Computer backup/restore HELP please!

[mtblujeans]

I can't get the search function to work so I have a question I hope someone can help me with.

I have Win98 and I just had my OS reinstalled a couple of months ago. I made a backup onto my computer and I burned the backup onto a cd. Well, the kids did something to my computer before I could even get everything else installed so I would like to restore the back up and I can't get it to do it!

I printed out the instructions from the Microsoft web site and when I get to the DOS instructions, I am stuck. It instructs: "At the command prompt, type the following lines, pressing ENTER after each line

<cdrom>: cd tools/sysrec pcrestor

where <cdrom> is the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive."

I get the DOS promt to change to D, which is the CD-ROM drive, but I can't get DOS to accept any part of the line(s) to enter. What am I doing wrong? Can anyone help?

What the heck part of the above do you type in to get it to accept the cd? I have tried every drive letter I can think of and have typed in the above individually and all together and it just keeps telling me "invalid entry", etc..

 

[Towncrier]

Did you just type D:<enter> to switch to the CDROM drive?

If you can't get the computer to recognize the CDROM, you may have to boot a special floppy diskette that has a software program (or driver) so that your hardware can see the CDROM drive.

If you can get to the D:> prompt, then just type:
cd tools/sysrec pcrestor<enter>

Hope this helps.

 

[mtblujeans]

Hello my friend!

Thanks for your help! I did get it to switch to drive D but when I type in the rest of it, I get "too many parameters - pcrestor".

I have also typed in just the "cd tools" and the prompt changed to "D:TOOLS>" but then nothing else happens. It won't accept the rest of it.

I don't know whether to hang my computer.....or my kids!

None of us know anyone around here that is familiar with Win98 any more.....!

 

[mtblujeans]

This seems kinda' strange! I had my OS re-installed and some memory added in April. Then, I got a new DSL service. Before I got all the Win98 upgrades downloaded from Microsoft, the kids were watching videos on the 'net with my computer and after that, I kept getting "the blue screen of death" (as we like to call it around here) and the computer would just freeze up. If I used the internet for awhile, it would freeze up like that and I would have to restart. I tried running the disk scan to correct any errors but it wouldn't run. I would get the message that a program was running in the background and it could not go any farther as long as that program was running....but there wasn't any program running that I could find!

I assumed there was software damage and I thought that if I restored the backup from April, it would be alright and I could just re-install everything that had not been installed back in April.

I finally got the restore to run and it ran for 20 minutes but just when it was almost finished, the "blue screen of death" appeared and it froze up. I wasn't on the internet that time tho'!

So, I restarted the computer and went right to the disk scan and it still wouldn't scan. Something was still running in the background!! WTH!?

So, I got all the disks together and reinstalled Win98 (which I have never done before). I thought it would wipe everything out and I would need to reinstall all the drivers, etc. It didn't. It seemed to save everything and reinstall Win98 but keeping everything I had previously installed.

So, I installed Win98 again. It saved everything again! I have tried to run scan disk and it still sends up the message that something is running and needs to be closed so scan disk can run.

I really want to learn to do this myself....I don't want to take the computer to a shop and just "have it fixed". But, I can't figure out what the problem is! I am wondering if it is hardware and not software!? *sigh*

 

[mtblujeans]

This has become ridiculously funny! I have reinstalled Win98 twice and reinstalled the modem....I have uninstalled almost everything that I had added to the basic OS and I still can't get the hard drive to scan for errors because something is "running in the background"!!

Gosh, I hate computers!

 

[BunsenH]

Do you have a "WIN98 Boot Disk" floppy? If so, shut off the PC, put it in, and turn on the PC. When the PC starts, you will have just a DOS prompt and should be able to run CHKDSK or SCANDISK to check the hard drive for errors.

When you boot the PC (without the floppy), do you get an option to run in Safe Mode? If so, choose yes. This will start a minimal Windows and allow you to troubleshoot more easily.

Keep us posted!

 

[Towncrier]

Sorry I didn't get back to this thread sooner.

The "something" that is running in the background might just be the fact that your computer has created a swap file on the hard drive that you are trying to scan. If you are letting windows manage your swap space, this could be your problem.

If you right click on "My Computer" and then select "Properties", you should be able to find a tab or screen that mentions "Virtual Memory". You can disable the swap file and try to run scandisk. You will eventually have to re-enable the swap file in order for Win98 to work.

An alternative is to kill nearly every running process on the computer before running scandisk. First step is to disable any screen savers. You don't want the screen to blank out during scandisk. The next step is to delete any unnecessary tasks. If you press CNTL-ALT-DEL, it should bring up a list of tasks that are running. You can selectively kill off these processes one-by-one taking careful note of when the computer reboots (so you know NOT to delete that process next time).

Once you have a minimalist system running, you can try to start the scandisk process. While it is running, try not to move the mouse or press any keys on the keyboard.

With a little luck (and a lot of pixie dust), you might make it through this process.

 

[mtblujeans]

Thanks to both of you!

I think, if I remember correctly, I tried previously to run the scan disk in safe mode and it still wouldn't do it. I will try again. I thought that was odd that it could not scan the disk for errors in safe mode....I'll take a look at that again to make sure.

I got the computer to start up with the start up disk and go into DOS, but I couldn't get it to do anything else.....I am pretty sure that is operator error!

I will try all of your suggestions and get back to you....thanks so much!

Interestingly enough, the silly thing WILL defragment but won't scan/correct errors on the hard drive. I have never had it do that before. Usually, when the HD won't scan for errors, the defragment won't go either.

 

[mtblujeans]

I was looking at my notes as to the "medical treatment" I have been giving my 'puter and I had tried to scan the disk for errors all Saturday evening and into the night and it wouldn't move at all. I tried to scan in safe mode and tried to defragment, too, and the indicator just sat at 0%. I even left the computer on all night to scan the disk and it was still sitting at 0% the next morning.

Yesterday, I restarted the computer in safe mode at about 1:00p and it did FINALLY scan the disk for errors. I have an 80GB hard drive with 5GB used and it took 17 hours to scan the hard drive for errors last night. I just left it to run until it finished. I was surprised it was doing it at all!!

I did shut everything off that was running this morning that I could manually shut off and check in there to see what else was running. It listed Explorer, Loadqm, Wkcalrem, Atiptaxx, Stimon, and Systray as running. Then, I got on the internet to come to the DIS and my computer froze up!

I have been thinking this week that I may just have to give in and go to XP, but I am not sure what the problem is and if installing XP will take care of it or not. *sigh*

 

[BunsenH]

I am impressed that you kept notes of your troubleshooting! It appears that you have attacked the problem logically and methodically. Kudos to you!

I would be hesitant to install WINXP on a WIN98 vintage PC. XP likes to have 512M RAM a CPU speed of 1.6GHz or better. Have you considered an new PC?

 

[JCJRSmith]

I can't get the search function to work so I have a question I hope someone can help me with.

I have Win98 and I just had my OS reinstalled a couple of months ago. I made a backup onto my computer and I burned the backup onto a cd. Well, the kids did something to my computer before I could even get everything else installed so I would like to restore the back up and I can't get it to do it!

I printed out the instructions from the Microsoft web site and when I get to the DOS instructions, I am stuck. It instructs: "At the command prompt, type the following lines, pressing ENTER after each line

<cdrom>: cd tools/sysrec pcrestor

where <cdrom> is the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive."

I get the DOS promt to change to D, which is the CD-ROM drive, but I can't get DOS to accept any part of the line(s) to enter. What am I doing wrong? Can anyone help?

What the heck part of the above do you type in to get it to accept the cd? I have tried every drive letter I can think of and have typed in the above individually and all together and it just keeps telling me "invalid entry", etc..

Type D: <ENTER>
Type cd tools\sysrec <ENTER>
Type pcrestor <ENTER>

That should do it.

 

[mtblujeans]

Type D: <ENTER>
Type cd tools\sysrec <ENTER>
Type pcrestor <ENTER>

That should do it.

Thanks! I would still like to utilize my backup....if I can!

Actually, my computer is about 2 years old and is a Pent4. I just upgraded to 1GB memory, although they told me the additional memory would not be much use to this computer unless I went to XP.

I have resisted XP all this time but I am wondering if I cannot put it off any longer. I suppose I could check into a BIOS update, too!

 

[BunsenH]

Based on your PC's age and memory, I would recommend the upgrade to XP. I look after about 50 PCs at work and have found XP to be a very stable OS. If you don't like the "Fisher Price" appearance of the interface, you can change it back to Classic Windows. Compatability with drivers and new peripherals, USB support, etc. all point you to XP.

Go for it! and good luck.

 

[mtblujeans]

Thank you all for your help and suggestions. I work from home now and I haven't kept up my computer "experience". When I used to work from an office, I would follow the office tech around and learn tons of stuff! I think it drove him nuts!

I have one more question, if everyone will humor me....what is ActiveX/COM? TIA

 

[mtblujeans]

Well.....after searching and reading.....it appears my error messages have something to do with my 'net connection!

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/298576/en-us
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316520/en-us

Again, I hope XP will resolve this puppy!