AboutKevin Expertise I`m familiar with Windows 95/98/XP problems and will try my best to assist you. I`m also familiar with spyware/virus removal, Web Design, Basic PC Networking, formatting & partitioning hard drives, installing new hard drives or memory (ram), and other little things.
Experience I started using computers about 10 years ago and have grown to both love and hate it to say the least. I have studied computer programming and graduated with a bachelor's degree in computer science.
Expert: Kevin Date: 6/12/2008 Subject: Recovery discs dont work!!!
Question QUESTION: I have had to format the drive on my Panasonic CF18 toughbook and repartition it. (my youngest son put Linux on it) - I have made the whole drive into one partition and formatted it and now want to reinstall the original operating system to return it to as it was when it left the factory. I have the 3 recovery discs that came with the machine. I put disc 1 in and booted the machine after changing the boot order in Bios and it reads the CD then comes up with the message 'the following file is missing or corrupted :command.com type the name of the command interpreter eg c:windowscommand.com then returns to the a:> prompt. I do hope you can help - I need the machine working ASAP - many thanks in advance.
ANSWER: Hi David, does the CD have any smudges on it or is the CD damaged/scratched at all? If so, try to clean it out or buffer the scratches a little to see if it helps. Use something like toothpaste and slowly wax it. Do gentle rubs to try and smooth out the scratch marks...not too much though as it can cause additional streaks that you may not want.
Another thing is that the CD drive could be going bad. If you have another cd drive or an external one, use that instead.
QUESTION: I have cleaned the CD carefully as suggested - same message comes up. I have tried a regular Windows CD in the drive and that boots perfectly so it doesnt seem to be the drive. (it is an external one).
Answer Hi David, before you ddi the cleaning, was the CD damaged at all (even if it's minor scratch marks)? See if you can burn a copy of this CD to another blank CD and try booting from the copy.
I usually find that it's either the cd drive or the disc itself that causes this kind of problem. Since you tried loading files from another Windows CD and it works (I assume you also let it copy some files to confirm?), it's most likely the disc itself.
