Cannot find sytem.ini, run emerg disk run scanreg /restore 3

[cadmancan]

Is this as simple as it sounds??

I have my bootdisk, i boot off floppy, then onde I have my DOS prompt i just run scanreg / restore to try and restore a previous registry right? Is there any copying over of files off floppy?

If im leaving anything out please let me know. Want to know before I attempt

 

[Blujacket]

Scanreg /restore should not copy anything from the floppy. You probably don't have scanreg on the floppy and will have to change to the C: drive to run scanreg.

 

[cadmancan]

I do have scanreg on floppy.

 

[wolluf]

Yes its on the floppy & it doesn't copy any files from floppy - the backups are in C:\Windows\sysbckup if I remember correctly. And it will restore system.dat, user.dat, system.ini and win.ini from the backup you select (usually choice of 5 I think).

 

[cadmancan]

****UPDATE****

Got a desktop by restoring a good registry

-Computer booted up to desktop, froze several times, having to hard boot each time.
-Tried to type msconfig in run window, but before I could do any diagnostics msconfig would go away, msconfig would never stay on screen
-Went to safe mode and was able to add/take away from startup group and do diagnostics, Startup window said "DELETE ME" and comand said "WORM.EXE"
-I have to assume it is a virus
-If during a normal boot to desktop I click on anything it freezes
-Do a CTRL+ALT+DEL Explorer says it isnt responding.
-Previous complaint was that it was seriously slow

--Any other ideas other than virus that would cause explorer to hang and not respond???

Thanks

 

[wolluf]

From what you're getting I'd certainly run a virus check as first option. Probably best doing this by using a dos based based rescue disk set - eg,

http://www.trendmicro.com/download/emg-disk.asp

or by slaving drive in another machine and running scan there.

(But freezing on 9x/ME machines is common & can be caused by a number of things).

 

[cadmancan]

**update**

-Used the floppies from trendmicro and it didnt finad any viruses
-Got to Symantec and said thru automated assistant that system had w32.doom
-downloaded removal tool and there were 3 instances of the virus.
-Tried to install Norton Antivirus and got error said "The installation is missing the file instopts.dat. The setup will now exit".
-Any suggestions why this wont install. The thing that sucks is Norton will have to charge outrageous rate. Anyway thanks.

 

[wolluf]

So what's the status now? Is the virus removed/does machine work? If it is and you want an anti-virus - what about AVG - there's a (very good) free version.

 

[cadmancan]

-Sorry, the machine does work perfectly, all viruses helaed except now I am unable to install Norton Antivirus 2004.
-Did manual edit of registry to stop instopts.dat error.
-Says now "installation failed" like it did before
-Went through their knowledge base and no solutions for 2004 versions, only ones prior. There is removal utility for versions prior to 2004.
I do like AVG myself.
-No scratches on disk

-Know of any tricks to install from CD
(thought I might copy entire contents of CD and install in safe mode, havent tried that yet()

 

[xkjdhdg]

I would boot to safe mode and run clean disk. You will need to dump all restore files because the virus is also in there.
Then rescan your system with AVG or what ever virus program you are running. You may have to run the scan in dos mode.
You may have to rename scan.exe to clean.exe because some viruses disable the scan.exe when it starts.
I would also go in to the programs directory and see if any of the files are there from when you tried to install. Also look in the Windows\TEMP remove any files from the norton install.

 

[cadmancan]

-Do u mean disk cleanup? And will disk cleanup actually dump bad restore files or are they in the restore directory that I dump them from to recycle bin?
Forgive my ignorace but how will renaming scan.exe help, wont i be disabling when I rename.
-I did already dump fiels in temp from Norton install.
Thanks.

 

[xkjdhdg]

Yes, Disk cleanup. If you go to the advance tab you can remove restore files. Know you will not be disabling it.
Once you have ran your virus scan in dos an dit is complete. You will rename it back to scan.exe.

 

[cadmancan]

Ok. Cool thanks to all for your help. Interesting how one problem can be solved only to find a new one. I appreciate all of your help.