Win98- explorer error during boot up HELP!

[elroy]

I got a desperate phone call from a friend tonight his Windows 98 machine started hanging during the Windows start up. It says "Explorer, This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down."
"Explorer has caused an invalid page fault in module explorer.exe" I replaced the explorer.exe with a new copy and got the same thing. Any ideas?

[elroy]

caddmannq Thanks for the reply, but the system won't boot into safe mode either.

[RobRich]

Try this command from the safe mode command prompt:

scanreg /fix

This will repair several common registry issues, which could be causing your friend's problems. If this doesn't help, then he can use the Win98 install disk to re-install Win98 without loosing his installed software or settings. Worth a shot before having to FDISK and format.

Good Luck,
Robert Richmond

[Spencer]

Did your friend change any hardware settings or CPU heatsink/fan. Because, that is a, among other things, a sign of a overheating CPU or poor(too fast) memory timings. Just a thought.

[elroy]

Spencer, there have been no hardware changes but as for software who knows. The owner and his family are computer IGNORANT !!! They do well to get it turned on. I'm going over there today and try RobRich's suggestion. I'll keep you posted. THANKS

[darkmallard]

I'm assuming he has important data on his hard drive, which is why he doesn't want to format and restore it. In that case, if the scanreg /fix doesn't work and if reinstalling Windows doesn't work either, DON'T format just yet. Do this:

1. boot to Command Prompt Only

2. at the C: prompt, type the following and press enter:

ren windows windows2

3. Then start the installation of Windows, but MAKE CERTAIN to change the destination folder to C:\WINDOWS when it asks (do NOT use the C:\WINDOWS2 folder)

4. Complete the installation of Windows

This creates a "parallel" installation of Windows. He will still have all of the files that he created still on his hard drive. But, he will need to reinstall all of his applications to use them again. Once he moves any of his important files out of the WINDOWS2 folder (e.g. files stored in the old C:\WINDOWS2\DESKTOP folder), he can delete the C:\WINDOWS2 folder. He shouldn't need to worry about deleting any other program folders as reinstalling his apps will reuse all of those folders anyway.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.