Win 98 boot problem

[AlmostAGeek]

Working on a Dell Optiplex GX1 PI 350 Mhz 32 MB Ram 4 GB hard drive. Wanted to upgrade the memory. Put in 128MB stick and computer wouldn't recognized it. It was the same brand, same pin configuration and same PC100. Should have worked. Put the old 32 MB stick in and now I have boot problems. The bios screen shows the 32 MB Ram. Nothing else was changed.

It not allow me to boot to Normal Mode. I can boot to everything else....safe mode, C prompt, etc.

What might have happened and any suggestions for correcting this?

Thanks in advance....D

 

[office politics]

take out the 32 and see if using just the 128 works

if not, try putting the 128 in a different machine.

 

[AlmostAGeek]

I've tried using just the 128 - same problem. The 128 is a good stick, works in another machine. The original 32 was working fine before I took it out and put it back in. I have checked that it is seated properly and the bios recognizes it.

Right now I am more concerned about getting it to boot up, regardless of the amount of RAM. It seems to me that if I put it back to original (32 stick, nothing else changed) that it should operate as it did before. It doesn't.

Thanks, but any other suggestions?

 

[office politics]

what happens when you try to boot normally?

 

[AlmostAGeek]

It just sits at the splash screen and all drive activity stops. In looking behind the screen it seems to hang at the c prompt.

 

[office politics]

what os?

seems to be a os config issue or a new app/config halting os boot

 

[AlmostAGeek]

Win 98 4.10.1998
No new applications installed.
Why would removing and reinstalled a memory stick cause changed to the os?

 

[office politics]

boot to safe mode command prompt

run scanreg /restore

pick a date before installing the ram. this will rollback your registry.

 

[AlmostAGeek]

I've tried two different dates. Both known to be good startups. Both failed.

Silly question. It's been a few years since I've worked on a 98 machine. What is the file that activated Windows? Isn't it win.exe in the C:\windows directory?

 

[office politics]

at this point id consider reinstalling the os. hard to do if you cant to the os tho.


it think its win.com

win <enter> should work