Okay, my dad gave me his computer and bought a new one, mainly because he bought a copy of Windows XP from Best Buy and attempted to upgrade from Win98, the setup would not finish, kept getting snagged on canon canoscan or something stupid. Anyhow, he was told that the only thing he could do is completely restore his system, he decided it wasn't worth it and gave it to me.
I put the dreaded "red disk" in the computer to wipe everything out and start from scratch...now...it is frozen on a registration screen I cannot get it to do ANYTHING!!! I have pressed every button on the keyboard...nothing. The minute you turn the computer on-it goes right to this screen so rebooting doesn't help at all!!
What to do? ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Hello,Tracie1975

Did you try placing the disk in the CD-ROM do a reboot
see if it will let you reformat & install that way????

HGD

Hi Tracie1975,

Is the "dreaded red disk" that you're referring to a System Restore CD or Reinstallation CD that has wiped everything off of the hard disk and restored it back to the original software that was installed, before rebooting but not going back into Windows? Incidentally, is it a Compaq system?

When the system is switched on, do the keyboard lights flash?

Do you see the mouse pointer on the screen? Does moving the mouse make the pointer move?

The red disc is a reinstallation disc - completely wipes everything out and goes back to the beginning. I do see the mouse on the screen but it is frozen in the same position, cannot move the mouse at all. I will have to check the keyboard lights, not sure if they blink when I reboot?? And no, its actually an IBM. I did put the disc in and reboot, thinking that it would read the disc and start over - but it just comes up the same way, doesn't boot or anything, its as if I just shut the monitor off and on...if you know what I mean?

Hello Tracie1975,

Pardon me for jumping in here DJNafey. I know you're busy though.

A couple of questions;

"...it is frozen on a registration screen I cannot get it to do ANYTHING!!!"

The above means the system totally locks up?

Does this happen when you boot without the CDROM? (ie; Is this registration screen coming from the CD? (I take it that this machine has the ability to boot from the CDROM, and this is how you got to where you are?))

Will it boot from a bootable floppy and run?
(You may need to enter the system bios and set the floppy drive as the first boot device.)

These answers will help to narrow things down, and one of us can help you further.

Yep, the system is totally locked up, I have tried to reboot with the CD in and without it. You might have to talk me through the System bios and changing the floppy as a first boot device.
The best way that I can describe it is - it is as if I am just shutting the monitor off and turning it back on, that screen (registration screen) is just frozen there. I can see the arrow for the mouse, but that is frozen as well.
Maybe it will help if I describe how it happened? I had no mouse attached and was doing the whole restore with the keyboard, it got to the point of registering it and searching for modem, etc...then it just froze, wouldn't do anything else. So, I thought at first maybe I could fix it by plugging in a mouse? No luck. Then I went to restarting, no luck, and then I tried to put the disc (restore) in and restart, no luck. I have never seen anything like it? Thanks so much for your input!

So the registration screen comes up without the CD. This means it's either been "written" to the C: partition, or, it's part of a "hidden" partition containing the (or some) system O/S setup files and something written to C: is directing it to this partition.

>Again, "Will it boot from a bootable floppy and run?"

Next set of questions..... (These answers will help DJNafey if/when he pops back in (or anyone else helping))

1. IBM laptop or desktop?

2. I'm not saying it's required (yet), but if it comes to it, are you comfortable working inside the machine?

3. Is the Red CD the only restore tool or was there a specific "Restore floppy" supplied as well? (Based upon your statements so far, I gather the CD is the only restore tool, but, just checking.)

"... I thought at first maybe I could fix it by plugging in a mouse?"

4. Did you attach the mouse while the system was running?

5. Is it a serial (Comm port, 9 pin "D" shaped connector), PS2, USB, (or wireless) mouse?

Please answer the above.

Now, I'd like to get a "picture" of the hard disk(s) in this machine. All that follows presupposes that the machine boots/runs from a boot floppy.

If you don't have a 98SE floppy boot disk, I suggest you get one. There's a Win 98SE Boot disk image file on my personal webspace for download. See * below.

Boot the machine with this floppy. Choose with CDROM support, you'll see why further down. Note the device letter assigned to the CDROM near the end of the boot process. You'll see it just after MSCDEX Version x.xx two lines of text up from the A:\> prompt. When you get the A:\> prompt, type in fdisk/status and hit Enter.

The resulting screen will show you how many (bios recognized) hard disks are in the machine (1, 2, etc), along with the disk(s) total size, and any partitions (C, D, E, etc) on each hard disk. Please post this information. Don't worry about size or anything, just the number of physical hard disks, and any partitions.

Once/if you verify there is a valid C: partition, type in dir/a/o/p c:\ and hit Enter. Are there any directories (folders in Window-ese) or files listed? If so, please post this info as well.

An easy way to do this is; if you see directories or files, take another blank, formatted floppy and place it in the A: drive (after removing the boot floppy of course). Then type in dir/a/o c:\> a:\dirlist.txt and hit Enter. This redirects ( > = redirection command) the dir command output into a dirlist.txt file on the (current) A: floppy. Use this text file to copy/paste the contents into your next posting.

Now, (since we're here anyway....) do the same for a dir listing of your Red Restore CD. Put the CD in the drive. Type in dir/a/o x:\> a:\cdlist.txt (where x: is the assigned CDROM device letter) to put the CD listing onto the "spare" floppy. Copy/paste this info into your next posting.

We'll go on from there. I'll be "in and out" across the day, so there won't be much delay in any responses from me.


*
The above bootdisk image file is a self extracting file and has to be executed (run) from a running Windows machine in order to create the actual startup diskette. (This image file produces the same bootdisk which 98SE creates.) This downloaded image file will format the floppy disk, write the files to the disk, then verify the file write, so it'll take a minute or three to create the bootdisk.

Ensure the floppy drive is set as the first boot device in the system bios. (Anything in my posts which is blue underlined is a link.)

When you boot a machine with this boot floppy, it creates a RAMDRIVE in system memory to contain DOS system tools. Thus it will move your "normal" CDROM device/drive letter "up" one level. (If your CDROM is normally E:, it will be F: when booting with this bootdisk.) Watch for the CDROM device letter which will be assigned near the end of the floppy boot process.

1. IBM laptop or desktop? ...Desktop

2. I'm not saying it's required (yet), but if it comes to it, are you comfortable working inside the machine? ....yes, semi-comfortable, with instruction, I have some formal training in computers

3. Is the Red CD the only restore tool or was there a specific "Restore floppy" supplied as well? (Based upon your statements so far, I gather the CD is the only restore tool, but, just checking.) Yes, I have a blue CD which says IBM Aptiva, use this CD to install additional software on your Aptiva computer, Software selections, and then the red CD which says, IBM Aptiva, original IBM Aptiva PC Software, product recover and diagnotics

"... I thought at first maybe I could fix it by plugging in a mouse?"

4. Did you attach the mouse while the system was running? ....I did both, running and then re-booting to see if it would recognize new hardware

5. Is it a serial (Comm port, 9 pin "D" shaped connector), PS2, USB, (or wireless) mouse? ...just a regular comm port mouse

I am going to try your steps with the windows 98se floppy, I don't have one, I do have a windows 98SE cd, but I will pull yours off your directory files....thanks again!