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Windows 95 won't boot

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7 replies

by shyguy706

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I have a PC running Windows 95, that shows : INvalid systemdisk...etc,when booting. Iknow that sometimes this can be fixed by using a booting floppydisc and then typing from A: sys c:(enter) and I did that, but...it happens that the booting disc I used was from another windows 95 version and all I obtained is a c: prompt and when trying to boot, the PC shows message :incorrect MS DOS version.What Do I do now?Is there anyway to go back and try another method,for example, pressing F8 and try to boot in safe mode? Can somebody give me an Idea?

7 replies

by sgt_shultz

you have the right idea. try again: go to windows 95 machine with blank diskette in hand. create windows startup diskette with it. perform a full format on the blank diskette. then use it to make a windows startup floppy:control panel add remove software /startup disk. then boot with that on the bad machine and do your sys a: c: command...

by saihib

You need to use a floppy created from the same version. The command.com files are different and that's why you're getting that message.

by curacao_dejavu

Hi,
you need another win95 workstation to do that.
Or go to www.bootdisk.com
and download the bootdisk for win95. if it doesn't have the sys.com
you have to copy the files; io.sys, command.com and msdos.sys from the a:drive to the c-drive.
some might be hidden.
check with attrib.exe (attrib -h +h -r +r -s +s)
oh, and on the existing harddisk, most likely on c:\windows\command there should be a sys.com too.
do a search from c:\ on sys*.*
dir sys*.& /s
copy that to the floppy and then do the sys
command.

Leopold

by jennifer.gardner

If you have the installation CD, you should try reinstalling the OS on top of itself. None of your data will be lost, and any corrupt files will be replaced. (I've had this same problem with Win98).

by otl

If you have the installation floppies, boot off it then escape out of it to the DOS prompt. Then SYS c:. Should give you the correct version of DOS to be able to boot into Windows. DOS version 6.0.0 would not work with Win 95 set up for DOS 6.0.1 to protect the data on the disk it would just give you a "incorrect version of DOS". Upgrades for Win 95 sometimes changed DOS versions.

by otl

Almost forgot, Win 95 kept a valid copy of the operating system in a directory under c:\Windows, you will find IO.SYS and Command.com in there. You can find out the version by copying to a floppy and checking it out on another machine. Can also copy to an existing bootable floppy after typing in (while in a:)"attrib -r -h -s *.*", overwriting the existing DOS files.
Verify Attributes by typing in "attrib" first and reset the files to the original attributes, "attrib/?" will tell you how to set the attributes. May also be a very old version and they had "chatr" as the change attributes program, just substitute chatr for attrib.

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