HELP!!! Registry problem

[RampageIII]

:( Man, I don't know what's going on. Windows98se has gone into a cycle of checking and replacing the registry. Won't load to Safe Mode. Prior to this I noticed that I'm only showing 256 of 348 DDRAM. Haven't checked to see which stick is bad yet. Would this cause registry problems?? Even happened during a re-install of Windows fter rebuilding registry. :( :(



Any help will be appreciated.





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[BipolarBill]

I don't think that you can fix this. I don't see how you could unless you have a drive image or some other backup.

You could stop Windows from checking the registry, but how long could you go on like that? Look in MSCONFIG for Scan Registry and disable it.

[rangeral]

Yes bad ram will cause reg problems.

[RampageIII]

Thanks, I'll be checking the RAM.







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[RampageIII]

Took out all the RAM and put them in one by one. Think I isolated the bad stick.

Reformatted and re-installed windows but still having problems.

Usually messages saying can't find system.ini or system.dat. Have to shutdown, scandisk and re-build registry again.

Any other suggestions?

This is a new build:

Leadtek 7350 KDA mobo
AMD 1.333 GHz
2-128 PC2100 DDRAM
WD 20G HD
ATI graphics
onboard audio
Win98se

[BipolarBill]

That is just really bizarre. I would remove all cards but the video card and see if that helps. After that, I'd switch out the video card for a temp.

[pctech]

You are in luck my dear. I have just finished working on a client's PC that was behaving similar to yours.
At bootup, it would scan the registry, REGISTRY CHECKER, and ask to reboot as it had restored a good registry backup. The cycle would continue.
I checked the partition. It was fine.
I formatted (under instructions from the client). It went well. In installing Win98 SE, it would go through the preparation process. In checking free space, it would report that it had found some "lost data" which might just be taking up space. Chose to delete it but It would begin the cycle again.
To resolve it, I tried to clear CMOS memory but to no avail. I removed the battery to clear memory, to no avail.
I decided to change RAM and it booted beautifully and I accomplished my task.
In a nutshell, try the following:
1. Clear CMOS memory. If your motherboard has a clear cmos jumper, see your Motherboard manual to see what to do. It is explained there.
2. If it doesn't work, replace RAM one by one, to see the faulty one.

[RampageIII]

My mobo does have such a jumper. By clearing the memory will I have to do anything other than re-booting? I'll still have a CMOS, right?

Does it reset to factory defaults?

Thanks for the responses! :)

[pctech]

Yes. All you will be required to do is reboot. After rebooting, you may have to run setup again.
Before you proceed, make sure you have your Motherboard manual ready. The settings for your Motherboard are recorded in the manual.
If you do not have a motherboard, depending on your BIOS (AMI, AWARD, PHOENIX), you need to press a key or some key combination to enter setup. If you do not have a manual, enter setup and record your settings or if possible print them out.
This is important because after clearing CMOS, you will need to run setup again. This is when you can enter your settings again, save them to CMOS and reboot. Your machine will reboot with the settings you entered.
Hopefully, it will solve it.
Good Luck.

[frankimb]

i don't intend to bad mouth any system, but i had several amd mobo's and processors in the athlon 800 cpu category. nothing but problems. fast, but frequent freeze-ups. i have heard the via chip may be unstable. i built an all intel system and never had another problem. go figure! good luck and cheers.