I get the "VFAT initialization failed...System halted" error message
on the blue screen. It all started one day when my computer suddenly
refused to load windows, displaying "Invalid system disk" error at
startup. I would like to provide the background info around this
problem, in hope that this could help solving
the startup error.
Technical info: I have a Compaq PC, 1,4HGZ, 128mb ram, with 18GB
harddisk. My operating system is Windows98SE.
Background: My computer worked all in all pretty well, though with
some minor errors here and there, like "IE caused illegal operation"
etc. However, I had never problems with booting up before. I dont know
the exact reason for why the system crashed, but it all happened when
I uninstalled Microsoft Excel and Ezula
from my harddrive. I suspect therefore that either the Excel or Ezula
caused a system damage during the uninstall process. I first
uninstalled Ezula, followed by Excel. After that, I suddenly
discovered to my big surprise that whole 2,5GB large "My documents"
folder was mysteriously erased to the recycle bin. It was especially
the "Ezula uninstall wizard" that took suspiciously long time
remooving some files/entries associated with the software. I`am afraid
that "My documents" folder was a victim of this uninstall process, and
possibly the system files were damaged, as well. I shut down the
computer, hoping that all this perhaps would turn out to be a
misunderstanding. But I soon realised that
it was even worse than I expected. At startup, I got the "Invalid
system disk"
error. At first, I thought there was a non-system floppy in the drive.
But, alas, the same old story - there was none. I tried to disable
the a: drive from the BIOS settings, and even disconnected the floppy
and my 2 CD-ROM drives, with no result. I than searched the internet
and discovered that a possible solution to this problem could be a
boot-floppy. I didn`t had any, so I somehow managed to download one
via a publicshared computer. I inserted the floppy , and run Scandisk.
Scandisk discovered some invalid file sizes/names, but the rest seemed
to be ok, and there were no errors in the registry. Also, I checked
the c: directory to ensure that all my files were still there.
Everything seemed to be intact, except "My documents" folder, wich was
totally erased, without my knoweledge. There were no system files in
the folder, so I guess this have nothing to do with the problem.
However, it could be a part of the malicious uinstallation process of
Excell and especially Ezula, wich both took suspiciously long time to
complete.
Nevertheless, I typed "SYS C:" at the A: prompt, and restarted the
computer. The "Invalid system disk" message dissapeared, and the
familiar "Windows98" loading screen showed up for a few seconds. But
that was so far I came. I was automatically redirected to C: prompt in
DOS, without any error messages, shortly after the Windows98 startup
screen appeared. Something was still preventing windows to load. I
tried to start windows manually by typing "CD WINDOWS", and WIN.COM.
It was than that I got the "Himem.sys files is missing in windows
cataloug" message. I got the same error when I tried to run
Scandisk.exe from the C:/Windows directory. Himem.sys was on the
startup disk, so I copied it to the Windows folder. I found out that I
had the file there allready. I decide to overwrite the file, and
reboot. No result. I copy Himem.sys to C:\, C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM,
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32, C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND. Still no result, and the same
"Himem.sys missing" message. After a while I found out that it could
be due to a missing reference to this file in Config.sys.
Unfortunately, I didn`t create any backups of the previous config.sys
file, and I don`t remember whether it was or not in the windows folder
when I transferred the system files from diskette. However, the
config.sys file that came with diskettes, was unusable, because it
created a startup exactly the same as if it was a startup disket in
the drive. It had totally different references. What I did was
deleting the previous config.sys and created a new one, that contained
only one string: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS. Doing this I eliminated
the error message, and the win.com command became now executable. I
typed win.com, and the Windows98 loading screen appeared. Now you
could actually hear the harddrive loading windows. But just when the
Windows98 screen disappears and the login screen for windows should
became visible, I get the "VFAT initialization failed....System
halted" error on a blue screen. Searching the Microsoft knoweledge
database, I found the exact reference to this error. It seemed to be
about 6 different causes, with 6 different troubleshooting methods.
But, alas, I tried them all, with absolutely no result. There were no
"maxfilecache=4096" in my system.ini file, and I had no remaining
winboot.ini on the drive. I didn`t find any incorrect paths in the
msdos.sys file either (here I`am talking only about the first strings,
like current windows direction=C:\WINDOWS etc. I`am by no means a data
expert). I had however a missing reference to the ifshlp.sys in the
config.sys, but adding a "DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS" string
didn`t made any changes. I don`t know, but I guess I have an incorrect
config.sys file, with only two strings reffering to himem.sys and
ifshlp.sys. I guess that original config.sys must contain much more
strings and references. Perhaps the problem lies here? Or maybe some
of the systemfiles, though present, are in some way corrupt. If so,
how can I detect it?
In addition to this problem, I also get an automatic redirection to
DOS whenever I boot up, regardless of what start-up alternative I
choose. I can only come this far as to the "VFAT" error message when I
start windows manually from the windows directory by typing win.com. I
tried to copy win.com and win.ini to C:\ , but then I get lots of
errors that the files with .vxd extensions are missing, though I have
them all in my windows\system folder. It seems that copied system
files in C:\ directory cannot communicate with the system files in
windows directory. My question is therefore: How did I get my Windows
to load automatically and completely, as before, and how do I bypass
the "VFAT" error? I guess that this is the final stage before windows
loads, and if I can solve the VFAT error, the windows will probably
load.
PS: Unfortunately, I have no Windows98 CD, because windows were
allready installed on the computer at the time of purchase. |