What Do You Do When Windows Doesn't Boot?

Also: nonsensical Windows error messages, add Excel data to a Word file, print later by saving as.prn, transfer Word AutoCorrect settings.

Lincoln Spector

I've tried everything I can think of, but I can't get Windows Me to boot. Is there anything I can do?

Aric Michael Warden, via the Internet

Here's the solution to recalcitrant PCs running Windows 98 and Me. First, boot your computer into Safe mode: Turn on your computer, then immediately press and hold down the Ctrl key. When the start-up options appear, release the Ctrl key and use the arrow keys to select Safe mode, then press Enter.

This brings you to a limited version of Windows. Now you can access your data and change back whatever caused the problem. For instance, you might uninstall a program or device you installed just prior to the snafu's first occurrence.

You can also repair or restore the Windows Registry. If you use Windows Me, select Start, Run, type scanregw /fix (note the w and the space that follows it), and press Enter to repair the Registry. To restore an earlier version of the Registry (Windows backs it up at regular intervals), select Start, Run, type scanregw /restore, and press Enter to get a list of your available backups (see FIGURE 1).

If your computer uses Windows 98, you must fix or restore the Registry from outside Windows. Once again, hold down Ctrl as you start your machine, but this time, select Command prompt only from the resulting start-up menu. At the C> prompt, type scanreg /fix (no w this time) or scanreg /restore and press Enter.

In either Windows 98 or Me, if you can't get to Safe mode, the command prompt, or the Startup menu, it's time to break out your Startup floppy. If you don't have one, find a PC running Windows 98 or Me, select Start, Settings, Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs, choose the Startup Disk tab, click the Create Disk button, and follow the instructions. You'll need a blank, formatted floppy.

Put the Startup floppy into your A: drive and reboot your troubled system. You'll see another start-up menu. Select Start computer without CD-ROM support and press Enter. Starting the computer with CD-ROM support takes longer and is useful only if you need to reinstall Windows.

At the A> prompt, type dir c: and press Enter. If you see a list of files and folders, you can relax; your hard drive is readable and you probably haven't lost your data. If your drive isn't readable, and you don't have backups, contact a company such as Ontrack to see if it can restore your data.

Here are some other useful commands: scandisk c: checks your hard drive for errors; sys c: restores some primary files needed for booting from the hard drive; and fdisk /mbr restores your drive's master boot record, which, if it's corrupted, just might be the cause of your problems.

Go to "Create a Start-Up Floppy for Windows 2000 and XP" to learn how to jump-start ailing systems that are using Windows 2000 and XP.

Send your questions to answer@pcworld.com. Answer Line pays $50 for published items. Click here for more Answer Line columns. You'll find Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector's humorous writing at www.thelinkinspector.com.

Crazy Error Messages

ScanDisk keeps telling me that an FSInfoSector error was detected and corrected. If it was corrected, how come it keeps coming back? And how can I correct it permanently?

Mike Greene, Alexandria, Virginia

There are a lot of crazy error messages that can crop up. I'll explain yours as well as two other confusing ones.

FSInfoSector is where FAT32 stores file system information. When Windows fails to shut down correctly, this sector gets corrupted. The next time you run ScanDisk, the problem is detected and fixed, and you get a message telling you so.

If you're getting frequent FSInfoSector errors, chances are Windows isn't shutting down properly. Try closing all your programs before shutting Windows down to see if that solves the problem. And be sure not to turn off your system until Windows says it's ready to be shut down (or until your system has shut itself down, if it is set to do so).

Some error messages can be needlessly alarming. One of my favorite examples of such overstatements is Microsoft's choice of the words fatal exception, as in 'A fatal exception xx has occurred at yyyy:yyyyyyyy'. To my knowledge, a fatal exception has never killed anyone--outside of Redmond, Washington, that is.

The error message is really trying to tell you that something stepped on a part of memory where it didn't belong, or on a part that has gone bad. If this error happens only occasionally, don't worry about it. If it happens a lot, however, enter Safe mode by following the steps described in the previous tip and see if the error recurs. If the problem goes away in Safe mode, the source is most likely a bad driver. Browse to your device vendors' Web sites for updates.

On the other hand, the error may be the result of a defective RAM chip. In that case, you might be able to correct the problem by entering your PC Setup program (press the appropriate key when your computer starts; your system should tell you which key that is). Then either adjust your memory wait states or turn off your motherboard's L2 cache. There are many different PC Setup programs, so I can't give you exact instructions on how to find the specific settings, but it's not difficult. If the problem persists, consider replacing your RAM.

Another message that confuses people is one in Windows 2000 and XP announcing that a program 'has generated errors and will be closed by Windows' and that 'An error log is being created'.

That log is in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\DrWatson, and its name is drwtsn32.log. Double-click it to open it in Notepad, but don't expect it to be much help. Only a tech can decipher its gobbledygook. See this month's Windows Tips for more on Windows XP's error reporting.

Selectively Link Excel Data to a Word Doc

I'd like to link only a section of an Excel spreadsheet to a Word document, but when I select Insert, Object, click the 'Create from File' tab, and choose my Excel file, I get the whole spreadsheet. How do I get just the piece I want, and keep it linked so it updates when I change the original spreadsheet?

Clint Collier, Walnut Creek, California

The trick is not to use Insert, Object. First, open the spreadsheet in Excel, select the range you want to link to the Word document, and press Ctrl-C.

Next, open the Word file that you want to link to the spreadsheet. Position the cursor where you want the range to appear in the document, and then select Edit, Paste Special (you may have to expand the Edit menu to see this option). Choose Paste link (see FIGURE 2). If you don't want the data to update in Word when you change it in Excel, simply select Paste.

Now choose one of the 'As' options. The selection is basically aesthetic. I like the look of the Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object, Picture, and HTML Format options.

Postpone Printing With a.prn File

I recently "printed" a Web page with the 'print to file' option, planning to actually print the page later. When I did this, however, my computer created a.prn file. How do I print one of these?

Tony Lee, Grand Prairie, Texas

Occasionally you may find it useful to "print" something to a.prn file so that you can print it later. For instance, your notebook PC may not be connected to your printer at the moment, or you may want to use a particular printer that isn't currently attached to your desktop (you will still need to have a driver installed on your system for that printer). Although the standard Windows Print dialog box provides a 'Print to file' option, Windows offers no simple way to send a.prn file to a printer.

But DOS has a way, and it works in Windows if your printer is hooked up via your system's parallel port. The command is copy /b filename.prn prn (where filename is the name of your.prn file).

And there's an easier way: Download PrintFile, a free program by Peter Lerup. Once you've installed PrintFile, double-clicking a.prn file will cause a standard printing dialog box to appear. Unlike the DOS command-line trick above, PrintFile works with USB printers as well as with printers connected via a parallel port.

Autocorrect Transfers

If you have Microsoft Word on two computers, you can transfer your AutoCorrect list from one to the other with Autocorrect.dot, a Word macro by Microsoft Most Valuable Professional contributor Dave Rado and distributed via the MVP Web site. If macros have been disabled, select Tools, Macro, Security in Word. On the Security Level tab, select Medium, then click OK. If Word warns you that the file contains macros, click Enable Macros. Run Autocorrect.dot on the first PC and click Backup to export your settings to a Word document. Now run Autocorrect.dot on the second PC and select Restore to import your AutoCorrect list. You'll lose only settings with the same name as the imported AutoCorrect items.