Windows 98 reinstall from c: drive

I have an old machine that had windows98. Recently, we had a power out and
when I restarted the machine, it went through the usual blue screen "scan for
errors" routine. Foolishly I eXited from this (as I often did!) but I
subsequently received an error message (in DOS) that GDI.EXE couldn't load
and that I would have to reinstall windows. The PC then, within a fraction of
a second, turned off.

Having researched the on-line resources, I booted up into DOS and
reinstalled the fonts in c:\windows\fonts from the copy of the WIN98 disk
that I have on my c: drive. This did not solve the problem.

So, I thought, OK, let's reinstall windows from DOS, and I proceeded to run
SETUP from the copy of the windows98 disk that I have on the c:drive. (I have
lost the actual CD!). Setup went through the scandisk routine and identified
a problem with a long filename that would need scandisk for windows to
resolve, but other than that, was OK. Setup then wento on to scan the system
registry...
....and it said "Cannot create a temporary directory. This may be caused by
too many files in the root directory"...and stopped!

So, I went to the root directory and stripped out all unnecessary files and
folders and tried again, and again... Nothing that I have done seems to have
made any difference.

Any ideas??

"BenL" wrote in message
...
I have an old machine that had windows98. Recently, we had a power out and
when I restarted the machine, it went through the usual blue screen "scan
for
errors" routine. Foolishly I eXited from this (as I often did!) but I
subsequently received an error message (in DOS) that GDI.EXE couldn't load
and that I would have to reinstall windows. The PC then, within a fraction
of
a second, turned off.

This is normal. Power outages can easily corrupt
files that happen to be system files. If you can boot
into Safe Mode (via key F8 during boot process) you
may be able to identify damaged files and replace them
using SFC.EXE = System File Checker.

Having researched the on-line resources, I booted up into DOS and
reinstalled the fonts in c:\windows\fonts from the copy of the WIN98 disk
that I have on my c: drive. This did not solve the problem.

This appears normal.
(a) Only a couple of fonts are critical to normal Wiin98 startup.
(b) You did not mention how you reinstalled fonts in DOS
(which requires EXP and knowledge of the CAB files.)

Setup went through the scandisk routine and identified
a problem with a long filename that would need scandisk for windows to
resolve, but other than that, was OK. Setup then wento on to scan the
system
registry...
...and it said "Cannot create a temporary directory. This may be caused by
too many files in the root directory"...and stopped!

So, I went to the root directory and stripped out all unnecessary files
and
folders and tried again, and again... Nothing that I have done seems to
have
made any difference.

1. It may be worth while identifying that particular LFN file
and renaming it so SCANDISK runs cleanly.
2. You did not mention drive space, empty space, etc: but
this is a clue to delete all unneeded and junk files (e.g.
Temp Internet Files) before you run SCANDISK and before
you reinstal.

If the foregoing would not allow you to reinstal Win98
your fastest solution may be to add a new hard drive
and either (a) instal it as C: so that your old C: becomes
D:, and then instal Windows on the new C:, or
(b) copy all old C: to new D:, then format C: and instal
afresh, after checking all steps listed in
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/w98_restore.html

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Thanks for your input, Don!

Regrettably, it won't start into safe mode - I can only get into the machine
in DOS so I am unable to run SFC.

In order to reinstall the fonts, I followed the instructions on
support.microsoft.com article number 146904, using the extract command and
specifying win98_22.cab as the cabinet file.

The hard disk is nominally a 4Gig drive with 1,136MB free (since I stripped
out lots of junk files!)

How can I identify the offending LFN from within DOS? It had ocurred to me
that renaming this might help.

Do you think that renaming the windows folder and trying to reinstall a new
one might work?

Thanks again for your thoughts! Much appreciated!!

"Don Phillipson" wrote:

"BenL" wrote in message
...
I have an old machine that had windows98. Recently, we had a power out and
when I restarted the machine, it went through the usual blue screen "scan
for
errors" routine. Foolishly I eXited from this (as I often did!) but I
subsequently received an error message (in DOS) that GDI.EXE couldn't load
and that I would have to reinstall windows. The PC then, within a fraction
of
a second, turned off.

This is normal. Power outages can easily corrupt
files that happen to be system files. If you can boot
into Safe Mode (via key F8 during boot process) you
may be able to identify damaged files and replace them
using SFC.EXE = System File Checker.

Having researched the on-line resources, I booted up into DOS and
reinstalled the fonts in c:\windows\fonts from the copy of the WIN98 disk
that I have on my c: drive. This did not solve the problem.

This appears normal.
(a) Only a couple of fonts are critical to normal Wiin98 startup.
(b) You did not mention how you reinstalled fonts in DOS
(which requires EXP and knowledge of the CAB files.)

Setup went through the scandisk routine and identified
a problem with a long filename that would need scandisk for windows to
resolve, but other than that, was OK. Setup then wento on to scan the
system
registry...
...and it said "Cannot create a temporary directory. This may be caused by
too many files in the root directory"...and stopped!

So, I went to the root directory and stripped out all unnecessary files
and
folders and tried again, and again... Nothing that I have done seems to
have
made any difference.

1. It may be worth while identifying that particular LFN file
and renaming it so SCANDISK runs cleanly.
2. You did not mention drive space, empty space, etc: but
this is a clue to delete all unneeded and junk files (e.g.
Temp Internet Files) before you run SCANDISK and before
you reinstal.

If the foregoing would not allow you to reinstal Win98
your fastest solution may be to add a new hard drive
and either (a) instal it as C: so that your old C: becomes
D:, and then instal Windows on the new C:, or
(b) copy all old C: to new D:, then format C: and instal
afresh, after checking all steps listed in
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/w98_restore.html

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

I am not sure the LFN is the problem but a way around it is to type:
setup.exe /is and this will bypass scandisk during installation.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"BenL" wrote in message
...
Thanks for your input, Don!

Regrettably, it won't start into safe mode - I can only get into the
machine
in DOS so I am unable to run SFC.

In order to reinstall the fonts, I followed the instructions on
support.microsoft.com article number 146904, using the extract command and
specifying win98_22.cab as the cabinet file.

The hard disk is nominally a 4Gig drive with 1,136MB free (since I
stripped
out lots of junk files!)

How can I identify the offending LFN from within DOS? It had ocurred to me
that renaming this might help.

Do you think that renaming the windows folder and trying to reinstall a
new
one might work?

Thanks again for your thoughts! Much appreciated!!

"Don Phillipson" wrote:

"BenL" wrote in message
...
I have an old machine that had windows98. Recently, we had a power out
and
when I restarted the machine, it went through the usual blue screen
"scan
for
errors" routine. Foolishly I eXited from this (as I often did!) but I
subsequently received an error message (in DOS) that GDI.EXE couldn't
load
and that I would have to reinstall windows. The PC then, within a
fraction
of
a second, turned off.

This is normal. Power outages can easily corrupt
files that happen to be system files. If you can boot
into Safe Mode (via key F8 during boot process) you
may be able to identify damaged files and replace them
using SFC.EXE = System File Checker.

Having researched the on-line resources, I booted up into DOS and
reinstalled the fonts in c:\windows\fonts from the copy of the WIN98
disk
that I have on my c: drive. This did not solve the problem.

This appears normal.
(a) Only a couple of fonts are critical to normal Wiin98 startup.
(b) You did not mention how you reinstalled fonts in DOS
(which requires EXP and knowledge of the CAB files.)

Setup went through the scandisk routine and identified
a problem with a long filename that would need scandisk for windows to
resolve, but other than that, was OK. Setup then wento on to scan the
system
registry...
...and it said "Cannot create a temporary directory. This may be caused
by
too many files in the root directory"...and stopped!

So, I went to the root directory and stripped out all unnecessary files
and
folders and tried again, and again... Nothing that I have done seems to
have
made any difference.

1. It may be worth while identifying that particular LFN file
and renaming it so SCANDISK runs cleanly.
2. You did not mention drive space, empty space, etc: but
this is a clue to delete all unneeded and junk files (e.g.
Temp Internet Files) before you run SCANDISK and before
you reinstal.

If the foregoing would not allow you to reinstal Win98
your fastest solution may be to add a new hard drive
and either (a) instal it as C: so that your old C: becomes
D:, and then instal Windows on the new C:, or
(b) copy all old C: to new D:, then format C: and instal
afresh, after checking all steps listed in
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/w98_restore.html

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Thanks, Ron!

Tried that already. Didn't work. Same as before, Setup went on to scan the
system registry...
...and it said "Cannot create a temporary directory. This may be caused by
too many files in the root directory"...and stopped!

Any thoughts on the idea of renaming the windows folder and tying to install
a new one?


"Ron Badour" wrote:

I am not sure the LFN is the problem but a way around it is to type:
setup.exe /is and this will bypass scandisk during installation.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"BenL" wrote in message
...
Thanks for your input, Don!

Regrettably, it won't start into safe mode - I can only get into the
machine
in DOS so I am unable to run SFC.

In order to reinstall the fonts, I followed the instructions on
support.microsoft.com article number 146904, using the extract command and
specifying win98_22.cab as the cabinet file.

The hard disk is nominally a 4Gig drive with 1,136MB free (since I
stripped
out lots of junk files!)

How can I identify the offending LFN from within DOS? It had ocurred to me
that renaming this might help.

Do you think that renaming the windows folder and trying to reinstall a
new
one might work?

Thanks again for your thoughts! Much appreciated!!

"Don Phillipson" wrote:

"BenL" wrote in message
...
I have an old machine that had windows98. Recently, we had a power out
and
when I restarted the machine, it went through the usual blue screen
"scan
for
errors" routine. Foolishly I eXited from this (as I often did!) but I
subsequently received an error message (in DOS) that GDI.EXE couldn't
load
and that I would have to reinstall windows. The PC then, within a
fraction
of
a second, turned off.

This is normal. Power outages can easily corrupt
files that happen to be system files. If you can boot
into Safe Mode (via key F8 during boot process) you
may be able to identify damaged files and replace them
using SFC.EXE = System File Checker.

Having researched the on-line resources, I booted up into DOS and
reinstalled the fonts in c:\windows\fonts from the copy of the WIN98
disk
that I have on my c: drive. This did not solve the problem.

This appears normal.
(a) Only a couple of fonts are critical to normal Wiin98 startup.
(b) You did not mention how you reinstalled fonts in DOS
(which requires EXP and knowledge of the CAB files.)

Setup went through the scandisk routine and identified
a problem with a long filename that would need scandisk for windows to
resolve, but other than that, was OK. Setup then wento on to scan the
system
registry...
...and it said "Cannot create a temporary directory. This may be caused
by
too many files in the root directory"...and stopped!

So, I went to the root directory and stripped out all unnecessary files
and
folders and tried again, and again... Nothing that I have done seems to
have
made any difference.

1. It may be worth while identifying that particular LFN file
and renaming it so SCANDISK runs cleanly.
2. You did not mention drive space, empty space, etc: but
this is a clue to delete all unneeded and junk files (e.g.
Temp Internet Files) before you run SCANDISK and before
you reinstal.

If the foregoing would not allow you to reinstal Win98
your fastest solution may be to add a new hard drive
and either (a) instal it as C: so that your old C: becomes
D:, and then instal Windows on the new C:, or
(b) copy all old C: to new D:, then format C: and instal
afresh, after checking all steps listed in
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/w98_restore.html

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

How many files does a DIR of the root directory from DOS find??
I suspect that anything over about 70 may have problems - anything over
about 85 certainly will have

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
"BenL" wrote in message
...
Thanks, Ron!

Tried that already. Didn't work. Same as before, Setup went on to scan the
system registry...
...and it said "Cannot create a temporary directory. This may be caused by
too many files in the root directory"...and stopped!

Any thoughts on the idea of renaming the windows folder and tying to
install
a new one?


"Ron Badour" wrote:

I am not sure the LFN is the problem but a way around it is to type:
setup.exe /is and this will bypass scandisk during installation.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"BenL" wrote in message
...
Thanks for your input, Don!

Regrettably, it won't start into safe mode - I can only get into the
machine
in DOS so I am unable to run SFC.

In order to reinstall the fonts, I followed the instructions on
support.microsoft.com article number 146904, using the extract command
and
specifying win98_22.cab as the cabinet file.

The hard disk is nominally a 4Gig drive with 1,136MB free (since I
stripped
out lots of junk files!)

How can I identify the offending LFN from within DOS? It had ocurred to
me
that renaming this might help.

Do you think that renaming the windows folder and trying to reinstall a
new
one might work?

Thanks again for your thoughts! Much appreciated!!

"Don Phillipson" wrote:

"BenL" wrote in message
...
I have an old machine that had windows98. Recently, we had a power
out
and
when I restarted the machine, it went through the usual blue screen
"scan
for
errors" routine. Foolishly I eXited from this (as I often did!) but
I
subsequently received an error message (in DOS) that GDI.EXE
couldn't
load
and that I would have to reinstall windows. The PC then, within a
fraction
of
a second, turned off.

This is normal. Power outages can easily corrupt
files that happen to be system files. If you can boot
into Safe Mode (via key F8 during boot process) you
may be able to identify damaged files and replace them
using SFC.EXE = System File Checker.

Having researched the on-line resources, I booted up into DOS and
reinstalled the fonts in c:\windows\fonts from the copy of the WIN98
disk
that I have on my c: drive. This did not solve the problem.

This appears normal.
(a) Only a couple of fonts are critical to normal Wiin98 startup.
(b) You did not mention how you reinstalled fonts in DOS
(which requires EXP and knowledge of the CAB files.)

Setup went through the scandisk routine and identified
a problem with a long filename that would need scandisk for windows
to
resolve, but other than that, was OK. Setup then wento on to scan
the
system
registry...
...and it said "Cannot create a temporary directory. This may be
caused
by
too many files in the root directory"...and stopped!

So, I went to the root directory and stripped out all unnecessary
files
and
folders and tried again, and again... Nothing that I have done seems
to
have
made any difference.

1. It may be worth while identifying that particular LFN file
and renaming it so SCANDISK runs cleanly.
2. You did not mention drive space, empty space, etc: but
this is a clue to delete all unneeded and junk files (e.g.
Temp Internet Files) before you run SCANDISK and before
you reinstal.

If the foregoing would not allow you to reinstal Win98
your fastest solution may be to add a new hard drive
and either (a) instal it as C: so that your old C: becomes
D:, and then instal Windows on the new C:, or
(b) copy all old C: to new D:, then format C: and instal
afresh, after checking all steps listed in
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/w98_restore.html

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Thanks Noel!

25 files including hidden, and 24 folders. I don't get it! I already moved
most of the files to a temporary folder, although there were never that many
to begin with.

"Noel Paton" wrote:

How many files does a DIR of the root directory from DOS find??
I suspect that anything over about 70 may have problems - anything over
about 85 certainly will have

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
"BenL" wrote in message
...
Thanks, Ron!

Tried that already. Didn't work. Same as before, Setup went on to scan the
system registry...
...and it said "Cannot create a temporary directory. This may be caused by
too many files in the root directory"...and stopped!

Any thoughts on the idea of renaming the windows folder and tying to
install
a new one?


"Ron Badour" wrote:

I am not sure the LFN is the problem but a way around it is to type:
setup.exe /is and this will bypass scandisk during installation.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"BenL" wrote in message
...
Thanks for your input, Don!

Regrettably, it won't start into safe mode - I can only get into the
machine
in DOS so I am unable to run SFC.

In order to reinstall the fonts, I followed the instructions on
support.microsoft.com article number 146904, using the extract command
and
specifying win98_22.cab as the cabinet file.

The hard disk is nominally a 4Gig drive with 1,136MB free (since I
stripped
out lots of junk files!)

How can I identify the offending LFN from within DOS? It had ocurred to
me
that renaming this might help.

Do you think that renaming the windows folder and trying to reinstall a
new
one might work?

Thanks again for your thoughts! Much appreciated!!

"Don Phillipson" wrote:

"BenL" wrote in message
...
I have an old machine that had windows98. Recently, we had a power
out
and
when I restarted the machine, it went through the usual blue screen
"scan
for
errors" routine. Foolishly I eXited from this (as I often did!) but
I
subsequently received an error message (in DOS) that GDI.EXE
couldn't
load
and that I would have to reinstall windows. The PC then, within a
fraction
of
a second, turned off.

This is normal. Power outages can easily corrupt
files that happen to be system files. If you can boot
into Safe Mode (via key F8 during boot process) you
may be able to identify damaged files and replace them
using SFC.EXE = System File Checker.

Having researched the on-line resources, I booted up into DOS and
reinstalled the fonts in c:\windows\fonts from the copy of the WIN98
disk
that I have on my c: drive. This did not solve the problem.

This appears normal.
(a) Only a couple of fonts are critical to normal Wiin98 startup.
(b) You did not mention how you reinstalled fonts in DOS
(which requires EXP and knowledge of the CAB files.)

Setup went through the scandisk routine and identified
a problem with a long filename that would need scandisk for windows
to
resolve, but other than that, was OK. Setup then wento on to scan
the
system
registry...
...and it said "Cannot create a temporary directory. This may be
caused
by
too many files in the root directory"...and stopped!

So, I went to the root directory and stripped out all unnecessary
files
and
folders and tried again, and again... Nothing that I have done seems
to
have
made any difference.

1. It may be worth while identifying that particular LFN file
and renaming it so SCANDISK runs cleanly.
2. You did not mention drive space, empty space, etc: but
this is a clue to delete all unneeded and junk files (e.g.
Temp Internet Files) before you run SCANDISK and before
you reinstal.

If the foregoing would not allow you to reinstal Win98
your fastest solution may be to add a new hard drive
and either (a) instal it as C: so that your old C: becomes
D:, and then instal Windows on the new C:, or
(b) copy all old C: to new D:, then format C: and instal
afresh, after checking all steps listed in
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/w98_restore.html

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Hmmm - that does sound a low number to get so fussed about!
All I can think of is that for some reason one of the critical files is
marked as 'read-only' when it shouldn't be, or there's a naming conflict.
can you list all the files and folders? - and whether any are marked as
'read-only'??

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
"BenL" wrote in message
...
Thanks Noel!

25 files including hidden, and 24 folders. I don't get it! I already moved
most of the files to a temporary folder, although there were never that
many
to begin with.

"Noel Paton" wrote:

How many files does a DIR of the root directory from DOS find??
I suspect that anything over about 70 may have problems - anything over
about 85 certainly will have

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
"BenL" wrote in message
...
Thanks, Ron!

Tried that already. Didn't work. Same as before, Setup went on to scan
the
system registry...
...and it said "Cannot create a temporary directory. This may be caused
by
too many files in the root directory"...and stopped!

Any thoughts on the idea of renaming the windows folder and tying to
install
a new one?


"Ron Badour" wrote:

I am not sure the LFN is the problem but a way around it is to type:
setup.exe /is and this will bypass scandisk during
installation.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"BenL" wrote in message
...
Thanks for your input, Don!

Regrettably, it won't start into safe mode - I can only get into the
machine
in DOS so I am unable to run SFC.

In order to reinstall the fonts, I followed the instructions on
support.microsoft.com article number 146904, using the extract
command
and
specifying win98_22.cab as the cabinet file.

The hard disk is nominally a 4Gig drive with 1,136MB free (since I
stripped
out lots of junk files!)

How can I identify the offending LFN from within DOS? It had ocurred
to
me
that renaming this might help.

Do you think that renaming the windows folder and trying to
reinstall a
new
one might work?

Thanks again for your thoughts! Much appreciated!!

"Don Phillipson" wrote:

"BenL" wrote in message
...
I have an old machine that had windows98. Recently, we had a
power
out
and
when I restarted the machine, it went through the usual blue
screen
"scan
for
errors" routine. Foolishly I eXited from this (as I often did!)
but
I
subsequently received an error message (in DOS) that GDI.EXE
couldn't
load
and that I would have to reinstall windows. The PC then, within a
fraction
of
a second, turned off.

This is normal. Power outages can easily corrupt
files that happen to be system files. If you can boot
into Safe Mode (via key F8 during boot process) you
may be able to identify damaged files and replace them
using SFC.EXE = System File Checker.

Having researched the on-line resources, I booted up into DOS and
reinstalled the fonts in c:\windows\fonts from the copy of the
WIN98
disk
that I have on my c: drive. This did not solve the problem.

This appears normal.
(a) Only a couple of fonts are critical to normal Wiin98 startup.
(b) You did not mention how you reinstalled fonts in DOS
(which requires EXP and knowledge of the CAB files.)

Setup went through the scandisk routine and identified
a problem with a long filename that would need scandisk for
windows
to
resolve, but other than that, was OK. Setup then wento on to scan
the
system
registry...
...and it said "Cannot create a temporary directory. This may be
caused
by
too many files in the root directory"...and stopped!

So, I went to the root directory and stripped out all unnecessary
files
and
folders and tried again, and again... Nothing that I have done
seems
to
have
made any difference.

1. It may be worth while identifying that particular LFN file
and renaming it so SCANDISK runs cleanly.
2. You did not mention drive space, empty space, etc: but
this is a clue to delete all unneeded and junk files (e.g.
Temp Internet Files) before you run SCANDISK and before
you reinstal.

If the foregoing would not allow you to reinstal Win98
your fastest solution may be to add a new hard drive
and either (a) instal it as C: so that your old C: becomes
D:, and then instal Windows on the new C:, or
(b) copy all old C: to new D:, then format C: and instal
afresh, after checking all steps listed in
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/w98_restore.html

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Just what I thought as the LFN should not be generating a notice like that.
I assume that the .cab files (and setup.exe file for W98) are not in the
Windows folder. If so and if you cannot otherwise fix the problem, try
deleting the Windows folder from a DOS prompt and then reinstalling the
system. This will be a clean install and all settings will be lost, any
programs installed will have to be reinstalled, etc.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"BenL" wrote in message
...
Thanks, Ron!

Tried that already. Didn't work. Same as before, Setup went on to scan the
system registry...
...and it said "Cannot create a temporary directory. This may be caused by
too many files in the root directory"...and stopped!

Any thoughts on the idea of renaming the windows folder and tying to
install
a new one?


"Ron Badour" wrote:

I am not sure the LFN is the problem but a way around it is to type:
setup.exe /is and this will bypass scandisk during installation.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"BenL" wrote in message
...
Thanks for your input, Don!

Regrettably, it won't start into safe mode - I can only get into the
machine
in DOS so I am unable to run SFC.

In order to reinstall the fonts, I followed the instructions on
support.microsoft.com article number 146904, using the extract command
and
specifying win98_22.cab as the cabinet file.

The hard disk is nominally a 4Gig drive with 1,136MB free (since I
stripped
out lots of junk files!)

How can I identify the offending LFN from within DOS? It had ocurred to
me
that renaming this might help.

Do you think that renaming the windows folder and trying to reinstall a
new
one might work?

Thanks again for your thoughts! Much appreciated!!

"Don Phillipson" wrote:

"BenL" wrote in message
...
I have an old machine that had windows98. Recently, we had a power
out
and
when I restarted the machine, it went through the usual blue screen
"scan
for
errors" routine. Foolishly I eXited from this (as I often did!) but
I
subsequently received an error message (in DOS) that GDI.EXE
couldn't
load
and that I would have to reinstall windows. The PC then, within a
fraction
of
a second, turned off.

This is normal. Power outages can easily corrupt
files that happen to be system files. If you can boot
into Safe Mode (via key F8 during boot process) you
may be able to identify damaged files and replace them
using SFC.EXE = System File Checker.

Having researched the on-line resources, I booted up into DOS and
reinstalled the fonts in c:\windows\fonts from the copy of the WIN98
disk
that I have on my c: drive. This did not solve the problem.

This appears normal.
(a) Only a couple of fonts are critical to normal Wiin98 startup.
(b) You did not mention how you reinstalled fonts in DOS
(which requires EXP and knowledge of the CAB files.)

Setup went through the scandisk routine and identified
a problem with a long filename that would need scandisk for windows
to
resolve, but other than that, was OK. Setup then wento on to scan
the
system
registry...
...and it said "Cannot create a temporary directory. This may be
caused
by
too many files in the root directory"...and stopped!

So, I went to the root directory and stripped out all unnecessary
files
and
folders and tried again, and again... Nothing that I have done seems
to
have
made any difference.

1. It may be worth while identifying that particular LFN file
and renaming it so SCANDISK runs cleanly.
2. You did not mention drive space, empty space, etc: but
this is a clue to delete all unneeded and junk files (e.g.
Temp Internet Files) before you run SCANDISK and before
you reinstal.

If the foregoing would not allow you to reinstal Win98
your fastest solution may be to add a new hard drive
and either (a) instal it as C: so that your old C: becomes
D:, and then instal Windows on the new C:, or
(b) copy all old C: to new D:, then format C: and instal
afresh, after checking all steps listed in
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/w98_restore.html

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Create a temporary directory manually using "md".

md c:\temp

Then run setup with the "/t:" switch.

setup /t:c:\temp

Ben

"BenL" wrote in message ...
I have an old machine that had windows98. Recently, we had a power out and
when I restarted the machine, it went through the usual blue screen "scan for
errors" routine. Foolishly I eXited from this (as I often did!) but I
subsequently received an error message (in DOS) that GDI.EXE couldn't load
and that I would have to reinstall windows. The PC then, within a fraction of
a second, turned off.

Having researched the on-line resources, I booted up into DOS and
reinstalled the fonts in c:\windows\fonts from the copy of the WIN98 disk
that I have on my c: drive. This did not solve the problem.

So, I thought, OK, let's reinstall windows from DOS, and I proceeded to run
SETUP from the copy of the windows98 disk that I have on the c:drive. (I have
lost the actual CD!). Setup went through the scandisk routine and identified
a problem with a long filename that would need scandisk for windows to
resolve, but other than that, was OK. Setup then wento on to scan the system
registry...
...and it said "Cannot create a temporary directory. This may be caused by
too many files in the root directory"...and stopped!

So, I went to the root directory and stripped out all unnecessary files and
folders and tried again, and again... Nothing that I have done seems to have
made any difference.

Any ideas??