Windows 98 boots into DOS

There's a windows 98 PC that boots into DOS, any suggestions? I know this is vague info, but it's all I have. The Windows 98 Splash Screen pops up, but then goes into DOS. Thanks.

 

Sounds to me like your Autoexec.bat file is directing DOS to load at startup.
Open the Autoexec.bat file with a text editor (notepad if you don't have anything better) and have a look at the lines in that file. Put a semicolon immediately in front of anything that looks like a direction to load dos at the beginning of the line.
W98 operates quite happily without autoexec.bat so its pretty safe to do a bit of trial and error here.
Sorry if my memory of W98 is not as good as it was. Others here may have a better idea
Robert

 

Ummm, "dos" is already loaded when the computer goes through config.sys and autoexec.bat.

No need to change anything.

What you need to do, is the following:

attrib -r -h -s msdos.sys
edit msdos.sys

Make sure that bootgui = 1

save the file

attrib +r +h +s msdos.sys
reboot

DO NOT ERASE ANY LINES. This file must be > 1024 bytes.

 

I concur.

 

Did you check try reinstalling the Video Drivers? Seems like the video driver is corrupt.

 

Hi There
It seemed to me that if the W98 screen flashed and then reverted to the C prompt that the msdos.sys file had already been executed and that the autoexec.bat had reverted to the C prompt. from memory i think the command in the .bat file would be the final executable line PROMPT.
Also the msdos.sys file from memory is a buggar to edit properly and still retain its size.
That said I would be inclined to fiddle with the bat file before the sys file.
If the first fails then you attack the sys.
Cheers Guys/Gals
Robert

 

Changing a value from 0 to 1 is not going to change the size of the file. A byte is a byte whether it is a 0 or 1.

 

The autoexec.bat file does not need the prompt command, the exit command, the win.com command or anything like that.

MSDOS.Sys should have that BOOTGUI=1
It should have the [PATHS]
WinDir=c:\windows
WinBootDir=c:\windows
hostwinbootdrv=c:\

Anyway, the last time I ran into this problem was 1998. (if memory serves me well)

Also, "messing" with the msdos.sys file isn't all that much different then "messing" with the registry, the autoexec.bat command, the config.sys, hex editing command.com, or other items.

I should have said awhile back. Make a backup of any file you are editing. As in:
copy msdos.sys *.bck