Hello, I unherited of a handheld compaq armada 1560 that has several important system files missing or corrupted. The last owner of this pc told me that a guy from a hotline center made a mistake and while trying to repair the pc (there were too many "fatal errors")"sort of" formatted the pc without knowing that there wasn't any cd of WIN 95 to reboot windows. So , here's what's happening when I start the computer: I can't start windows even in restricted mode (approx. traduction of mode sans echec). When I try to start windows in normal mode I get the following lines : c:\windows\command\display.sys file missing or corrupted Error in config.sys line 4 c:\windows\command\country.sys file missing or corrupted Error in config.sys line 5 c:\windows\himem.sys file missing or corrupted c:\windows\ifshlp.sys file missing or corrupted Can't find win.com When I try to start windows in restricted mode (mode sans echec),I get the following lines: c:\windows\himem.sys file missing or corrupted c:\windows\dblbuff.sys file missing or corrupted c:\windows\ifshlp.sys file missing or corrupted MS DOS is working so I would like to know how to repair the missing/corrupted files. I don't have any WIN 95 cd or any WIN 95 Boot disk but I have several versions of Windows (one WIN 98 that is for PC without windows,one regular WIN 98 SE,one WIN ME, and one WIN XP).I was wondering how to install a new Windows onto this PC from MS DOS (that is IF I can't repair it). Thank you for your help! >>Meow<<

How much RAM? How big a hard drive? Does the computer have a CD and a floppy? Can it boot from a CD? Can you locate the sound and video drivers online? These questions will determine your best options.

This machine sounds old your best bet is to find a copy of Windows95 if you want to repair it. Other wise you could try 98SE on there but it would be pretty slow.

Go to the comcrap support site and find out if that thing is new/fast enough to run '98 DO NOT format the drive until you've at least tried a few other things, or are out of options. If you have to stay with '95 on that machine, due to RAM and speed, hard drive capacity, you'll eventually HAVE to come up with a '95 cd. Just about any version would be fine, even an upgrade. There's an easy workaround for that. http://www.netpathway.com/~kramer/win95upgrade.html Now, you MIGHT be able to launch a reinstall right from the hard drive. Find out if the .cab files are on the hard drive, seems like C:\Windows\Options\Cabs. They might be somewhere else, or they might not be there at all. Try running "setup" from the C: prompt. FIND OUT THE CURRECT PRODUCT KEY. Seems to me (fuzzy brain0 that the produce key in'95 is either the same or nearly the same as the number displayed in Start/Settings/ControlPanel/System/General You can find it in the registry, but if you cannot load windows, you can find it in DOS: http://computing.net/windows95/wwwboard/forum/160831.html Which says, mostly: At c:\windows prompt, type: find /I "productkey"C:\windows\system.dat THAT KEY will do you no good, unless either: You still have the .cab files on the hard drive, or You have a CD that "matches" the version. If the key is an "OEM" key, then you must have an "OEM" cd, or else Any '95 CD with a good key. Again, read carefully the easy method I posted for the upgrade workaround.

There is no "sort of" format - either it was erased or it wasn't - if it wasn't then maybe you can perform a rescue as name describes, but you may be further ahead to reinstall 98 will run fine on 'older' machines if there is sufficient memory (64Mb+ is good) and enough hard drive capacity - all 'Pentium MMX' tells us is that it's a pentium processor, probably 166 - 233MHz We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true

Well 98 first edition will run on a 486DX 66Mhz with minimum of 16meg ram. Thats bare minimum. As jboy said it's probably a 166 or 233 which is more than enough for 98 but it would be better to have 95 on there. Well as i was typing this i looked for the specs and the system has non-removable base memory 16MB Maximum Memory 144MB Memory Slots 1 (1 bank of 1) A Pentium 166 So with a ram upgrade 98 would work ok on there.