Repair 98SE Install?

[Kov-Ice]

It's been so long since I've messed with 98, I don't have any idea what my options are here...

I have a guy's Dell Inspiron 7500 laptop, running 98SE. It somehow got corrupted, so that once Windows boots, it only shows the wallpaper (no icons) and an error message. It says "This program performed an illegal operation - must be shut down." Details list explorer.exe as the culprit. It then stays at the desktop. Safe Mode results in same error. I can load UBCD for Windows (same as Bart's PE basically) and view all files on the hdd successfully.

So... is there a way to repair install 98SE? Or is there a fix for this some other way that I can pursue?

Thx.

[glc]

http://www.pcmech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70846

[edfair]

It may not be written up in Gary's FAQ but sometimes it takes multple attempts to get everything straightened out. I've gone to as many as 4 in sequence, each one fixing something that a later one built on.

It is also helpful, if there is room, to have the install stuff on the hard drive. It installs much faster.