win98 won't start

**homecomiingbeer** · January 26th, 2004, 08:59 PM

Hello, my son has win98se last night he booted up his machine it gave him this error on the screen" cannot find win.com unable to continue loading windows".
I know i've fixed this a couple of years ago on the same machine but since I am running xp now i forgot all that dos stuff.

Can anyone help me?
Thks

**Technoed** · January 26th, 2004, 09:04 PM

Download a boot disk for Windows 98, hit the 'Repair' option, then try repairing with CHKDSK /R.

http://www.bootdisk.com

**Mickwish** · January 26th, 2004, 09:06 PM

Sounds like it can't find the windows files for some reason. If it has a bootable CD-ROM drive your could load the win98 CD in and reinstall over the top - that should save the current settings, but reinstall the critical files.

Might also be something to do with the autoexec.bat or config.sys files - maybe they have been fiddled with and windoze now doesn't know where to look for files.

Or it could be a hard drive failure.

If a reinstall doesn't work, might be worth checking the HDD with a DOS utility.

Cheers
Mick

**Dax_Brandy** · January 26th, 2004, 09:21 PM

some viruses can also mess up with the win.com.

make sure you have updated virus definitions before restoring the win.com.

**caperjack** · January 27th, 2004, 06:15 AM

http://support.microsoft.com/default...NoWebContent=1

**Richard Cranium** · January 27th, 2004, 06:42 AM

Don't know if the ol scanreg trick will work, however hold down the Ctrl key after hitting the power button. Choose command prompt and type in

scanreg /restore

note the space between scanreg and the /

choose a date prior to the error.

gluck
Doc

**allana_im** · January 27th, 2004, 03:25 PM

You can try the following steps:

1. When the machine is booting up go into your BIOS and set it to
Boot from your CD Rom.

2. Put the Win XP Cd in the drive and let it boot from the CD.

Hopefully when the machine comes on you can reinstall/repair Win XP. You should check for viruses as well. Make sure that you virus protection is up to date.

You can go to the following site for a free scan on your system:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

If it has expired you may want to uninstall it and use AVG Anti-Virus. It is free for now so take advantage. Here is the link (I got this from Tech TV Site):
http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/d...520601,00.html

Good Luck and I hope this helps...
Allana

NB If your current file system is NTFS it would not see your Win
98 Startup Disk

**rastorize** · January 27th, 2004, 03:53 PM

I agree with caperjack...he has the correct answer in his link to Microsoft...

If I understood correctly, homecomiingbeer uses Windows XP, but his son is on 98 and it's been awhile since he's used 98 and DOS...and he needs help for Win 98, not XP.

**homecomiingbeer** · January 27th, 2004, 07:37 PM

ok thks guys I've tried the scanreg /restore thing doesn't work.
I checked for viruses a day before this happened on the machine nothing came up.
So i tried the link u guys sent me but it says to put a new file in the windows folder, I wish i could do that but I really can't get to the desktop not even in safemode.
Any suggestions?

Thks