[Dan Penny]

If the hard disk(s) have not been formatted yet, boot with the startup floppy and when you get the A:\> prompt, type in;

dir/a/o/p c:

and hit enter. If there are any files on the hard disk they should show up. (You can stop the dir listing by hitting Ctrl+C.) If the windows directory is there, type in;

edit c:\msdos.sys

and hit enter. If there is only one or two lines in this file then it has been replaced somehow. This file contains path (and other) information for your main startup files. It should look something like this;

[Paths]
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C

[Options]
drvspace=0
dblspace=0
BootMulti=0
BootGUI=0
BootWarn=0
Network=0
LOGO=0
DoubleBuffer=1
AutoScan=1
WinVer=4.10.2222
Bootkeys=1
BootMenu=0
BootMenuDelay=30
;
;The following lines are required for compatibility with other programs.
;Do not remove them (MSDOS.SYS needs to be >1024 bytes).
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxa
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxb
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxc
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxd

(I've removed some lines similar to the above for space reasons. They usually go down to the letter "s".) You can use the arrow keys to move around while in EDIT. To exit the EDIT utility, hit Alt, then F, then X, then enter. (NOTE: this is a copy of ~MY~ file. The one on the problem machine will have some different settings, but it should look similar.)

If this file appears to be OK, type in;

fdisk/mbr

You won't see any messages for this action. Pull the bootdisk and try starting normally. If windows starts you're half way there. Any error messages can be dealt with from this point.

Post back with your findings.