I've Killed my computer with Ghost!

[labwitch]

Hi, everyone.
I have a computer that began to display very odd behaviour--it would loose its background page and its screensaver, it would give a host of error messages whenever I logged on or out, and just generally went on strike. I decided to ghost the computer. Now, it won't load windows (98) at all. It gives me this c:\ prompt, and if I try to reboot from the original floppy disk, it will get to scanDisk, where it stalls after checking the File Allocation Tables. I get messages that scanDisk cannot find hymem.sys or that hymem.sys is corrupted.

I have no idea what to do. I have never had a problem ghosting before. The little ones are screaming for their computer, what should I do???

[Antix]

You have a bad image if you got that error message.
You need to do a clean install of Windows to get your computer up and running again.

[BipolarBill]

I would put the Startup floppy in, boot up and type:

SYS C:

before reinstalling Windoze. As a matter of fact, I would also try:

FDISK /MBR

If you have Norton Utilites, you have NDD.EXE (Norton Disk Doctor) on your system in the NU folder. You can borrow it too. I can email you an old copy of it. It does not need HIMEM.SYS to run. Scandisk does.

Make sure that you are using a full system startup disk! A simple boot floppy does not have HIMEM.SYS, FDISK or SYS.COM on it. SYS.COM, and FDISK.EXE reside in the C:\Windows\Command folder if you must load them from there, but you need a full system floppy to use Scandisk.

[userserver]

I agree with Antix--a clean reinstall is best, but if you want to take one last stab at installing the ghost,

Option 1
boot to your windows CD, get to a dos prompt, and run scandisk from there SCANDISK C: /SURFACE/AUTOFIX. When finished, go to the root of drive C: and DEL *.*.

Option 2 (recommended)
boot to your windows CD, get to a dos prompt,
You can try to ghost after that. FDISK /MBR followed by FORMAT C: /C/U

Attempt to ghost the drive. If unsuccessful do a clean install.

[Monster1]

I am wondering if your HD isnt going bad in itself..I mean windows acting like that?I use ghost its great and it does a bit validation after its backup the HD to make sure it copyed right . so you may have a bad ghost backup but something problely cause it

Just a thought

[labwitch]

Hi, all.

Antix, if the image is bad, why did the same image allow me to ghost another computer from it successfully last week? Wouldn't it have displayed the same problems? I've never had this trouble before, so I'm baffled.

I have tried to use the Windows 98 startup disk to reinstall windows. I am having a hard time with that. The first time, scanDisk ran and reported File Allocation Structure problems. It overwrote Fat1. Then, it scanned the directory and reported that it had deleted a filename and renamed it. Then, scanDisk started over again and reported lost clusters. Next, scanDisk will get to File System, say "lost directories restored," and restarted itself. It keeps reporting a dll file that is damaged and then reports that hymem.sys is missing. This is with the start-up disk for Windows 98 in the drive.

I am an academic lab manager with experience in troubleshooting minor problems, nothing to this magnitude. The tech department at my university SUX--they are understaffed and undereducated. The advice I get from them is tantamount to a "plumber" telling you to "jiggle the handle". If anyone has any new ideas, please let me know.

[BipolarBill]

You need to do a scandisk surface check. Since Scandisk is not working for you, you will need a 3rd-party scanner. You can likely beg, borrow or steal a copy of Norton Disk Doctor for DOS (NDD.EXE) easily. Use it to thoroughly scan the disk.

[userserver]

Originally posted by labwitch
...I have tried to use the Windows 98 startup disk to reinstall windows. I am having a hard time with that. The first time, scanDisk ran and reported File Allocation Structure problems. It overwrote Fat1. Then, it scanned the directory and reported that it had deleted a filename and renamed it. Then, scanDisk started over again and reported lost clusters. Next, scanDisk will get to File System, say "lost directories restored," and restarted itself. It keeps reporting a dll file that is damaged and then reports that hymem.sys is missing. This is with the start-up disk for Windows 98 in the drive. Format the hard drive before trying to do the install. The technical phrase that describes what you've been doing is "chasing your tail." Do an unconditional format for best results.

[Lycia]

Before formatting, I would run a low level format. Each Hard drive maker has a similar program. Western Digital, in it's EZ Disk or Data LifeGuard Tools has a program that "writes zeros" to the hard disk. When I was getting some bad clusters, I had it write zeros which basically returned my hdd to a like brand new state, haven't had any problems since...

[LordKwiKSilva00]

you low level format then type format c:/u or c:/q after the low level is done... i reccommend using sgatfrmt4.exe i have never had problems with it before... if u want, i can email u a copy of my LL format disk

[userserver]

Originally posted by LordKwiKSilva00
you low level format then type format c:/u or c:/q after the low level is done...

FORMAT C: /Q will not work on a drive that has been zeroed or repartitioned. A drive has to be formatted for the Quick (/Q)swtich to work. FORMAT C: /U will run but is unnecessary as there is no data to be overwritten. A simple FORMAT C: does the job quite nicely.

[labwitch]

Hello!
Windows is up and running once more on the problematic computer. I formatted the hard drive and did a clean install of windows. Afterwards, I took a chance and ghosted again so I wouldn't have to reinstall all of my drivers one by one. The computer runs like a dream now. Thank you to all of you who helped me, I am much more educated now.

[userserver]

Thanks for the feedback. It's nice to know when an issue is resolved.

[TweakerXP]

Please forgive our rudeness ......Welcome to SYSOPT !!:)