Working on a 98 machine.... it will only boot to a dos prompt. Started out missing setver.exe, himem.sys, dblbuff.sys, ifshlp.sys and win.com. I had trouble getting those files reinstalled. I tried to extract the files from a 98 disk but while extracting I would get out of memory errors! Anyway found a way around that, now when the computer boots up it gets to the 98 splash screen, then asks to go into normal, safe mode, dos prompt ect.... when I try to go into normal or safe mode it loads with no missing files or errors - get the 98 splash screen for a couple seconds and then the computer shuts off completely. I checked the configy.sys and the msdos.sys and they are all fine. If I try to open the vmm32.vxd in the edit window it says out of memory. I'm thinking this may be a physical memory issue but just making sure there is nothing that I missed. Thanks much!

How or why would you try and edit a .vxd file? It's a binary file. Any history on the machine? Had it ever been checked for virus or adware etc? If you are able to start to a DOS prompt without incident or shutdown, chances are it's not a memory issue. Reinstallation of Windows might be a route to take - either 'on top' of the existing one (although that may not help) or start clean Click

Have you tried making sure the file SYSTEM.1ST exists on your root directory ( c:\ ) ? The w98 command.com looks for this, as it contains addresses to all the start-up information for the computer. If you don't see it when typing "DIR /w/o/p" at the dos prompt (which you can get to under F8 key by selecting "command prompt only - safe mode"), then try changing attributes, because it is probably hidden. To do this, type: attrib -h -r -s c:\system.1st or attrib -h -r -s c:\*.* (to render ALL files visible) If your windows or DOS directory is still intact, and your path statement includes both directories, attrib.exe should work - normally, attrib.exe is stored in c:\windows\command\ , and may be in c:\dos or c:\windows\old_dos\ (if you preserved old files on installation). If SYSTEM.1ST is GONE, you need to re-install unless you have a backup somewhere that you can copy to c:\ . You might need to create a boot disk and add attrib.exe to it. Sounds to me like your puter just isn't finding this important system file. Good luck! You don't have to be realistic to be cynical, but you DO have to be cynical to be realistic!

Hi Kendra did you fix it? xx