Hardware wrecked win98 - Is a repair possible ?

[mullardel34]

While attempting to install a USR voice modem with various unknown files, win95b appeared to be exhausted, so I used my main box to determine the correct file. I was successful, but damaged both installations of win98 on my PC ... Neither installation accepted hardware afterwards, and the boot process halted with an error message. One OS was usable after a repair till I tried to install a Promise card, the other has refused to boot unless the modem was removed ... Renaming win.com to win.bak and running the repair, SETUP /P F with the win98se CD helped the boot process complete once, but now produces this error message: "A fatal exception 00 has occurred at 0028:C183A685 in VXD EXT2(02) + 0000A8B5. The current application will be terminated."

Several reboots brought the repair back to the message. This error message is the same that has always appeared, I think, but sometimes the OS would get past it and boot ... Also, I was able to boot into Safe Mode, so there must be some way to restore things to normal.

Any ideas ?

[DougL]

You could try booting from a win98 boot disk, at the command prompt change to C then type scanreg /restore this will give you a list of dates when your PC sucessfully booted. try one date before you loaded the modem.

Doug

[edfair]

Hardware information is stored in HKey Local Machine ENUM. You could remove ENUM and let your system rebuild the hardware parts. BUT, you'll need the hardware drivers that are normally supplied by the M/B manufacturer or you may end up with a paperweight. Also would need the drivers for any other hardware that is non-standard, or which is supplied by the hardware manufacturer.

[mullardel34]

From directory C:\Windows\System>, scanreg /restore produced a message, "CDR101: Not ready reading drive E:" (drive E is a CDR that is not in use). I've only a basic ATI video card installed, a sound card, and a modem. Several hardware modems have been in & out, and I never had a problem. The troublemaker was a win-modem. I did find a special uninstall file for the modem, and ran that one, but the problem remained. Too many changes from wrong install files, I guess. The hardware drivers supplied by the M/B manufacturer are no longer available.

[DougL]

Have a look here for info

http://www.helpwithwindows.com/windows98/start-145.html

Doug

[mullardel34]

If the control key is held down for booting into Safe Mode and the C: prompt is selected from the menu, scanreg /restore works perfectly. Unfortunately, the reg files only dated back a few days and Windows is still unable to complete the repair install ... looking for more info.

[DougL]

In safe mode at thr start run command type in sfc.exe this is the windows system file checker, you may need your win98 cd in the drive if windows requires to overwrite any corrupt files.

Doug

[mullardel34]

System File Checker reported USER.EXE as corrupted, other files checked by the utility passed. I'm thinking VMM32.VXD is the problem, but that looks like a dead end.

[DougL]

Found this on the web

http://www.easydesksoftware.com/news/news10.htm

[GaryRouth]

Hi mullardel34

If your only remaining problem is the vxd error concerning the Ext2 file, it's possibly related to using Partition Magic. It sounds like you are multi-booting on the system, and some Linux distros use Partition Magic to handle the partitioning duties.

It's possible that during one of your reinstalls, you've overwritten your MBR (master boot record)? Or otherwise had some havoc disrupt Partition Magic (or it's bootloader, Boot Magic). If you created the Partition Magic "Rescue Disk" set when it was originally installed, that disk can restore the files it needs to function.

Another temporary tactic, especially if you aren't using Partition Magic, is to try renaming the Ext2 file with the .old or .bak extension - and rebooting.

Make backups of your sensitive data before trying the rename, just in case!

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[P.S. ... the link for the vmm32 file shows a procedure that can't really hurt any, but is usually unnecessary. It's rather one of the Internet legends about the Win9x series. That file is constructed by Windows to save time while booting, and usually isn't the source of trouble.]

[P.S. #2 ... another procedure that can help in such cases is to start the computer with a "Step-by-Step" confirmation for loading drivers = this can help you pinpoint which one is calling that file, and give you clues as to what exactly is the troublemaker (you then start in Safe Mode and remove the culprit, or update to a better-behaving alternative) . . . to enter the "Step-by-Step" = as the computer is starting up, tap the F8 key to produce the menu that includes the Step-by-Step procedure]

[mullardel34]

Hello ... With the holiday, I had to set this problem aside for a couple of days. In addition to the answers at EasyDeskSoftware, MSN search found another solution. As a preventative measure, EasyDesk WinSafe 2001 looks good ... I do have PowerQuest Partition Magic, but I only use the Boot Magic program. With a rescue diskette, Boot Magic has been safe and dependable. Only problem is, hidden partitions (in win98) can't be seen from Windows Explorer. I'm going to try #2, Step-by-Step confirmation before extracting files from VMM32 into the System folder.

[mullardel34]

It was so time-consuming that I gave up and decided to format and re-install. Next time I won't be so careless, and there will be some type of uninstall software running or a method of mirroring back the installation.

[glc]

An external hard drive and Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image would be a good investment.

Here's my favorite:

http://www.apricorn.com/product_details.php?ID=332

Just add a hard drive - and "EZ-Gig II" is a rebranded version of Acronis True Image version 8.

[mullardel34]

Thanks, glc.

I have all of those things, yet they are not set up.
Just can't find enough time to put everything in order.