Windows 98 Question.......HELP!!!!!!

[garymd]

Last night while my wife was installing McAfee on the computer, my daughter decided to vacuum her car. Our house is currently being remodeled so both the computer and vacuum were being run off of the same circuit and a fuse blew in the middle of the download. After re-booting, she got the blue screen of death!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

We've tried everything we know (which ain't much). Other than getting a copy of XP or some other later operating system, does anyone here know how to restore 98 2nd Edition or get us back to the "Last Known Good" screen? Does one even exist on 98?

It's VERY important we get this computer back running. It's the only one in the house and it's also the one my wife uses for work. It also means NO FORUM FOR ME!!!!!

Thanks!!!!!!

- Gary

[Malcolm]

No help with fixing the mess you have now...

But, you might want to get a UPS if this computer is so critical. And you might want to grade to a later version of Windows that isn't as likely to have similar problems.

[garymd]

Thanks. That was scheduled to occur next week. We were going to move this one upstairs when the remodeling was complete.[] Really bad timing.

[HarleyMo]

If you have the original 98 media (cd) you should be able to perform an install and the first thing it will ask is if you want to "fix" your current install. This may mix whatever got messed up in the install of the virus software. Just be sure NOT to do a fresh install, but there are plenty of warnings that will come up before it whips the disk clean.

Good Luck

[Frzninvt]

Can you get the computer to come up in "safe" mode when it is booting up. I forget what F key you need to push when booting to do so.

Did you start the computer with the Windows 98SE in the CDROM drive that might help it boot, if not do you have a boot disk for that PC somewhere.

Man I would get Win XP on that thing so the blue screen of death will become a thing of the past once you get it worked out.

[HarleyMo]

F8 is the function key to hit to try to get into safe mode, press it while the computer is booting

[garymd]

We've tried all those things although we don't have the original disks. It's backed up through 2 days ago but that's 2 days worth of work for my wife if we can't retrieve it.

Safe mode didn't work. I though that would be a gimmee.

I have a friend with 98 disks. Maybe I'll borrow them and try to fix.

Thanks for the suggestions. This was just going to be my forum computer once we moved it and I didn't want to spend any money on it since it's pretty outdated. We just needed it to work for TWO MORE DAYS!!! I told her not to load McAfee!!!! Norton expired yesterday and she INSISTED we be protected. HA! See where THAT got us.

[garymd]

F8 is the function key to hit to try to get into safe mode, press it while the computer is booting

Tried that. It seems to be locked up in McAfee's anti-piracy screen. It keeps asking for the administrator's password. We called McAfee and they were no help whatsoever.

[Guest " "]

I doubt that the cause is the use of the vacum....macfaee will not install on windows 98 unless you were installing version 4.5.1, and if you were installing version 4.5.1, it would have been useless since the current scan engines and dat downloads would not have worked on it. I believe the cause to be the install of the macafee software...it probally was a new version..and would not run on 98.

before you re-install 98 from scratch, or use a recovery CD from the vendor...be advised..any programs that you installed will not work. doing a re-install is good if all you care about is your data files....and you have all the programs. doing a re-install, with out formating your hard drive is the best and lest labor intensive option. but since you may actually have hard drive damage due to the spike...best bet would be to get a new drive, install win98 on it, and use your old drive as a second drive to get your data off....if you elect to continue with the old drive...you are on borrowed time.

so how can you get back into your win98 system...it has been awhile...so if anyone sees any errors...by all means jump in and correct...try at your own risk...

a. boot from a floppy disk (make sure it is ver 6 of ms dos or hirgher)

b. when you boot from a floppy, you will see a black screen that say A:>

c. using your keyboard change to the C:> drive by entering c: followed by the enter key (leave the floppy in the a: drive)

d. change from the c:> directory to the windows directory it may be called windows, buy may be called other things depending where it was installed.

e. you sould now see c:>\windows

f. type the following command c:\windows\command\attrib c:\windows\*.* /s -h -r -s press enter, and wait a while...depending on your hard drive size it may take a while

g. when the system is done making the changes, (the hard drive stopes blinking) by using the dir command search for files that end in DAT (user.dat, system.dat, ntuser.dat), these could be in c:\, c:\windows, c:\windows\system, depending if your PC us upgraded to win98 or if it was a fresh install. if you find these files...notice their file size...and notice that there will be simular files named with different extensions (bak, part of a date, etc) the ones with the diiferent extensions are your back up files. copy your original DAT files to a safe location by renaming them as follows c:\windows\command\copy c:\windows\*.dat c:\windows\*.saf

h. now copy the backup files over the currpt original files by entering c:\windows\command\copy c:\windows\*.ext c:\windows\*.dat note to replace the ext with the actual extensions yuo found which is probally BAK

i. reboot your computer by holding down CNTRL ALT DEL the screen should flash black and reboot. if it boots normally, perform a normal reboot immediately so a back up set of these files will be created. if it does not boot up normally....you are out of luck to recover your programs ...but you still can recover your data by following the proceedures for a complete re-install (do not re-format) or by installing an new hard drive (recommended) and use the new drive to install the operating system and use yor old drive as a data drive...copy your data quickly to the new drive.

[ScorpsFan]

Gary,

You might try this forum, http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/index.php they are very good at assisting (many are IT Administrators and much more computer literate than I) I've had more problems trying to boot from a back-up copy of "windows" rather than the original install disk. Of course if your friend could make you a "boot help disk" either diskette or CD rather than just using the OS disk, you may be able to get to the "safe mode" and repair the problem.

BTW this site http://www.komando.com/bestshareware.asp has links to "freeware" and I have used Zone Alarms free firewall and AVG free anti-virus for quite some time without ill effect. Best of Luck!

[garymd]

That makes sense! Thanks. I printed this and will take it home. Knowing my wife, she made sure it was a copy for 98 2nd Edition. She's pretty good about those things. I also have a friend coming by tomorrow to check it out.

I greatly appreciate all your advice. If you hear from me again before Tuesday, it's because we fixed the problem. If not, have a great weekend everyone!

[johnyholiday]

Can you bring up the Task List by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del.an turning off

McAfee or You can find out which items you have running on startup by

running "msconfig" from Start > Run and then clicking the Startup

tab. McAfee could be in your autoexec.bat file an needs to be turned

off.Some times you can unplug the key board or a hard drive or some

ram, an it will go into setup mode, Or might need

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm {boot in DOS?} . Or your buddys

disks, if the BIOS is set to read them first might

work. Now this could be way out in right field, what ever you were

doing was changing the

BIOS?,

Common reasons for BIOS flashes gone bad are power failure during the

BIOS flashing process, the BIOS is a crucial component of your computer

since it is always the first program that runs when you turn the

machine on it's on the EPROM

not the hard drive. {but it must have booted to see the screen, asking

for a

password, unless it's the BIOS asking?anti piracy?}If the BIOS does not

run, the machine cannot

boot,you'd have to look it up, but some reflash the BIOS by taking out

the battery, an reflashing the BIOS ,with a BIOS disk,for your EPROM,

[Gilbert]

Gary, unless there's some important info on your HD, I would get XP. It is so much more superior to 98, there is no comparison. XP is much more stable and forgiving for cases such as yours. XP's registry is solid. Buy the complete version, NOT THE UPGRADE (if it's even still available), and reformat from scratch.

I would also highly recommend you get a back-up power supply to avoid situations such as the one you just went through. A good UPS can be purchased here...

http://www.upsforless.com

[garymd]

Turns out it was a free offer for Comcast customers. My buddy is coming over tomorrow to help me get things straightened out. Right now I'm on my daughter's laptop.

We do have the original system disks but will probably lose all our programs. We have most ready for re-install.

I'm guessing the McAfee wasn't compatible with 98 but Comcast didn't mention that and we're not swift enough with computers to have known. Eventually a laptop will be replacing that computer in an area we designed in the new kitchen so we weren't going to spend any money upgrading.

We learn from our mistakes. Thanks again for the all helpful advice.

[DrWho]

I just wanted to mention that you haven't lost any data yet so long as

you don't go reformatting harddrives or installing a fresh copy of

windows.

It is fairly custom windows practice to reinstall your machine once

every couple years or so...sounds like you're ready for one (I would

take advantage of this down time to start over fresh). The entire

process takes around 12-18 hours depending on how complicated the

backup is...and usually the easiest way to do it is to just get a new

harddrive and then use the old one as the backup. A new harddrive would

cost you about $1/GB - so $60 for a 60GB drive....

I know you don't want to upgrade your OS, but I'm going to highly

recommend moving to XP anyway...not only is it better, but it is

infinetly easier to use for the non techy type.

Anyways, good luck with your recovery. I'd offer to help, but you are

quite far away and it seems you've already got a friend to help.

[3dzapper]

Gary, If all else fails, take it out to the country and shoot it! It won't be fixed but you'll feel better.[6]

Good luck!

Rick

[artto]

I agree with Dr.Who's assessment. It's much easier to just get a new hard drive, install it as the primary (booting) © drive, change the old drive to the secondary (D) drive. Install the operating system, new or original, on the new hard drive. You can then still access your data from the D drive. This kind of setup works much better anyway. You can keep the operating system and programs only on the primary C drive, all data stored goes on the D drive, and you can set up the operating system to cache and read/write temporary files to both drives which should improve performance

[garymd]

Turns out that there was no way to restore 98 without losing everything. Looks like we'll be backing up the hard drive which I CAN access through DOS. XP will be installed along with all the programs. Just a PITA!

Lesson learned the hard way as usual. The worst part is there was absolutly no reason for her to download McAfee on that computer. It would have been useless anyway.[:@]

[3dzapper]

I'm glad you started this thread Gary. Last night I had company and shut off this puter. When I booted it back up, nothing would open!!!! Rebooting didn't help and I could not open system restore.

If not for this thread, I would not have known to open in safe mode to fix the regestry problem. I would have reinstalled the OS and started new losing everything. Thanks guys.[]

Rick

[Colin]

With my $50 EMachines <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />PIII and a Maxtor external drive, I use Iomega Automatic Back-up to copy all changed data every 10 minutes from one HD to another. I should have it copy all the data over to my old Premio PC, linked by the router Plus, I have a CD to write important files (taxes, etc.).

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

With a new Windows OS promised, this is a good time to get the hard copy of XP (and the 2 service packs). Soon there wont be any more XP service packs. Open Windows XP Backup, under Accessories, systems tools. Or under Tools on the Properties menu for the hard drive is a back-up wizard for My Documents and can create a system recovery disk too.