HELP!!! Windows doesn't boot up

lost-and-found · January 1st, 2002, 07:43 PM

Please somebody. My mom's computer was on. It isn't connected to the net or anything. It was in "stand by' mode. I move the mouse and it doesn't wake up. I restart. i try to boot to Win. I get "A windows protection error. please restart your computer". Every time I try to restart, the computer freezes.

I can get into safe mode, but I don't know what to do from there.

Win 98se
K6-2 333 (o/c'd to 350).

**Update: I went into safemode and went to display properties. Now the display properties box looks like the one in Win95.

What is happening?

Germ · January 1st, 2002, 07:53 PM

Haven't done this in a while. After you boot into safe mode, when you shut down is one of the options "Restart in MS-DOS"? If so, pick that option and when it restarts in DOS, type SCANREG /RESTORE at the prompt, hit enter, pick yesterday's backup and restore it. It's pretty self explanatory after you go into restore mode. Like I said, I haven't done this in a while and I don't remember how many times it will prompt you for input. Just follow the text prompts.

And I would advise your Mom...........Do Not Use Standby Mode. This happens a lot more often than it should.

If you can't restart in DOS. I think you can boot with a boot floppy, change directory to WINDOWS and use the same SCANREG /RESTORE command.

Germ

in safe mode, Windows loads with a minimal set of drivers. Standard VGA for the vid card and some of your hardware may not work. If you get it to boot back to normal Windows all your drivers will load.

lost-and-found · January 1st, 2002, 08:02 PM

Thank you thank you thank you....

It helped. Windows loaded.

Thanks

Germ · January 2nd, 2002, 08:04 PM

Glad you got it going.

Germ

lost-and-found · January 2nd, 2002, 10:38 PM

HELP again.

Today I turn it on and it starts beeping. One long beep during windows startup screen. I restarted and tried to go into safe mode.

I got the error : Himem.sys has detected XMS memory at address 00207400 XMS driver not installe.

Then some system file is corrupted or missng.

What is up with the system? Corrupt ram? Pleas help

lost-and-found · January 2nd, 2002, 10:41 PM

Another error: Invalid VxD dynamic link call to device #3 service B.....

**EvilRick** · January 2nd, 2002, 11:06 PM

Sounds like corrupt files. You can safely reinstall Windows by putting the CD-ROM in the drive and rebooting. If it supports it. If not, reboot with a 98SE boot disk and choose the 1st option of using CD-ROM Support.

Once you're in, just run "setup.exe" from either the CD-ROM or if you copied the files to the hard drive (which is a good idea ie. C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS). Setup will reinstall Windows and you should be able to recover from there.

Good luck!

lost-and-found · January 2nd, 2002, 11:38 PM

after getting an error that himem.sys was missing, I decided to put in RAM chips one by one. Vouala (spelling??) windows loads butifully.

Darn, One of the chips is corrupt. my mom had 128MB now she's stuck with a 350MHz and only 96mb of RAM.

That's not good cause that's one of my UD machines. (less RAM=less points=bad).

Thanks for the help anyways.

Michael Chiew · January 3rd, 2002, 01:47 AM

lost-and-found

Ever thought of defective ram as the source of your problem. That, and a faulty power supply.

I place defective ram first, then faulty power supply.

The error message is revealing "Himem.sys has detected XMS memory at address 00207400 XMS driver not installed."

Himem.sys is Extended Memory Manager (XMS, or Extended Memory Specification), a driver that's responsible for keeping Win98SE above the first 1MB memory. Himem.sys may be missing, corrupted or damaged.

To test the theory that Himem.sys is missing, corrupted or damaged (that this is not a defective ram issue), start your machine with a boot disk. If you boot up successfully, then it is likely that Himem.sys is missing, corrupted or damaged. If you fail to boot up successfully, you're looking at other causes, one of which is defective ram.

Upon successful boot up with a boot disk, copy Himem.sys to C:\Windows on your hard drive. At the A:\ prompt, type this -

Copy Himem.sys C:\Windows (and enter).

You may be asked to overwrite current Himem.sys on your hard drive. Answer YES, and Himem.sys will be copied from your boot disk to C:\Windows in your machine.

Before doing this, though, check Config.sys in C:\ directory. Get into C:\ directory and type -

Edit Config.sys (and enter)

Config.sys carries an entry that loads Himem.sys. It should read DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS. If the entry shows a different directory, for example, DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\MEDIA\HIMEM.SYS or DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS, you have to send Himem.sys to the directory specified in Himem.sys.

The fact that a number of other system files are corrupted, or missing plus invalid vxd dynamic link seem to point to defective ram, or faulty power supply.

EvilRick's suggestion to re-install your OS is a worthy option. Try it. See what happens.

Michael Chiew

lynchmob · January 3rd, 2002, 05:36 AM

As soon as I start getting those "himem.sys is missing"and "invalid vxd..."messages,I suspect ram.Especially after adding extra ram.But I do a dos or safe mode check 1st on the file(s) in question.
lynch