Hello, I am a new member and I come to you with my problem hoping that someone out there will be able to help me. Here it goes:
I got a new computer with Vista Home Premium installed in it. My old computer's OS is Windows 98. I copied nearly all my files from the old computer into my new computer. I logged off for the day. The next day I wanted to copy the remaining files on the old computer to a CD-ROM so that I can transfer them to the new computer. However, when I switched on the old computer to finish the job, I realised that my CD-ROM drive (drive D:\) stopped working. From the messages appearing on the screen at the start of the computer, it appears that the Autoexec.bat file is corrupted. And I believe that this is the reason why the CD ROM drive is not working and displaying the message: D:\ drive is not ready.  Now can you tell me how to repair the autoexec.bat file? I do not know what should there be in it and how to repair it. I hope you can help. Regards.   If you can post a copy of the autoexec.bat file here we can have a look...
Keep in mind also if the drive is old it may have given up the Ghost...
If that's the case we can instruct on how to MOVE the old HDD to the new machine to copy your data without too much effort...
Let us know how you WANT to proceed.Thank you Patio for your quick response. The contents of autoexec.bat looks like gibberish but I will try to copy it tomorrow and post it. It is great that you have a way to copying directly from the HDD to the new computer. Thanks again.  When I turn on the computer, a message with a white background on the top of desktop background appears. The content of the message is as follows:
32-bit DLC VxD
DLCHP.EXE is required to spport 16 bit applications. It must be loaded from AUTOEXEC.BAT

Then, when I click on the OK, the normal operations (except the DVD drive, when clicked on to reveal the contents of the DVD disk in the drive, prompts a message:
 
D:\ is not accessible
The device is not ready
Retry       Cancel

I LOOKED at the Autoexec.bat file to look at its contents (Start/Run/ msconfig) I found the following contents under the Autoexec.bat:
ban /nc
ndisban
redirall
rem-By windows 98 Network- c:\windows\netstart
arswait
z:login
SET BLASTER=A22017D1 T2
SET SNDSCAPE=C:\WINDOWS

Then, there is 13 lines with gibberish with characters which can only be obtained from symbols file of Windows Word (eg. upside down question mark etc.)
Any help to make me use my DVD drive again or  to shift the files from my old computer with windows 98 to my new computer running Vista Home Premium will be appreciated.
Well an autoexec.bat should all be readable plain text...so something is amiss here..I think so too. Can you help me restoring it? At the moment I cannot connect the old computer to the Internet to download drivers for memory stick. Although I can download it with my new computer, I have no means to load it on to the old computer. I cannot network it with the new computer and I believe the problem of the Autoexec.bat was caused by TRYING to network it with the new computer. So it seems that only way I can get those files from the old computer is to get the disk drive working which I believe is not being turned on by the Autoexec.bat file. I should be grateful for some help.I don't know, if it's gonna fix your CD drive problem, but the only necessary lines in Win 98 autoexec.bat file are:

echo off
SET PATH=C:\Windows;C:\

That's it.How much data do you want to move? Does this machine have network access? Are both machines connected to a switch?

Thanks for the suggestion BRONI but I think there should be more lines to switch on the devices such as the DVD drive etc. Anyway I tried your suggestion but to no avail.

Thanks to you Spoiler too. The data I have to move are about 50MB or so.  As I said in my previous letter, I cannot connect the old computer to a network unfortunately. So only solution is to get the DVD drive working which I believe is due to the  corrupt Autoexec.bat file.

Thank you both of you for your efforts.Any other lines are not needed.
You may see line like this in autoexec. bat:
LH C:\Windows\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD0001
which is responsible for CD drive, but it really doesn't matter, if it's there, or not.Hi Broni. If you read my earlier posting where I said:

When I turn on the computer, a message with a white background on the top of desktop background appears. The content of the message is as follows:
32-bit DLC VxD
DLCHLP.EXE is required to support 16 bit applications. It must be loaded from AUTOEXEC.BAT

Therefore, the executable file DLCHLP.EXE is required to support 16 bit applications and must be downloaded from Autoexec.bat. I am not sure where this file is located.

Thanks again for your interest.
  Now, wait a sec.
Did you make any changes to autoexec.bat?
If so, how does it look now?DLC is a network protocol. however if you don't know what it is chances are you don't need it. The message is simply sayign that 16-bit applications won't be able to use the DLC protocol without that file being loaded.


However- I'd go with Broni's suggested changes. Perhaps you can display your "config.sys" file contents as well?


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/148828Telling the truth, config.sys file is not needed at all in Win 98.