Windows 95: Error in your Config.sys file

[illbill]

Hey all -



Ok here's the deal: I had both Windows 95 and Windows 2000 Evaluation edition on my old computer. Anyways, I added an ethernet hub and can now run dsl internet on it.

Windows 95 doesn't run and when I try to install Windows ME off the CD-ROM, i get this:

There is an error in your CONFIG.SYS file.
Type the name of the Command Interpreter (e.g., C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM)
A>


I tried using a windows 95 bootdisk but it says I cannot run it off dos-mode. My windows 2000 evaluation edition expired so it doesn't let me log onto that anymore.

Anyone know what I can do? I have Windows ME but I still run into the COMMAND.SYS error problem.

:(

---------------

I can't even choose to run windows 2000 though. I used to be allowed to choose which to run, Win95 or Win2000. Now all it does is go directly to Windows 95 without a choice, since the evaluation is over.

Its says: DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER


when I add the boot disk, it says Invalid system disk, please remove and press enter.


-----------------

10 minutes ago I ran Windows 2000 on the computer until the evaluation was over. Now I try to run autoexec.bat off the Windows ME and it says that it cannot setup because my harddrive is not working, there is a malfunction, etc.

This is impossible because the harddrive just worked a few mins ago. I tried installing windows ME on another computer that definately had a harddrive problem and it gave the same message.

???

I run the Windows 95 boot disk and the floppy does work for like 2 mins...then says "Starting windows 95"

and then stays in dos and says:

CD-ROM Device Driver for IDE (Four Channels Supported)
(C)Copyright Oak Technology Inc. 1993-1996
Driver Version: V340
Device Name: BANANA
Transfer Mode: Programmed I/0
Drive 0: Port = 170 (Secondary Channel), Master IRQ=15
Firmware version : ZM50


MSCDEX Version 2.25
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp. 1986-1995. All rights reserved
Drive R: = Driver BANANA unit 0

A:\>

--------------------
The original message:

Please wait while Setup initializes.
Scanning system registry...
Cannot create a temporary directory.
If you have HPFS or NTFS installed on your hard drive, you will need to create
an MS-DOS boot partition to set up Windows.

Since it "cannot" create a temp. directory, I hope that my harddrive isn't screwed/finished.... I dunno what drive my windows is on because when I type "C:\" it says invalid drive specification... but it can't be burnt because I just used it and was on 3.8mustang with it 10 mins ago! http://www.3.8mustang.com/forum/images/smilies/frown.gif


---------------

Alright, I managed to find a diagnostics test from the boot disk and here is what I found out:

Disk Drives:

A: Floppy Drive, 3.5" 1.44M

B: Floppy Drive, 5.25" 260 K

R: CD-ROMS drive

MSCDEX version 2.25 installed
lastdrive=Z:

--------------

Also, when I try to partition my disk by running "fdisk" after I run the boot disk, it says:

"error reading fixed disk"

[tetonbob]

Hi illbill-

A little more info about your system might help. HD and CPU make and model, RAM, devices, etc.

Slow down a little - you're all over the map. Is there any thing on this HD you need to save? Have you tried downloading and running the Manufacturer's Diagnostic disk for your HD? You can get one at their web site. This may be able to tell you if your HD has issues, although, from your description, I don't think that is it.

When your run fdisk, can you select #4 and check the status of your partitions? If so, what is there? Are all these OSs in separate partitions? Did you use a 3rd party disk manager such as Partition Magic? If not, Windows like to be installed in a particular order when using a multi-boot configuration, and you may have caused further complications.

Is your Win2000 Evaluation OS on CD? FYI, you can install it over the top to get another 120 days out of it, forever, I think. Was it installed as NTFS?

Have you tried using a Win98 bootdisk? They have better CD ROM support. You can download one from www.bootdisk.com to a folder, and then run the .exe file from there. Don't just copy it to the floppy.

We need to be able to get you to see your drive from a prompt first.

[illbill]

Hey - Thanks for the reply.


My comp old comp is a Pentium 200.

I ran the diagnostics and it says it only detects three disk drives (2 floppies and one cdrom)

It doesn't even detect a harddrive.

It says that it cannot find msdos.exe and config.sys is not there.

When I try to initially partition (fdisk), it says "No fixed disks present".

I have never partitioned ever.

[tetonbob]

When you boot the system, does your HD show in the POST screen - the first black screen which shows all kinds of arcane data?

Can you get into your BIOS setup?

[tetonbob]

Can you successfully run the command "fdisk /mbr" without the quotes?

[illbill]

When you boot the system, does your HD show in the POST screen - the first black screen which shows all kinds of arcane data?

Can you get into your BIOS setup?
Yep, I was able to change it to make the CDROM boot first and try to install Windows ME but it gives me the error stated above.

I tried fdisk /mbr, and it says "The master boot code has NOT been updated."

???

[tetonbob]

Does your Hard Drive show in the POST screen?

If you want to boot from a floppy startup disk, you need to change the boot order back to A or floppy first.

[illbill]

Does your Hard Drive show in the POST screen?

If you want to boot from a floppy startup disk, you need to change the boot order back to A or floppy first.Ok, my start up goes as follows.

I do run the boot disk, and it takes me to an A:\ prompt.

BUT my problem is that the computer (when I do a diagnostics test) doesn't recognize my computer having a drive other than my cd, and 2 diskette drives. Its like my harddrive never existed on this computer?

I try to partition the harddrive "fdisk /mbr" and it says "The Master boot code has NOT been updated".

From there I don't know how to do this?

---------------

I started it up and this is what it said at the beginning:

Pentium-MMX CPU at 200MHz
Memory test: 32768K OK

Award Plug and Play BIOS Extension V1.0A

Detecting HDD Primary Master.... None
Detecting HDD Secondary Master... Mat****a CR-585

Initializing Plug and PLay Cards....
Card-01 ESS ES1869 Plug and Play AudioDrive



and then goes to the screen where my boot disk kicks in.

[tetonbob]

Detecting HDD Primary Master.... None
Detecting HDD Secondary Master... Mat****a CR-585


Ok, this is what I wanted to see. Is the Secondary Master your CD ROM? Your HD should be the primary master. It isn't showing, so either the BIOS setup isn't right, or your drive is going south, or the IDE controller has gone bad. Go back into your BIOS setup and make sure the Primary IDE is set to AUTO. If it is already, I think your drive/controller is faulty. One way to see if it is the drive or controller is to move the CD ROM from the secondary to the primary, and the HD to the secondary from the primary and see if either or both show up on POST.

Another check for your drive would be to slave it to another system and see if it gets recognized there.

Anybody else out there have an opinion?

Bob

PS - the Master boot code can't be updated because the system doesn't see an active partition upon which the MBR would reside.

[Strider]

Hi Illbill,
Finally found you ;)
It looks like you're in good hands with Tetonbob. I have no suggestions at this time except: if you add your hard drive as a slave in another system as Tetonbob suggested, and if you can access it, and if there are any files on it that you're really fond of and are irreplaceable, back them up while you have the chance, just in case.

[tetonbob]

Thanks for checking in, Strider!

Bob

:wave:

[illbill]

Hi guys, I went into the Bios setup and the primary and secondary were already set to auto.

In the post is still says that it doesn't detect a harddrive. Just my cd-rom drive in secondary.

I don't understand how my HD could be working one minute on my Windows 2000 edition, and then as soon as the evaluation ends, the HD doesn't work anymore?

[Strider]

Hi guys, I went into the Bios setup and the primary and secondary were already set to auto.

In the post is still says that it doesn't detect a harddrive. Just my cd-rom drive in secondary.

I don't understand how my HD could be working one minute on my Windows 2000 edition, and then as soon as the evaluation ends, the HD doesn't work anymore?
Before you blame Win2000 though, recall that the BIOS looks for the hard drive long before any windows components load.
That said, I wonder if Win2000's NTFS file system is confounding the attempts to access the drive. I don't think so, at the BIOS level, but I'm not familiar with NTFS. Tetonbob?

[tetonbob]

Strider-

I'm with you. BIOS POST is well ahead of OS loading...NTFS shouldn't be a factor, IMO.

Some registry/driver confusion has probably occured, but that shouldn't affect POST either, right?

I'm stymied right now....I'll do some heavy searching.

illbill-

I agree it seems sudden and unlikely your HD just up and died without making a squawk and squeal, but let's try to eliminate that possibility.

In the meantime, just for grins, can you try the HD troubleshoot avenues I outlined earlier, please?

Just to make sure I understood an earlier post, you cannot change from A: to C: while booted from a Win98 startup disk?

[tetonbob]

the computer (when I do a diagnostics test) doesn't recognize my computer having a drive other than my cd, and 2 diskette drives

With what are you performing this diagnostic?

[illbill]

Strider-

I'm with you. BIOS POST is well ahead of OS loading...NTFS shouldn't be a factor, IMO.

Some registry/driver confusion has probably occured, but that shouldn't affect POST either, right?

I'm stymied right now....I'll do some heavy searching.

illbill-

I agree it seems sudden and unlikely your HD just up and died without making a squawk and squeal, but let's try to eliminate that possibility.

In the meantime, just for grins, can you try the HD troubleshoot avenues I outlined earlier, please?

Just to make sure I understood an earlier post, you cannot change from A: to C: while booted from a Win98 startup disk?

Hi Teton - Ok, I ran the Windows 98 boot disk and can now switch from A: to C:\ drive. It says this when i run "dir" on the C:\

[i]Volume in drive C is MS-RAMDRIVE
Directory of C:\

Attrib exe
Chkdsk exe
Command com
Debug exe
Edit com
Ext ext
extract exe
format com
help bat
mscdex exe
readme txt
restart com
scandisk exe
scandisk ini
sys com

15 files(s) 595 051 bytes
0 dir (s) 1, 486, 848 bytes free


I try the fdisk and it still says the master boot code has NOT been updated.


And the diagnostic where I check my drives was both in BIOS setup and on my Windows ME cd or Windows 95 boot disk.

[tetonbob]

Well, S**T-

The RAMdrive should be D. Your hard drive is not being seen. Try D: or E: just to see. Also, see what happens if you try to boot from the Windows2000 evaluation CD. This will require resetting your boot order in the BIOS. But you know that. If that does nothing, change the setting back to A: first for now.

I'd like you to identify your HD, go to the manufacturer's website, and download their diagnostic for your particular drive model. It should fit on a bootable floppy. Follow an instructions and run it. Most manufacturers support their drives for quite a while.

Also try swapping the cable connections on the IDE controllers on your mobo. This will help eliminate controller issues. Try this first, then the diagnostic. Then try slaving it to another system.

One thing-

Before you dive inside your box,if you are in unfamiliar territory, be sure to familiarize yourself with and then take the proper Electro Static Discharge(ESD) precautions.(Google) If you know this already, forgive me. Just want to cover all the bases.

[illbill]

Well, S**T-

The RAMdrive should be D. Your hard drive is not being seen. Try D: or E: just to see. Also, see what happens if you try to boot from the Windows2000 evaluation CD. This will require resetting your boot order in the BIOS. But you know that. If that does nothing, change the setting back to A: first for now.

I'd like you to identify your HD, go to the manufacturer's website, and download their diagnostic for your particular drive model. It should fit on a bootable floppy. Follow an instructions and run it. Most manufacturers support their drives for quite a while.

Also try swapping the cable connections on the IDE controllers on your mobo. This will help eliminate controller issues. Try this first, then the diagnostic. Then try slaving it to another system.

One thing-

Before you dive inside your box,if you are in unfamiliar territory, be sure to familiarize yourself with and then take the proper Electro Static Discharge(ESD) precautions.(Google) If you know this already, forgive me. Just want to cover all the bases.
Teton -

I have no idea how to find what make my HD is? It doesn't show on my computer (because it doesn't detect it) and I have no documentation. Is it written on the harddrive itself? My computer has been open the whole time, I already added a Ethernet port and another CD drive for awhile until Win 2000 evaluation ended... :(

[tetonbob]

Yes, it usually is on a label right on the top of the HD. You may have to remove it from the bay to see.

I forgot you mentioned earlier about installing the NIC. Are your cables secure? You may have pulled one slightly loose. You probably checked that already, but it won't hurt to check all cables again.

Please try the other suggestions and report back.

1.) Check/resnug all cable connections. Restart. Any progress?

2.) Boot with your Win98 startup disk. From your A: try entering D: or E: One will be your CD ROM, another will probably tell you invalid drive, but let's try anyway.

3.) Exchange IDE controller connections, e.g. HD on IDE2 only, HD on IDE2 & CD ROM on IDE1, CD ROM on IDE1 only. Restart between each exchange and note the POST configuration.

4.) HD manufacturer's diagnostic (although I am now doubtful about this - the system needs to see the drive before it can do anything with it.)

5.) Slave the HD to another system and see if it recognized there. If so, as Strider said, try to save any data you care about right then. If it is not recognized on another system, my thought are that it is either so messed up it can't be recognized, or it has silently expired.

Any mods out there care to chime in?

[tetonbob]

:wave:

<Bump.>

Am I missing anything here, Smurfy? Strider?

[illbill]

With what are you performing this diagnostic?
Both in BIOS where I can do that detection, or through the Windows ME cd rom, or through the Windows 95 boot disk. It also shows me the available drives when I do "fdisk /status". They all say I only have 2 diskette drives and a cd-rom drive.

[illbill]

Hi Teton -

I am an idiot... the cable wasn't connected to the mother board... :blush:


I'm currently formatting the c: to install windows ME. I appreciate all the help that you gave me. Even though the problem wasn't we originally though, I now understand much more about how to move about in DOS and use partitions, etc.

Thanks so much.
Brady

[Strider]

I agree it seems sudden and unlikely your HD just up and died without making a squawk and squeal, but let's try to eliminate that possibility.


Ask me sometime about my experiences with 30-gig IBM Deathstars :p

[tetonbob]

:thumbsup:

Hey, Brady....

That's good news. I've reinforced the idea in my head to not overlook the simple answer, and to take things one step at a time. You should, too. ;)

I'm glad I went back over your OP, and we were able to nail down the trouble. You were right to think it too strange for the drive to just die like that. The ones I've had go bad sounded evil before they expired.

Keep this thread. There is a lot of good info here. I have a Win2000 eval version which I have reinstalled over itself without data loss 3 times - just takes an hour every 4 months. :)

Strider-

Do tell. Is that the way they go? Quietly in the night? :rotflmao:

[Strider]

Hi Teton -

I am an idiot... the cable wasn't connected to the mother board... :blush:
No... s**t happens

I'm currently formatting the c: to install windows ME. I appreciate all the help that you gave me. Even though the problem wasn't we originally though, I now understand much more about how to move about in DOS and use partitions, etc.

Thanks so much.
Brady
That fix was much cheaper than a hard drive :D 'All's well that ends better.' - Gaffer Gamgee.

[Strider]

Hey, Brady....

<snip>
Strider-

Do tell. Is that the way they go? Quietly in the night?
I had an 80% failure rate in 6 machines--some with less than an hour on the drive. Sometimes half way through the boot process the heads would start to seek, bang up against the stop, and the drive was TU. Replaced them with Maxtors when the local shop that built the machines quit honoring the warrantee.

[tetonbob]

Yeah, Brady, I forgot-

Don't be so hard on yourself. Like the man said, S**T happens, and it's how you recover from it that makes your day. We missed it too, at first.

Bob, from the Wyoming side of the Tetons.

Hey, Strider, got snow yet? I'm currently in NC, missing the West.

[Strider]

Yeah, Brady, I forgot-

Bob, from the Wyoming side of the Tetons.

Hey, Strider, got snow yet? I'm currently in NC, missing the West.
Only in the high places--like the Grand :D

[illbill]

Well guys -

Heres what happened:


The problem still remains that Windows 95 does not load and the Win 2000 eval is over; but my computer now recognizes the hard drive (C:\)

So I use the Windows 98 boot disk to load the Windows ME setup from D:\. The CD then formats my C:\ and begins scan disk prior to Windows ME installation. Now, while going to surface scan, there is a [B] cluster and I need to click "fix it". So far I have clicked "fix it" 265 times in a row (265 found bad).

Do I keep clicking? After the one [B] cluster, is shows clean unused clusters... or maybe scandisk does not yet know if the rest are all bad clusters,


so... do i keep clicking fix it??? Will there be an end in sight???


When I began setup, it said that my computer(BIOS) was not configured properly. So I restarted, went to BIOS, and changed everything back to default since I screwed around so much with it when my harddrive wasn't connected. It still said the same configuration message again, but I went along with installation and now have been clicking "fix it" for awhile.

[sho-dan]

:wave:
now this is a good puzzle,good info,good feedback this one is a keeper
nice job tetonbob,strider and illbill
btw,place a 9 volt battery on the enter key for the fix it click,i rang up near 3000 badies,after about 100-B i would replaced the harddrive but i let it run just see how many bad clusters i get. see ya have fun

[illbill]

:wave:
now this is a good puzzle,good info,good feedback this one is a keeper
nice job tetonbob,strider and illbill
btw,place a 9 volt battery on the enter key for the fix it click,i rang up near 3000 badies,after about 100-B i would replaced the harddrive but i let it run just see how many bad clusters i get. see ya have fun
Ok, I actually lodged a screw driver on the fix it key and it was fixing until my computer had a pop-up promt that said "out of memory".

????


As for the harddrive, I have a different computer with a 20 gig harddrive. I think i'm going to take this one out and see how the 20 gig (the supposedly works) will fair.

Even if I switch harddrives, does that mean I will get more memory or does memory come from something separate altogether???

[illbill]

MWA HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!!


:rotflmao:

I am so happy right now. I knew my harddrive could not be worn out.

Here's what I did:

Quit Millenium setup because Scandisk said there were errors and not enough memory.

Ran Fdisk (finally somehow got it to work). Deleted the primary and made a new primary.

Ran the Windows ME setup disk using my Windows 98 boot cd.

Formatted my C: drive through the Windows Millenium CD.

Installed Windows ME without a hitch. Scandisk no longer noticed any bad clusters or errors.

THANKYOU everyone (esp. teton & strider) :wave:

[tetonbob]

illbill-

At this point, unless you have critical data to retrieve, I would consider wiping the HD entirely with a full fdisk and format, then reinstall any OS you want, beginning with oldest first, each in it's own partition.

Sure, keep on clicking "fix". The end depends on the size of your HD.

[tetonbob]

Hey, Brady!

Exactly!!

I'm not sure how I didn't see your last post before I sent my previous post, but I didn't. But that is just what I wanted you to do. Read through the posts again if you are interested in having a multi boot system, but for most folks, they are a pain.

Good job figuring out that part on your own. Glad I could help.

Bob

[Strider]

Illbill,
I urge you to visit the drive manufacturer's site and download their diagnostic software. Run it and see if it detects any problems with the drive. We don't want you to go through this again next week ;)
I did have a nice chat with Tetonbob on the side last evening, though. BTW Bob, there was snow on Teton Pass two weeks ago, so it's not only in the high places :D

[illbill]

...guys lol

I have one more thing. I loaded Windows ME and it shows the screen in 16 Color mode. I loaded my driver (only the driver) and it is "Cirrus Logic 546X PCI (v.1.31) for VIDEO-70P". Now, the colors still don't work and when I restart my computer, it goes into safe mode and wants me to change it. The thing is, is that the driver is Windows 95.

My video card is --> Standard PCI graphic card (VGA).

I just used the driver that I got from the computer shop when I got the computer, but that was when it had window 95.

I have no idea which driver to install and don't know if I need to install something else? (an adapter??)

[Strider]

If your video card is a Cirrus Logic look here:
http://list.driverguide.com/list/company216/page7/
for one that might be compatible. I can't remember if driverguide.com requires you to register to download drivers, or not.
HTH,

[tetonbob]

You can log in to driverguide with the user name of drivers and the password of all. IIRC, they do require a login to download, but not to browse.

[illbill]

Hey guys -

How do I check what Video Card I have?

It said that I had a "standard PCI video adapter (VGA)" when I first installed Windows ME. Now that I installed the software (driver) I got when I first go this computer for windows 95, it says that I have a Cirrus Logic.... yet the graphics don't work and I get a protection error and system halt when I try to load 32 bit colors.

????

[illbill]

K guys all is well... finally.

Safe to say there are NO more problems with my computer.

:rotflmao:

Thanks again,
Brady :wave:

[Strider]

Illbill,
NO more problems... excellent :D
What did you do to fix this last video problem giving you the windows protection error?

[tetonbob]

That's great, Brady.

What was the fix?

For future reference there are a couple of great programs which help identify all your PCs parts -

One is Belarc Advisor (http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html)

another is hwinfo32 (http://www.hwinfo.com/html/download.html)

I'm sure there are others. I've used these 2.

Bob

[smurfy]

<----- Applauds the efforts of tetonbob & Strider