Windows 98 will not restart.

[1BADSS10]

This is my first post, so please be gentle. Windows 98 will not restart. It will shut down without incident. When the restart option is selected after START/SHUTDOWN, it comes back in Safe Mode, no keyboard, no mouse function, and one of two error meassages when I get to safe mode. Either that no mouse was installed or user log in screen, that cannot be acted upon due to no keyboard or mouse control. The system will then have to be cold-booted to get back to normal boot up conditions after scandisk.
The user log-in screen does not usually appear under normal boot up conditions and Windows starts. Where do I go next?
System file checker reports only one system file is corrupted, that being user.exe. If this is the problem, where can I restore this file from?

Thanks for any help.

[Cricket]

Hi 1BADSS10,

Do you have a lot of background applications running on your system? Try using msconfig to disable all the unecessary ones (leave ScanRegistry and SystemTray) and then see if things improve. Then re-enable the applications one by one until the problem returns.

User.dat (along with System.dat) are the Registry files for your system. I don't have that much experience messing with the Registry so you'll have to wait for someone else to come along to help you with this.

Cricket

[1BADSS10]

Cricket,

Thanks for the info. I will try it and post the results.

1BADSS10

[glc]

Do NOT replace user.exe - that's a normal error using SFC when Windows has been preinstalled by an OEM.

[1BADSS10]

Thanks glc.

I'm glad I asked.

1BADSS10