otherwise you will get the "Incompatible DOS version" error.

edit another thought about neb's suggestion

Actually if you are booting from win98 boot disk you can run SCANDISK from the RAMDISK that is created at startup

You mentioned that you have fdisked the drive, yet you can't boot to it. Have you formatted it, adding the system files on? The computer can't boot to the harddrive with the boot files command.com, io.sys and msdos.sys. To get these files, boot using a floppy disk and then type format c: /q /s (/q for a quick format and /s for the system files). If you tried to install from the Windows CD without these files, on the first restart, you'll receive the error you are receiving. Hope that helps.

AJ

BEFORE you format your C: Drive.

Are you using a boot disk that was created with Win98 SE? If so, there's an easy way to put on the Command.com files again and make the C: drive bootable once again, without formatting. At the prompt type in sys C: so your screen will look like:

A:\>sys C:

If you have a proper boot disk, this will copy the system files over to the C: drive and make it bootable, at least into DOS. This will NOT format the drive and destroy any information. If you cannot boot into windows at all after this then you may need to re-install windows. Again, a format is NOT necessary.

I hope I was able to get this to you soon enough before you trash the info on the drive. If not, hope you have backups.

At any rate, good luck!

ISBN:

To explain a little bit why I was suggesting scan disk. I suspect that the problem isn't that a sector has gone bad on the disk, but rather there were probably some files that were open when power was lost. This can cause a corruption in the file allocation table or even in the master boot record, either of which can lead to this problem (the first one only if certain files were lost). The reason I suggested scan disk is that it also checks for anomolies in the MBR and in the FAT. Since Win95 I think there is at least one backup to the MBR and if this is the case, scan disk should be able to repair it for you without causing any loss of data.

Before you start trying to copy system files over existing things (which may or may not work if you have hosed your MBR or FAT), try a scandisk. If it is of no help (which is a distinct possibility), sys is the way to go (rather than trying to do it manually).

Neb

salutare sa mai scrieti si in romana mai romanilor

Quote:

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Originally posted here by littlefro
thanks X i tried that and then restarted and got the same thing. fdisk is recognzing the drive and dos is recognizing it too. but it still wont boot to windows

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I've seen this problem before, one of the essensial startup files is corupted, you'll want to do boot into dos, change boot order (in the bios) to Hard Disks first then cdrom (case you have to boot from there) then a: and do an overlay install (just installing windows ontop of windows it'll replace system files) and that should fix the problem while keeping all your programs and drivers.

asa pentru noi

Hey speedos, would you mind posting your comments in English as well? I, for one, would be interested in hearing what you have to say, but unfortunately, I do not speak your language.

thanks every one i'm gonna try the sys c: command and then if it doesn't work i think i'm just gonna install windows over top of every thing so i can back my stuff up to another drive. i think i'm just gonna do a clean install once i get every thing fixed any ways becuase i've been having troubles with this computer

Adsolutely the wisest idea once the data has beeen recovered is to trash it and reinstall... LINUX or W2K at least...