Registery problem?

The way I read the original post the system is totally unbootable,
indicating far more than just a registry problem.


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

Ron,
I saw that the OP could boot from a floppy to a C:\ prompt, that is
why I thought a System Restore from a command prompt could be effective.
Would rebuilding the MBR have been more appropriate? If the HD was bad,
would he still get a C:\ prompt using the boot floppy?
Thanks for your insight........
Heirloom, old and 'bout time for bed

"heirloom" wrote in message ...

The way I read the original post the system is totally unbootable,
indicating far more than just a registry problem.

Ron,
I saw that the OP could boot from a floppy to a C:\ prompt, that is
why I thought a System Restore from a command prompt could be effective.
Would rebuilding the MBR have been more appropriate? If the HD was bad,
would he still get a C:\ prompt using the boot floppy?

The ME/98 EBD extracts a lot of the DOS support files to a RAM drive. The RAM
drive is usually enumerated after the HD volumes, unless the EBD has been
modified to load another device ahead of it. If the HD isn't being recognised,
then the RAM drive will get C:

The OP said he got to a "DOS screen", but he may mean just "text screen"
which, of course, DOS uses.

On MBR: You have to be very careful when rebuilding it. There are
circumstances (drive overlay, virus), where if not done properly, it
will make matters worse.

Well, Bill, that is some great info......thanks. I can go to sleep
comfortable in the fact that I learned something today.....not bad. My
machine utilizes the drive overlay, not even sure what that is, but, I know
I have it. Will Google that one and learn some more...
Thanks,
Heirloom, old and never too late to learn


"Bill Blanton" wrote in message
...
"heirloom" wrote in message
...

The way I read the original post the system is totally unbootable,
indicating far more than just a registry problem.

Ron,
I saw that the OP could boot from a floppy to a C:\ prompt, that
is
why I thought a System Restore from a command prompt could be effective.
Would rebuilding the MBR have been more appropriate? If the HD was
bad,
would he still get a C:\ prompt using the boot floppy?

The ME/98 EBD extracts a lot of the DOS support files to a RAM drive. The
RAM
drive is usually enumerated after the HD volumes, unless the EBD has been
modified to load another device ahead of it. If the HD isn't being
recognised,
then the RAM drive will get C:

The OP said he got to a "DOS screen", but he may mean just "text screen"
which, of course, DOS uses.

On MBR: You have to be very careful when rebuilding it. There are
circumstances (drive overlay, virus), where if not done properly, it
will make matters worse.

"Software to allow a system BIOS that does not support Logical Block
Addressing to access drives larger than 528 MB."
That would be me.........
Heirloom, old and running out of room for new found
knowledge


"heirloom" wrote in message
...
Well, Bill, that is some great info......thanks. I can go to sleep
comfortable in the fact that I learned something today.....not bad. My
machine utilizes the drive overlay, not even sure what that is, but, I
know
I have it. Will Google that one and learn some more...
Thanks,
Heirloom, old and never too late to learn


"Bill Blanton" wrote in message
...
"heirloom" wrote in message
...

The way I read the original post the system is totally unbootable,
indicating far more than just a registry problem.

Ron,
I saw that the OP could boot from a floppy to a C:\ prompt,
that
is
why I thought a System Restore from a command prompt could be
effective.
Would rebuilding the MBR have been more appropriate? If the HD was
bad,
would he still get a C:\ prompt using the boot floppy?

The ME/98 EBD extracts a lot of the DOS support files to a RAM drive.
The
RAM
drive is usually enumerated after the HD volumes, unless the EBD has
been
modified to load another device ahead of it. If the HD isn't being
recognised,
then the RAM drive will get C:

The OP said he got to a "DOS screen", but he may mean just "text screen"
which, of course, DOS uses.

On MBR: You have to be very careful when rebuilding it. There are
circumstances (drive overlay, virus), where if not done properly, it
will make matters worse.

Yes, it's basically software to modify the BIOS software that accesses
the drives. Problem is, that it has to be loaded immediately before
anything else, so it grabs the MBR sector and relocates the original
MBR elsewhere. After it's finished doing its thing, it will jump to the
original code. (some boot viruses do this also)

You can fdisk the MBR, but you must boot through the overlay first.
The overlay code will redirect the write to wherever it relocated
the original. (Assuming a well behaved one)

"heirloom" wrote in message ...
"Software to allow a system BIOS that does not support Logical Block
Addressing to access drives larger than 528 MB."
That would be me.........

That's one of the older barriers. You probably have a later "limit".
8GB or mabey 32GB.
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/bios/size.htm
Or mabey you're using one of the newer monster size disks?


Heirloom, old and running out of room for new found
knowledge

Better than having too much space..

Hope you have the problem fixed already, If not, if you can boot to safe mode
do that and run scandisk from the programs menu (all drives) then reboot. If
that doesnt help or you cant get to safe more you need to boot to an A:
prompt then change to the windows folder on C: and type in
scandisk /all then smack enter
when it finishes type (no quotes) "type c:\scandisk.log |more" to view the
scandisk
results (the character | is Shift + \ ). Now type scanreg /restore, a menu
will appear, restore a file from this list with a date and time before your
problem began and that also says "started".

"Paul" wrote:

My system will not start. I power it on and all I get is what looks like a
DOS screen and a blinking curser. I can boot from floppy and get to the C
drive. I'm not sure what I can do, Im hope I don't have to re-system my
machine.

Thank you