wont boot up anymore?? (win98se)

[stephenn]

For ages the computer would start up with the screen:

did not shut down properly (even if had used the shut down)

it would happily go through a few pages of 'internal info of whats in my computer, then go to win scan and stay for few seconds why the little yellow bar at the bottom filled up - it would then go to scan for bad sectors (which I learned (after waiting several hours for this to complete for the first few times), I learned could just press 'x' to exit and the computer would burst into life with my home page and would work just fine........... so I got used to this (after several years now).

But Now..... its changed

first - it went through usual routine but on scanning yellow bar, it used a new pop up saying 'searching for crossd files' (something like that)
first time it took ages but eventually got to work.

next start up: it did same again, but this time did not progress any further

next start up/reboot: it didnt get past the first page, where it just says the system and the id code.

next start up: not even a bit of writing - just blank, black screen.

Q
how can i get it to start up whilst preserving whats on the C drive ( the computer also has a D drive which is just used to store big video editing files (I use premierre on this computer).

Thoughts and ponderings would be greatly appreciated, thanks
stephen

[snowmonkey]

Hey stephenn,

Windows 98SE ??? That is a dinosaur of operating system .....well, when you see your computer going through scan disk one every start up it should tell you something......something is wrong ? helpfully you don't have any bad sector on the drive, if so, it would mean the data on those sector will not be recover-able.

I could suggest to re-install the operating system on the top of the one you have but if your hard drive is dying , it would make the matter worst.

My suggestion is to transfer the data to a safe location first then worry about the hard ware. if you can plug your hard drive to another computer and transfer the data and burn them to a DVD of CD.....then you may want to invest a bit on money and get yourself a new computer [they run around $600 ~$700.

Cheers

[harry12]

Agree snowmonkey, copy valuable data is a Must.
I have suffered a similar fate Win98SE 130G HDD - after some weeks I allowed scandisk to run overnight - and then early moring I ran Defrag.....everything OK until the next time - now it won't boot at all - YET - the data on the HDD is OK ( viewed on another pc, this problem-drive as slave).
........So I'm gradually taking my picture files to DVD - grief it's slow...........
My DVD media are 4x so a DVD-loading takes 4.5 hrs including the "verify" cycle.....so far this is what snowmonkey has suggested..........

Stephenn, (Scandisk)-that "x" (for eXit") is a neat trick I use also, but it stores up problems for another time. Each time you get nearer to the edge.
For my Win98SE PC the 130G HDD has been similar and is now unbootable, with a curious stop at msmouse.
You say you have a black screen....is the screen working at boot-time? (ie you are getting a video-signal)...have you tried Safe-mode - I understand scandisk should be run in safe-mode for best results, this avoids extra drivers being loaded.
In safe mode (option 3 on my PC) there are other means of booting - I used No5 - a Step-process which may help. At least you can write down the files that are being loaded...quite instructive I found.

Otherwise if yr HDD is sounding sweet, then a clean install may work wonders. +At least some of yr files are on the separate D-drive (hoping it not a partition).

Let's know how you get on.

[stephenn]

thanks for thoughts.
i toook my hard drive out and popped it in a usb caddy..... it has all the data still on it so then dumped this onto an external hd. i purchased both these gadgets for this purpose and used my other computer to do the job.

i have also purchased a new computer and this has win xp in it. now i have several external hard drives that are linked to it from usb ports and all is fine.

i guess, i have not found out the problem but perhaps it was time i got an upto date OS.... so all is well now.

thanks again for thoughts
stephenn

[harry12]

- - - "A fix is a Fix"

-. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . but it means your (old) OS has "won"!

I suspect a Format and fresh installation would cure it; once any data is transferred.. When it's all working fine, you have a back-up computer that will be as familiar as an old friend.

Anyone got any comments on my DVD writing-time?
4hrs seems like a long time (includes Verify at just slightly longer than Burn)......bought some x16 +R discs today and hope to Burn (ie the same file collection).....but I could be low on HDD space (on the C-drive) and system RAM is 256 - running Win98se with PentiumII/400Mhz - it all looks a tad under-spec, doesn't it? The drive is a Liteon covering DVD-R and +R. (x4 in -R mode), but I've used -R so far.
Curiously, it is faster writing x4 DVD-R than a CD at 48x....for the same amount of data.......
The Verify cycle is about 10% longer than the Burning time.......

[qfisheye]

I guess you have information on drive c that is really inportant? The question is how important? At what price? If I were you and I wanted that information, I would order a new hd. They are cheap $60. Disconnect your other drives and install the new one as master or cs. load win on this drive. When finished Put the old c drive in as a slave and save any info you can. I think the win 98 is messed up , but data will be ok. After you save any info you need you can format the old c. I didn't mention the other drive, thinking that drive has info you also need. Good luck Lenny