win 98 won't boot

W

woodtogo

New Member
I tried to install a program called rollback rx yesterday and during the process it asked me if it could change my master boot record. I clicked continue, now my system won't boot up. I guess I need to repair my master boot record what ever that is. Help Please....
I tried using my start up disk and get drive c does not contain a valid fat or fat32 partition.
Tried:
fdisk /mbr
I get no message, a drive letter just drops down to the next line
a:\>

any ideas??
 
The fdisk /mbr is the correct command to use under other circumstances. The program rollback rx goobered more the boot sector information as well as the mbr there. You are most likely going to have to reinstall 98 over itself in order to keep your remaining files and folders intact.

This is not a bios related problem there but rather partition and boot sector info. You most likely had a bad copy downloaded or simply saw a bad install of the program corrupting the boot sector. For general guidelines on the fdisk and format tools, http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http%3a%2f%2fsupport.microsoft.com%3a80%2fsupport%2fkb%2farticles%2fQ255%2f8%2f67.ASP&NoWebContent=1
 
I have supported clients using Go Back many times, which I can only assume is similar to roll back and that app sucked. It caused so many problems and crashes.

Nothing beats having back ups, not matter how good the applicaiton boasts to be.
 
PC
I have tried so many of the scanreg /restore
and fdisk /mbr
fixmbr
sys c:

etc
with no luck whith any of them I need some advise on reinstalling (as you suggested) win 98 over my existing copy.
Will this fix my problem?
In doing this will I save the files on my hd?
I can always redo a complete format and reinstall after I retrieve all my work for the last 3 years. Yes I do back up but somehow lost most of my cds with the backup on.

Do you recommend reinstalling? IF so how is this done carefully? Have you ever done this?

What would you do?

thanks
 
I've reinstalled 98SE on so many systems I could do it with blilnd folds on. Reinstalling 98 will depend if you have a 98 full install disk onhand. If 98 was a preinstalled package or you upgraded from 95 with an upgrade disk that's where the problems may come up. With a full install you have two options.

The first for a recent if not brand new installation would be a quick startup of the installer to proceed to overwrite the current. The installer simply overwrites the existing system folders and files. Some programs may still run afterwards since the Program Files directory is left intact except for one common folder.

The second method require the manual deletion of the Windows and Program Files directories for a full clean install of Windows. There you copy anything you plan on saving into one or more temp folders before deleting the Windows and Program Files directories. Even with the first method most programs will have to reinstalled as well as video and sound drivers. Some would need a new desktop shortcut only.

The last and more often used method is done after Windows has been running for a long period like at least 6 months or longer and a drive is to be totally cleaned. That is done with nothing being left on the drive that is unreplacable. Too much clutter, virus/malware infection, or some other reason usually mandates that. To overwrite the current simply boot up with the 98 startup floppy with cd rom support and manually change to the cd drive to start the installer. There you simply type setup.exe and press enter. The entire Windows installation will proceed iwth the usual prompts.
 
Ok my version is a full wincows 98 and can be installed on a new pc.
so I use my boot up floppy
choose cd option
get a e: prompt then
type in
setup
correct?
And it will install windows 98 but leave all my info and folders intact, correct?

ray
 
you can do what I did on win98 installs, and copy the cabs files over to the HD then run the install off the HD, and it will overlay the OS with an overinstall and possibly save your data. However, you run the risk of losing everything, but by now I think you are probably aware of that.

toss in your 98 CD and boot to a dos prompt. For arguments sake, we will say that the D drive is the optical drive.

You should boot to an A:\,

then type cd d:\win98

then from the D:\win98 type this

copy *.* c:\windows\options\cabs

This will copy the entire contents to the cabs directory. Once it is finished you can simply do this from the command line

cd c:
c:\ cd windows\options\cabs
c:\windows\options\cabs\setup

Then watch your computer go pretty much through an automated set up.
 
With Windows running the process is even easier by first creating a "WIN98SE" folder and opening two Windows Explorer windows; one to the new folder and the other to highlight the contents of the disk. The main executable to start the installation is seen right at the root of the cd along with the autorun.inf file. Once you start the setup.exe from any dos prompt the installer will then begin. Installing from the hard drive as well as having 98 system files onhand without the cd is an old trick to save time there.
 
PC eye said:
With Windows running the process is even easier by first creating a "WIN98SE" folder and opening two Windows Explorer windows; one to the new folder and the other to highlight the contents of the disk. The main executable to start the installation is seen right at the root of the cd along with the autorun.inf file. Once you start the setup.exe from any dos prompt the installer will then begin. Installing from the hard drive as well as having 98 system files onhand without the cd is an old trick to save time there.
Click to expand...

Or, instead of using the slow painful crappy gui that MS win98 has, you can just run it from the command line in windows, however this person can't boot into windows so the solution you posted, even though is a valid one, is really not applicable to this situation.
 
tlarkin said:
Or, instead of using the slow painful crappy gui that MS win98 has, you can just run it from the command line in windows, however this person can't boot into windows so the solution you posted, even though is a valid one, is really not applicable to this situation.
Click to expand...

This is a step to take after you have Windows up and running again as a means of restoring the system if something happens to Windows. The first step that always works well is to create the folder while in dos to save any background images like bmps, jpgs, etc. and wav files that were added to the defaults that come along with 98. You can do this from the dos prompt easy enough. You first create something like a "C:\WIN98" folder followed by creating sub folders like "bmp", "wav", "scr" for screen savers, and the like.

Once those are saved you can "C:>deltree Windows" and proceed to the cd drive's prompt to start the installation by typing the setup.exe command and pressing enter. With 98 running you then copy and paste the contents of the installation disk into another sub folder like "98FILES" or "INSTALL98". The length of time there isn't long at all. Plus you have the entire contents of the 98 disk copied to the hard drive. Occasionally you still have to have the 98 cd in the drive in order to see some hardwares and programs installed since the installer won't copy the ones needed from somewhere on the drive itself.
 
98 doesn't have the limitations as far as installing Windows from a folder on the hard drive like the newer versions of Windows would see. Plus there was no product activation to be concerned about if you reinstalled Windows three times a week for some reason(never likely but...). 98 would overwrite itself while XP iwll first delete the current installation and folders in favor of a fresh installation. That includes the Windows, DocumentssandSettings, and Program Files directories. 98 simply overwrites the Windows and the Common folder found in the Program Files directory.
 
PC eye said:
98 doesn't have the limitations as far as installing Windows from a folder on the hard drive like the newer versions of Windows would see. Plus there was no product activation to be concerned about if you reinstalled Windows three times a week for some reason(never likely but...). 98 would overwrite itself while XP iwll first delete the current installation and folders in favor of a fresh installation. That includes the Windows, DocumentssandSettings, and Program Files directories. 98 simply overwrites the Windows and the Common folder found in the Program Files directory.
Click to expand...

when ever i install XP i still first install win98 and then upgrade to xp, cuz xp and 2k takes forever to install
 
The only way it would take more time to upgrade 98 to 2K or XP is if you first had to get 98 running and then proceed to upgrade from a fresh install. That would be installing Windows "twice" to see the newer version running. :eek: egads! Gee I'm always glad to use "full installation disk only" as the option there! :D
 
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