COMMAND.COM missing or corrupted.

[Bazango]

While doing a Step by Step startup, I see a message saying that my COMMAND.COM is missing or corrupted. What is the likely cause of this? I am running a trial AVP anti-virus program. I tried disabling the CMOS anti-virus program but that makes no difference. I have also tried "sys c:". I am not experiencing any problems that I attribute to this message, although I am having problems getting my IOMagic CDROM recognized. I would like to flash my BIOS, should I resolve this before doing that?

[Susan]

It could be that CD Drive. I have one that does sit well alongside HD's.

If you have an extra cable, try putting the CD on IDE2 and leave the HD on IDE1. No need to change any jumpers if there's no other IDE devices in your system, just set all IDE devices to Auto in the BIOS.

<edit>
Actually, what you could try first is setting the BIOS to Auto for all IDE devices without changing the CD to IDE2.



[This message has been edited by Susan (edited 12-05-1999).]

[Bazango]

The CDROM was already on IDE2. I've pulled it off altogether in order to keep my computer up. On IDE1 I have two HDs, a newer 6 something Gig HD and an older point something Gig HD. However, when I set up the boot sequence to read IDE1, I get an invalid disk error. So, I set it to IDE2 and enable the "look for other devices" in the advanced chip setup in BIOS and it boots up off the 6 Gig HD fine. I wonder if Windows98 is even using IDE part of the motherboard or something. I'm over my head at this point.

What is COMMAND.COM?

I'll look for that auto option in my BIOS and try that.

[Susan]

The Command.com file is the command processor of DOS and is put on the bootable drive to make it bootable. It is copied to a drive when one issues the /s switch at the end of format or when one issues the sys c: command.
I have seen that error regarding missing command.com when a drive is not set up properly in the BIOS and also when a drive is not sys'd.

If you are using a trial of AVP for windows, then that will not be a conflict since you have not entered windows at the point you get to.

[Bazango]

My BIOS does not have an option to select auotmatic for all or any IDE devices.

Does anyone else have any suggestions on this problem?

[Bazango]

The problem is partially solved. See "Mysterious invisible... (http://www.sysopt.com/forum/Forum2/HTML/003663.html)" posting at this forum.