HELP.............My Friends Computer Won't Go Past Win98 Screen?

[JohnnyTT]

Hello. My friend tried installing something on his computer and it froze during the process. After that, the computer freezes at the Windows 98 screen. I ran Norton Utilities, Defragged, and Scandisk. They reported no errors.

Any Ideas on what I what I can do, or what files could be replaced?

Thanks

 

[CygnusX1]

Hold the CTRL key during boot and a menu should appear, select start in safe mode. If that works, go to Start | Run and type "scanreg /restore". If it doesn't, do the same thing but select "Restart in MSDOS Mode" and type scanreg /restore at the dos prompt. If restoring the registry doesn't help, boot into safe mode, go to Start | Run and type "msconfig." Select the radio button next to "selective startup" and remove all the checks next to the check boxes, then reboot. If that works, restore the checks one at a time until the computer doesn't boot, then go into the problematic file with "sysedit" and remove any entries that refer to the program your friend installed.

Hope that helps,

Mark.

 

[helloedchen]

I would suggest reinstalling windows since it did freeze during the installation process. Is this comp overclocked at all?

 

[Supradude]

Reinstalling the OS over the previous one will most likely wipe out the problem... I've had my system hand/freeze during installation once or twice too... but since you just installed, you could always just format the drive and run a clean install...

 

[backWERD]

scanreg/restore and using the msconfig commands are much safer and usually alot easier ways of fixing problems then reinstalling, even over the top. Because if it is a registry problem, Reinstalling over the top wont fix it. Reinstalling over the top will only fix sytem file problems. If it is a startup problem in the autoexec/config.sys/ini files only removing it from them will fix it. and Msconfig will help you do that, Reinstalling over the top wont fix that. Reinstalling over the top will only fix System File problems.


Knowing this I would asume If you're computer locked up while installing a program. It was probably caused a registry problem and scanreg /restore should do the trick.


What was your friend installing?

Did you run the system fixing programs ex. norton/defrag/scandisk in dos or in windows or in safemode?

How many dogs do you have?

 

[backWERD]

Did it lockup while copying files to your harddrive or in a different part of the install?

 

[backWERD]

Have you checked for any virus?

 

[backWERD]

Try also hitting F8 while booting and run a boot with selective settings and also look at the bootlog and see what it says.

 

[backWERD]

When does it freze while booting does the logo freze or does it just freeze with a cursor blinking does it render your keyboard unuzable or can you still switch caps lock on and off.

 

[JohnnyTT]

My friend was installing some program and after it finished (don't know what it was) it asked him if he wanted to upgrade to the latest version of Adobe Acrobat. He said yes, then it locked up.

I ran Norton and Scandisk in Safe Mode.

I'll try that stuff you said tomorrow.

I have two dogs.......a toy poodle.....and a rottweiler.
(Amberly) (Cruiser)

Thanks Again,

 

[JohnnyTT]

..........

 

[CygnusX1]

How'd scanreg and msconfig work out?

Mark.

 

[JohnnyTT]

He can't get to that, there is no way to get to windows now, not even safe mode.

We only have acces to a: and cdrom support.

Is there anyway to run these from another source?

Thanks,

 

[shawnmos]

Hold down CTRL when the windows starts and select logged. When windows freezes restart then select safemode msdos. At the C: type "edit bootlog.txt". Scroll to the bottom and see what file windows tried to initialize last. For example it would say DEVICEINIT= or Loading Vxd= or something like that. If is a VXD then it's a corrupt windows file. Reinstalling windows should fix that. You could rename the file just to get into windows. The file would be in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS.

 

[JohnnyTT]

Ok, I did step by step startup and selected NO on only one at a time until I found the one. It ended up being some strange line in the Autoexec file.

So thanks everybody for your help.

 

[backWERD]

No problem