i got an old win 95 computer and i was cleaning it out, and under C:\ i del all the files that weren't in files and now it wont boot. i know i shouldn't have done that, but i was tired and not thinking right lol please help. i dont have the win 95 disk to reinstall. the error i get is "Invalid system disk..." please insert a disk or sompthing

You have deleted the command.com file from C:\ which is why it won't boot which would be the start of your problems.

You can recover from making C:\ bootable easily but you have most likely also deleted the windows support files win.ini, config.sys, autoexec.bat too.

I would first make a DOS 6.22 boot disk from bootdisk.com. Then you can boot the floppy and access C:\. You can make it bootable again using "sys c:"

There are some good file recovery tools available for DOS. As long as you don't write to the C:\ root directory the files are all still their. So google for the file recovery SW boot the 6.22 floppy then you should be able to recover all the files. Then if it still does not boot you can use "sys c:" to make it bootable again.

Good Luck

KC

can some one give me a link to a dos file recovery discribed above? and thanks for bootdisk.com, i can now get the command promp when i start.

Clean it all the way out- run Linux!

only 24mb ram and the cpu is way to slow, i couldn't find one that fit the min requirments, if you do i will!!!! GO LINUX

There are a few nice distros you can try. Remember, Linux can use less resources than Win!

http://damnsmalllinux.org/

Also look on distrowatch.com where you can find info on many distros.

wow, 50mb cool

If you have a CD on that machine and another one you can use for burning CDs you can try live CDs. Live CD will boot on your machine and run a linux without installing on your HD. You can test and see which ones you like and then install one.

no, i have an add-on cd drive but i trust linux

Running a Live Distro would be painfully slow with any type of gui. Even CLI would be to slow. Not likely that computer even supports booting from the CD.

Most likely to get linux on that machine he'll have to make a boot floppy.

KC

Use a hard disk eraser, the ones that destroy all the data on your hard drive, not just mark it to be written over, and then install windows again, which is better than DSLinux, in my opinion.

i have no way to re-install anything

(1) Remove the drive and connect it to another computer running W95 and W98, as a non boot disk.
(2) First off, UNDELETE what you can. (may have to boot into DOS).
(3) Back up whats recoverable.
(4) Rebuild long file names (mayber from memory).
(5) This hould do it (normally, the OS is in a sub-folder).

End

After reading this thread, I cannot figure out what the goal is.....
I would never spend time trying to to get Win95 working on anything--much less a marginal piece of hardware.

OP starts the thread saying he has no Windows disk to reinstall, but then says he has no way to re-install anything??

What are the specs on the machine??: RAM, HD size, CPU, other drives--eg floppy, CD, etc.

ram: 24mb cpu: around 400mgz (not sure) hdd: 2x 1 gb Other: floppy and cd from printer port.