PROBLEM: On the re-boot following reinstallation of Windows 95, you get the following message: "Windows could not combine VXDs into a monolithic structure before starting. Windows may not run properly. If Windows fails to start, run setup again. Press any key to continue." Once you press a key, the following message will appear: "A device that is specified in the SYSTEM.INI file is damaged. It may be needed to run Windows. You may need to run the Windows setup program again. If the file is included in another software package, you may need to reinstall the software that uses this file. C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VMM32\filename.VXD." This message will appear for each of the following VXD files. VWIN32.VXD, VCOND.VXD, VXDLR.VXD, VPICD.VXD, VTD.VXD, VMCPD.VXD, NTKERN.VXD, VPICD.VXD, VTD.VXD, VXDIDR.VXD, VWIN32.VXD, VMCPD.VXD, VCOND.VXD. After going through the 13 error messages, the following message will appear: "Configruration manager cannot load because one of the following files is not present or has an invalid version number: VMM32.VXD, SHELL.VXD, VTD.VXD, VXDLDR.VXD, WPICD.VXD. Try running setup again. Press any key to continue." When you press a key, you will get the message "It is now safe to turn off your computer". On subsequent reboots you will only get the 13 error messages and "Safe to turn off" message. You will also get these error messages if you attempt to boot in Safe mode. NOTE! IF you are just getting and error message for NTKERN.VXD, go to the HOW TO section steps 17-19 The cause of my problem was the version of Win 95 installed on my new computer was different from the version of Win 95 included on the distribution disks. This problem occurs because you are installing OSR2 (CD) over OSR2.1 (HDD). OSR2.1 is really OSR2 with the USB Supplement, but because some file versions are different, installing OSR2 over OSR2.1 will cause some problems. The main thing to remember is that when installing OSR2 over OSR2.1 you will need to overwrite many of the newer files with the older ones. If you opt to keep the newer version, this problem will occur. The below how-to steps changes the installed Windows version to 2.0. As of this writing (probably in Mid-'97) Microsoft has not released an end user upgrade to go from OSR2 to OSR 2.1. However, there should be one made available as a driver as USB products come to the market. To solve the problem, I re-installed Windows 95 and each time the setup program asked if I wished to replace a newer file with an older one (as shipped on the distribution disks) I answered "yes" and replaced the files. The result was that I now had a completely "new" version of the "older" Windows 95 installed on the computer. At this time, I still was receiving the message about NTKERN.VXD. I discovered an update file for Windows 95 called OEMUSB.exe. When this file was executed, it updated the "older" version of Windows 95 to the current version as was installed on my computer to start with. You may be able to find OEMUSB.exe on your hard drive, or you can search the web for it. There are plenty of places that have it available for download. Try this, I hope it works for you. In case it doesn't . . . Reinstall Windows 95 using the distribution CD. Then, be sure to overwrite all newer VXD files with the older ones on the CD. Then remove the USB supplement for OSR2 from Add/Remove Programs in Device Manager. Here is the procedure: 1. Boot to command prompt only. 2. At the C:\> prompt, type: CD\windows\options\cabs and press . 3. Type , press . 4. Press to run scandisk. 5. At the software license agreement click YES. 6. At the Windows 95 startup wizard screen click YES. 7. At the choose directory screen click NEXT. 8. At the setup options screen click NEXT (Typical is selected). 9. At the user information screen, verify information and click NEXT. 10. At the analyzing computer screen click NEXT. 11. At the windows components screen click NEXT. 12. At the startup disk screen select NO, and click NEXT. 13. At the start copying files screen, click NEXT. 14. During copying, you will get a VERSION Conflict message about the file WINOA386.VXD. Click NO to all. 15. At the finishing Setup screen click NEXT. Windows 95 will now reboot to the system. You will now get only one error message for the NTKERN.VXD. The following steps should correct the problem. 16. Follow the directions on the screen to finish setting up Windows 95. 17. Go to START; Settings; Control Panel; Add/Remove Programs. 18. In the list, double click on USB Supplement for OSR2. 19. Click YES to restart the system. I did what it says... HOW do i reinstall if i cant access my CD-ROM DRIVE???

Download a Win95b startup disk with CD-ROM support from the following site: http://www.bootdisk.com Make sure to download the correct version, then run the file to produce your startup disk with CD-ROM support. Now boot from the startup disk and you'll have access to your CD-ROM. Hope this helps.