Windows 98 startup problem

[jm0ut]

My friend brought her computer to me because it won't boot. So I tried to boot into safe mode (the normal first step) and it won't even do that. So then I tried to do step by step boot but that stops after the first step which is process registry. It will load the windows 98 startup graphic and the bottom bar moves but it just stays there. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[brow]

Well, if the registry is what is corrupt, I would try going to a command prompt instead of safe mode, then type "scanreg /restore" (without the quotes, of course), and try out one or more of the recent registry backups.. If that doesn't work you're probably looking at reinstalling Windows98. Just run setup from the cd again, don't reformat. If that doesn't work you might need to format or could possibly even have hardware problems.

 

[jm0ut]

well i tried to format and it never would start the format...so then i tried to fdisk and that failed too...so i guess the disk is f'd

 

[Assimilator1]

Have you done a surface test of the HDD? ,worth doing before condeming it!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Crack the case, determine what HDD it is, go to their site and download their HDD diagnostic software and put it through the paces if possible.