Problems with Product Recovery CD on W98

[Tzunami]

Here is my situation:
A computer at work running on W98 crashed big time. Since there is some very important information on it, I can't format it just yet, so I used the Product Recovery CD.

- The error message I had when I tried to boot up the computer was that the VMM32.VXD was corrupted/deleted, so I recovered that file.

- After that, it pretty much said that several more files has to be updated, and I did so (C:\windows\system\vmm32\*.vxd)

- It didn't work, so I decided to recover the whole C:\Windows.

Now, when I try to boot up, I first have the choice if I want to start Win in normal or safe mode. Either way it doesn't work and here is the messages I get:

Normal:
While initializing device CONFIGMG:
Windows protection error. You need to restart.

Safe Mode:
Error: Himem.sys has detected unreliable XMS memory at adress <8 digit alphanumeric code>.
XMS Drivers not installed.
press any key to continue.

<I press enter>

Himem.sys is missing.
Make sure that the file is in your windows directory. [it is]
You need to restart ...

Any options??? By the way, after I make the recovery, I can move through C:\, but they other drivers aren't accessible.

 

[cdogg]

When you chose to recover the whole directory, you overwrited any updated system files that have been modified by applications for use with DLL files. In other words, you'll proabably have to face reloading Windows in its entirety, but before you do that, try this:

- Boot the PC to a command prompt
- Type SFC and hit enter
- This is the System File Checker and will attempt to reload the default system files (.vxd's, .dll's, etc..)

My guess is that the system is already hosed...

 

[Kento]

Here's one error if it helps:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q187/6/12.asp

The question is what caused the original crash? The &quot;unreliable XMS memory&quot; error can indicate that the ram is bad but not always. It's just one possibility. Perhaps that's what caused the original crash but i'm only guessing. I agree with cdogg in that your next logical step would be to reinstall Windows and see if everything is ok then.

 

[reghakr]

I'd suggest going to Start>Run, and type vcmui, since most people never use sfc to update the database of files. It's much faster and easier.

For your himem.sys problem, look over this article:

Symptoms:

When you reboot the computer, it displays one of the following (or similar) error messages:

&quot;Windows XMS driver Unable to control A20 line; XMS driver not installed.&quot;
&quot;HIMEM.SYS is missing.&quot;
This error message does not appear when first applying power to the computer, only when rebooting it once it is already powered on. It is more likely to affect laptop computers than desktop computers. This error message will frequently appear for the first time after installing one of several versions of Norton Anti-Virus.

Solution:

Turn the computer off completely, then follow these steps to make changes to the computer's DOS startup files, autoexec.bat and config.sys:

Turn on the computer.
For Windows 95 When the screen says &quot;Starting Windows 95&quot;, immediately press the F8 key. This displays the Windows 95 Startup Menu. For Windows 98: as soon as you turn on the computer, press and hold the CTRL key until the Windows 98 Startup Menu is displayed.
Select Safe Mode - Command Prompt Only either by highlighting that option with your down arrows or by typing in the number of that menu option, and then press the Enter key on your keyboard.
At the C:\> prompt, type EDIT AUTOEXEC.BAT [Enter]
You should now have a blue screen which you can edit text in. At the very top of the window, add the following line SET DOS16M=2
Press Alt+F to open the File menu. Choose Exit and press the Enter key.
When prompted to save changes, use your arrow keys to highlight &quot;Yes&quot; and press Enter.
You will now be back at the C:\> prompt. Type EDIT CONFIG.SYS [Enter]
In the text editor, find a line which refers to a file called HIMEM.SYS and add /M:1 to the very end of that line. Be sure there is a space following the end of the existing line and the /M:1
If you do not have a HIMEM.SYS line, add the following line: DEVICE=C:\Windows\HIMEM.SYS /M:1
Press Alt+F to open the File menu. Choose Exit and press Enter. When prompted to save changes, answer Yes and press Enter.
Reboot the computer. It should now boot normally.
Note1 You may need to alter the path if your version of Windows 95 or Windows 98 is not located in the Windows directory.

Note2 The /M:1 line depends upon the hardware version of the A20 handler. You may need to try the numbers 1-17 (for instance, /M:12) to find the correct version for the computer. PS/2 computers and Prolinea computers, for example, tend to require /M:2 instead of /M:1.

reghakr

 

[Kento]

Note: This question was also posted here if anyone wants to look in on it...

http://discussions.virtualdr.com/Forum2/HTML/048317.html

 

[WildFireZca]

Take the drive out and put in another computer and extract the info. Take the drive out and format it. reload the software and re-install the info to the drive.

 

[Tzunami]

Thanks for the help guys. I managed to retrieve the specific info that my boss wanted, so it wouldn't bother too much now to format the thing, but I'll try what reghakr posted, since it would be a real bother setting up all the softwares and the projects we are working on.

As for the reason why it crashed like that, from what I gathered, the computer was already buggy before, but what killed it off was a scandisk that crashed. I know nothing more as I was put in charge in dealing with that since nobody else was available to do it.

And Kento, I was the one who posted too on VirtualDr (long live copy/paste).

 

[Tzunami]

Ok, I'm back. Windows manages to [somewhat] start up in normal mode. It started the setup (since I overinstalled win), but the setup stopped responding. Now, when I start, I have the Mprexe who does an illegal operation and the setup won't even begin... Should I just give up and format or there is still something I can do?

 

[ohuett]

I'm with WildFireZca on this one...I think the easiest thing to do is install the hard drive into another PC and retrieve the data that your boss needs. Next, take the hard drive back out, format it, and re-install Windows. Finally, transfer the data that your boss needed back to the newly formatted/freshly installed Windows drive. You could transfer the files via network or floppy disks...depends on if you have access to a network and the size of the files. It would take a long time to put alot of files on floppies and go back and forth. Hope that helps.