Help! explorer illegal operation

[estevek]

I run Windows 98 SE on my old computer. On Sunday, I installed Photosuite on the computer and after the install, the computer restarted and immediately had 2 problems before Windows completed booting:

1. SHLWAPI.dll was missing.

2. I got an error message saying Explorer had performed an illegal operation. The details says it performed an invalid page fault.

In Dos mode, I was able to restore SHLWAPI.dll, but I I'm stuck on the explorer problem. It leaves the computer in the turqoise screen of limbo in which Windows is only partially booted. I can't even get into Safe mode. I tried using SCANREG to restore the registry back to before I did the cursed Photosuite install, but it didn't make a difference.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can fix Explorer?

Thanks in advance,

E STEVE K

[GaryRouth]

Are you sure you can't get into Safe Mode at all? [What happens when you start tapping F8 just after POST?

If you can get into Safe Mode, try a repair of IE, either from the "Tools" menu of System Information [Start/Programs/Accessories/SystemTools/System Information] or from the Add/Remove Programs applet in Control Panel (select IE).

If that's not possible, it might be just as quick to do an over-the-top (but pay attention to the details!) - http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=70846

If you fix via the over-the-top, you'll have to visit Windows Update to grab tons of patches = make sure your firewall and antivirus are running before you reconnect to any networks or the Internet.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[estevek]

Thanks for your response.

Just like normal mode, safe mode starts and then up pops the explorer error message. If I clear the error message, I'm left with the turquoise screen of limbo (not to be confused with the blue screen of death) and unable to do anything.

Is the add/remove program an executable, because then I could rename it DEBUG and start it via the debug button on the explorer error message. Unfortunately, I don't think it is a separate executable because I just right clicked it and no info popped up.


E Steve K

[GaryRouth]

Hi again

Can't hurt to try an over-the-top = from a bootable diskette or CD (of the same version of Windows as your current one). The details are in the link to the Tips & Tricks guide in my first reply.

That seems like the easiest try for a repair at this point. As long as the machine can boot from the diskette (or CD), you can run the over-the-top. Just follow the steps & it should go fine.

Let us know if you hit any snags.

. . . Gary

[estevek]

Here's what i ended up doing:

1. Used f8 to get into command mode.

2. Edited system.ini to change shell=Explorer to shell=Winfile.

3. Rebooted and let the machine come up in an old windows file manager.

4. Ran IE6setup by clicking on it.

5.. Used the file manager run command to run the following:

rundll32 setupwbv.dll,IE6Maintenance "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Setup\SETUP.EXE" /g "C:\WINDOWS\IE Uninstall Log.Txt"

This got me into the explorer repair function. It ran but it said it couldn't complete the repair beause some flles were missing and some were old.

6. Ran IE6setup again and this time it did more by downloading files from the Internet.

7. Ran the above rundll32 command string again. This time it was able to repair.

8. Clicked on system.ini and edited it back so shell=Explorer.

9. Rebooted and this time Windows came up sucessfully! Yeah!

10. Ran internet explorer and accessed Windows update to pull down the critical updates.