I get "Windows is bypassing your startup files" and "HIMEM.SYS is missing"

redoo

unread,

Mar 1, 2001, 9:07:28 PM3/1/01

to

I had win95 runnign on a laptop and when I loaded win98SE I now cannot
get it to start and it won't let me into safe mode either. I get the
windows 98 startup menu but it immediately says below that Windows is
bypassing your startup menu and dumps me to the dosprompt. If I enter
WIN it comes back with a message that HIMEM.SYS is missing even though
I can look in the windows folder and find that HIMEM.SYS is actually
there. Any help greatly appreciated !!

Lee Johnson

unread,

Mar 1, 2001, 9:53:39 PM3/1/01

to

I had the same prob with my Gateway. HIMEM.sys is req. to boot up. Sorry
to tell you, but the only way to fix this is to REFORMAT. It pissed me off
too...Sorry Again.

redoo

unread,

Mar 1, 2001, 11:47:32 PM3/1/01

to

I was able to uninstall the win98se since I did teh little backup
routine. It is back to 95 and happy. The HIMEM.SYS is there and never
went away. Are you saying that in order to go from win 95 to win 98 a
reformat of the disk is needed? I might try setting up another
partition to run the 98 out of and keep the 95 so I can boot up in
either os. The reason I am interested in 98 is so that I can make use
of the usb port on the laptop which is useless with the 95 os.

On Thu, 01 Mar 2001 19:53:39 -0700, Lee Johnson <klbj...@qwest.net>
wrote:

Lupinus Astrum

unread,

Mar 2, 2001, 5:26:03 AM3/2/01

to

no, just simply delete the windows directory and reinstall form there.

--
I'm not afraid of standing still;
I'm just afraid of being bored.
I'm not afraid of speaking my mind;
I'm just afraid of being ignored.

lupinus...@ntlworld.com.despam - remove .despam to reply

"Lee Johnson" <klbj...@qwest.net> wrote in message
news:3A9F0B33...@qwest.net...

MRWalker

unread,

Mar 2, 2001, 6:28:46 AM3/2/01

to

I've seen this before as a result of FAT32 versus FAT16 formatted hard
drives. W98 looks at the FAT32 partition for Windows or something like
that. Go the the Microsoft.com support and services site and search for
"himem.sys missing". I've also seen this with Norton Antivirus 4.0 for W95.
If I remember correctly, there was a line in the autoexec.bat file that
caused this on a soft reboot but not on a hard reboot. Go to Symantec.com
and search for the same string. I would suspect that the problem has
something to do with the FAT format on the hard drive. I believe you would
have to repartition and reformat to fix this, but I am not totally sure.
Mike (I think) Walker
"Lupinus Astrum" <the.g...@ntlworld.com.despam> wrote in message
news:YxKn6.310$mt.4...@news2-win.server.ntlworld.com...

redoo

unread,

Mar 2, 2001, 8:18:24 PM3/2/01

to

Thanks for the advice-it is mucho appreciated!!

- critter -

unread,

Mar 3, 2001, 1:47:28 AM3/3/01

to

Win95 second edition (B) has USB support.

redoo <to...@bit.net> wrote in message
news:nch0at4hs4tg6kr2i...@4ax.com...

Plato

unread,

Mar 3, 2001, 2:13:28 AM3/3/01

to

- critter - wrote:
>
> Win95 second edition (B) has USB support.

On the label that's about all the support you'll experience.

Michael

unread,

Mar 3, 2001, 5:31:03 PM3/3/01

to

I don't know about anybody else, but whenever I tried to enable USB in
Win95, F*^&ed up things would happen. They usually involved .vxd files.

"- critter -" <w...@me.com> wrote in message
news:97q449$cm7$1...@bob.news.rcn.net...

Plato

unread,

Mar 3, 2001, 6:12:16 PM3/3/01

to

Michael wrote:
>
> I don't know about anybody else, but whenever I tried to enable USB in
> Win95, F*^&ed up things would happen. They usually involved .vxd files.

Use win98 for USB support.

Thor

unread,

Mar 3, 2001, 6:30:11 PM3/3/01

to

Yes, but it is fairly limited.

..

"- critter -" <w...@me.com> wrote in message news:97q449$cm7$1...@bob.news.rcn.net...