Computer will only boot in safe mode.

thanks howard

I got the windows 95 boot disk from that site yesterday, i was messing around with the machine all evening.

I followed all the instructions to the letter:
4) Formatting the hard drive

Make sure you have a boot floppy disk in the computer. Allow the computer to reboot, or just shut off the computer and turn it back on with the disk inserted in the floppy drive. After the computer reboots, you should get the A:\> prompt.

If you need any files such as Fdisk for windows 95 go to the "Windows 95 files" page. There you will also find a link to a site that has a file you can download which will create a boot disk.

You should already have the format.com file on the disk. At the A:\> prompt, type on the keyboard

format c: /s <enter> ( for bootable drives like drive C

format d: <enter> ( for non-bootable drives like drive D

{ the word format is followed by a space then the forward slash the letter S and the enter key. }

you will receive the message...

==========================================
WARNING: ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK
DRIVE C: WILL BE LOST!
Proceed with Format (Y/N) ?
==========================================

select the Yes option by pressing the Y key on the keyboard and press <enter>

the message.....

=====================
Formatting xxxxM
.....xx percent completed.
=====================

...will be shown, and the formatting will take place. You should now see the 'percent complete' value increase as the drive is formatted.

when the format is finished, you will see the message...

==============
Formatting xxxM
Format complete.
System transferred

Volume label (11 characters, Enter for none )?
==============

The cursor will be flashing on the bottom of the screen, waiting for you to name the newly formatted drive. Type in a name (11 characters or less, don't use spaces) and press <enter>. You can use a simple name if you like such as "driveC" or "drive1", it really does not matter what its called.

After you press the <enter> key you will receive the final screen showing the drive statistics as shown below for an imaginary 100 megabyte hard drive.

==================================
106614784 bytes total disk space
.....186368 bytes used by system
106428416 bytes available on disk

....2048 bytes in each allocation unit.
..51967 allocation units available on disk.

Volume Serial Number is 1234-5C68
===================================

Finally you will see the A:\> prompt. At this point the drive is ready to be used as the primary boot drive. Remove the diskette from the floppy drive and reboot the computer by either pressing the reboot key or by turning the computer OFF and back On.

'Finally you will need to install your programs using the provided floppy disks or CD-ROM disks'... this is the point where i have problems... i dont understand what this means.

I got to the point where it says c:\> at which point i should be able to tell it to copy the files from D drive to C drive by typing something along the lines of COPYD:\*.*C ..... i cant find the link i used to tell you exactly what it said. i assume this is whats supposed to happen. but it tells me there are no files to be copied, which is why i am thinking there is a problem with the boot disk? maybe no cd rom support? or maybe the disk i have is the wrong one?

After yoiu`ve removed the floppy disk and rebooted the computer. make sure you have the Windows cd in your CD rom drive. At the c:\> command prompt type D: and press the enter key, then type setup and follow the prompts as per the link in my above post.

Regards Howard

Hi, typing D: made the prompt change from c drive to d drive, but typing setup at the D:\> prompt returned 'bad command or filename'
what happened?

Ok, try this. With the Windows95 cd in your cd-rom drive and the boot floppy in your floppy drive reboot windows. Choose start with cd-rom support. At the command prompt type D: and press the enter key, then type setup and press the enter key.

Regards Howard

howard, i owe you beer dont know how to say thank you given your at the other end of the computer... OH MY GOD IT WORKED!!!!!

you have made me very happy!!!!

That`s great news. I`m sorry it took so long, but it`s been that long since I had Windows 95, I`d forgotten the install procedure lol.

Regards Howard

not a problem Howard, if it hadn't have been for the great advice on here i wouldn't have had a clue! trying to now setup windows from the link you posted, then hopefully upgrade to 98 and then xp. and then to kill my friend who deleted those files...