Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (
More info?)
On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 19:07:01 -0700, Millie
>My user had a hard drive failure. I replaced the hard drive and reinstalled
>Win98. When "Restart in MS-DOS mode" is selected, the screen goes black and
>nothing happens. Does any one know why this is happening and how I can fix
>this?
A .pif that is set to run in MS-DOS Mode can run in two ways:
- "Use with current configuratrion" (default)
- "Specify a new..." (better).
The .pif used to "Restart in MS-DOS Mode" is "Exit to DOS.pif" in the
Windows base directory. It doesn't exist after a new install, until
the option is invoked; then it's created on the fly.
So, start by seraching for this file. If it doesn't exist, that
implies attempts to restart in MS-DOS Mode are dying very early (or
you aren't searching properly - think typos, missing quotes, wrong
path to search in, hiding system files etc.)
If it does exist, change it to "Specify a new..." and see if that
works. If not, then troubleshoot Command.com versions, and try
deleting "Exit to DOS.pif" in case it's bad, so a new one is made.
If "Specify..." works, then suspect bad settings in one or more of the
following, such that the session fails:
- C:\Config.sys
- C:\AutoExec.bat
- DOSStart.bat that is in the Windows base directory
Rename away each of these in turn, and retry.
Background:
"Use with current..." exits Windows to run the DOS mode session,
without rebooting, so that the original Windows C:\Config.sys and
C:\Autoexec.bat remain in effect. In addition to whatever was loaded
there, the session runs DOSStart.bat as the session starts. When
done, the session returns to Windows without rebooting, unless
something has loaded as a driver or TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident)
program during the session - in which case, the session restarts to
return to Windows, running the Windows startup files again.
"Specify a new..." does not use DOSStart.bat, nor does it use the
Windows C:\Config.sys and C:\Autoexec.bat (this is the key to its
power!). Instead, a private pair of startup files are extracted as
C:\Config.sys and C:\Autoexec.bat while the originals are copied to
C:\*.WOS forms. The system then reboots into the DOS session, using
the new startup files. When the session ends, the startup files are
re-incorporated into the /pif from whence they came, and the *.WOS
files are renamed back into action before the PC reboots to Windows.
>------------------------ ---- --- -- - - - -
Forget
http://cquirke.blogspot.com and check out a
better one at
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>------------------------ ---- --- -- - - - -
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