PLEASE HELP, Windows recovery problem!?

Question

My Mom's computer was saying it was missing DLL files..a lot of them. I told her she needs to have Windows (98) reinstalled, but she can't afford to pay so much. Her computer is basically a no name brand and was built by someone when she bought it. Anyway, I have win Xp and NT and tryed to install it for her, it shut down like it was reading the disks but when it restarted it stopped. Now it just shows a screen showing the hard drive, memory, etc and nothing else. I have MS Dos on a disk too but I can't get it to copy it. I am obviously not that computer literate but usually can manage my own pc. Please tell me anything I can do. She is wanting to just buy another used computer that someone has built and I know it is a waste. Her hard drive is pretty good if I can figure out this software problem. Thanks

Answer 1

You can get WINDOWS 98 CD for abot $20 at ebay. Please serach this links:

http://search.ebay.com/windows-98-disk_W0QQfromZR40

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&satitle=windows+98

Your Moms PC seems to be quite old, so you only go OK with ME or 98.

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If you have problems getting to Windows:

Press alternatively F8 and F5 when startin the PC, one time or another it will go straight to DOS .. if the system is alright. If it works, get to the c: prompt, then try ti find a setup.exe file, wich will probabl;yu be the reinstaller for windows. Also try finding a driectopry withg about 50 .CAB files, try descompressing the 1st 3.

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If you have problems accessing the hardisk, check you DOS disk for a sys.com file, try reconfiguring the CMOS setup *wich usually you can see as a PRESS ESC or PESSS del to access ist when starting the PC... there is a menu that says something abour START UP or ADVANCED SETUP, have the menu saying 1st look for the Floppy, then for CD and last for HD... on that way, if the computer does not read Flopiews at start it will correct this situation.

There is a las thing you can do, get a Startup disk from the internet... I suggest here:

http://www.bootdisk.com/


Good luck with it

Answer 2

From your description, there are a couple most likely and a bunch of potential issues. I'll give you the most likely. First I would get into setup, there are a few ways but the most likely is pressing the del key on the first screen. If that's not the way, read who's bios it is at the top of the screen and look it up on the web. OK, now we're in setup and again there are several different looks but they all have a menu bar or page. There usually is an option to load default values for each item. Do it. The one thing to change is the order of boot devices. Change that to floppy first, CD second. Now try to boot from your floppy or CD. If it completes the boot to a prompt your hardware is ok. If it doesn't, you have a hardware problem. If this system had 98 on it, I'm going to guess it will not have sufficient memory for XP. NT is very fussy when it comes to hardware, don't even try it. It's to much to try to explain here but your drive will need to be reformatted regardless after a couple of failed installs. I would check around with some friends to borrow a 98 disk. Boot from the CD and follow the prompts. Good luck!

Answer 3

You can't put XP on your mother's computer because you won't be able to activate it (other than by illegal means). Full details about XP activation can be found on Microsoft's web site.
Unless, you phone a Microsoft rep and tell them you've switched computers and need to activate XP for the new computer - the rep won't really ask you any stupid questions.
After you install XP on your mother's computer, do this:
To get the phone number, on your computer, click Start, then select 'Run..' Then type c:\windows\system32\oobe\msoobe /a and press enter. Replace the drive letter C if Windows is on another partition. Then select telephone activation and follow the wizard's instructions.

Now, its possible that your mother's computer problems is connected to either overheating, or maybe your EIDE cable for the hard drive is bad or loose. The fact that your mother's computer suddenly lost a lot of .dll files and the strange happenings with installation point to something like that. If your mother's computer has been on for a long time, try letting it cool down for a couple hours. While you're waiting, open up the computer to see if the CPU fan & heatsink are clogged with dust. Also, try removing and then reconnecting the hard drive cable. Many of the EIDE cables are of poor quality and can screw up, even if it looks like they're securely connected. While you're at it, you can try re-seating any PCI cards on the motherboard and re-seat the memory modules.

If it isn't the hard drive cable or overheating, then try putting her hard drive in your computer and try installing XP or Win98. This way, you can determine if her hard drive is shot. (It also might be that some of the hard drive sectors are damaged.)
Does your boot disk have scandisk, and fdisk on it? Maybe you can use those programs to check the drive. Boot from the disk, and run scandisk. If there are any bad sectors, scandisk will show it. If the drive seems okay, delete the partitions with fdisk and create new ones, then return the drive back to your mother's computer and try installing XP or Win98 again.
Other than what I mentioned, the problem could be something else, like a bad motherboard.

Answer 4

if she has windows 98 , just go to start -> run-> & type sfc , SFC is for system file checker . it will check for allt he system files tht are missing or damaged , it may take some time , if a lot of systemfiles are missiing ( *.dll files are alsoa part of system files) so donnt worry just keep on recovering the files & you should be ok , if u need any more detaisl , u can mail me on [e-mail] & if i am online , talk to me directly

Answer 5

You cant flow again. You lost your danger to get rid of Win8 correct. Use your abode windows explorer. flow to abode windows.previous and choose the records you want to backup. Re-format each little thing and start up again clean with Win7.