"MY COMPUTER SAYS?"

[twinkie]

I have written in about this problem before; & I have tried lots of things. But I feel like it can be better understood if I give all the details of what my computer says when trying to load up windows. It stops loading & goes to a black screen with this written on it:

Cannot find a device file that may be needed to run windows or a windows application. The windows registry or SYSTEN.INI file refers to this device file, but the device file no longer exists.
If you deleted this file on purpose, try uninstalling the associated application using its uninstall or setup program.
If you still want to use the application associated with this device file, try reinstalling that application to replace the missing file.

c:\dos\vfintd.386


Press a key to continue_


Once I press a key it will continue to load up windows after a few minutes.
Any help would truly be appreciated! Thanks!

[Comtech]

Edit system.ini in word pad, and remove any lines refering to that path/filename.
Edit the registry, and remove all references to that filename.

[Axel]

Comtech - I think he's tried that and there is no reference to the specific file name.

What you may end up doing to "end your pain" is to uninstall and reinstall your application software until the problem clears.

I'd start with simply uninstalling anything you haven't used in 3 months or more and leave it off.

Reboot and do a defrag after each one. If you haven't done a scandisk in quite a while - now's a good time.

By the looks of your file description - I'd suspect it was a DOS game that was removed, but not "uninstalled" that made some environment variable change which is still trying to load whenever you boot. If you remember what DOS games you've deleted, or haven't played in a while, you may actually need to go through re-installing the game , and then do a "remove" in <add/remove programs> in the control panel area to effectively remove the reference to the missing file.

The final thing - lots of work & grief - is to fdisk and simply start over clean.

Both actions will take time - probably a week-end, so go rent a few videos and buy a 6-pack of soda and some snacks and hunker down for the duration.

If you're going to do a total re-install anyway, you might think about upgrading any component you're not too fond of now.... Lot's of post-christmas sales going on....

Another thing you might look into is software to "clean" your registry. I haven't used any myself as I clean mine manually, but have seen references on this board for such software.

[Nixona]

You can edit system.ini easier by typing sysedit in the run option on the start menu. It opens 5 of the system files including that one. You can change/save/etc. As for that file...is DOS still installed? I would make a copy of system.ini, and a boot disk, open up system.ini and delete anything that has that filename in it. if it crashes the computer, boot from the disk, delete system.ini, and rename the copy to system.ini. If you dont want to do that, I would try a fresh install of DOS. But, if DOS is gone, you should be able to just delete that part, and it will be fine. I'll watch the thread for more posts

[OuTpaTienT]

While I certainly respect your opinion Axel, I think you may be over advising our friend twink. I mean, an FDISK to solve this? Holy moly.

If I'm wrong I'll be eating these words, but it has just got to be a reference in one of Window's boot-up files. Most likely SYSTEM.INI or the registry, but what about WIN.INI (or any of the *.INI files) or AUTOEXEC.BAT/CONFIG.SYS (not likely). I'd search all those files before doing anything drastic.

My logic is this: when Windoze sends that error to the screen and list the file it's seeking, well, it's not just pulling that reference outta thin air. It must be pulling that from one of it's start up files. Keep looking, I think you'll find it. If necessary, do a "find files" and search all files for the text c:\dos\vfintd.386

[JW310]

what might also work is to go into regedit (Start->Run...->regedit, [OK]) and then do a search (F3) for the file name and path, and delete the references to it. Chances are, if it's not showing up in the SYSTEM.INI file, then it's in the registry somewhere. I had that once, and that's the way it ended up. I suggest you backup your registry before going in, though... it'll save you a lot of trouble if you accidentally deleted that you shouldn't have.

JW

[Ed_S]

How about this - find someone who does have that file on their system & either get a copy of it or compare programs to find out where it came from!!

Anybody??

[jad1097]

Well I had the same exact thing happen to me a couple of times..ONCE I spent hours in the reg looking it and I ended up reinstalling windows. 20 minutes later it is gone. No more hitting the dam keboard @ startup. It was not the same file though.
The problem with me is I install and uninstall stuff all the time. I bet I could free up 2 gigs or so this weekend.

[ktwebb]

You may haved looked for it but you should look again. Especially in the registry. Try the file name with the extension and then try a wildcard with the file name first and then an extension search with a wildcard. I would bet that the file is there. Usually when I get an error like this, it is in the registry. Find it, delete any reference and you won't get that message.

[Smokey]

With Windows 3.1 I remember it used to be in SYSTEM.INI most of the times I got messages like that.But in Windows 9x, I've never had one in SYSTEM.INI and they've all been in the Registry. Try doing a search for the file using Regedit in Windows... I bet you'll find it.

[twinkie]

Okay here goes; I went to run & typed in SYSEDIT to try to locate this file. It said cannot find the file 'C:\QBWINN\VFINTD.386 (or one of it's components) Make sure the path & filename are correct. And that all required libraries are available. It gave me 6 or 7 boxes with writng in them. But only one box had anything to do with 386. It said
Device=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE FRAME=E000 RAM MIN=00=641=B000-B7FF 1=E000 EFFF
So then I went in & typed Regedit. I didn't see anything referring to the 386 file? I am not for sure; but this computer does have alot of games on cd with it. It could be that one of those games could be the cause of all this trouble? But how would I go about finding exactly which one? Thanks!

[Underclocked]

Try Find, files or folders, containing text "vfintd.386". This should identify what file is calling for it and from there let us know so that a correction can be offered.

See also http://www.dittomax.com/support/dm38.html and quoted from this page http://www.radc.com/techcorn.htm "Vfintd.386 is a device file referenced in system.ini and is related to old tape drive backup systems usually found in Win3.1x installations. (If the tape drive is gone, remove reference to the file to make the error message go away.) errors regarding vfintd.386 are generally not relevant."
I am certain the file is being called for from system.ini and you should be able to find it there. You are looking for only a line that contains vfintd.386, not the entire path as you did above.[

[This message has been edited by Underclocked (edited 01-08-2000).]

[twinkie]

I think I finally found it! I went in & typed SYSTEM.INI
Then I Scrolled down until I found a line with 386 & inserted a ; (as advised to by someone) in front of that line. Then I rebooted. It loaded up windows without having to standby & press a key. Thanks to everyone for all of the great advice on this problem! I appreciate it alot! Thanks again!

[Chainsaw]

OuTpaTienT,
You can relax now, you will not be required to eat your words. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif LOL
......CHNsaw

[OuTpaTienT]

Whew! I was just getting ready to bust out the salt & pepper. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif