Windows 98 will not boot into MS-DOS mode \ VOGONS

Windows 98 will not boot into MS-DOS mode

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First post, by MercuryMaurader

Posted on 2023-10-19, 01:46

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Hello everyone,
I have an NEC Ready laptop with a fresh install of Windows 98 Second Edition on a CompactFlash IDE adapter (per a friend's request). Everything works perfectly and I've had almost no issues getting their software / games to work. When I was demonstrating the laptop to them, they wanted to boot into MS-DOS mode to test something. I went to the start menu and rebooted the laptop but I was greeted with a black screen and a blinking cursor. I waited for a couple minutes and nothing happened. I power cycled the machine and tried a couple more times with no avail. I've never had this happen before so I'm a bit stumped. The only snag I can think of is the CF IDE adapter as this is one of the few times I've used one. I'm aware some computers don't play nice with CF cards / adapters so I figured that might be the issue. My friend is also ok with me installing a regular HDD but I thought I'd ask around before starting that endeavor.
So in short, laptop won't boot into MS-DOS mode and I think the CF ide adapter might be the problem.

Any thoughts?
Thanks,

"Speed alone cannot win the race" - Coach Potter

Reply 1 of 3, by jakethompson1

Posted on 2023-10-19, 01:49

jakethompson1 Offline

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Shutdown hangs were super commonplace on Win98. It's not likely your issue nowadays but antivirus could cause this (one of the major ones always wanted to scan any floppies left in drive A: for boot sector viruses before letting you reboot) or anything involving mapped network drives.

Beyond that, "restart in MS-DOS mode" executes c:\windows\dosstart.bat, so anything in that .BAT file could conceivably hang the whole system too.

Reply 2 of 3, by progman.exe

Posted on 2023-10-19, 17:18

progman.exe Offline

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What about power on, POST, hit F8 (or F5? Can't remember) to get the startup menu. Can you get to DOS mode that way?

Reply 3 of 3, by MercuryMaurader

Posted on 2023-10-19, 23:46

MercuryMaurader Offline

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jakethompson1 wrote on 2023-10-19, 01:49:

Shutdown hangs were super commonplace on Win98. It's not likely your issue nowadays but antivirus could cause this (one of the major ones always wanted to scan any floppies left in drive A: for boot sector viruses before letting you reboot) or anything involving mapped network drives.

Beyond that, "restart in MS-DOS mode" executes c:\windows\dosstart.bat, so anything in that .BAT file could conceivably hang the whole system too.

There isn't any antivirus software installed. She plans on using the laptop for old programs and games so I didn't think to install any of those programs. I tried another suggestion such as deleting MS-DOS.PIF. I was told deleting that file followed by rebooting would cause Windows to create a new MS-DOS.PIF file and "fix" the problem. This didn't work, obviously. I'm planning on installing a standard HDD to see if that changes anything.

"Speed alone cannot win the race" - Coach Potter

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