Windows 98 Experts
09-12-2003, 04:43 PM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 22
My compuer lately will not load Windows completely. It says loading Windows but doesn't go through. All I see is a C:\ Prompt. I tried booting from my boot floppy and still no go. I tried with the CD and reformatted and reinstalled Windows 98. After that it loaded Windows fine. But then it needed to restart and it hung up again and wouldn't load Windows again. So I reformatted again and the operating system is still there for some reason and it just goes back to a C:\ prompt. I can't do anything. Any ideas? I suspect my hard drive is bad. Anybody please help. 
09-13-2003, 05:37 AM
#4
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Alexandria, VA
Posts: 787
Do yourself a favor and can that POS! Whenever someone asks me to work on a 98 box, the first repair I do I clean the hard drive of Bill Gates shitty OS. Get a copy of XP. It will save you money in the long run, well, if your like me it will. In the meantime, try to see if you can boot into safemode, press F8. Sounds like it could be a MBR issue.
09-13-2003, 04:12 PM
#6
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Alexandria, VA
Posts: 787
At work I use Sun and DEC boxes. After using one of those two boxes for 8 hours, coming home to dick with a 98 box is just a waste of time. If the slightest quirk happens you need to reboot it, heck most ppl reboot their 98 box everyday, not by choice of course .
09-14-2003, 04:17 AM
#8
Member
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Long Island NY
Posts: 94
Restart the machine, click on F8 until you get a start up menu. choose step by step. See where the machine is hanging up.
Can you boot into safe mode?
If you have any devices on the motherboard, remove them and see if the machine reboots without them. (modem, sound card, NIC, etc)
I would also consider upgrading to XP Home or Pro since it is more stable than your win98 machine.
When did this start happening? Thats the first thing you should ask yourself when troubleshooting. Was it after a hardware install? Thunderstorm? Software install etc....
You can also try another CD.
Good Luck.
Anthony
Can you boot into safe mode?
If you have any devices on the motherboard, remove them and see if the machine reboots without them. (modem, sound card, NIC, etc)
I would also consider upgrading to XP Home or Pro since it is more stable than your win98 machine.
When did this start happening? Thats the first thing you should ask yourself when troubleshooting. Was it after a hardware install? Thunderstorm? Software install etc....
You can also try another CD.
Good Luck.
Anthony
09-14-2003, 04:21 AM
#9
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Alexandria, VA
Posts: 787
Something isn't right TII. I have two machines running XP and I only reboot when I install a new piece of hardware or update drivers. My dual Athlon went for almost a year before I rebooted it. I had to shut it down to install a Radeon 9700. My other machine been running without a reboot since SP1 came out.
D-san
D-san
09-16-2003, 09:32 PM
#10
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 22
Sorry for the delayed reply all. And thanks for all of your replies. I haven't even tried messing with it since I put my other hard drive in. I have a spare 2.5GB hard drive with Win98 SE on it that I've been running till I have time to **** with my other. But I think XP Home is gonna be coming to my house by the end of the month. Gotta wait on funds. But I need to figure out how to format my hard drive before I get XP. My hard drive for some reason wont boot or format so I dunno what's wrong. I'll take all of your advice and put it to use and see if I can get it fixed. Thanks again for all the help.