Will not Boot to MS-DOS

[Ezzee Money]

Would someone please help me? I have a friends Gateway PC with a P3 933 processor running Windows ME. I know Windows ME is junk the worst Windows ever.

I pulled the Hard Drive and put it in my Machine, I Norton’s 2002 found 2 Virus’s would not let me delete them so I ran FDISK then Formatted the drive. Scanned the Drive again it was clean. Then I loaded Windows 98SE, then I ran FDISK /MBR.

Then it booted up perfect on my machine. Put it back into the Gateway sometimes it says missing or corrupt MS-DOS. MS-DOS failed to load. Then it locks up.

Then sometimes it Missing Operating system please insert Boot Disk. Either way it will not let me boot into DOS. So, that I can Flash the BIOS.
I’ve changed the ribbon cable; pulled the battery, also cleared the CMOS with the jumper.
Do you think it could have a Bad video card? Or the virus it had messed up the BIOS?
In the BIOS the computer’s boot sequence is = floppy, CD. Then HD.
Anyway I know the Hard Drive and the ribbon cable are Good. The fans work it’s not overheating either.
Any Help would be greatly appreciated.
Later
Ezzee Money





:confused:

[RobUK]

Welcome to SysOpt!

When you swap hard drives over from one machine to another you can have problems. It is better to format the hard disc and re-install Windows using your friends PC not your PC. The OS could be looking for a certin device, file etc.. that your pc was using but no longer exists on your friends PC, causing an error.

hope this helped

RobUK

[userserver]

I agree. I'd also clear NVRAM just in case you have a touch of the monkey B virus (which can infect and load from BIOS). What virii were found?

[rlpos]

You may also try putting it back in the other machine and running the fdisk /mbr. Then turn it off dont reboot in your machine because it will rebuild the mbr for your machine.Then plug it back in your friends pc and let it rebuild the MBR for that machine

[Ezzee Money]

How can I clear the NVRAM there is no setting in the BIOS
that I have seen.

I really do appreciate everyone's help..
You Guys are great.

I don't remember the names of the virus they were MSV32 or something like that.

Thanks Again
Ezzee Money

[RobUK]

To clear the CMOS there should be a jumper located on the motherboard. Just short this jumper for a few seconds and then thats it! Everything is back to its original state. look in your mobo manual for the jumper or somtimes its location and number are printed on the mobo.

RobUK

[Ezzee Money]

I have already cleared the CMOS with the jumper. I have no manual for the motherboard....wonder why Gateway, Compaq, or dell does'nt send one with the computer?
I am going to pull the HD again put it back in my machine then FDISK, Format and then FDISK /MBR and try again with the system restore disk.
I have no clue, just recently I tried the restore disk it started working then it shut down some error 09 whatever that means.
Any clues?
Thanks

[userserver]

This is getting out of hand. Let's go back to your issue.

1. You found a virus or two when you tested the hard drive in your system.

2. Why did you pull the drive orginally? What was the problem?

Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but what makes Win Me different from Win 98SE? Do you know? Its critical to what is going on here.

[Ezzee Money]

I pulled the drive origanally because I could'nt get into DOS even with a boot disk. So, as soon as I installed it on my machine I automatically scanned it for virus's just to be safe.
I pulled my HD, left this one in and it booted right up. So, it has to be something in the other computer that is causing the problem

As far as the difference between WIN98SE runs smoother & WIN ME (I am speaking on my own experience) With winME I always had system crashes freezing up Performing illegal acts...it was real buggy.

Do you think the ram could be causing the problems for not allowing me into DOS just a thought.
I'm Puzzled and Confused

[Bob-NB]

I think you may have a problem left over in the computer from the virus. I had a similar problem with my brother-in-laws computer. His also would not boot up... not even with a good boot disk that would work in many other computers.

I could never get into Dos for an "a" prompt. It would just attempt to recycle and get to the same point again but never boot.

I ended up doing a low level format of the "c" drive to clean it. I then loaded windows back into the HD from another computer. It works perfectly well when booting from the newly formated and loaded HD. It will now boot to the "a" prompt from the floopy boot disk, however, it will not allow me to fdisk the HD.

I believe the virus got into the BIOS. Short of replacing the mobo, this option is working well on his computer for the time being.

[userserver]

The main differences between Win Me and Win 98SE are System Restore, System File Protection, and the removal of Real Mode DOS.

System Restore is similar to the application Go Back and once a virus gets into system, it can be saved by System Restore. Unders some circumstances, System Restore will take you back to a control point on its own. If I remember correctly, System Restore writes a very large file at the end of the drive.

System Restore maintains a copy of as many of the system files as possible. If you update a .vxd and it gets saved to System Restore, it is going to be reloaded on the system in the background. I mention this because virii like Pretty Park change some of the vxd files (files32.vxd in the case of Pretty Park).

I know this is no longer relevant since you have installed Win 98SE on the system, but thought it might help you understand why you had trouble getting the system to work in a different computer.

If you suspect you might have a virus in CMOS, flash it with an upgrade then clear NVRAM by jumper.