Ooops. Try clicking Start/Run and type sfc and hit enter. This is the System File checker and it will go through verifying all Windows files. As you have deleted some it is very likely you will be asked to place the CD in the drawer as the process goes ahead. Good luck, let us know how it goes please.

My computer froze so had to restart. Now windows does not start. I have boot floppy disk but only comes up to A prompt. I have the CD ROM setup disk but don't want to completely set up windows which is the option that comes up. I selected startup wo cd rom support, can get a C prompt but now what? Appreciate any help. I'm desperate, payroll day is due and my payroll program is very much copy protected.

I haven't used this. Try if you like.
Restore 2000
Click on the letter D and look under Data Recovery.
The second on the list. It's not free.
The more you use your computer the less likely this will work.

Unfortunately, I have Win 98 (probably not for long!)

I should have added above.
A repair shop may be able to restore your computer and recover your lost files using some recovery software.
I think the prompt command is FIXBOOT and click y for yes.

Try this. Might get everything back. Reboot computer, as it is starting to boot up, tap the f8 key repeatedly until a page comes up that has a list of things like safe mode etc on it. Scroll down that list (arrow keys on keyboard) until you get to command prompt only. Tap the enter key. A small blinking line will come up. At this line, type in scanreg/restore and tap the enter key. Another box will come up with a list of dates for your registry. Choose one, right before this happened, and tap enter key. Computer will reboot, and hopefully will be back to normal when it comes up. Only way I know of to fix things like this with windows 98, and it usually works pretty good. Good Luck :-)Cat

Seems your install is now useless. Rather than take this into a shop where they will wipe the drive anyway and lose all your personal data perhaps why not buy a new hard drive? Then for $60 or less you have a nice new drive, you can install your Windows 98 and then copy all your data from the old drive by slaving it to the new one.

Just remember to set the old drive as a slave beofre installing it. Take you perhaps 2 hours.

Owbist, that sounds interesting. Would this be an external or internal drive? And how do you set a drive to slave. Is there a site with instructions for this, I'm really computer challenged, you know. I did admit to deleting these files by accident. I called my old computer tech and his phone is now disconnected. I guess business was really down. His wife had told me he was working at a different company a couple of days a week, guess they made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

Forget the 'computer challenged' bit, you had the savvy to come here asking so working inside the case is not that difficult once you get stuck in. Of course you will get sweaty palms but if it gets too much simply walk away for a few minutes and enjoy a coffee or something and then return refreshed and eager to get at it. We are here for any questions you may have.

The link below looks a good tutorial. Take a look and if you have questions fire away. Or you can type 'install new hard drive' into your search engine and find another site written in a style you are comfortable with if that one I linked too proves a bit awkward for you.

I would suggest an 80 gig IDE drive. Do not buy a huge one as Windows 98 might not be able to handle it. I forget the limitations right now, perhaps someone else can jump in or I can look around in the morning.

Here is a link that might be useful: Installing a new hard drive

Thanks for the kind words, owbist.

I tried cat's instructions and got excited when it started to boot up, however, I got these messages:
Following file is missing or corrupted.

\windows\himem.sys
error in config.sys line 1
\windows\emm386.exe
error in config.sys line 2
following line is missing or corrupted
\windows\himem.sys
\windows\dblbuff.sys
\windows\ifshlp.sys

Warning: the high mem.area (HMA) is not available. Additional low memory will be used instead. Cannot find win.com, unable to continue loading windows.

I think I copied it all.

I'm not sure if this will work for windows 98, but it can't hurt to try.
Go to the C prompt and type this, with the spaces...

restore C: C:\windows\himem.sys

If it works, use it for the others...

restore C: C:\windows\emm386.exe
restore C: C:\windows\dblbuff.sys
restore C: C:\windows\ifshlp.sys

What do you mean by the "delete command"? If you used "Shift-delete" then the files are gone, and owbist's advice is the best bet.

Nope, that didn't work. I tried several ways I could think of. Tried using pctools which is on the hard drive but it won't do it because of copy protection and mentions pcshell. Not sure of terminology as it froze the computer. This is a very old version of pctools, I can't even find the disk it came off of, it was probably a 5" floppy anyway. Sorry for the confusion on delete. I used "erase ." which is what I use to clear files off my floppy disks(yes, I still use them!). I didn't notice I hadn't changed the drive designation to A: I was in the windows directory, is how it all happened.

Back when I was using windows 98 I used to delete my windows os at least once a year and reinstall. It would run much better for a while. When I reinstalled windows my data was still there, but the programs had to be reinstalled to enter their registry data. Would the erase command delete anything outside of the windows folder? Can you use a start up disk and type dir at the c:/ prompt to see what is still on the drive? If everything else looks okay just reinstall windows and your programs and you're back in business.

Thinking about Bob's idea above it suddenly dawned on me that you have not complained about possible data loss. If you are not overly concerned about the data on there then just reboot with the startup disk in the floppy drive and select to have the CD active. When you have booted to the A:\ drive simply type 'setup' without the quotes.

That way if Bob is right you will have a clean install of Windows and all your data but you will need to reinstall all other programs. I was like Bob in Win98 and would wipe my drive regularly but that was in the days before CCleaner type programs made life easy.

I think my data is all still there. I can open my old dos wordperfect and run it so I'll copy any thing that is vital there. The only things that won't run are windows programs as windows will not start. Are the last upgrades/patches still available from Microsoft for 98? I have so far reinstalled my important programs on the other computer that is running XP and restored data that is important to me except my accounting software. Reason being my program CD is at the second office and no one can get to it until the keys come back from a convention. I'll just have to postpone invoicing for a few days.

I have a question about backing up to a CD. How do I do it using DOS? I have a CD drive and a DVD/ROM cd rewiteable drive on that computer. I don't think it was set up right or I just don't know how to do it. I've got lots of floppies, just HAVE TO ERASE THEM! to reuse them for backups, LOL. Well, at least I didn't use the format command.

I want to thank everyone who tried to help me. Now that I feel better about not losing all my data, I'll probably try adding a hard drive. I'll think about that for a while, as the computer is too old and slow to upgrade to a supported OS. Just found out my payroll program is no longer supported, hasn't been for two years now, I've only used it for 3! And the upgrades (over $400) require newer windows, faster and bigger computer. I think I may just huddle in my little corner with my new purple gel pen, pencils, erasers and yellow pad. And I have a calculator with the big fat keys, so there! MEOWWW!

I didn't see your last post, owbist. Came in as I was posting. So that makes two for installing windows. I still don't have my accounting disk now. What would happen if I upgraded to 98 SE or 2000? I have an SE upgrade disk but I was thinking I would be better with 2000, is that still supported?

Oh, go for W2K over Win98. You might be pleasantly surprised at the better performance from W2K. Win98SE is a big step up but W2K is the way to go if you have the disk certainly.

You might have an issue with things like the scanner if you have one. My Canon scanner cannot be used on W2K or XP because Canon refused to create drivers for it.

If you can see the c: ,
Try going to "C:\Recycled" directory and see if the
files you deleted are still in the recycle bin.

Try this

Boot from floppy
c:
cd\recycled
dir

What do you see ?

If you can get Windows98 to start in the "safe" mode (pressing the F8 key as mentioned above), open the "recycle bin and look to see if the deleted files are there. They should be if these have not been removed from the recycle bin. If the files are there, merely highlight the file and click on "restore". This will put the file back from whence it came unless you have deleted certain part of the operating system.

However, if you deleted files using the old DOS commands, I'm not sure what happens. They may be gone.

In any event, you could re-install Windows. I've had to to do that a few times back when I had Win98 SE. Before reinstalling, copy down all of your browser settings. You may loose these on an re-install. It doesn't happen every time, but it is a good practice just in case.

I'm not sure what happens to the Windows updates upon a re-install. If you are lucky, Windows will recognize the update copies on the drive and install these. If this does not happen, the next time you go in-line, the Windows updater may begin, or ask to begin downloading a bunch of updates, and this can be a lengthy process over a 'dail-up' connection.

Of course, you are aware that MicroSoft stopped supporting Window98 and there will be no new updates save the ones already available.

If your equipment is suitable for Windows XP, I recommend moving up to that operating system. It's much better that Win98. One caution, however: Make sure that you have plenty of disk space be you begin the upgrade. A big mess is created if XP fails to finish loading due to not enough disk space. Read the requirements carefully. Upgrading to XP requires a huge temporary file during the upgrade, much larger than one might imagine. Also, a large amount of space is neded to store the old system if the option to retain 'retore old system' is chosen. If your disks are formatted for FAT 16 bit, convert up to at least 32 bit FAT.

BUT WAIT! If you need to run old DOS programs, find out how to set this up under XP before you convert. That may be more trouble than its worth. It would be best if you could move away from these if possible. I've had no problem with older software written for Win95/98 when run under XP.

I do have an expensive old DOS based finite element analysis program that I can no longer run with XP. If I find that I really need to run this program (for consulting purposes), I'll refresh an old computer and install Win98 SE and this program on it.

I did a DOS erase. None of these go to the recycle bin. Hve restored all my win programs on my other computer. Now will copy my DOS files as I have time before I upgrade to 2000 when I have time. Thanks for your help, much, much appreciated.