Cant even boot into safe mode screen, DOS prompt only

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Cant even boot into safe mode screen, DOS prompt o

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From: Kenny on 02/08/2004
I couldn't get the darn computer to even get into safe mode.

I hit F8 over and over while booting and can get into a DOS prompt.

I think my explorer.exe file is corrupted because that's the error I get when trying to get to safe mode.

I found out that you can sometimes fix the registry and scan it or change to a backed up version using a program called "scanreg".

I am still trying to recover but am posting some of the info I found so far, hoping it may help someone else. (I have two systems, the broke one is a back up anyway)

My registry is OK but I didn't have any back up copies of the registry but I did try to copy explorer.exe from my other machine over via floppy, hoping that it may just be corrupted, no luck. I am at the point of probably just reinstalling windows over this or just new, I am hoping to be able to use all my installed programs so I hope to find a solution. Hey, I got time!

Please post any other ideas you may have, thanks.

If you get to a DOS prompt, you can run scanreg just by itself, but here's the list of command switches I found, the next thing to try is a back up of the registry using the /recover switch.

Switch Description
----------------------------------------------------------------------
/backup Backs up the registry and related files without
displaying any prompts.

/restore Displays a list of available backup files, sorted
by the date and time the backup was created.

"/comment=<text>" Enables you to add a descriptive comment to the
registry backup.

/fix Repairs any damaged portions of the registry, and
optimizes it by rebuilding it without unused space.

/autoscan Automatically scans the registry and backs it up
without displaying any prompts if there is no
backup for that date.

/scanonly Scans the registry and displays a message if any
errors are found. This switch does not back up the
registry.

filename Scans the registry file specified and displays a
message indicating whether or not any errors were
found. This switch does not back up the registry.

/opt The /opt command-line switch causes the
Registry Checker tool to optimize the
registry by removing unused space.

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From: Tonya on 10/05/2004
Try reinstalling your Operating System.
When you have the command prompt C: type cd windows, press enter.
Then type cd options, press enter. Then type cd cabs, press enter. Then type setup, press enter. The Windows 98 Operating System will be reinstalled. Follow onscreen instructions. Good Luck.

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From: Kenny on 02/13/2004
It was Win98SE and it didn't show any back up files at all even though there were some CAB files for them, I think the thing was pretty messed up at the time though. It's probably a good idea to make sure your system is backing up those files as you go through life.
I finally just reloaded windows again, that is the windows way of fixing all problems and that sucks. Is anyone going to do a class action lawsuit over any of this time waisted?

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From: Anand.C on 02/11/2004
Hi, Kenny
u didn't told that which os u r using.
1)press F8 key at pc start, then come to the dos prompt.
on prompt type SCANREG/RESTORE
this will show u 4-5 days registry select the registry on the day which your windows runs properly.

if step 1) not works then go for setp 2

2)ren bootlog.txt file on prompt to bootlog.old(bootlog.txt files attributed, removed the file from attrib)

if step 2) not works then go for setp 3

3) reinstalled windows from dos-prompt.

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From: Kenny on 02/08/2004
more info, windows should be writing a back up copy of the registry to the hard drive at every boot, default it writes 5 times back, it writes them to C:/windows/sysbckup/ as a CAB file like "rb001.cab". The settings for scanreg are in C:/windows/scanreg.ini you can open it with notepad to see what I mean, the setting for how many files to back up is called "MaxBackupCopies".
There are other dll's backed up to C:/windows/sysbckup/ so that may save you some day if you need a dll that is corrupt or missing, I think the system file checker (sfc.exe) uses these files when there is a problem.
One problem, the registry backup is a CAB file which may not be easy to open via DOS prompt. If you had a spare system available then you could possibly use a floppy and copy them back and forth. If you are in safe mode then you should be able to use the CAB files to recover or whatever you need to do.
The command "scanreg /recover" is suposto show you a list of the backed up files, but mine didn't show any, I am not sure why but I had several registry CAB back up files in the place they should be.
The files in the CAB file are "system.dat", "system.ini", "user.dat", and "win.ini".

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