Startup Problems

[Kay]

Hi,
I have a pentium 2, 266mhz, running win98. I was installing the 4.2 upgrade program for backup exec from a downloaded file. In the middle of the install it said that it had to uninstall the original program. After a supposedly successful install, it shutdown to restart. Only it never completely restarted. It froze at my opening window (right after Wacom tablet & Norton Anti-Virus appear on screen). By going into safe mode, I uninstalled the the backup exec. That didn't help. I did a control-alt-delete at the point just before freezing and saw that N-Protect was not responding. So, I tried uninstalling my Norton products. THis helped, a little, now it appears to load completely but suddenly the screen will turn white and everything freezes with the word 'Desktop' at the top of left screen and some icons overlapping each other. Though Norton is supposed to be gone completely, my trashcan is still labeled Norton Protect. I should also explain that throughout this, the Windows uninstall program and the uninstall programs of the various programs would not work. I was only able to uninstall by using a Quarterdeck uninstall program. And I think this problem started before the Backup exec install. The only program that still comes up at startup is Microsoft schedular. I Couldn't get rid of it. I've done all I can think of (and probably too much)
Any help will be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.
Kay

[grandslammer]

you want to get rid of the scheduler?

Hit start, then run. Type in msconfig. Check selective startup, then click on the startup tab. UNCHECK anything you don't want to load, including any reference to task scheduler. Then hit apply, then okay... This is the easiest way. You can go in through the registry, local machine/software/microsoft/windows/current version/run(also run once, run services, etc.) Actually, when you install something, then need to re-start, a line is usually included in the run once section. This is supposed to "run once" and then delete. If you still have this problem, you might want to check the run once line in your reg by following the above directions. Then delete any key in the run once line. It should be gone after the first restart anyway.

S, let us know what's up...

Good Luck In All...

Mike P.

[This message has been edited by grandslammer (edited 11-09-1999).]

[Kay]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for your response. I spoke to Symantec today and he walked me through the msconfig process. We turned off everything. No change--it still freezes. He had two suggestions 1)go into registry and restore it to it's previous condition after I first installed Nortons (I'd lose any programs and links since then) or 2)reinstall Windows. I'd rather reinstall Windows but I don't know how. Can you (or anyone esle) give me very careful, step by step instructions on reinstalling win98? Also, if I do this, I need to know how to access my cdrom drive?
Thanks,
Kay

[Underclocked]

Kay, do you have a full version CD of Win98?
Assuming you do, look for a file called ebd.exe on the disc (should be in MTS Utilities I believe). Put a clean floppy in, click on the ebd.exe file and it will make a boot disc. After making the boot disc, put it in the faultering pc and start up. You will see the system start from the boot disk (if not, you may have to enter the bios to set the floppy as the first boot device). You will see a choice of starting with or without the cdrom. Choose with /forum/wink.gif
Make sure your Win98 cd is in the cdrom drive and type in its drive letter such as D followed by setup (D:\setup). From there, everything should be fairly intuitive.

[Kay]

Hi Again,
I have win98 upgrade cd. I did a file search for ebd.exe but it didn't come up. I checked on my old win95 cd, too. I couldn't find any file by that name. What should I do?
All help is really appreciated!
Kay

[Target]

Kay, please check your hard-drive for the following directory c:\windows\options\cabs

If that exists and contains the *.cab files, then you can re-install win98 from there, and its not only easy, but FASTER than doing it from your CDROM!

Here is what you need to do:
Boot with your boot diskette to dos. If using a win98 boot disk, you can choose to boot without CDROM support. At the dos prompt, we need to first rename the file WIN.COM. This file should be located in the C:\Windows directory. Rename it to something like WIN.BAK or WIN.MOC that will be easy for you to remember.

The actual steps for renaming WIN.COM are:
(1) from the c:\ dos prompt, change to the windows directory by typing "cd windows" (without quotes) and pressing the enter key. This will change you to the c:\windows directory.
(2) Next, we need to rename the WIN.COM file by typing "ren win.com win.moc" (also without the quotes) and then press enter.

Now we need to run the win98 setup again from the c:\windows\options\cabs directory.

The actual steps for running setup again are:
(assuming you have not changed directories any futher from the above step and you are still at the c:\windows prompt)
(1) change further to the c:\windows\options\cabs directory. You do this by typing "cd options" (no quotes), then press enter, and then type "cd cabs" (no quotes) and then press enter again.
This should leave you at the c:\windows\options\cabs prompt.
(2)Run the win98 install program by typing "SETUP.EXE" (no quotes) and pressing enter. This will install win98 from your hard-drive.

When the install process gets to the portion of the install where it asks what directory you want to install win98 to, it will provide you with two options. Either install to windows.000 or another directory. Choose another directory, and specify it to be Windows. It will then tell you that it already exists, and that files will be over-written and will want to know if you wish to proceed. Say yes, and the cab files will over-write themselves without issue.

It will also keep your existing folders and short-cuts in tact from the previous install /forum/smile.gif

If the install program asks for verification of the upgrade cd, place your Win95 or Win98 upgrade CD ROM into the drive and point the install app to read from that.

The install should proceed normally until its complete and you will then be set.

IF, you do not have the CAB files on your hard-disk already, then we need to place them there and then go through the steps I listed above. The directions for that are a bit more involved, so if needed, drop me an email so I remember to come back to this post to give you a hand.

Good luck

[Kay]

Hi All,
Thanks to everyone that helped me!!! I'm up and running. I found the edb file--it has the word 'fat' in front of it --I try to avoid that word at all costs, so it took a while for me to find it /forum/smile.gif Now, I have another question. Everything is back and I didn't lose anything but... my display settings for my monitor won't display more than 16 colors. It's supposed to show 256. When I reset it and hit apply, it says I must restart windows to make the change. But when I restart windows, nothing changes--it has reset to 16 colors. In my System info, it says that my monitor is working fine. But my screen is fuzzy and I can't run any programs that need 256 colors.
Your help has been so appreciated!!! Thank you for seeing me through this crisis :-) & saving me $75.00 and 7-10 days down time if I'd taken the computer in for repair!
Kay

[Target]

Kay, glad that it sounds as though most things are working correctly again. Your issues with the Monitor being fuzzy and the colors limited to 16 sounds like you need to re-load the video adapter drivers, and specify the monitor type. That should clear it up. Again, if not, let us know and we can go from there.

~Target

[Underclocked]

You might try reinstalling DirectX 6.1 and then having the system look for the best driver for the card. Windows occasionally has to be prompted to reinstall the correct drivers. Right click My Computer, left click Properties, left click Device Manager, left click the + sign beside video adaptor, double left click the adaptor itself, select driver, have Win look for the best driver by clicking update driver. Let Win do a search without directing it to any particular location.
If that fails, reload the video card driver. If you don't have it, but know the name/model of the card, you can go to the manufacturer's website and download the most recent driver. Then install it according to the manufacturer's instructions.

[Kay]

Thank you! Thank You!
I am up and running and my monitor is back to normal! Thanks everyone.
Kay /forum/smile.gif