Win 98 Bootup Problem

Jeff,

I don't recall ever seeing or using MSD, yet since it appears to be a DOS
run utility I wonder if it could be added into and invoked by autoexec.bat
and/or config.sys. If it can then it would be worth a look at the two files
although it doesn't make much sense (at least to me) why the boot would
succeed after a few reboots if it were included in one or both of the files.

--

Brian A. Sesko
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375


> You haven't indicated if there is a disk in the CD drive, or if there is
> some other device such as a USB stick that could be used for booting).
> Identifying the source of the MSD messages will be a good indication of
> whether the problem is with the hard drive or your boot process is somehow
> corrupted.
>
> If you are familiar with BIOS setup, you could disable all boot devices
> other than the hard drive, and then note whether or not the problem
> changes.
> I would not recommend installing a new drive until you have a better idea
> of the cause of the problem - you might go to the trouble of installing
> and setting it up, and the result is no change at all.
> --
> Jeff Richards
> MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
> "Scott" <golden RemoveThis @uslink.net> wrote in message
> news:4A77BCDA.CB8FF237@uslink.net...
>>
>>
>> Jeff Richards wrote:
>>>
>>> It sounds like it is trying to boot from a second device, such as the
>>> CD. Is there a disk in the CD drive?
>>>
>>> This can happen if there is a problem with the hard drive and the system
>>> does not see the hard drive as available and bootable at startup. It
>>> then
>>> looks for other devices to boot from. The fact that the problem goes
>>> away
>>> after a while indicates that perhaps the hard drive is taking too long
>>> to become ready.You should get a hard disk drive diagnostic program
>>> from the www site of the hard drive manufacturer and use it to
>>> determine if there is
>>> a problem with the drive.
>>>
>>> If you haven't made any changes to your system in the last few days then
>>> doing a Scanreg /restore may be worth trying, but my guess is that it
>>> won't
>>> fix anything.
>>> --
>>> Jeff Richards
>>> MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
>>> "Scott" <golden RemoveThis @uslink.net> wrote in message
>>> news:4A746002.CEA5DA04@uslink.net...
>>>> My Win98 desktop has had a problem booting up twice recently. After
>>>> recognizing
>>>> the CD ROM, it starts displaying lines and lines of drivers, plus MSD,
>>>> MSD
>>>> MSD
>>>> MSD, etc. After shutting it down a few times, it reboots normally.
>>>>
>>>> Is this a registry problem?
>>>>
>>>> Other than entering "scanrag /restore" the next time this happens, is
>>>> there something
>>>> I can do to prevent this from happening again?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks!
>>>> Scott
>>
>> Jeff,
>>
>> When booting up this morning, I got the "MSD", "MSD", "MSD" message again
>> right
>> after it recognized the CD-ROM. After 2 reboots, it booted okay. Today,
>> I ran the
>> WD diagnostic program in DOS and a thorough scandisk. Both reported no
>> errors
>> on the drive.
>>
>> Do you think I should replace the WD 80 GB drive, just to be sure? I can
>> get an
>> OEM version from www.newegg.com for $38.00.
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Scott

MSD runs from DOS, so it could likely be included in Autoexec.BAT. It may be
executing if the machine is defaulting to some alternative location to look
for a boot device if the hard drive has failed on startup (hence my
suggestion to look at the CD drive) or there could be scripting in
AutoExec.BAT that is invoking MSD if some other device is not ready or if
there is some error at startup.

The contents of AutoExec.BAT would both confirm the source for MSD getting
started, and give a clue as to the reason.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Brian A." <gonefish'n@afarawaylake> wrote in message
news:u0B$BvjFKHA.3948@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Jeff,
>
> I don't recall ever seeing or using MSD, yet since it appears to be a DOS
> run utility I wonder if it could be added into and invoked by autoexec.bat
> and/or config.sys. If it can then it would be worth a look at the two
> files although it doesn't make much sense (at least to me) why the boot
> would succeed after a few reboots if it were included in one or both of
> the files.
>

Jeff Richards wrote:
>
> MSD was a Windows 3.1 utility. Machines upgraded from 3.1 to W95 and then to
> W98 would almost certainly have MSD. Any W95 machine where someone once had
> to do some diagnostic work would probably have it, and it might or might not
> exist on a W98 machine that was originally a fresh install. It depends on
> the history of that particular installation. Microsoft System Information
> contains much of the same information, but is much more complex, and not a
> lot more helpful when chasing down basic machine details.
>
> I would be fairly sure, as per your guess, that the reason that MSD is being
> displayed is that the DOS command to start MSD is being invoked from a
> startup script that is designed to execute MSD when the startup fails for
> some reason, either because the wrong startup is being executed, or because
> some test procedure in the startup failed, and that MSD does not exist on
> that machine. Then the script loops. This sort of startup scripting used
> to be common, but is less so now. It was typical for business
> installations, where the end user would ring up tech support and instead of
> just saying "my machine won't boot!" they would be able to describe a screen
> that already showed all the information that the technician needed to start
> working on the problem.
> --
> Jeff Richards
> MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
> "Jerry Martin" <abc DeleteThis @zoominternet.net> wrote in message
> news:e9izSPVFKHA.1248@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> > Hi Jeff:
> >
> > I was looking up MSD (Microsoft Diagnostics) in the Wikipedia, out of
> > curiosity. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Diagnostics .)
> > There it seems to say that MSD was replaced with the "Microsoft System
> > Information" utility beginning in Win 95 . Is that correct? And could that
> > account for the Win 98 system not finding it?
> >
> > (Note that my questions are coming out of ignorance and may seem a bit
> > naive.)
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Jerry
> >
> >
> > "Jeff Richards" <JRichards DeleteThis @msn.com.au> wrote in message
> > news:uDU%23uHVFKHA.1252@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> >> MSD is a Microsoft utility used to examine the PC hardware arrangement
> >> and Windows setup. It is fairly primitive compared to newer
> >> investigative tools (and simply ignores some hardware, such as USB), but
> >> is adequate for some preliminary troubleshooting steps.
> >>
> >> Any W98 installation that is something like original will probably have
> >> MSD installed, especially if it was upgraded from W95.
> >>
> >
> >

FYI, on this machine, I believe it was a fresh install of Win98, not a Win95 upgrade.
It's been several years, and I believe I used the Win98 upgrade CD.

Scott

Jeff Richards wrote:
>
> You haven't indicated if there is a disk in the CD drive, or if there is
> some other device such as a USB stick that could be used for booting).
> Identifying the source of the MSD messages will be a good indication of
> whether the problem is with the hard drive or your boot process is somehow
> corrupted.
>
> If you are familiar with BIOS setup, you could disable all boot devices
> other than the hard drive, and then note whether or not the problem changes.
>
> I would not recommend installing a new drive until you have a better idea of
> the cause of the problem - you might go to the trouble of installing and
> setting it up, and the result is no change at all.
> --
> Jeff Richards
> MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
> "Scott" <golden.RemoveThis@uslink.net> wrote in message
> news:4A77BCDA.CB8FF237@uslink.net...
> >
> >
> > Jeff Richards wrote:
> >>
> >> It sounds like it is trying to boot from a second device, such as the CD.
> >> Is there a disk in the CD drive?
> >>
> >> This can happen if there is a problem with the hard drive and the system
> >> does not see the hard drive as available and bootable at startup. It
> >> then
> >> looks for other devices to boot from. The fact that the problem goes
> >> away
> >> after a while indicates that perhaps the hard drive is taking too long to
> >> become ready.You should get a hard disk drive diagnostic program from the
> >> www site of the hard drive manufacturer and use it to determine if there
> >> is
> >> a problem with the drive.
> >>
> >> If you haven't made any changes to your system in the last few days then
> >> doing a Scanreg /restore may be worth trying, but my guess is that it
> >> won't
> >> fix anything.
> >> --
> >> Jeff Richards
> >> MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
> >> "Scott" <golden.RemoveThis@uslink.net> wrote in message
> >> news:4A746002.CEA5DA04@uslink.net...
> >> > My Win98 desktop has had a problem booting up twice recently. After
> >> > recognizing
> >> > the CD ROM, it starts displaying lines and lines of drivers, plus MSD,
> >> > MSD
> >> > MSD
> >> > MSD, etc. After shutting it down a few times, it reboots normally.
> >> >
> >> > Is this a registry problem?
> >> >
> >> > Other than entering "scanrag /restore" the next time this happens, is
> >> > there something
> >> > I can do to prevent this from happening again?
> >> >
> >> > Thanks!
> >> > Scott
> >
> > Jeff,
> >
> > When booting up this morning, I got the "MSD", "MSD", "MSD" message again
> > right
> > after it recognized the CD-ROM. After 2 reboots, it booted okay. Today,
> > I ran the
> > WD diagnostic program in DOS and a thorough scandisk. Both reported no
> > errors
> > on the drive.
> >
> > Do you think I should replace the WD 80 GB drive, just to be sure? I can
> > get an
> > OEM version from www.newegg.com for $38.00.
> >
> > Thanks!
> > Scott

Jeff,

There's no CD in the CD drive and no USB stick. I'll try going into the BIOS
and disabling all other boot devices.

Also, is there a way to Print Screen when the MSD message comes up in DOS?

By the way, it's been booting up normally for several days now.

Scott

Scott wrote:
>
> My Win98 desktop has had a problem booting up twice recently. After recognizing
> the CD ROM, it starts displaying lines and lines of drivers, plus MSD, MSD MSD
> MSD, etc. After shutting it down a few times, it reboots normally.
>
> Is this a registry problem?
>
> Other than entering "scanrag /restore" the next time this happens, is there something
> I can do to prevent this from happening again?
>
> Thanks!
> Scott

UPDATE: Today when I booted up, it came up in the lowest video resolution and the
desktop wouldn't load. When I rebooted, it said it needed to run Scanreg to fix a
problem in the registry. It did and then rebooted in just 40-seconds, instead of
the usual 60-seconds. It hasn't booted that fast in a long time.

The only thing different is that the "C" drive shows as: "Tlog txt@ (C)". It won't
let me rename it when I right click and hit Properties.

Otherwise, everything is working well.

Here's the autoexec.bat:

SET MSINPUT=C:\MSINPUT
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4
rem - By Windows Setup - C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\mscdex /d:mscd001
\L
echo Type D: (ENTER)to access the drive

REM @IF ERORRLEVEL 1 PAUSE


And the config sys (which, for some reason is labeled: "config.syd"):

device=C:\cdrom\mtmcdai.sys /d:mscd001
device=C:\WINDOWS\himem.sys
device=C:\WINDOWS\cwdinit.exe /A

Also, in MSDOS, when I type in MSD, it says there is no such file.

Any thoughts?

Scott

Scott wrote:
>
> Scott wrote:
> >
> > My Win98 desktop has had a problem booting up twice recently. After recognizing
> > the CD ROM, it starts displaying lines and lines of drivers, plus MSD, MSD MSD
> > MSD, etc. After shutting it down a few times, it reboots normally.
> >
> > Is this a registry problem?
> >
> > Other than entering "scanrag /restore" the next time this happens, is there something
> > I can do to prevent this from happening again?
> >
> > Thanks!
> > Scott
>
> UPDATE: Today when I booted up, it came up in the lowest video resolution and the
> desktop wouldn't load. When I rebooted, it said it needed to run Scanreg to fix a
> problem in the registry. It did and then rebooted in just 40-seconds, instead of
> the usual 60-seconds. It hasn't booted that fast in a long time.
>
> The only thing different is that the "C" drive shows as: "Tlog txt@ (C)". It won't
> let me rename it when I right click and hit Properties.
>
> Otherwise, everything is working well.
>
> Here's the autoexec.bat:
>
> SET MSINPUT=C:\MSINPUT
> SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4
> rem - By Windows Setup - C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\mscdex /d:mscd001
> \L
> echo Type D: (ENTER)to access the drive
>
> REM @IF ERORRLEVEL 1 PAUSE
>
> And the config sys (which, for some reason is labeled: "config.syd"):
>
> device=C:\cdrom\mtmcdai.sys /d:mscd001
> device=C:\WINDOWS\himem.sys
> device=C:\WINDOWS\cwdinit.exe /A
>
> Also, in MSDOS, when I type in MSD, it says there is no such file.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Scott


How can I rename the "C" drive?

Thanks!
Scott