crux

bit of a problem with my work computer that i'm not exactly sure of the cause, but that i have to get handled discreetly.

its an older gateway2000 desktop (not sure of the model#) running windows 95 and as far as i can tell the BIOS start up says its a phoenix technologies mobo

anyway, the problem...

off and on the past few weeks i've been getting registry errors on start up that would go away after a reboot. but friday (i work in a home for mentally disabled people) i left my office door unlocked (with the computer off) to return to find one of the residents at my desk with the computer on to a start up screen saying: missing operating system

as far as i can surmise either; the messed up registry took out the MBR, the hard drive is utter toast, or somehow the resident got into set up and altered the BIOS. (i did try to auto reset the BIOS default in set up to no avail...and i have no idea what the original settings were to reset manually).

we have no internal IT dept and my boss would be greatly displeased to see a work order go out for my computer especially after i would have to tell her about leaving my office unlocked and unattended.

is there anyway the OS is still present on the HD and i can salvage the MBR or must i reinstall 95 completely (without access to install disks, mind you...)?

OldGrayGary

Hi crux


First of all, check to see that there isn't a floppy diskette in the floppy drive. If the bios is set to check for a bootable floppy first, it might be getting stuck if a non-bootable diskette is in the floppy drive. And, just in case the system can boot from a CD (though Windows 95 does not), check to see if a CD is in the CD-drive (if there is one).

With no floppy disks or CDs in their drives, try again to start the computer.

Should you still get the same "missing operating system" error, you'll need to look at the system drive to see if Windows is still on there. You can use a bootable Windows 95 diskette for this. Such disks are available here --- http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

Start the Gateway with the bootable diskette. This should bring you to a DOS command prompt. From the command prompt, type in C: to switch to the hard drive, then type the directory command, that will allow you to view what folders (directories) are pesent on the drive. Like this:

A:> C:
C:> dir /p

If you receive any errors, let us know exactly what they are. If you are lucky, you'll see a list, one page at a time, of the files and folders present. If you see one that is listed as /Windows - then at least you know that a Windows folder exists. At this point, try starting Windows directly, like this:

C:> cd \Windows
C:\Windows> win

I'll be surprised if this works, but if it does, let us know.
_____________

Note: many Gateways have a program called "GoBack" installed. If you see a message as the computer is powering on regarding that program = let us know.

Have a look at things, and let's see what turns up.
Best of luck
. . . Gary

crux

thanks gary,

its definitely not a floppy or cd in a drive. in fact i was under the impression that the floppy drive was completely toasted until i managed to load a boot disk on it...i just had no idea what to enter in the command line, its been years since i've had to deal with any of this. i will give this a try in the morning and let you know how it goes, at least this will tell me what kind of boat i'm in. thanks again, cross your fingers

crux

whattaya know gary, it worked, windows is still on the drive. i'm making a win95 boot disk now, the one i used to boot up was xp, but this should work. are there any further steps i need to take?

crux

now the weirdness starts, the computer will boot with an xp bootdisk but not with a win95a boot...trying win95b now, hope this works

crux

the weirdness continues....the 95 boot disks wont work i get an error saying incorrect drive A enter set up. the drive is identified correctly in set up, so i went and got some brand new 3.5s so far heres the results i get

old disk+ xp= boot but cant load windows
old disk+95 a or b= no boot
new disk+95 a or b =no boot
new disk+ xp= no boot

please help...so close but yet so far!

CD27

Question: the one that does work, is it the same one you did the initial boot with? Another question: is there anything on the computer you absolutely CAN'T get back? Yet another question: have you attempted going into bios (or dos) and ran a "scandisk" and/or "chkdsk /f"?

Booting your computer isn't really your concern here, remember that, getting windows to start and STAY starting is the concern. If you can get it to boot then it really doesn't matter what you can get it to boot with, just as long as you can go from there to fix it. You shouldn't need a boot disk if windows is fully operational. What i'd suggest is booting up, opening windows from that boot (If possible), backing up what you want, then reinstalling windows. That should fix it alright, but it's kind of drastic. sounds like you need to do a check-disk scan on the computer with /f after it to find and hopefully fix any corrupted or missing files that prevent it from booting.

God Bless and In Him,

Eric

OldGrayGary

Hi again



Sorry for the delay . . . holiday fun & all (pleasantly full of pumpkin pie...)

If you have no Windows 95 disks to use, you have two chances to repair "as is" ---
1) to use GoBack to fix things, or
2) to try an "in-place" (or "over-the-top") reinstallation of Windows 95 using installation files stored on the hard drive.

GoBack
To use Go-Back, you'd have to select from GoBack options presented as the computer is powering on. If you do not see any such options, then using GoBack doesn't sound likely.

In-Place Reinstall of Windows 95
1) Try getting a Windows98se bootdisk from bootdisk.com
2) Start the computer with it
3) From the command prompt, type the following commands in order

A:> cd C:\Windows\Options\Cabs
C:\Windows\Options\Cabs> setup

If Gateway placed the Windows 95 installation files (".cab" - for 'cabinet' files) in that spot, Windows should start to re-install itself. If it asks which directory to install in, make sure to choose C:\Windows and NOT C:\Windows.000 [I haven't reinstalled Windows 95 in quite some time, so it's possible you will first have to choose "Other" before you can put in the correct C:\Windows destination folder].

Let us know if this helps or not.
Best of luck!
. . . Gary


[P.S. ... are you absolutely certain that it was running Windows 95? ...]

crux

hi guys, haven't been in to work yet to try this stuff yet, but i can tell you there is no goback function, and the xp disk isn't completely booting windows, just getting me to the dos prompt. and i am 100% sure its windows 95

crux

well...

the win 98se disk allowed me to get to the command prompt but also gave me the incompatible version error when i tried to boot windows from it. i tried the in-place re-install but it got me an invalid directory or command error. i can see the windows folder is still on there in the list it shows as

WINDOWS <DIR> and such

is it possible that we just have the wrong directory path to the installation files?

OldGrayGary

Hi again


Sorry, I should have mentioned that you shouldn't try to start Windows 95 while booted from the Win98 diskette, it was just to get you to the DOS prompt to see if Win95 could reinstall from the DOS prompt.

If you were in the C:\Windows\Options\Cabs directory when you tried the Setup command, and it didn't work = we'll have to search a little to see if the Windows installation files are on the hard drive at all or not. Some PCs have them stored on the drive, some don't.

What you can use to look is the directory command (dir) from a command prompt. It shouldn't matter which DOS you search from, the Win98se diskette or the XP CD. If you use the Win98se diskette, here are the steps ---
1) Start the PC with the Win98se floppy diskette.
2) From the A:> prompt, type C:
3) From the C:? prompt, type dir /p
4) From the list of files and directories that is displayed, copy down the names of any folders that sound likely to hold the Windows installation cabinet (.cab) files. Then change to those directories (folders), and look to see if .cab files there. To change to a directory, use the "change directory" command = cd. For example, to change to the C:\Windows\Options\Cabs directory, you'd type cd C:\Windows\Options\Cabs. Then you'd type dir /p to see a list of all the files and subfolders in that directory, one page at a time.

If you can't find a directory (folder) full of the Windows 95 files, you're going to need to find a Windows 95 CD, or the Gateway Recovery disk. Most Windows 95 PCs have been retired already, so it's possible that if you ask around, a family member or friend might have an unused CD you could use in your repair.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

crux

well i couldn't find any cab files and during the course of the day my floppy drive started giving me incorrect drive a type errors with any disk i used. i think its toast. so...come monday i think i'm just going to have to bite the bullet and turn it over to the boss to get fixed or pitched or whatever they choose to do. thanks for the help though gary, i appreciate it

OldGrayGary

Hi again


Hopefully, your boss will appreciate that you tried to fix things. Everyone forgets a little something sometimes - that's nothing to worry about. If your boss has a Win95 disk around, he might be able to run an 'over-the-top' reinstall, which would leave the programs intact, if they aren't too badly damaged. Or he could reinstall both Windows and the programs from scratch (might not take as long as it seems like it would).

Best of luck, & Happy New Year!
. . . Gary