Win98 Help!!!!!!!

[zordedragon]

Uh oh, my comp is messed up. I reformated the hard drive (because some DLL files got installed on my comp, and it wouldn’t let me run certain programs). I have all the files i wanna keep on a seperate partion, it is stuff i MUST have. Well i used my CD to reinstall windows and it all worked fine up to the point where it asked for my REG key. I entered my key and it accepted it then the instant afterwards it comes up w/ the following error. (I also put a false key # on purpose to see if it was the CD or the comp) and it said “false key… blah blah blah) well, heres the error


Msgsrv32

msgsrv32 has caused a general protection fault, in module PIDGEN.DLL at 0001:0000sf2c (and then a bunch or jarble)


just for a note, i have already tried multiple reformats and retry’s and i have even used a different Win98Cd that worked b4 for a reformat that isn’t working now….HELP!




Jonathan

P.S. Im on my dads old cruddy comp, lol it barely connects 2 the internet so it took me like 20 minutes even 2 get this up :-P. i posted here instead of other software because i really need the help and no one has seen it. all help would be greatly appreciated

[DrZaius]

Hi Jonathan,

I've never seen this error before, but evidently Microsoft has (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q187268). Check that out and see if it helps any.

[racerbrownn]

suwin [setup of windows] errors can also occur if bad ram is detected while windows is storing info in them to complete the install. I think glc is the one that said this if i remember right.

[justbarron]

racerbrown is correct, bad ram can cause this. I have had this happen on three different occasions and all three were memory related.

justbarron

[azscary]

Would bad RAM also cause a hard drive to be difficult to Format after an fdisk and to install ANY kind of OS? I have booted from a Win 98 start up disk and ran fdisk I can't tell you how many times and every time I try to format the drive afterwards, I always get the error message "Trying to recover allocation unit". The drive formats, but very very slowly. Afterwards I cannot get ANY version of windows to install, not even 3.1 from 6 floppies! Win 2K chokes as well even if I just Fdisk and leave it at that. I have taken this drive home, installed it as a secondary on my Win 2K machine and used Disk Manager to partition and format this same drive and have no problems what so ever. I then took the drive formatted in FAT32 back to the other machine and the damn thing still won't take an OS! I have changed the Motherboard, drive ribbons, video card, CD ROM and this is the second hard drive. The ONLY two things still common are the RAM and the Power Supply. I have uninstalled all extra cards and just left the basics. This is however as I said a different Motherboard. I am perplexed to say the least, and $!#@ing Pi$%&* to say the most.

[Cricket]

The CPU could also be at fault. What kind of CPU is it? Which motherboards have you tried and what kind of RAM are you using?

:) Cricket

[azscary]

The CPUS are different. The board came with the CPU and they are both AMD. One is a 233 and I don't remember what the other was but it was an AMD also. The MB's are two different types, but I did not look. They are at my friends house so I will have to look. It cannot be either the MB or the CPU because the odds of getting two bad boards AND two bad CPU's are very high. I think the RAM is PC100 but not sure. I guess I posted before I had enough info. Sorry.

[Cricket]

For the earlier AMD K5 and K6 CPU's, I heard it's a good idea to disable the L2 cache when doing the OS installation. After you get everything up and running, then you can go back into BIOS and enable the L2 cache. Not sure if the L2 would effect the hard drive prep work.

The RAM could also be causing the problem, can you swap RAM to test?

And if you've been reading the boards lately, seems there are a lot of power supply related problems being reported (probably due to case suppliers using really cheap power supplies to meet certain price points...you know: mid tower case with 300 watt PS for $30 or less).

:) Cricket

[azscary]

Thanks Cricket. I'll try the L2 cache thing. I swear I have never had as much trouble with ANY computer as I have this one. It may end up skipped across the back yard and under the bushes! I'll let you know if I get it figured out.

[racerbrownn]

this looks alot like you may have a hdd dying with the format error problem. still, if you haven't swapped the ram off that board to another stick [and remember you need a minimum amount of ram to install win98, 32meg i think] my hope is on the ram because it's cheaper but the level 2 cache thing is worth trying. being an intel man so far, i don't have any experience with amd caused problems but if that fixes it then i would like to know so i can make a note of it. good luck and keep us posted.