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About Mike
Expertise
Areas of expertise: PC Hardware, Peripherals, Barcode Scanners, Printers, and Applications, Networking, Microsoft Applications. I am good at researching issues and have a lot of contacts in the IT industry. So, if I can't directly answer a question I can likely find the answer.
Areas I won't be much help in: Apple Computers, Linux, older Networking technologies like Token Ring, or Thick/Thinnet.
Experience
I'm currently a Network Administrator for a contract circuit board manufacturer in Oregon, USA.
I've been working on PCs from a hobby standpoint for better than 25 years. I've been doing it professionally for 4 years.
Education/Credentials
A+ Certification, Network + Certification, MCP, MCDST, MCSA (in process)
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You are here: Experts > Computing/Technology > Focus on PC Support > PC hardware--CPU & Motherboard & RAM > Win 98 machine that "hangs"
Expert: Mike - 11/5/2009
Question
I have a Win '98 dell inspiron 4000. It is protected by GoBack, but it won't go past the GoBack screen. I've made two Bootable CDs, but it won't read either one as bootable.
Pls help. (It only has a CD/Dvd drive, no floppy).
Thanks
Nathan
Answer
That GoBack software, while useful on pre-XP computers since it works like a System Restore, is also extremely dangerous.
The way that software works is that it replaces your Master Boot Record (MBR) and your System Partition with its own files/folders to do the restore.
These two sections that it replaces are essentially the operating system's central nervous system. Without them the operating system is completely unusable.
My guess is that GoBack software has gotten corrupted and now it's left your pc essentially lobotomized.
There are commands built into Repair disks that will rebuild the Master Boot Record and likely fix your problem but most of the ones that work really well also cost money.
You can try to make another bootable Windows 98 disk from here to see if you can fix the MBR.
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm
If that doesn't work I would recommend spending $10 on their Bootable Utility CD from the same site.
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