win 98 problem with io driver

[maxnik]

Hello,
i'm helping this guy with his old Dell PC. It's running Win 98
During boot it starts gives error:

While initializing device IOS:
Error:An I/O subsystem driver failed to load
Either a file in the .\iosubsys subdirectory is corrupt or the system is low on memory.

I'm abe to start in safe mode. However I'm not sure where to go from here.

What's the least painful way to fix this problem

Let me know if you need more info.
Thank you
-maxnik

[DougL]

Hi maxnik

as a starting point it may be worth trying the scanreg /restore feature. you basically restore a previous good registry setting. Have a look here

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q221512/

Doug

[maxnik]

Hi Doug,
I did the restore and was able to get to a good known configuration. However on the next boot I get the same error and have to restore again.
Any chance spyware could be causing this?

[GaryRouth]

Hi maxnik

Scanning for malware is always a good idea when faced with file corruption errors or odd system behavior. Try scanning with as many different tools as you have available, some removal tools can be downloaded from another computer, and run from a floppy or CD on the infected computer (McAffee's "Stinger" can remove a few of the worst offenders for free in this way - you'll find it's download page with a quick Google search).

Did you add any memory as part of your repairs? Can't hurt to test it (http://www.memtest.org). And if the amount added put the total to an amount over 512mb, sometimes the VCACHE setting can be altered to accomodate (or just remove modules to make the amount 512mb or less). The Vcache situation (and Win9x memory management in general) is well-explaned in aumha.org's fine article: http://aumha.org/win4/a/memmgmt.php

Since the system's condition is somewhat unknown, if you have access to the Dell Diagnostics, run those too. Diagnostics for the hard drive are usually available for download from the website of the hard drive's manufacturer - they usually create a bootable floppy, and run the diagnostics from DOS.

Reinstall:
There is the possibility that the files are indeed damaged (by virus or hardware trouble [for example, a power surge, or failing memory/hard drive). In these cases, if the hardware is still OK enough to continue with - a reinstall will set things right. There are a few ways to go to do this - one is a procedure from a Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;311108

Another method or two is covered in a quick guide to over-the-top reinstallations here at PC Mechanic: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=70846

Successful over-the-top installations do not destroy the personal user data nor require programs to be reinstalled - but pay close attention to the details: they matter!

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[maxnik]

Thanks for the replies. The PC had a pretty bad spyware infection. Ad Aware found more than 800 entries on the first run. Second run in Safe mode fixed 180 that came back. Now system boots up. It was somewhat hard to believe that spyware would get to IO drivers, but it did.
I will run more scans to eliminate the rest. I think this thread is all set for now. Thanks again. Something new learnt again.