Strange IBM Aptiva message when booting up

RE: IBM Aptiva Model 2170-245.
I usually keep this PC in standby mode when not using it. With a click of the mouse it pops back to life.

Last night it came back on by itself. The IBM Aptiva logo appeared as usual, but instead of going to the desktop, the monitor went dark, with a small white cursor at the upper left corner. This cursor remained there for about 90 seconds, then a message appeared, "Type the name of the Command Interpretor (e.g., C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.com". On the next line was "C>" followed by the cursor.

It looks like the space for a DOS command.

I clicked Ctrl+ALT+DEL to restart and again the IBM Aptiva logo appeared for a few seconds, the it was back to the cursor, the the "Type the name of the Command Interpretor......." again.

What does this mean? What is a Command Interpretor and why am I getting this message? Is my PC beyond hope?

At one point when I used Control+ALT+Delete to restart, for just a split second before the dark screen with the cursor appeared, the normal screen appeared. It seemed to be trying to load, but something was stopping it.

 

When the computer booted up, were there any flashing LEDs on the keyboard or any system beeps? There may be a problem or problems with either the RAM and/or the hard drive.

 

No unusual beeps or lights. Just the usual lights indicating power is on, etc.

I found the Product Recovery and Diagnostic cd and ran a couple of the tests. Most items on the 1st page of the PC-Doctor log passed. The 2nd page began with, 217-260-000-20131111-01-Hard Disk Drive: Failed (Error verifying track 0) (ECC Error).

The rest of the page is the same with only the track number in (Error verifying track....) being different. Such as track 6, track 16, track 24, etc., etc.

I also ran the Fixed Disk Surface Scan. There was a whole page of errors. About half were similar to, "Track 0 Head 1 Sector 1 ECC Error (Not a DOS partition)". Or "Track 16 Head 1 Sector 2 ECC Error (Not a DOS partitian)".

The rest of the page is composed of items such as, "Track 3867 Head 14 Sector 31 ECC Error (Could Not read FAT)."

With the recovery disk removed, I held down the CTRL key when booting up to see of it would boot in the safe mode. After about 90 seconds a dark screen with a list of several choices came up. I clicked the 3rd choice, Safe Mode. For just a split second the Windows logo appeared, then it wa back to the screen with the several choices, only now the problem mentioned in my first post was back, "Type the name of the Command Interpreter...etc. etc.)

I rebooted again, holding the CTRL key down and when I got to the choices, instead of clicking safe, I clicked normal. To my surprise the Windows logo appeared, filling the screen, but that only lasted a few seconds and it was back to the page with the choices again.

If this is a hard disk problem, is there any way I can try to get information from it? There's a computer shop in town that says they can try, but can't guarantee anything and of course the want a bundle of cash upfront before they'll look at it. How does a computer technician do this. Is special equipment required?

What is the Recovery part of the original Aptiva Product Recovery and Diagnostics cd I have? Can that be used to get files off the hard drive?

Fortunately, I think I have all the photos saved on a cd. I do have some text files that have been changed recently and I didn't back those up right away.

 

From what you list in the sector read errors, it seems the MBR (Master Boot Record)is corrupted. If you have the Windows OS installation CD, you can attempt to repair the MBR.

Restart the computer with the CD in the drive and boot to the CD. When asked what you want to do, type "R" for repair. Log in to the current Windows installation by pressing "1" and enter the Administrative Password.

At the first "C:\Windows>" prompt, type fixboot and press Enter. Type Y or y and press Enter.

At the next "C:\Windows>" prompt type fixmbr and press Enter. Type Y or y and press Enter.

Again, at the next "C:\Windows> prompt type fixboot and press Enter. Type Y or y and press Enter. The fixboot step HAS to be done twice. That's why it's repeated here.

At the next "C:\Windows>" prompt type exit and press Enter.

If we've been successful in fixing the MBR, Windows should boot normally.

If not, the hard drive is failing and needs to be replaced. In fact, with the number of errors reported, it would be a good idea to do so any way.

As far as recovering the text type files (and possibly the photos) there's a utility disk called UBCD (Ultimate Boot CD). Download the .ISO file and burn it to a CD. Boot into it and use the file manipulation utilities to copy/move the files you can access to an external drive, USB Flash drive, or CD/DVD.

 

You said to download the ISO file and burn it to a CD. I went to the UBCD download page. Do I have to download the complete UBCD untility to get the ISO file, or is there a link to just the ISO file when I click the UBCD download page?

The PC with the problem has a read only CD, with no burner. I have an XP PC with a burner. If I burn the ISO file with that PC, would it work ok in the Aptiva with W 98?

Because the problem PC has a read only CD drive, and the hard drive seems to be bad, could I save recovered files to floppy disks? I know the floppy drive works because I saved the results of the diagnostic tests to a floppy disk and loaded results to my XP computer.

I'd consider using a flash drive, but the W 98 PC only has USB 1 ports. Flash drives are all for USB 2 or higher ports. Could a USB 2 flash drive be used in a USB 1 port? What's the difference between the different USB ports? Would any flash drive work is the hard drive is bad?

Are the file manipulation utilities fairly easy to use?

The UBCD download page states it should be run from a USB memory stick. I presume this mean flash drive. Is that necessary or can it be run from the cd?

 

I don't have the OS cd, only the Recovery and Diagnostics CD and IBM Aptiva Software Selections CD.

Is there any possibility a bad battery could cause these problems? My brother gave me the computer around 10 years go. I don't know if he ever replaced the battery, but I know I haven't. How long do they last?

 

The CMOS batteries last about 4 years so, it is adviseable to replace it. As far as the UBCD download, download from Major Geeks and burn it to CD on your XP machine. Most of thr utilities are fairly easy to work with

 

When I download the UBCD utilitiy to my XP PC, where will I find it on my computer to burn it to a cd? Once I burn it to a cd, how do I remove it from the computer?

The utility is for use in an IBM Aptiva with W 98.

 

You would point the CD burning software to C:\Documents and Settings\Your username\My Documents\Downloads\the UBCD ISO. Once you've burned and verified the CD, quit out of the burning software then delete the ISO from the XP hard drive.

The utility CD is Linux based and your Aptiva's boot sequence should be set so the CD ROM is ahead of the internal hard drive. Once it's booted to the menu choices, select the option that's appropriate for the amount of RAM you have in the Aptiva.

I wasn't aware you're running Windows 98 on the Aptiva. I hope you haven't gone online with it. Microsoft support for 98 ended July 11, 2006.