[starchild]

I considered this belonging in the dos topic, but I don't have a problem with dos.

Tonight, I've tried several times to restart in ms-dos (I have WIN 98 SE) and each time a dark, greenish screen comes up with a blinking curse in the upper left hand corner.

I wait awhile to see if the dos prompt will come on, and it doesn't.

I can't get out of this (or don't know how) ESCAPE doesn't work, and CTRL-ALT-DEL does nothing.

I end up turning off the plug strip, putting it back on, waiting a few mins and turning the computer back on. Where it loads in WIN again.

I tried hitting F-8 but this is touchy to do anyway, has to be timed just right.

The main reason I have used dos (which I don't know much about) is I delete the temp files that way, which seems to work better and help. Using SMARTDRV and DELTREE (etc)

Earlier today I tried to copy a cd, which included saving a copy of it (temp) on my hard drive. A box came up saying I didn't have enough free disk space to do this, which I had thought anyway. I have a little under a gb of hd (and at total of 8) ( I know I could use more, and more memory, etc. I'm just not able to upgrade right now)

I cancelled the cd copy, but it didn't seem to close, so I closed the program with CTRL-ALT-DEL

Later, I couldn't open Outlook Express (a newgroup in it) because of not enough hard drive space. I checked and only had 300-KB of hard drive space free!

I figured the cd I had tried to copy earlier had made a file of itself. I didn't know how to find this, so went into FIND and put in files that had been created today, and found the cd file still in TEMP. It must have saved some of it.

I deleted that and now back up to 800 MB of free space.

Which is why I've been trying to get into dos to delete files that way and free up more.

Long story- but the question is, what's up with not restarting in dos? when I get the dark greenish screen with the blinking curser, what can I do? (I've tried typing things, like EXIT and nothing comes out on the screen though it seems to be waiting for me to do something)

Is there another way to do it?

I'm getting tired of restarting it.

It's not a crisis, because WIN loads and I can go online and now have most of the hd space back.

Thanks,

Carrie

 

[Rollin' Rog]

There are two ways to restart to DOS, one is the way that is giving you trouble, and the other is to press and hold the ctrl key immediately after you begin to to start or restart. This gets you a boot menu with the command prompt as an option. Another way to get the Boot Menu is to run msconfig and select the Advanced tab and put a check in "enable startup menu". That will cause it to appear everytime until you remove the check.

The prompt you will get this way will be the c:\> prompt. From there you need to enter:

cd c:\windows so you are at the c:\windows prompt that you would get if you were using the Shutdown > Restart in MS-DOS mode from windows.

>> To troubleshoot the restart in MS-DOS mode from windows problem see this link:

http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...port/kb/articles/Q232/6/57.ASP&NoWebContent=1

To use the "second" method search for this string to find the Exit to DOS.pif file: exitto

Also you can simply find Dosstart.bat and rename it Dosstart.old

A new, empty, but valid Dosstart.bat file will be created on restart. It will not try to load any drivers which may be causing problems.

If doing this doesn't resolve the problem, it is likely caused by some problem with the Video switching and would require further troubleshooting.

 

[Bob Cerelli]

Some other options for booting to DOS mode:

Within Win9x ther is a way to boot to DOS mode with selecting "Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode "

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/install/dos_mode.htm

Or just make a simple Win98 boot disk.

 

[starchild]

Okay, it's late and I haven't had a chance to check in till now.

It's the "restart in dos" that isn't working (only a blinking curser that doesn't do anything).

I never thought about the bootup disk, I have some of them around (floppies)

I'm going to wait till morning after it's been off all night and try it again. Sometimes (with Windows anyway) this fixes a problem

I did take some programs out earlier, trying to make more space and some of them said "other programs may be using this file- do you still want to remove it?" Sometimes I say no, sometimes yes, I never know what I should do with that.

I don't know what would have effected dos, though.

Contralto, I did run Adaware (and got update files for it first) and keep check on HiJack this.

Doesn't look like anything too different in it
Logfile of HijackThis v1.97.7
Scan saved at 11:45:31 PM, on 3/27/04
Platform: Windows 98 SE (Win9x 4.10.2222A)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSGSRV32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPREXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\mmtask.tsk
C:\PROGRAM FILES\GRISOFT\AVG6\AVGSERV9.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RNAAPP.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\TAPISRV.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SYSTRAY.EXE
C:\MOUSE\SYSTEM\EM_EXEC.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\YAHOO!\MESSENGER\YPAGER.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WMIEXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DDHELP.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\INTERNET EXPLORER\IEXPLORE.EXE
C:\UNZIPPED\HIJACKTHIS\HIJACKTHIS.EXE

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://mail.yahoo.com/?.intl=us
O1 - Hosts: 64.91.255.87 www.dcsresearch.com
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\ADOBE\ACROBAT 6.0\READER\ACTIVEX\ACROIEHELPER.DLL
O2 - BHO: Ipswitch.WsftpBrowserHelper - {601ED020-FB6C-11D3-87D8-0050DA59922B} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\WS_FTP PRO\WSBHO2K0.DLL
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSDXM.OCX
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVG_CC] C:\PROGRAM FILES\GRISOFT\AVG6\avgcc32.exe /startup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SystemTray] SysTray.Exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [EM_EXEC] C:\MOUSE\SYSTEM\EM_EXEC.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Zone Labs Client] C:\PROGRAM FILES\ZONE LABS\ZONEALARM\ZLCLIENT.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [Avgserv9.exe] C:\PROGRA~1\GRISOFT\AVG6\Avgserv9.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [TrueVector] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ZONELABS\VSMON.EXE -service
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [AIM] C:\PROGRAM FILES\AIM95\aim.exe -cnetwait.odl
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Yahoo! Pager] C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\ypager.exe -quiet
O4 - Startup: Adobe Gamma Loader.exe.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe
O9 - Extra button: AIM (HKLM)
O16 - DPF: {6B4788E2-BAE8-11D2-A1B4-00400512739B} (PWMediaSendControl Class) - http://216.249.24.140/code/PWActiveXImgCtl.CAB
O16 - DPF: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (Shockwave Flash Object) - http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab
O16 - DPF: {74D05D43-3236-11D4-BDCD-00C04F9A3B61} (HouseCall Control) - http://a840.g.akamai.net/7/840/537/2003120501/housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/xscan53.cab
-----------------------------
I've seen this before:
O16 - DPF: {6B4788E2-BAE8-11D2-A1B4-00400512739B} (PWMediaSendControl Class) - http://216.249.24.140/code/PWActiveXImgCtl.CAB

Can't remember if it's something I was told to take out before and did and it came back, or if it's okay?

For some reason I think it comes from WinMedia Player but don't know why I think that. I don't check the boxes in that, that want to send info to microsoft about what I use it for, but Zone Alarm still comes up asking me if I want to let it access the internet.

Tomorrow is another day...

~ Carrie

 

[Bob Cerelli]

Actually there is a typo in that last post of mine. It should have read:

Within Win9x ther is a way to boot to DOS mode WITHOUT selecting "Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode "

http://www.onecomputerguy.com/install/dos_mode.htm

 

[Rollin' Rog]

The HijackThis Scanlog won't help with this problem.

The absolute simplest way to approach this is to find and rename dosstart.bat to dosstart.old

 

[starchild]

It's now Sunday morning- fresh start.

When I shut down the computer last night, I tried restart in ms-dos mode again, and this time it did. It was slow- and first the blinking curser up in the corner. (but I had waited when I tried it the other times to see if it would come on and it didn't)

This time it did, the dos prompt came on, and I dumped the old files.

Then- faced with the dos prompt, what would I put in to close down, without going back to WINDOWS and letting that load and closing down?

I didn't know. I tried "Close" and it didn't work. So, I typed EXIT and waited for WIN again, and then shut down.

I am saving all the advice here, for in case I need it. Renaming the dosstart.bat sounds like something good to know. I have a running "dos notes" paper (and some of it written on the side of one of my speakers in marker).

I know, I should save everything I want on cds (I have been doing this some as I go along) and reinstall WINDOWS from scratch. Just putting it off because of all the redoing and putting in programs again, etc.

I can see why people keep wanting and getting newer, faster, bigger computers. I remember when I got this and thought 8 gb was a lot, compared to my previous 3.

~ Carrie

 

[Rollin' Rog]

Typically once you are in DOS, entering exit, win or doing a ctrl alt del should get you back to Windows.

The only practical side effect for most of renaming dosstart.bat is that you will not have mouse support. However some sound cards place other drivers in that file to support DOS games; their presence can cause problems.

 

[brushmaster1]

To shut down directly from DOS, just make sure no programs are running (you should have just the C:\> prompt) and turn your computer off. DOS, unlike Windows, doesn't need to go through a lengthy shut-down procedure.

 

[starchild]

Thanks Brushmaster, that's kind of amazing (compared to WINDOWS)

How easy, just turn it off. Some things are simple and right in front of us.

~ Carrie