This problem concerns an Aptiva machine(serial 90-OH-133).

By accident I clicked the MS-DOS icon in "My Computer" and of course it opend in MS-DOS and then would not let me return to Windows 98.

No matter what coding I put infront of the DOS promt it failed.

I have been at the Microsoft site, read everyone else's solutions on the Net and no LUCK at all. I even asked a Techy - friend who suggested that there was a hidden file on my Aptiva that needed to be deleted - before I could get back to Windows 98?

I will try any suggestions readers can offer me at this stage. So thank YOU in advance if you do.

retsoksirhc

try typing EXIT from the dos prompt. If you are inside a shell version of dos that runs from within windows, this will exit it.

Otherwise, try typeing WIN at the dos prompt. This is how you coudl start windows with the old version (good ole windows 3.1), and I assume it will stll work with windows 98.

Lindah

Thanks retsoksirhc

I was entering EXIT and WIN in lower case at the DOS promt. So I did it in the capitals you suggested - however I had to fiddle with some other parts in order for it to start.

Went into Safe Mode, Start, Run and keyed in msconfig.
Opened uo the Config.sys file and edited the DOS=single file name and put REM in front of it.
Then hit the OK button and restarted the machine.

It does do something now - which it didn't before <hehehe>

Aptiva starts in MS-DOS
I type in your WIN in capitals
Windows 98 comes up sweet as
I've got this nuisance password thingy coming up
so that is clicked out and then Desktop loads.

It may not be the perfect start-up, but I have saved
myself some dollars by NOT getting someone else to fix it. Any other suggestions will be greatfully appreciated.

Bye Lindah

retsoksirhc

Well if it's just starting in MS-DOS, you may be able to make windows load automatically by adding a line that just says WIN to config.sys

As to the password thing, is it a Windows Networking password box or a windows logon password box? If its windows networking, right click network neighborhood, and im not sure if its right on that page or not, but somewhere there is a network logon option that will have a few options. Change it from Windows Network logon to Use Windows Username or whatever the other one is, I don't have a copy of windows98 around here to check.

If its a windows logon password, you may be able to get rid of it by going into user accounts in the control panel and removing your password or all the other accounts that are not needed.

Lindah

Hi back retsoksirhc,

I had a look in the autoexe.bat file and the very last command was C:\WINDOWS\WIN.COM/WX. So I edited this for just WIN to remain. Not much difference, the machine is obsessed in begining in MS-DOS.

The logon is definately a windows one, and was entered by the person who previously owned the Aptiva. Oh yeah I looked everywhere in order to delete that nuisance - Users, Password and that Network icon that sits on Win 98 Desktop. There isn't much that you can change on the outside.

Ages ago I watched a Techy, at startup use a combination of keys to enter before Desktop. After a selection of windows via the control keys they managed to delete the logon message. What keys they used is now past me.

Like you its been a while since I used Win 98. My other machine runs Win 2000 with Office XP on top. But I find WIN 98 not too bad to contend with. After all it was my mistake that caused all this.

Bye Lindah

psi42

hmm...
try adding this to the end of autoexec.bat

Reboot and see if any of those messages are displayed. It's possible, maybe, that for some reason autoexec.bat is being ignored.

I don't have a windows machine in front of me, but IIRC you should be able to get rid of that login box by entering the control panel and clicking on anything with "user" in the title -- it should be "Users" or "User Accounts." Delete all extra users and passwords.

~psi42

Lindah

Putting in the echo statements really made no difference nor did they appear on the DOS screen.

OK if there is something about this autoexec.bat file then below is what's in it. The only thing I added was "Rem" to the DOS=SINGLE line. Beside each line entry is of course a ticked box that I cant replicate here.

@ECHO OFF
SET PATH=C:\WINDOW: C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\,;C:\IBM TOOLS
lh MSCDEX.EXE/D:IBMCDOO1/1:G/M:8
MOUSE.exe
LH DOSKEY
REM
REM The following lines have been created by
Windows. Do not modify them.
REM
C:
CDC:\WINDOWS
CALL C:\WINDOWS
CALL C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM
C:\WINDOWS\WIN.COM/WX
C:\essolo.com

As far as the logon message box is concerned - yes I did get rid of the users - however the message box still occurs without any names in it. I am not too worried as I just click it away during startup.

Bye

psi42

Hmm.... that means that the file is being ignored.

Make sure this is the only autoexec.bat on your system. Maybe this is just a copy they put somewhere for safekeeping.