Well, John, as Mark Twain observed, "The problem isn't what we don't know; it's
what we do know that just ain't so".

The bottom line is that from my Windows 98 emergency start-up diskette, I used
the command, SYS C:, from the A-prompt and, viola, my computer was restored to
it's normal working condition. Actually, I was (pleasantly) surprised. But I
give the credit to you for jump-starting my thinking about the situation.

Yes, I couldn't get into Windows but apparently my boot drive is set up as a
slave without a master. I'm not sure how one or more of my SYS files became
corrupted but other mysterious things happened in my house during the same time
period, i.e., my multi-system TV normally capable of receiving German Digital
and American AFN satellite programs was reduced to the American satellite
stations and only in black and white. Also, this Computer lost all the emails
saved in my inbox received since Feb 2008. The Win98 computer was not turned
on during this period but it was plugged in through a surge protector which was
not blown. There were electrical storms during the period and at least one
power outage. All this doesn't quite add up for me.

Thanks again for your help.

Frank
----- Original Message -----
From: c-post
To: windows-98@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2008 6:50 PM
Subject: Re: [Win98] Anybody there


If the BIOS doesn't see the drive -- i.e. in the boot up sequence -- you
should not be able to access the drive. Access the drive how? I thought
you couldn't get into windows.

John

Frank Leitnaker wrote:
>
>
> Thanks, John,
>
> I'll give that a try. What seems strange to me is why I can access the
> drive even though the BIOS doesn't see it. I suspect I already have
> that HDD set up as the slave with no master. Is that possible? And all
> I really need to do is restore the system files.
>
> Frank
>
> --- In windows-98@yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:windows-98%40yahoogroups.com>, c-post <C-POST@...> wrote:
> >
> > That is a bit of a pickle, Frank. What I would do is get another
> > harddrive and install it in the master position by setting the jumper.
> > And change the setting of your old drive to be the slave. Boot up with
> > your start up diskette and install WIndows 98 in the new drive. And
> > after you have installed windows 98, then see if you can access your
> old
> > boot drive. If not, I think your old drive is toast, which would be a
> > shame, since you might have data on it that you need.
> >
> > What I have done to guard against this type of failure is I make a
> clone
> > of my boot drive before it goes down using disk cloning software. It
> > takes me so long to install all my programs and get all the drivers to
> > make the system run (and I have got a cherry, 2 screen win 98 system
> > that I have maintained for years) that disk cloning is essential. PLUS
> I
> > also have a very valuable little program called desktop resetter which
> > remembers the desktop positions of all my icons.
> >
> > I usually have to do a maintenance reinstall of Win98 about every 4-5
> > months, because sometimes it gets a little funky, usually associated
> > with printer drivers or other drivers.
> >
> > good luck
> >
> > John
> >
> > Frank Leitnaker wrote:
> > >
> > > Is there anybody still monitoring this group that might give me some
> help?
> > >
> > > I am still using Windows 98 (SE) in an old computer because it has
> some
> > > capability I don't have with this computer running on Windows XP HE.
> > >
> > > Now the old computer will not boot. Set-up does not detect the
> master HDD
> > > which is partitioned into C and D. Using Win 98 (SE) start-up
> diskette, I
> > > was able to access the C:\ drive and run Scandisk which found no
> errors.
> > >
> > > I don't understand what is going on nor what else to do about it.
> > >
> > > Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
> > >
> > > Frank Leitnaker
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>
>

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