Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!

Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!

  • Congratulations bkrike on being selected by the Tek-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!

win 95 won't start 2

Status
Not open for further replies.

tb913

IS-IT--Management
Jul 30, 2002
49
US
One of our machines is having a problem getting windows 95 to start. When you power on, you get to the screen where you can start in safe mode, etc., then when you start in safe mode(or any other mode for that matter), the 95 screen comes up like it is going to start the os, then a black screen comes up that says "Invalid VxD dynamic link call to device #3 Service B." It says windows configuration is invalid and to run windows setup. Any suggestions? I have tried starting from a 95 boot disk with no luck. Thanks for the help.
 
Howdy:

The fix straight from good old Microsoft..

When you attempt to start your computer in any of the Windows operating systems listed at the beginning of this article, you may receive the Windows splash screen, and then the computer restarts. Next, the Startup menu appears, with Safe Mode selected. If you select Normal Mode, you may receive the following error message:

Invalid VxD dynamic link call to device 3, service B. Your Windows configuration is invalid. Run the Windows Setup program again to correct this problem.
The computer shuts down. You can start in Safe mode without problems or error messages.

CAUSE
This behavior can occur if the System.ini file is blank.

RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, extract a new copy of the System.ini file to your hard disk. To do this, follow these steps.

NOTE: Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.

Restart the computer, and then, when prompted, select Safe Mode.

Browse to C:\Windows. If no files are visible, click Show Files.

On the View menu, click Folder Options.

On the View tab, click to clear the Hide file extensions for known file types check box, and then click to select the Show all files check box.

Click OK. If no files are visible, click Show Files.

Right-click System.ini, click Rename, type System.old, and then press ENTER.

Double-click the Sysbckup folder in the same directory.

On the View menu, click Details, and then click Name to sort the files by name.

Find the most recent rb*.cab file from before the date and time that the problem started. Double-click this file.

Right-click System.ini, and then click Extract.

In the Choose a Folder in which to save the files box, browse to C:\Windows, and then click OK.

Close the .cab file, and then browse to C:\Windows.

Double-click System.ini. If System.ini is blank, repeat steps 9 through 12, using the next most-recent .cab file.

Close System.ini, and then restart the computer.NOTE: With Windows 98 it is also possible to replace the System.ini file by restoring to an earlier registry. One of the files that is replaced with an earlier version is the System.ini file. For additional information about how to restore to an earlier version of the registry, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

221512 How to Manually Restore the Windows 98/Me Registry

Murray
 
That article looks like a place to start. Thanks. However, it says that it applies for machines that you can start in safe mode with no problems. This machine will not start in safe mode. it does the same thing when you try to start in safe mode. I'll give it a try. Thanks
 
I can't use that article because I can't get into safe mode. When I select safe mode, the computer restarts and then comes back to the same screen. Selecting safe mode again restarts. ????
 
What happens when you try to boot using the boot floppy??

Murray
 
It goes to a c: command prompt and won't let me start windows.
 
Have you tried booting to DOS and then copying the system files from a: drive to c: drive??

Murray
 
Here's what I did. Got to a command prompt and formatted a floppy disk. then did sys a: to make the boot disk. I'm not sure what you mean by copying the files from the a: to c:?
 
when I try to start using the boot disk, it says that himem.sys is missing. It is in the windows directory, though.
 
Ok. Problem solved. Turns out it was bad RAM. Replaced that and now it works like a dream. Thanks for the help.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Part and Inventory Search

Sponsor

Back
Top