From: "Annette Robart" :Sent: Friday, August 18, 2000 9:56 AM
Subject: [PCBUILD] Built new computer -System will not start-HELP


> I built a computer, not my first, but the first time I attempted to
actually copy my existing hard drive to a new computer.  I may have done
this backwards. I took the new hard drive and attached it to my existing
computer and partitioned it and did the format, then copied my existing hard
drive to the new one.  I then attached the new drive to the new computer.
Did not plug in anything non essential (sound cards, modems, etc) I wanted
to make sure everything else was running first. The initial boot up seemed
to go fine, the hard drive and cd-rom were recognized in the BIOS, and
Windows detected the new devices. BUT, I could never get it to start again.
It gets to the point where it says starting Windows 98 and just hangs there.
It will go into safe mode, and when I go to the performance tab in the
properties of My Computer, I get:
> File System:  Some drivers are using MS-DOS compatibility
> Virtual Memory: MS-DOS Compatibility mode
> Select an item and click for details for more info:
> There are 3 items listed:
> Compatibility-mode paging reduces overall system performance
> Drive A is using MS-DOS compatibility mode file system
> Drive C is using MS-DOS compatibility mode file system
> When I click for more details it says something about Dos drivers in the
config.sys or autoexec.bat files. I checked those and the only thing in them
were statements about the cd-rom. I put REM in front of those, just on the
off chance it was that, but it made no difference.
> At this point I am just lost!!  Does anyone have any ideas????
>

Annette,

It is normal for all of your drives to be in DOS compatibility mode when you
boot into safe mode.  I am wondering why your autoexec.bat and config.sys
have entries for the CD Rom though.  If your CD Rom is an IDE Atapi CD ROM
it should not have entries in the config.sys and autoexec.bat.  If the
entries for the CD Rom were in your autoexec.bat and config.sys they could
cause the protected mode drivers to not be initialized and a NOIDE entry
would be added to your registry.  When you reboot Windows will use the MS
DOS compatibility mode file system.  Even though MS DOS compatibility mode
is normal in safe mode you may want to check your system after it has
entered Win98 to see if it is running in MS DOS compatibility mode.
Microsoft has a utility on their Win98 CD which will remove the NOIDE from
the registry.  It is found in the Tools\MTsutil folder on the Win98 CD,
right click the Noide.inf file and select install.  This will remove the
NOIDE entry from the registry and let you protected mode drivers initialize
when you reboot.  Normally this would not cause your computer to hang at the
Win98 logo.

Since you copied this drive from another computer one thing you might want
to check is if you had an antivirus program running during startup on the
computer that you copied the hard drive from.  If you did and it is running
on the new computer then it would detect the changes in the hardware and may
be waiting for a response from you to continue booting.  This message would
be hidden by the Win98 logo.  If you press and hold the CTRL key when you
see the "Starting Windows 98" message it may start normally.  Otherwise you
may need to disable the settings in the sntivirus program or check you
autoexec.bat and rem the line for the virus program.

Mary Wolden

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