I need help, my ibm thinkpad laptop won't start. It gets to the windows 98 screen then starts all over, that's all it does. When I try the f8 or f5 key a screen comes up and says error #00301, it asks to test or resart, I have done both and it still doesn't work. I have tried the f8 key and others as well, and I have tried taking the battery out, but nothing seems to work, how can I resolve this problem?

Mill 1788

Hello, and Welcome to D-A-L.

I've been looking for this 00301 error on Microsoft and Lenovo and can't seem to find anything relevant to the described problem.

Could you please post the EXACT error message?

What BIOS is on the Thinkpad? Phoenix?

Thank you sooooo much for getting back to me..


it just says error 00301.
I'm a dummy when it comes to computers so I don't know what a BIOS is.......if you tell me what it is and where it is maybe I can find it.

BIOS = Basic Input/Output System

It's a chip that resides on the system's Motherboard (where basically everything connects together) which retains the hardware parameters of the system.

Given that it's a Thinkpad, it's probably an IBM bios residing on a Phoenix based structure.

Initially I thought that the error was IBM hardware based, but seeing that windows begins to start, the problem probably occurs in the O/S. (Operating System, ie, Windows 98)

What is the exact model?

hey Dan, thanks
I emailed you but I don't know if you'll get it or not.

I fixed the start up, now it comes on but when it's done loading the desktop a box pops up , Windows Registry Checker,, it says,,,windows encountered an error accessing the system registry ,, windows will restart and repair the system registry for you...
well I have restarted it 10 times and it still keeps popping up.........this is driving me nuts.....
can you help,,?? ha-ha-ha
how do I get it off of the screen??
Laura

Your described symptoms are sometimes caused by insufficient free space on the drive. If it's booting into windows, use My Computer or Windows Explorer and delete the c:\windows\win386.swp file. You may have to set your view to Show All Files or Show Hidden and System files, and Not Hide File Types of Known Extensions (or close to that wording).

You should also empty your C:\Windows\Temp folder, and delete any *.tmp and *.chk files on the drive. Then restart normally.

If the system is booting to a command prompt C:\> or C:\Windows>, delete the swap file from the command line; del c:\windows\win386.swp.

Post back with your results and any further information/questions.

oh.......boy do I have a problem now!!!!
now when I turn the laptop on it says-----the following file is missing or corrupted
c :\windows\himem.sys
c :\windows\DBLBUFF.sys
c :\windows\IFSHLP.sys
can not find win.com, unable to continue loading windows.


help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you're ending up at a C:\> prompt, type in

cd windows

then type in

win


Does Windows start?