Windows 98 doesnt start up correctly. Why is this?

[pinkcrystalfiend]

Hello. Recently my computer has been acting weird. it has 2 problems/ First, When i turned on my computer, nothing loaded. right away it said, "this program has preformed an illegal operation and will be shut down....." and as soon as you click "close" it almost goes out. nothing opens. and it wont even shut down properly. 2. When opening "my computer or my documents or anything else on the desktop, the same message comes twice, and then opens. i was wondering why it does that in order to open up.. . same thing with question number one. i have been trying to get it fixed for a while now, and nothing has seemed to work. Got any Ideas? Please Let me know.

[DragonNOA1]

What did you do to the computer before the problems started happening? Add or install anything? Can you boot into safe mode by pressing F8? When you do, do you receive any errors?

[Cricket]

Post your system specs if you know them. Is this a home built computer or a store bought name brand one?

What anti-virus program are you using?

What kind of internet connection have you got? Dial up? Broadband?

If broadband, are you using a firewall?

Do you know about spyware and do you use spyware scanners like Ad-Aware and Spybot: Search & Destroy?

How long has Win98 been on your hard drive without a reformat and reinstall?

:) Cricket

[pinkcrystalfiend]

I only tried installing a new printer thats about it.

[pinkcrystalfiend]

Cricket: im not very familiar with computers my computer was store bought, and is Compaq. i believe my anti- virus program is Mcafee? and im using netzero dial up. no. i do not know about spyware. windows 98 has been running since ive gotten the computer.

[Cricket]

Whoa...if that's the case, then I think you're dealing with a number of issues. If you haven't been updating the anti-virus, your system could be infected. If you go on-line a lot but haven't been cleaning the spyware off the hard drive, your system will be bogged down with alot of junk and could even become unstable. But the worse thing is having Win98 on the hard drive so long without a re-install. Win98 (as well as Win95 and WinME) tends to become more and more flakey the longer you leave it on the system. It's just how it is. Most of us who still use Win98 will wipe the hard drive clean and reinstall Win98 about once a year. That way, you don't end up with a operating system that has degraded to the point that it's a problem to run.

My suggestion is to try and save any important files you have and prepare to run the Compaq recovery CD to redo the hard drive.

:) Cricket

[pinkcrystalfiend]

Uhm. I dont have the Compaq recovery CD ?

[DragonNOA1]

Lol, sorry.... I guess it's time to call a tech friend, unless you feel up to the challenge of doing it yourself. I don't think its that hard, reformatting and reinstalling new. But its up to you. Good Luck.

[GaryRouth]

Hi all -

If the Recovery Disk is retrievable (not at-hand, but perhaps in storage somewhere) - that would be your easiest repair. It would reformat the hard disk, re-create the original partitions, as well as a special Compaq one, and re-install not only Windows, but also the software that came bundled with it. You would loose any data or programs added since then, though: so prior to the Recovery, you'd make backups of what you can [and scan them for viruses before putting them back in]. Even if you have no means of recovering your original Recovery Disk, you can call Compaq, and they can send you another set for about $19-$22 (USD). The system model numbers and serial numbers should be on labels on the back of the computer.
_______________

Repairing "As Is" --> this is your other option.
1) Boot into Safe Mode [tap the F8 key while the computer is starting, just as Dragon suggested]
2) Remove all printers from Start/Settings/Printers [just select with a left-click, and your Delete key]
==== do steps 3 & 4 if you have a bootable Norton or McAffee CD ===
3) Put a bootable AntiVirus disk in your CD drive & Reboot.
4) The AntiVirus should start an Emergency Scan in DOS. Let it clean what it finds. This might take an hour or so if your hard drive is large.
==== if you have no bootable AntiVirus disk, but can connect to the Internet, go to step 5 ====
5) On Reboot, see if you can connect to the Internet. If yes, go straight to http://housecall.trendmicro.com and let TrendMicro's free online scanner (called "HouseCall") double-check the drive to make sure it's clean. Let if clean anything it finds.
6) Once virus-free, visit http://www.lavasoft.de and download & run AdAware. Let it clean what it finds.
7) Time to clean up the Registry. Go to http://download.com.com/3000-2094-881470.html?tag=list and download & run RegClean 4.1 ... This was written by Microsoft, and was updated to work well with Win98. The details of how to use it are in the ReadMe file (basically, make a folder for it, unzip the program to that folder, then double-click on the ".exe" file: it even creates an UnDo file to restore changes if necessary - though honestly I've never ever had to use that feature - this is a pretty good program)...
8) After re-starting your computer after all this work, go to Start/Settings/Control Panel/System ...click on the Device Manager tab: and let us know if you see any red Xs or yellow exclamation marks.

An over-the-top reinstall might help, but for that you'd need a Win98se installation disk. In case you have a friend who'd want to try that for you [you'd only need to go this route if the 1-8 steps didn't help], the details are in http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=70846 . . . Last but not least, if you have bad memory in the system, it's going to make any repairs nearly impossible until the memory is OK. [that might make a good pre-emptive troubleshooting approach - before trying either a Recovery Disk or an "AsIs" repair, download and run DocMemory just to be sure it's not a memory problem -- it's a very easy program to run. The download just creates a bootable floppy & you start your pc with it & the program tests the memory. Here's the link for that: http://www.simmtester.com]

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[dtex]

You know, I've been running my w95 for a few years now, since 2001, and have never re-formatted, and have only 1 major problem, which I posted here a few nights ago. But, then, I never turn it off either. Not disputing anything posted above, just relating my own experiences.

[DragonNOA1]

dtex,
depends on what you do with it. what you install and uninstall.

from my experience, i've reformated/reinstalled win98/me much more than win95.