Hello. I just got a laptop from a yard sale and I was deleting some stuff that the woman left on and I must have deleted something I shouldn't have because the next time I turned on my laptop, I got a black screen and the message "Invalid System Disk. Replace disk and press any key."
Now I read on other posts that I deleted a boot file or something. So, I downloaded a copy of the Windows 95 boot and copied it to a floppy (I did not get any disks with the laptop). I copied the files from the floppy to the HDD (I think) by typing in sys c: I read that doing that would work and all I had to do now was restart the computer.
I started the computer with the floppy and it said "Starting Windows 95" and I see the Windows picture thing, but then it goes back to the black screen and it says C:\> Now I'm stuck and I don't know what to do.
Please help me!!. And also, I'm not that great with computers so if you can explain as much as possible I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much!!
Kayla

Boot with the bootdisk again and at the a:\> prompt type:

dir c:\windows\command.com

and enter. Post back the date associated with command.com. This will tell us what version of 95 you have. Then we can email you the necessary files.

What version of Windows (if any) was on the laptop to begin with? (i.e. 3.0, 3.1, 95, 98, etc.)

I have Windows 95. When I typed in dir c:\windows\command.com I got this message:
Volume in drive C has no label
VOlume Serial Number is 13F0-0B48
Directory of C:\WINDOWS
COMMAND COM 93,890 04-23-99 10:22p
1 file(s) 93,890 bytes
0 dir(s) 249,765,888 bytes free

I'm not exactly sure what you wanted so I just copied the whole thing, lol!

That would indicate 98SE.

As has been mentioned, with those specs, the machine will be barely functional - 16Mb isn't quite enough to operate 95 decently, let alone 98.

For the sake of getting it up & running, it might be best to get a 98SE boot disk and use that to 'sys' the correct bootfiles to the hard drive.

After that, you may want to consider installing a less demanding OS, such as 95

Confusion reigns

Report Offensive Follow Up For Removal

You may have an invalid c:\msdos.sys file. To check it, at the c:\> prompt. type the following (without the quotes):

`type c:\msdos.sys'

If you don't see a whole bunch of Xs, the file needs to be replaced. Copying msdos.sys from a similar system will `usually' work.

Yep, looks like you've only got a 250MB HDD (unless it's partitioned) and Win98 would just barely fit on it. I've gotten a decent install of Win95A on a Compaq LTE with a 209MB drive and it has just about everything I need on it...

.. oh yeah, just to clarify:

"I started the computer with the floppy and it said "Starting Windows 95" and I see the Windows picture thing, but then it goes back to the black screen and it says C:\> Now I'm stuck and I don't know what to do."

Are you starting with the floppy disk still in the drive? If so, then you would expect to see 'starting Windows 95' and be left at the DOS prompt - although you say that you're left with the C:\> prompt, seems to indicate the floppy is not being booted from.

If you successfully 'sys'ed a Win98 hard drive with a Win95 bootdisk, you may encounter several kinds of problems (depending on the 95 version)

'Starting Windows 9x..' message is contained in IO.SYS (you probably have the wrong one now)

Confusion reigns

Report Offensive Follow Up For Removal

I'll go ahead and send you a bootdisk file that'll restore the correct 98SE system files. But as jboy says it's going to be slow.

Your post also indicates you've got 250 meg of unused space on the hard drive. As mentioned above, that's not much. If you remove any other software it's best to go through add/remove programs in control panel.

OK, I just sent it. Sorry it took so long. Post back results.

"No disk's with purchase of PC"

I am assuming that also mean's you did not get the "OS" disk with the laptop . It is illegal for the seller of a system to hold onto the "OS" disk ! It must be sold with the laptop , unless the "OS" has been erased from the hard drive '>.....

It was purchased from a yard sale. I don't think there's any criminal liability here.

Kayla, I sent it but your mailbox rejected it. Either it's full or it doesn't accept attachments. I can resend it when you get it straightened out on your end.

I'm curious about the 95/98 thing. Before you deleted the files, are you sure it was booting up to 95?

Since you apparently sys'd the drive, that would have transferred the command.com from the bootdisk to the root of the hard drive. But it wouldn't have changed the copy in the windows folder. That's why I recommended checking the one in the windows folder to determine your original OS.

But a better file to check would have been win.com. You may want to boot from the bootdisk again and at the a:\> prompt type:

dir c:\windows\win.com

and enter. Post back the date associated with the win.com file.

There shouldn't be a 98SE version of command.com in the windows folder if you're running 95. But if there was, 95 would still run OK because the one in the windows folder isn't used when booting.

Ok, I got the message
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 13F0-0B48
Directory of C:\WINDOWS
WIN COM 24,791 04-23-99 10:22p
1 file(s) 24,791 bytes
0 dir(s) 249,765,888 bytes free

That is all it says. Yes, I am sure that it was booting up to Windows 95 before. I also have Windows 95 on a CD-ROM and could download another windows version if necessary. Another thing, I am not worried about losing any data on the laptop because I don't have anything on there anyways. If it would be better to just reformat and re-install Windows altogether, that is fine. Although, I don't know how to do that either!
I don't know why my email has rejected your email.....maybe it is because it the inbox was full. I was out of town for a few days, that's why I haven't posted back. You can try again, now that I've emptied it. If that one doesn't work, try foreverkayla@hotmail.com Oh, and another thing, I don't know what "sys"-ed means.....you all are using that word quite commonly and I have no clue what that is...I know that I typed in "sys" but I don't know what it means or what it did. lol
Well, hope you can help me!!
Kayla

sys'd is just a way of saying you ran the command sys c: which you indicated you did in your initial post.

That win.com is also a 98 SE file. I wonder if you have another windows directory. Boot with the boot disk and at the a:\> prompt type:

dir c:\windows.*

and enter. What does it show?

Next, at the a:\> prompt type:

fdisk

and enter. Y to large disk support if asked, then option 4. Exactly what does it say?

If we can't get this figured out shortly then it'd probably be best to do a fresh installation since as you say there's nothing you need to keep.

For a reinstallation I just want to make sure, does the laptop have a separate floppy drive and cdrom? Some of them had only one bay so that you could have either the floppy or cdrom installed--but not both at the same time.

But post back the fdisk results so we can see how the hard drive is set up.

Ok, so I typed the first thing in and I got WINDOWS <DIR> 11-12-01 12:47 p
0 file(s) 0 bytes
1 dir(s) 249,765,888 bytes free

Now, when I type in fdisk, I get this:
Display Partition Information
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Partition Status Type Mbytes System Usage
C:1 A PRI DOS 1293 FAT32 100%
Total disk space is 1295 Mbytes (1 Mbyte = 1048576 bytes)
I have an external (I think that is what it is - it's plugged in by a port) floppy disk drive. I also have a DVD ROM built in. I asked a cousin and he told me that to reformat, I would have to have a driver for the CD ROM and that the laptop will recognize the floppy drive. I am guessing that I will have to look online for the driver and then put that on a disk because the Windows 95 is on a CD. WOuld that be right??

Everything seems to indicate you have 98SE on there. The bootup screens look the same, except of course one say '98' and the other '95'.

I'll try again to send the 98SE file to fix the system files. Assuming the file goes through this time, give it a try. After that you can decide if you want to reformat and install 95.

The DVD will work fine as a regular cdrom and I think the default dos drivers on the bootdisk will see it OK so you probably won't need to hunt them down. Do you know if your 95 bootdisk has cdrom support with it? If so does it recognize a cdrom when it boots up?

With 95 I'm not sure if you'll be able to play DVDs on it. I think the DVD player software needs at least 98.

You have a 1.2 gig hard drive so you won't need to worry about space.

Can you post back the make and model # of the laptop? If you do a reinstallation you'd need to locate the necessary drivers for video and such.

Well, same thing happened. This is the message I got:

This message is larger than the current system limit or the recipient's mailbox is full. Create a shorter message body or remove attachments and try sending it again.

The file I'm trying to send is about 1.2 meg. That may be the problem. I'll try sending just the needed files rather than a bootdisk image. That way the attachment will be smaller.

I don't know what is happening with my email....maybe the file is too big. My laptop is a Toshiba Tecra 780DVD. I think that is all you asked for. Thanks for the help!
Kayla

OK, I think that one got there. Post back results.

Ok, I got the email but have not tried it yet. I found a boot disk for Windows 98 SE on this website: http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm
You asked me about cdrom support and I have no clue if that boot disk does. So, I popped in the disk and I did the sys thing and when I restart my laptop, it askes me if I want to start the computer with or without the CDROM. For both choices, I get back to the black screen and to the a prompt. I also get the message "The diagnostic tools were successfully loaded to drive D" after choosing to start without the cdrom. I don't know what this means. Please help, I feel like I'm almost there!!! I will try the fix now and post back in a bit.
Kayla

Ok, I did what you told me to do, typed fix and this is the messages I got (every line starts with A:\> ):
attrib -s -h -r c:\io.sys
attrib -s -h -r c:\msdos.sys
attrib -s -h -r c:\command.com
del c:\io.sys
del c:\msdos.sys
del c:command.com
sys s:

and then I get Data error reading drive A Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?

Hope you can help, again!!!
Kayla

When you boot with the 98 SE bootdisk, the last few lines that load before the final a:\> prompt will tell you the cdrom drive letter, or it'll give an error message indicating the cdrom couldn't be found. If that happens you would need different drivers. I found some on Toshiba's site that should work if the ones on the 98 disk don't.

If you run the disk I sent, boot up using the 98 bootdisk. That way you won't get the OS version error message that I indicated was a possibility.

Ooops, I meant to write sys c as that last thing. :)
Kayla

Your floppy drive isn't able to read the disk. It may be a problem with your floppy drive or the floppy disk. Try extracting the file I sent to another disk and see if it'll work then.

Now I get the message "Insert system disk in drive A:\ Press any key to continue" I'm guessing I have to put in the boot disk?? Do you have any kind of messenger service like MSN, Yahoo or AOl...that would be much better than to keep on posting here!
Kayla

Yeah go ahead and put the 98 bootdisk in. The disk failed after it had deleted the system files but before it installed the others.

You may be able to instant message me on AOL. You may need to be an AOL user, I'm not sure.

But we may be just about done here if we can get the system files transferred.

I have AOL. My id is b4everkayla. Can you add me?

OK, I think I've added you to my 'buddy list'. I have all the IM messages blocked because I was getting spammed there too. But the buddy list should work. I think you need to be on AOL for it to work.

What is your ID, I need to add you too or you need to send me an invitation or something. I have already spoken with people on aol before. It should show that I am online right now.
Kayla