I havewindows 98 se.When I turn it on it either goes straight to the choices where i choose safe mode or it says sys ini is missing or corrupt... I tried booting it with the se cdrom.It runs all the way through setup, restarts,then continues setup then restarts again but this time it puts me to safe mode again or says sys.ini missing... right back where iI started.Can you help?????

"I havewindows 98 se.When I turn it on it either goes straight to the choices where i choose safe mode or it says sys ini is missing or corrupt..."

There could be a couple of reasons for the system.ini error. The path statement in msdos.sys could have been altered/scrambled by a disk hiccup, the file is actually missing, or the file has been renamed.

"I tried booting it with the se cdrom.It runs all the way through setup, restarts,then continues setup then restarts again but this time it puts me to safe mode again or says sys.ini missing... right back where iI started."

If the above statement means you've wiped the "old" 98SE install by reinstalling, any chances of getting the system.ini file back are gone.

If the above statement doesn't mean you've reinstalled, and the original 98SE is still there, follow these steps;

Boot the machine. When you get the MS Startup Menu, choose Command prompt only. When you get to the command prompt (C:\>) type in scanreg/restore and press Enter. You should be provided with up to five dates to pick from. Choose a date which preceeds the system.ini problem. The registry will be restored to that date. (The system.dat, user.dat, system.ini, and win.ini files will be restored.) Any software, MS Updates, etc installed after that date won't be running. The data/files for these should still be on the drive, but the system won't know how or where to run them. These will have to be reinstalled.

Once you're up and running, I'd suggest that you modify your c:\windows\scanreg.ini file to include some important file into the Windows backups. Add the following lines to the end of your scanreg.ini file;

Files=30,config.sys,autoexec.bat,io.sys,msdos.sys
Files=11,vmm32.vxd

The vmm32.vxd file is important. If you loose this somehow, you're looking at a fresh install, unless you know how to rebuild it manually. This is not a chore for the weak hearted, so save it within your backups.

Please post back with your results so others reading this know where the situation lies. Also post back with any further questions.

Thankyou very much for the solution to my problem last week.That fixed it :

You're welcome. Please visit again for any future problems and thanks for using D-A-L as your solution provider.