[Face1]

Reloaded Win 98 and now comp boots to dos, cannot get to windows. Msg says to type" win" to get to windows. This does not work. Comp reboots to same place.

 

[johnwill]

Sounds like there's something interfering with the Windows startup. Rename any CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file to *.SAV and try booting again.

 

[SPEEDO]

If I remember back to the 3.11 days you had to enter WIN or : WIN as the last line in autoexec for it to boot to Windows. It may be the same for 95. Although it should have been there all along with 95.

 

[johnwill]

Nope, the MSDOS.SYS file has the configuration of whether to boot to windows for W98/W98SE, no AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS at all required. I don't really remember for W95, though it seems you needed CONFIG.SYS to load HIMEM.SYS I seem to recall...

 

[SPEEDO]

Here is how I did 3.1 I'm not sure if 95 worked the same way though..

If u want to avoid having to type the above at a DOS C:\prompt everytime u want to get into Win 3.1...Do the following: From DOS type: C:\EDIT (press ENTER) This will load the DOS text editor...Use this program to open ur AUTOEXEC.BAT file...

Add the following line: WIN
Make sure its added as the last line in ur AUTOEXEC.BAT file...Save the changes u just made & exit the DOS EDIT program...then Reboot your System...

The next time your System starts, Win 3.1 should load automatically...

 

[Jason]

Windows 3.x did require the win in the autoexec to boot, but it was no longer needed with win9x. Although there have been a few computers that where hit with a boot sector virus that wouldn't boot into windows on start until you entered win.

What is getting me is the fact it is loading autoexec.bat and config.sys if it is getting to a DOS prompt. That means that either they are loading correctly, or that there is something in them preventing windows loading. Now if there is nothing in there, that means there is something else that is happening when windows starts.

Have you tried going into windows through safe mode? If you can get in through safe mode, then more then likely there is a driver or such that is causing the system to reboot.

 

[Face1]

Thanks for all your responses. I posted this for a friend who is having the difficulty. I will forward these messages to him. He is using win 98. He said he reloaded the os because of numerous issues with the computer, he believed was due to his kid loading a bunch of garbage on the system over a period of time.
After the reload the system booted to dos and will not let him get to windows. He also said this happened once before when he loaded windows and he was able to fix it rather simply with some help from a GATEWAY service tech. He has a gateway / 333mghz computer, circa 1995.