I saw a message on this forum relating to the problem I
am having with my friend's computer. Unfortunately I
cannot find that thread again. The computer will no
longer completely boot up, and often gives a fatal error
right before rebooting and coming up with a blank screen.
When I did manage to get to a c:/ prompt it told me to run
scanreg, then gave the following:

The following file is missing or corrupted:
C:\windows\himem.sys
C:\windows\dblbuff.sys
C:\windows\ifshlp.sys

I have tried reinstalling Windows 98 off of the cd, but that
does not seem to be doing enough to fix the problem.
Does anyone know if the computer is able to be patched
long enough for us to pull some files off of the hard drive,
and how we can get to that point? Any information would
be greatly appreciated.

Did you manage to do the install but still got the same symptoms?

Sometimes the error messages can be misleading and I suspect that it is the file msdos.sys that has gone missing. It's a special file (not on the CD as such) but if you send me a Personal Message with you email address I can send you one. I can find the other files mentioned too if necessary. Don't put your email addy on here in open text or the spammers will home in on it.

There are ways to get your stuff off the machine in DOS but it's a tricky and long winded process (everything in 8 character truncated format). If we can get Windows up somehow it would be far easier to get your files off.

Have you tried Safe Mode (tap F8 whilst booting)? It probably won't make it but there's nothing lost by trying.

DerekW

If that is the case, a template for that text file (& instructions) can be found here, although it will need to be customized for your specific system (a minor task)

I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil. I simply suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the devil, it wouldn't need an interpreter.

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Ok, the computer will boot up in safe mode, but
unfortunately it also restricts our access to the cd drive.
Without that we can't get anything on or off the computer.
We have a USB storage stick, but the old computer is
missing the correct driver file for it to actually run. We
can't get the driver file on without using the cd drive.

I asked the computer to find the msdos.sys file and
nothing turned up. Should we just go ahead and follow
the template for the text file? Will we need to modify it at
all, and how?

Thank you for your help.

I would try it just as it stands (the modifications are not essential). It goes straight into the C root itself.

DerekW

If it goes to safe mode I think your msdos.sys file is OK.

You say you tried reinstalling windows. Did you complete the installation? If so, what is the problem now? What steps did you take when doing the reinstallation?

fwiw, I'm afraid you would have to edit it to indicate your windows folder (& being unable to find it doesn't mean a whole lot, it's a hidden file) - but as noted, that doesn't seem to be the issue

Yes, it's unclear how the reinstallation failed to help, and perhaps the situation is now somewhat different?

I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil. I simply suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the devil, it wouldn't need an interpreter.

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