# (Sigh)-- NOW I can't get into windows98!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 20, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200 "2003-06-20T16:24:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/1 "2003-06-20T16:24:59Z")
Bear with me… Yesterday, I was giving my home computer an overhaul: removing spyware, adware, and carefully removing/deleting programs I didn’t really need, and generally optimizing its speed and performance. I had already run my McAfee Virus Protection program and came up with no viruses… It seemed to work fine. I then set up scandisk to check for surface errors and do automatic repairs. I had to try about six times before scandisk would do more than 1,000 or so clusters… I had to COMPLETELY shut off all other programs, shut off the quick launch toolbar and run scandisk in safe mode from msconfig. Also, I completely removed McAfee because some of its components kept turning on during start up and I wasn’t sure if that was the problem. 8 hours(!) into scandisk’s scan of my 60gig drive-- about halfway through – with seemingly no problems, I went out for about 6 hours. When I returned home, my computer had a message that it could not find my harddrive. I noticed then that my stereo – which is hooked up to my computer – was blinking. I now suspect a power outage occurred while I was out. (But hey, maybe not.) I was initially able to restart using my Emergency Boot Disk, get into safe mode from the Start Up Menu, then restore normal mode and get into Windows98 and Internet Explorer. I was attempting to go online and try to find out what had happened to my computer – and also see if there was another program I could use other than scandisk to more quickly repair my surface drive – when I was abruptly thrown offline. I got an error message about my explorer.exe (don’t remember the exact error message – sorry). So: I restarted my computer. I was attempting to go back into Windows 98 when I got another error message about [command.com](http://command.com) being corrupted or missing, too. At this point, no matter what I did, I could not get back into Windows98. None of my troubleshooting tips in my manuals did the trick. I also cannot seem to move my computer to a point where it executes ANY .exe files from the C:\ drive – most of the ones I tried can’t be done in DOS. I checked my C:\ directory – all my files and programs are apparently still there in their respective directories, and the drive volume seems to be where its supposed to be. I have seen [command.com](http://command.com) but not explorer.exe. (unless its IE6setup.exe, in which case I have) At this point I would like: 1) suggestions or links to websites explaining how I might be able to restore [command.com](http://command.com) and/or explorer.exe (short of reformatting the drive or going to a data recovery center – I’m not that desperate and I’m too broke) so I can print them off from work and try it at home over the weekend. Barring that, 2) do you have suggestions on how I can might be able to recover from DOS some documents and images from my C:\ drive that (stupidly) weren’t backed up? 1. Is there a faster alternative to scandisk? Thanks for your time. I’ll try to check back around 3:00 today, but I apologize that I won’t be able to respond to anyone’s follow-up questions again until I go to the public libarary tomorrow afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/2 "2003-06-20T17:20:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Askia \* > **At this point I would like: 1) suggestions or links to websites explaining how I might be able to restore [command.com](http://command.com) and/or explorer.exe** It is possible to restore the original versions of individual system files. You’ll need a standard Win98 boot disk. If you don’t have one on hand, get one [here](http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm). You’ll also need to know the location of your Windows setup files. If they aren’t on your hard drive (usually in **c:\windows\options\cabs** ) then you’ll need a Windows 98 CD. Boot from the floppy, **cd** to the location of the setup files (the directory with all the .cab files in it), and run the following commands: **extract /Y /A /L c:\ base4.cab [command.com](http://command.com) extract /Y /A /L c:\windows base4.cab [command.com](http://command.com) extract /Y /A /L c:\windows base4.cab explorer.exe** You can use this method to extract other files if necessary. Once you get Windows going, run **sfc** to check the rest of your system files for corruption. > [@](#): > > **Barring that, 2) do you have suggestions on how I can might be able to recover from DOS some documents and images from my C:\ drive that (stupidly) weren’t backed up?** It should not be necessary to format your C: drive. At worst you might have to reinstall Windows over the top of your current setup. This won’t erase data in other directories. > [@](#): > > **3) Is there a faster alternative to scandisk?** Most drive manufacturers’ websites offer free downloads of diagnostic utilities. They usually include a Quick Test which does not take as long as a scandisk surface scan. In the future I would recommend running scandisk from DOS. This gives better feedback than the Windows version and you don’t have to worry about other programs interrupting it. ---
**Author:** ![pestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@pestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pestie)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/3 "2003-06-20T20:24:21Z")
It sounds to me like your hard drive is dying a nasty death. Even if you manage to restore the damaged files there’s a good chance that they’ll just get damaged again in the future as the hard drive develops more problems, or dies completely. There’s a chance that you might just have some annoying filesystem corruption due to the power failure. In that case you should be OK - if you can get into Windoze at all at some point, even in safe mode, run sfc - System File Checker (click Start, click “run” and type SFC into the box and hit enter). That should replace any damaged files it finds. It’s not foolproof but it’s a heck of a lot better than nothing. It’s my understanding that IDE drives should never develop bad sectors that are visible to the system (i.e. that show up in scandisk). Every IDE drive I’ve ever seen that starts developing bad sectors ends up dying shortly thereafter, so I replace them if I ever see bad sectors show up. ---
**Author:** ![pestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@pestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pestie)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/4 "2003-06-20T20:26:39Z")
Oh, and if you think scandisk taking 8 hours to scan your drive is bad, it could be worse - does anyone else remember the good ol’ days where running Spinrite II on your 20 _megabyte_ MFM or RLL drive took 8-12 hours? I do, but man, that program could recover data like nobody’s business! ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/5 "2003-06-20T20:48:38Z")
I concur on the hard drive dying, its time for another. A shame you weren’t able to run scandisk, it may have labeled the physical errors for you. If it was really taking that long its also indicative of a physical hard drive problem. ---
**Author:** ![NutWrench](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nutwrench/32/20193_2.png) [@NutWrench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutWrench)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/6 "2003-06-20T22:18:17Z")
I would try Numbers suggestion first. I once got a nasty virus that would specifically target the [Command.com](http://Command.com) file, rendering it useless. You can also try restoring an earlier copy of your System Registry. At the command prompt, type ‘SCANREG /RESTORE’ The computer will show the last five registries that were saved after a sucessful boot. Pick a registry that pre-dates your problems and restore it. Then reboot normally. Finally, you can also reinstall Windows from the compressed CAB files in your Windows/Options/Cabs directory. If you can get to that directory, you can run the Setup program there. This will JUST reinstall Windows. There’s no hard drive formatting involved. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/7 "2003-06-21T15:16:40Z")
W98 has a system file restore program called System File Checker. If you can get the run box, just input: SFC & follow what it says. Next time run scandisk from the dos boot prompt. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/8 "2003-06-21T16:43:35Z")
Thanks **Pestie, Bongmaster, NutWrench, handy.** I am planning to give **Number’s** suggestion a try later this afternoon. I have to go to the Main Library and download the OEM boot disk – this branch library I’m at won’t allow it on their computers. I have suspected I may need to replace the hard drive for some time now – I have had soooo many idiotic shut-downs, freezes, data losses and at least four low-to-moderate viruses in the last year – not to mention other people messing around with my computer settings. (My own mother changed my password without telling me, then immediately left town for a weekend and forgot it.) I can assure you EVERY scandisk check I’ve made on this particular hard drive took at least 10 hours to run. There were 11 bad sectors the last time I checked it. I thought that was acceptable. Apparently not. I _just_ bought this hard drive from some hardware supplier off the internet just over a year ago. I’m beginning to see why it might have been so cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/9 "2003-06-21T17:53:15Z")
Uh-oh. I’m getting scared now. I just recently started seeing bad sectors on my HD. I never realized these are potentially a disaster waiting to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/10 "2003-06-21T19:02:17Z")
Windows does not deal with bad sectors very well at all. I could tell you horror stories about some of the things that can happen because of a bad sector. The worst thing is that Windows doesn’t tell you what the problem is - it just freaks out and (maybe) crashes. When the HD in my home Linux machine started going bad (never roll the desk over a power cord when the HD is writing…) it just took forever for some operations to complete - and it wrote a nice informative message on the console and in the system log when it had trouble. A bad sector on a modern drive is telling you that you are in serious trouble. For the most part, the firmware of the drive itself will recognize a bad sector and swap it with one that has been held in reserve for such problems. If it gets to the point where the OS sees the bad sector, then your drive is out of “spares” and the situation can only get worse. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/11 "2003-06-21T21:49:10Z")
“I never realized these are potentially a disaster waiting to happen.” I have used some HDs with sectors like that for along time, but these days HDs are cheap & easy to change. Just get a new one it should have instructions on how to mount it as the master & the old one as slave & then it should have software to copy the old to the new. Used to be you had to make the new one the slave & copy, but the one I got recently can do as a master. ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/12 "2003-06-21T22:06:09Z")
Oh, really, Handy. Has anyone else encountered HDs with ghosting software that copies your old to the new? I must have missed something tremendous the last couple of times I’ve had to install new drives. Has anyone got the straight dope on this? ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/13 "2003-06-22T06:36:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mort Furd \* > **Has anyone else encountered HDs with ghosting software that copies your old to the new?** Yes, most major manufacturers include an “install utility” with new retail drives that allows you to image your old drive. They tend to work well, though they’re much slower than Norton Ghost. [Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools](http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp#dlgtools) [Maxtor MaxBlast](http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/maxblast3.htm) ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/14 "2003-06-22T16:08:57Z")
"Has anyone else encountered HDs with ghosting software that copies your old to the new? " Where are you buying your HDs? For about 5 years, each one I bought has the software to copy the old to the new. It doesn’t Ghost image them as far as I know. But you can get the software for free from the manf website. Those are probably [www.westerndigital.com](http://www.westerndigital.com) & [www.maxtor.com](http://www.maxtor.com) Let me know if you can’t find it. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/15 "2003-06-22T16:12:13Z")
Also, for ghosting or to copy hd to hdyou can use Dolly 1.0 free to use, from [download.com](http://download.com) ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/16 "2003-06-22T18:43:32Z")
OK. I see it. Checked the sites linked to. All Windows stuff, which is why I’ve never even looked for it. Presumably the stuff was on the HD or (sometimes) the driver CD (which I’ve never looked at before disposing of it.) Disadvantage of being using Linux only at home, I guess. Everything I need to duplicate a drive is right there on the system, so I’ve never looked for other tools - and sure as heck not Windows tools. Thanks for the answers, folks. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/17 "2003-06-22T19:26:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mort Furd \* > **OK. I see it. Checked the sites linked to. All Windows stuff, which is why I’ve never even looked for it. Presumably the stuff was on the HD or (sometimes) the driver CD (which I’ve never looked at before disposing of it.)** They generally come on bootable floppies in the same box as the HD. Platform is irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/18 "2003-06-22T20:42:48Z")
And how well would these programs do for copying an ext2 files system or a reiser filesystem? ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/19 "2003-06-22T21:10:25Z")
Dunno, never tried it. ---
**Author:** ![pestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@pestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pestie)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200/20 "2003-06-23T15:36:32Z")
If you want to copy a Linux system from one hard drive to another I’d recommend booting a copy of [Knoppix](http://www.knoppix.org/), mounting the old and new drives under separate directories (obviously) and just using **cp -a** to copy the files from one drive to the other. In fact, this will work for a Windows system, too, provided you’re not using NTFS. In both cases you still have to make the system bootable, though. Under Linux that might mean writing a copy of your kernel to a floppy, booting from that, and then using LILO or GRUB or whatever to write an appropriate boot loader to the hard drive. Under Windows you can just do something like this: 1. Format the new drive with **format /s** 2. Boot Knoppix, copy all files from old drive to new 3. Remove old drive, boot from new drive And all this without spending a dime on software. The GPL is our friend. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-now-i-cant-get-into-windows98/183200.md?page=2)