windows will not start

I had a power outage while Pc was running now all icons
and start button are gone, only wallpaper remains. I ran
various tasks in safe mode, followed most troubleshooting
suggestions (the ones I understood) but thus far nothing
has worked. I also cannot find the startup disk to
reinstall windows. Pls help. Thanks in advance.

Hi Elizabeth,

I would suggest restoring the registry first.
To restore a backup copy of the registry using ScanReg
1. Start your computer, press and hold CTRL, (or by tapping F8) select
Command Prompt Only
2. At the MS-DOS prompt, type scanreg /restore.
3. Select the previous registry you want to restore, and then press ENTER.
4. When you receive notification that you restored a properly working
registry,
press ENTER to restart your computer.

If that doesn't work, here are instructions on reinstalling Win98.
Windows 98 Restore By Ron Badour MS MVP:
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/w98_restore.html

--
Regards,
Bert Kinney [MS-MVP DTS]
http://dts-l.org/
How to Configure Outlook Express for Internet News:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=171164

"Elizabeth" wrote
I had a power outage while Pc was running now all icons
and start button are gone, only wallpaper remains. I ran
various tasks in safe mode, followed most troubleshooting
suggestions (the ones I understood) but thus far nothing
has worked. I also cannot find the startup disk to
reinstall windows. Pls help. Thanks in advance.