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Q97452: Clean Boot Hangs Computer with a Corrupted COMMAND.COM File

Article: Q97452
Product(s): Microsoft Disk Operating System
Version(s): MS-DOS:6.0,6.2,6.21,6.22
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): 
Last Modified: 19-NOV-1999

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system versions 6.0, 6.2, 6.21, 6.22 
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SUMMARY
=======

Pressing the F5 key when the text "Starting MS-DOS..." appears bypasses both the
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files and passes control directly to the COMMAND.COM
file in your root directory. If this copy of COMMAND.COM is either compressed or
corrupted, your system stops responding (hangs). A blinking cursor remains on
the screen, but no error messages are displayed.

RESOLUTION
==========

To correct this problem, restart your system with a bootable floppy disk and
copy COMMAND.COM to the root directory of your hard disk.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Your computer will restart normally if the following line

  shell=c:\dos\command.com c:\dos\ /p

is in your CONFIG.SYS file because the CONFIG.SYS file is processed before MS-DOS
passes control of the system to COMMAND.COM to process the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
Since use of the F5 key prevents MS-DOS from redirecting access to the
COMMAND.COM file in the DOS directory (or the directory specified in the SHELL=
command), MS-DOS uses the COMMAND.COM file in the root directory by default.

Additional query words: 6.22 6.00 6.20 clean boot

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Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbMSDOSSearch kbMSDOS621 kbMSDOS622 kbMSDOS620 kbMSDOS600
Version           : MS-DOS:6.0,6.2,6.21,6.22

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