TSGL: Reformat Restore Can't Do It

[Dave]

David, some of your description is unclear:
   May we presume that your "OEM RRD is a CD or DVD? Which drive are you 
suspecting as defective?

Have you gone into the BIOS setup to ensure that the _boot order_ is 
correct for your purposes, i.e., that the system should look for the OS 
first at the CD or DVD drive first vs. the "C" drive? 
With IBMs the BIOS is accessed by repeatedly pressing the F1 or F2 key 
as soon as the first display appears after pushing the power button. If 
you see the Windows Logo, you are too late and will have to start over 
(repower).  If you have a USB keyboard you will need to attach a 
standard PS2 keyboard to access the BIOS.

. Look for a setting that says Boot,  Boot Order, Boot Sequence, First 
Boot Device, Boot Management, or the like, and select it.  to view a 
list of devices from which your system can boot, and ensure that the 
device (CDR or DVD drive) of the Restore Disk is first on the list [the 
method for changing the order is usually shown at the bottom of the screen].

  What happened to your system that makes you want to reformat? 
Did you install something new (update, drivers, program, hardware) that 
messed it up?
When did this problem start?
Have you tried using System Restore to _roll back the system_ to a time 
_before_ the problems occurred? 
 (you said "when I began re-installing my software programs I 
encountered all sorts of errors and problems" --- Did you
roll back then to try to eradicate the errors, and what were the 
programs that started manifesting problems?
Did you remember to install ALL Windows updates  BEFORE reinstalling all 
those programs?
Have you consistently had antivirus and firewalls ALWAYS in place and 
updated? Has all the media (CDs, floppies, ZIPs)
 been scanned for viruses before using them for installations?
Can you boot into Safe Mode and have you tried your diagnositics from there?
Have you tried using Windows Task Manager  (CTRL-ALT-DEL) to check that 
there aren't any hidden programs running when you cannot shut down in 
the normal fashion?

In my experience, IBM Deskstar HDs have been very reliable. 
Reformat/restore is a pretty severe step that should only rarely be 
necessary if normal computer care (defrag, scandisk, registry cleanups, 
etc.) has been done.  If you are constantly installing new programs 
(30-day trials, e.g.) then uninstalling programs and/or hardware, 
unfortunately the inate deficient character of the Windows98  Registry 
will eventually justify that.

Regardless, the fact that support for Windows 98 has ceased and there 
will be no more updates means that you should look into either moving to 
a new system or, at the least, picking up a copy of XP Home Upgrade 
Edition.  If you don't have the bare minimum of 258MB RAM (preferably 
512 or more), don't bother.  XP Home is commonly discounted in the Big 
Box stores now --- I've seen it for as little as $49,  and often at 
$79.  Once you've upgraded to XP, you'll wonder why you tortured 
yourself with 98!
Upgrading would be a wiser expenditure than throwing money at a Windows 
98 system in a repair shop. (jmho)

good luck
dave r
> Hi guys,  
>
> I am unable to Reformat Restore.  
>
> System by-passes the OEM Reformat Restore Diagnostics disk and goes directly into loading Windows.  First error that comes up is Invalid Setting In MS DOS SYS File: Double Buffer.  System continues to load Windows and eventually another 9 errors pop up.  I close out of each error message but a few minutes later they all re-appear.  I cannot get my LAN back and cannot get the Modem to work again.  
>
> System will not shut down and I have to do a manual shutdown.  Powering back up brings up the automatic windows scan disk because the system was not properly shut down.  Then it goes thru the loading windows and error process as stated above.  
>
> OS is Windows 98SE.  IBM PC 2174-590, 550 Mhz AMD K6 Processor with 3-D Now.  
>
> Is it possible the drive is defective into which the OEM Restore Reformat Disk is loaded?  
>
> Or ... what possibly could the problem be?  I am about to take the PC to a repair shop to see if it can be fixed.  Maybe I will have to give up on it and replace it, but I really don't want to do that if I don't have to.  
>
> A couple months ago when I first had to do the Reformat Restore, I was able to do it, but then when I began re-installing my software programs I encountered all sorts of errors and problems.  At that time I was able to run a complete diagnostics of the Hard Drive and it passed all the tests without any problem.  The H.D. is an IBM Deskstar.  
>
> Thank you for your help.  
>
> Dave Feese
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