dale001 Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 I tried turning on my PC last night and was unable to start it up: After start-up my desktop wallpaper opened, but no desktop icons or toolbars appeared and the hourglass cursor kept in hourglass mode--non stop. I was able to start the PC in Safe mode, everything began as normal, and I ran Scandisk, but that didn't help. I'm still getting the constant hourglass--unable to start Windows. Help is needed and appreciated--Dale :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark2 Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 Have you added/removed any hardware or programs recently ?Have you defragged recently?Have you had a look in device manager for problem devices ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madboy33 Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 go to safe modeNow click on start>shutdown>but click on restart in msdoswhen you get to the dos screen type scanreg/fixthis will fix the registry for any problemsmadboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale001 Posted December 2, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 How do I reinstall Win95 when it doesn't allow me to use the D drive (cd-rom) in safe mode? Also, Must I delete anything before reinstalling? A reinstall won't get rid of material on my hard drive will it?Thank you--Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moon Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 Did you try madboy's suggestion, dale ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pj123 Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 You need to get yourself a Windows 95 bootdisk. Go to www.bootdisk.com and download the boot disk for Win 95B. Once you have done that you will need to make sure that your computer BIOS is set to start from floppy disk first. If that is OK then restart your computer with the bootdisk in the floppy drive and when you get to the A:\ prompt change to your CD drive (which will probably be E:\) and type setup and press enter. Follow the prompts and it should re-install win95 over the top of your already existing system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nellie2 Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 Does the W95B boot disk have generic CD rom drivers on it then?? I always thought that the W95 boot disks were without CDrom support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest VoG™ Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 Nellie2Boot disks from http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm all include CDROM drivers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nellie2 Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 Well you learn something new everyday....... thanks for that VoG™ :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale001 Posted December 2, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 It would not allow me to try Maddog's suggestion. In Safe mode, when I clicked on start/shutdown/MS Dos, a window opened telling me I couldn't do that.... There were no conflicts/errors shown in device manager. I just wanted to know how to use the CD-Rom drive in safe mode to reinstall Win95 again IF I have to go that route---which is looking likely.Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nellie2 Posted December 2, 2003 Report Share Posted December 2, 2003 Maddog!!! :D :D :D Sorry dale... I am just having visions of Madboy as a mad dog!! :P You won't be able to re-install windows 95 in safe mode I dont think.. you will have to use the boot disk and do it as suggested by pj123 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale001 Posted December 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 My apologies to Madboy :D This isn't going easy...I went to bootdisk.com and downloaded and extracted to floppy "Win95b".When booting-up with the New boot-up floppy in, I get the A prompt, thankfully, but I can't get it to change to the D drive (which is my Cd-Rom drive). I have tried typing all variations. So now that I have got this far, how do I get it to change from the A prompt to the D prompt?? I just tried it again and instead of giving me the A-prompt, the floppy drive and the CD-ROM drive (with the Win95 CD in it) lights-up simultaneously, minutes pass, but nothing happens. Hmmmm.Thanks a much,Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted December 3, 2003 Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 How old is your machine?Is the clock keeping its time and date?Do you have the motherboard manual (or details about it so you can consult online?)Can you check in the BIOS that everything is as it should be according to the motherboard manual?Does the CD drive function in another machine?Does another CD drive function in your problem machine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale001 Posted December 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 Wow, a lot of tough questions for a computer illiterate like me. This PC is ten years old, was working fine til recently. It keeps time just fine--even in safe mode. I just want to be able to reinstall Win95--even if it wipes out my hard drive. I have my programs backed-up so that wouldn't matter much to me. Just need to get it to offer me the D drive after starting with the boot disk. I can get it to offer me A, B, C, not D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted December 3, 2003 Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 My reason for asking about the timekeeping is because there is a battery on board which controls the BIOS and also keeps time. If the battery is flat, it may happen that the BIOS is malfunctioning and reverting to a default state which, on an old machine (10 years certainly puts it in that category) may not include recognising a CD drive.Batteries quite often fail after 3 or 4 years. Ten years is pretty good going.I can easily remember a time when a CD drive in a computer was the ultimate in luxury and had to have special drivers installed and all sorts of things - and they cost well over £100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale001 Posted December 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 Using the Win95B boot disk I'm now able to get it to give me theA:\> prompt, but it will not give me the d:\ prompt no matter what I try, :confused: and I've tried D:\ and other variations. Any ideas on what to type at the A:\> prompt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nellie2 Posted December 3, 2003 Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 You should just need to type d: then hit enter at the A:\ prompt. Is your bios recognising your D drive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale001 Posted December 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 It reads the floppy briefly when I type D: at the A:\> prompt, and then it says, "Invalid Drive Specification." It doesn't read my D drive when I hit enter. Is my Bios (whatever that is) set-up properly to read the D drive? How do I check that in Safe Mode? Any other ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark2 Posted December 3, 2003 Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 try using E:\I seem to remember when installing 98 your cd moved up a letter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nellie2 Posted December 3, 2003 Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 Bios stands for Basic Input Output System.. it is the nervous system of your PC, it routes commands to and from your processor and other bits of hardware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale001 Posted December 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 <<try using E:\>>I get an "Invalid Drive Specification" with that one too. :dontgetit: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nellie2 Posted December 3, 2003 Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 What make is your computer?? I don't think I would recognise a 10 year old bios... if there was such a thing then?? But I may be able to find something out or someone else may know.... can you see your CD in My Computer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted December 3, 2003 Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 Is my Bios (whatever that is) set-up properly to read the D drive? How do I check that ?If your PC and battery is 10 years old, I think -pops- reply is on the right lines and you are possibly losing your BIOS settings when you power off.They will need to be reset in the BIOS and a new battery might be advisable (if possible). The earlier ones were in some cases soldered to the mother board, and weren't easily replaceable !As you normally boot up, before Win 95 starts. the BIOS string should be displayed somewhere (L/H bottom of the screen ?) as it tells you what memory/hard drive(s) are recognised.To actually get into the BIOS, try keeping the Delete Key held down as you turn the machine on. this should take you into the initial screen of the BIOS.As nellie says - what details of the PC can you provide ? ? What Make ?Model ? Processor ?This could give us a clue as to what the BIOS installed may be ?It could be AMI, Award Phoenix, Compaq, Dell, IBM ?????? or a less well known one ? They all differ in the appearance of their screens.This site lists a lot http://bioscentral.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale001 Posted December 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 This is an AMD-K6 PC. In Safe Mode, when I click on My Computer, the CD drive is not listed. I'm guessing that's normal for Safe Mode. It is listed in Device Manager though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted December 3, 2003 Report Share Posted December 3, 2003 Manufacturer/model ? or is it just an unbadged clone ?Do you get anything displayed when you boot up (normally) ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.