Win95 ToughBook problem after power interrupt

This forum is dedicated to the general computer related issues we all come across on a daily basis, such as e-mail/Internet/Operating System/virus/spyware, etc questions & problems.

As we are primarily a radio discussion group, your mileage may vary on the responses.

Moderator: Queue Moderator

Post Reply
RadioSouth
Batboard $upporter
Posts: 2884
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2001 4:00 pm

Win95 ToughBook problem after power interrupt

Post by RadioSouth »

Hi all,
I'm not very computer literate but maybe someone has a possible remedy to my issue. I have a CF-25 (oldie but great for running DOS) that I recently got and managed to bugger up already. Was running A-OK and booting up to Win95 where I was able to switch to DOS from the shutdown menu and take care of my programming needs. I thought I had a battery with some life in it as a green battery light was showing but during a short power interrupt the machine shut right down on me. On power up now machine offers to hit the F1 to enter setup mode and after not taking the F1 option goes to a message
'searching hibernation file....found. Hibernation is enabled. and just sits with a blinking cursor that will accept no commands until you power down. It will not go to Win95 any longer. If F1 menu is opened there's nothing there to select any kind of repair or scan, just some parameters. I went to Panasonic support and found a 1st Aid Disk download, tried it but the CF-25 shows it as a non system disk.
Explored the internet with no working result, is there a key sequence during power up that will take me to ScanDisk or the like to try and repair this issue ? If not anybody know of somewhere I can get a vintage machine like this repaired ?

Obtained (4) of these as part of a surplus deal, the other 3 all power up and go to what looks like a screen prompt to put a disc in the floppy drive (though 3 out of the 4 machines have a CD-ROM rather than a floppy). All (4) were used in fire vehicles with an Air Card hooked into a CAD system and machines appear complete under the hood. (Harddrive and memory present). Just trying to get a working programming machine out of the pile if anyone has any suggestions, didn't get any discs with these.
User avatar
Wowbagger
Aeroflex
Posts: 1287
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2002 10:46 am

Re: Win95 ToughBook problem after power interrupt

Post by Wowbagger »

Try hitting ESC during the boot. The system thinks it was suspended, but likely the file the system state was written to is corrupt (the system probably tried to save to the file, and didn't even have enough battery to do that). If you can get Windows to give you the option of ignoring the file, you should be OK.

Failing that: get a bootable Win95 or Linux CD, and boot from that. See if you can delete the save file.
This is my opinion, not Aeroflex's.

I WILL NOT give you proprietary information. I make too much money to jeopardize my job.

I AM NOT the Service department: You want official info, manuals, service info, parts, calibration, etc., contact Aeroflex directly, please.
Jim202
Posts: 3609
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2001 4:00 pm

Re: Win95 ToughBook problem after power interrupt

Post by Jim202 »

Wowbagger wrote:Try hitting ESC during the boot. The system thinks it was suspended, but likely the file the system state was written to is corrupt (the system probably tried to save to the file, and didn't even have enough battery to do that). If you can get Windows to give you the option of ignoring the file, you should be OK.

Failing that: get a bootable Win95 or Linux CD, and boot from that. See if you can delete the save file.



You might try hitting F8 while it is trying to boot and then get it in the safe mode when it gives you the option. Let it start up all the way. Then reboot and see if it will start normally.

Jim
User avatar
Wowbagger
Aeroflex
Posts: 1287
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2002 10:46 am

Re: Win95 ToughBook problem after power interrupt

Post by Wowbagger »

Thanks - I couldn't remember if it was ESC or what - the only way I run Windows is in a VM....
This is my opinion, not Aeroflex's.

I WILL NOT give you proprietary information. I make too much money to jeopardize my job.

I AM NOT the Service department: You want official info, manuals, service info, parts, calibration, etc., contact Aeroflex directly, please.
RadioSouth
Batboard $upporter
Posts: 2884
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2001 4:00 pm

Re: Win95 ToughBook problem after power interrupt

Post by RadioSouth »

Thanks gentlemen, appreciate the help. I'm plugging about 10 hrs. on these now and after turning off the hibernation function and using a Win95 startup disk I'm getting 'Windows had detected a registry/configuration error' and then shows 3 missing corrupted files (HiMem.sys, DblBuff.sys, and Ifshlp.sys) preventing the Windows startup. Would the next logical step be getting and installing a Win 95 disk ?
RadioSouth
Batboard $upporter
Posts: 2884
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2001 4:00 pm

Re: Win95 ToughBook problem after power interrupt

Post by RadioSouth »

Or might it be easier to get one of the other 3 machines working ? All of these go thru the power up sequence, do not boot onto windows but end in a screen that is apparently prompting for a disc. (From this point I have put in a win 95 single startup disc where the screen says starting windows 95 but never shows the logo then goes to the A:\ prompt).
Jim202
Posts: 3609
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2001 4:00 pm

Re: Win95 ToughBook problem after power interrupt

Post by Jim202 »

RadioSouth wrote:Or might it be easier to get one of the other 3 machines working ? All of these go thru the power up sequence, do not boot onto windows but end in a screen that is apparently prompting for a disc. (From this point I have put in a win 95 single startup disc where the screen says starting windows 95 but never shows the logo then goes to the A:\ prompt).
Once at the A prompt, have you tried to enter C: and hit return. That should take you to the C drive. Once there, you can type dir \p and it should give you a list of all the directories on the C drive.

If non of this works, you may have lost your hard drive. The choice then is to find another hard drive of the same size and do a new install of Windows 95 or 98. The hard drive will format in the FAT32 mode so you can use DOS programs.

If you end up doing a fresh install, you will probably have to find some of the drivers needed for your computer. Generally they can be found after some searching on the Internet. I use the floppy drive to put most of the software back into the computer. If you have a network card, it would help to speed up the file transfer if you can use a computer to computer file transfer.

I end up pulling all the hard drives out of computers we junk around here. After a while the collection provides me with most of what I need to bring an older computer back to life.

Jim
RadioSouth
Batboard $upporter
Posts: 2884
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2001 4:00 pm

Re: Win95 ToughBook problem after power interrupt

Post by RadioSouth »

Thanks Jim, machine not recognizing the C drive guess I'll do some shopping on Ebay. On installing Win 95 on a new HD would you know if it a CD will autostart an install ? I had seen some mention that only floppies will auto install on Win 95 ?

Jim
Jim202
Posts: 3609
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2001 4:00 pm

Re: Win95 ToughBook problem after power interrupt

Post by Jim202 »

RadioSouth wrote:Thanks Jim, machine not recognizing the C drive guess I'll do some shopping on Ebay. On installing Win 95 on a new HD would you know if it a CD will autostart an install ? I had seen some mention that only floppies will auto install on Win 95 ?

Jim



If the operating system is not working, you need to have the bios set up to boot from the CD. Then again, unless the CD will boot from a dead start, it won't get very far. Some CD disks are set up to run from a cold start to install Windows. Depends on how they were set up.

I have kept all my old floppy disks with Win 95 and Win 98 for just these reasons. Someplace I do have some bootable CD disks that will install Win 98. These are what you really need to get going again. You can find some of the web sites that do have the Win 95 or Win 98 that you can download and make a bootable CD from.
Post Reply

Return to “Computer/Technical Assistance”