Win95 not Starting up

My problem sounds similar to a jebrighton's post....
Friend's computer....local store built...
120mhz, 16meg ram
Windows 95..
kids fooling around on computer, tried to install a DOS math program....
Will not boot to windows.....
Autoexec.bat had a couple lines of mumbo jumbo concerning said game....(a couple lines trying to boot the system to the D:\Math game, kids obviously did not write this)....
I REM all this out anyway (is it safe to just flat out delete those lines?)...
So this is what I have now when I turn system On..
Verifying DMI Pool Data ….
Starting Windows 95…
You are currently running in MS-DOS. Do you want to return to normal mode, to run Windows applications again
..........................................
If I hit <Enter>, the process starts again.....
Hit <Esc>, I get...
You are still running in MS-DOS mode. To Return to normal mode, exit the application you are running, or type WIN again.
............................................
Type <WIN> and it all starts over again..
............................................
I figure I could probably bypass all this just by erasing HD and maybe install Win98 (cuz I don't have any drivers for the comp or any system disk, and also erasing the HD is above my head)
.............................................
Have used Win95 Boot disk, but does not do any good, have actually re-installed 95 on the system, obviously in Safe Mode, I'm being told that it could be a virus cuz something has changed my autoexec.bat (the MATH CD)...
Sorry this post is so long, I'm ready to wash my hands of this whole situation, but want to help my friend and I'm thinking that it might be something pretty simple that is wrong, but still over my head....Thanks In advance guys for any help you can give me

1. RE: Win95 not Starting up
lbyard Jul-30-01 01:53 PM
In response to message 0

Try rem’ing-out the lines (put rem followed by a space in front of the game-related lines). I use…
C:\>edit autoexec.bat
…to do it. You may need to precede the command with…
C:\>path=c:\windows\command
…to put edit.com in the path, or you may have edit.com on your startup floppy…
A:\>edit C:\autoexec.bat
That shouldn't hurt anything. You may want to backup the config.sys and autoexec.bat files first...
C:\>copy autoexec.bat autoexec.dux
or whatever. I use .dux because there may already be an autoexec.bak, which may be useful if the game install made it. Larry

2. RE: Win95 not Starting up
Dennyboy Jul-31-01 02:53 AM
In response to message 0

>Autoexec.bat had a couple lines of
>mumbo jumbo concerning said game....(a
>couple lines trying to boot
>the system to the D:\Math
>game, kids obviously did not
>write this)....
>I REM all this out anyway
That is what you were talking about right? I'm not too sure if that's what you mean but I have REM'ed out the offending lines.
I hit F8 when it was booting up and chose the option to boot step by step with confirmation....
I see where it loads up config.sys ok, but when it gets to the autoexec.bat part, I OK each step until it gets to the part that asks if i want to go into the cd\win, I say Yes, but then I get the message about not being able to run that in MS-DOS mode.
I'm ready to just send the system back to my friend, but I know that I have to be pretty close to getting the problem resolved.
Thanks again

3. RE: Win95 not Starting up
lbyard Jul-31-01 03:59 PM
In response to message 2

Select boot to the DOS prompt and see if there are recent config.xxx and autoexec.xxx files (where the x’s can be bak, 000, 001, or most anything that were created/backed-up by the game when it made new versions of these files; e.g.,
C:\>dir autoexec.*
Rename the current config.sys and autoexec.bat to something else; e.g.,
C:\>ren autoexec.bat autoexec.dux
Rename those recent files to autoexec.bat and config.sys
Reboot.
You can always go back and change things back again.
Larry

4. RE: Win95 not Starting up
Dennyboy Aug-01-01 03:59 AM
In response to message 3

Larry, I appreciate all your help.
I have tried everything. I have REM out the offending lines....I have renamed the Autoexec.bak file to the .bat file (I saw where the .bak file was made a week before, so that must be when the offending program was attempted to be installed...I have changed the autoexec.bat many times, i've used the Win95 Startup disk, I've done all i can, but i still get one perplexing error....I always end up with the <You are currently running in MS-DOS mode. Do you wwant to return to normal mode, to run Windows applications again ?>
Then the problem repeats itself....
When I do the step by step confirmation...It loads up the config.sys and all of the autoexec.bat. After I confirm the last line of Autoexec.bat, the line <WIN> comes up, I Confirm that and I get the message about currently running in MS-Dos...
so, once again I appreciate all your patience and help. I'm gonna rack my brain for a couple more days before I just format the HD and install 98 or something.
Believe it or not, I actually use to know all this stuff back in the day when I was playing around with my Tandy 1000 EX then SX, then a nice 15 year vacation from computers, I'm a dummy!
Thanks again Larry

5. RE: Win95 not Starting up
lbyard Aug-01-01 04:00 PM
In response to message 4

Read MS KB Article ID: Q138996, Description of Restarting Computer in MS-DOS Mode, at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q138/9/96.asp for more things to try. Larry

6. RE: Win95 not Starting up
Dennyboy Aug-02-01 04:17 AM
In response to message 5

Larry, I was tickled to death reading that article! After all the stuff I have been reading up on in the last week, and trying all the tips you gave me,I'm actually starting to understand almost everything in the article. After 2 seconds, I think I had found the answer and I'm sure after a bit of minimal trial and error tomorrow, the system will be up and running normal. Once again, thanks for all your help!
Dennis