Hi! I'm trying to help my sister with her computer because she can't get online. When she turns her computer on (windows 98) she gets a message stating that there is a windows startup error. It says "try loading SBEINIT.CO before SMARTDRV.exe or minimizing VDISK".How do we do this and what caused it? Thanks so much for your help.

It looks like the RAM is not getting enough memory...


You can try these:

1) http://www.computing.net/windows95/wwwboard/forum/139738.html

2) http://computing.net/dos/wwwboard/forum/14289.html

3) http://www.askanowner.com/qa/view.asp?s=1&qid=19750

Hi, Mushroom,
I also use Win98SE, have for many years.
This might take some troubleshooting, could be one of many things, including the autoexec.bat or config.sys files.
The first thing I would do is the scandisk and scanreg, which will put all the folders in order and repair the Registry. Not absolutely sure this will solve it, but is a good starting point.
Here are steps to do the above:

Turn off the computer; or reboot; then immediately press F8, (or, could be F5) located on top of the keyboard. Keep it pressed down (or release and press, release and press) until an options window comes up, then release it.
(If F8 or F5 doesn't work, then re-boot, and immediately press down the CTRL key, hold down until it comes up to the options screen).
Use the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard to select "Command Prompt Only".
Press Enter
You will now see C:\>
Type in SCANDISK , all small letters, and it will look like:
C:\>SCANDISK , then press Enter. Takes about 5 min. maybe.
When finished:
Type in SCANREG /FIX (there is a space between the G and the / ).
You will now see C:\>SCANREG /FIX
Press Enter
This will take about 5 minutes or so.
When finished, press Enter for OK.
Manually, turn off the computer, wait a few seconds, the turn it back on.

If it doesn't load windows and go to the desktop, please post back. I do wish you the best of luck.

Hi Q-Man &Fredg,
Thanks so much for your quick response. I will try these solutions as soon as possible and let you know what happens. Thanks again.

Hi Fredg! You really know your stuff. I tried your ideas on my sisters computer and it's working again. Turns out she had a corrupted area that had to be moved(user.dat files, I believe). I had all his written down but left the paper at her house. Thank you so much from both of us.