problem in Win98se installing network settings

[RootExposure]

I have a Dell XPS T500 with Win98se. Anytime I attempt to make changes in the network properties box and click ok an error comes up asking to put the Windows 98se Cd and click ok. When I do it says "whatever file it happens to be (i.e. protman.dos, setup32.dll, etc) cannot be found on the path specified" or something along those lines. Some one suggested putting these files into a folder called Win98 and when the message came up point it to that folder. When I do so it seems to finish and asks me to restart. When I do and open the properties again and click ok (not changing anything this time) it starts once again, making it seem to me that whatever it was trying to do wasn't succesfull. Why is this happening? Why can't it just build the drivers or whatever it is doing, why am I being prompted to insert the Windows Cd-Rom. Thanks for any help you can give.

RootExposure

[andyms18a]

can you give us the details of wot your trying to change

[RootExposure]

Anything. But for example trying to add the NetBeui protocol (that happened to be what I was trying to do recently, I have had this problem for awhile now)

[andyms18a]

uninstal your network card and all drivers then reinstal and add the protercols you want

[RootExposure]

I would try that but the problem is installing things in the network settings. So therefore if I uninstalled my card and attempted to reinstall it the problem would still exist only now i would have no network card rather than not having a netbeui protocol. I was wondering if anyone knew what the problem may be. In other words what is causing this error.

[GaryRouth]

Andy's method should work, the reinstall should find all the files it needs from two places: the installation disk for the network card, and your Win98se installation disk. At that point you should have a working network card plus NetBEUI and whatever protocols you need. But it sounds like perhaps it's not working for you. Perhaps your disk is damaged or dirty?

Just out of curiousity, open Windows Explorer, and look to see if you find C:\Windows\Options\Cabs in the directory tree view, and if you can see a bunch of .cab files in that folder. If so, you can use regedit and try changing the value for "SourcePath" in your Registry, so that instead of prompting for the CD, Windows will look in that folder first. Only do this if you are comfortable editing the Registry (you might want someone with more experience to try it if you're not comfortalble with it - and you can always make a backup first).

The key is in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup
If you click on Setup to select it, in the right-hand pane one of the keys you will see is "SourcePath". It probably reads "D:\Win98\". To change it, you would highlight SourcePath by clicking on it, and choose Edit from the toolbar, then Modify - and replace D:\Win98\ with C:\Windows\Options\Cabs

Might be worth a look.
. . . Gary

[RootExposure]

I attempted andy's suggestion but as i suspected i ran into troubles. the same thing as before happened. It attempted to load the network adapter for the card and it said please insert the win 98 cd because some file could not be found.
I managed to force feed the files it needed by pointing to them in their respective folders (usually the windows folder or the windows/system folder) and managed to get the adapter installed but needless to say the problem is the same.

I also looked into the windows/options/cabs as suggested but i did not find and cab files just a dozen or so .dlls and a few other files.

Thanks for the replies. I was wondering if anyone knew why it can't find the location of the files it needs if they're on my hard drive and if it asks for the cd why it can't find them they're there as well. Once again thanks for the replies

RootExposure

[GaryRouth]

Are you using a full Windows 98 2nd Edition installation cd, or a Dell "Recovery Disk" when it prompts for the Win98 cd?

Did this system originally come with Windows 95? and was later upgraded to Windows 98?

You can try using System File Checker to see if the files the installs are asking for are on your CD or not. Create a folder and name it something like "Networking Files" and see if you can extract those files to that folder beforehand (extract, not copy). You can type sfc in Start/Run, or go Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information...and from the "Tools" menu select "System File Checker". Place a checkmark in the box "extract one file..." and direct the extraction to the folder you created. Later when reinstalling your drivers/protocols, you can point to that folder.

Also, try using drivers downloaded from the Dell site (if you haven't already). They may have been updated, and install better. If you happen to have their 3com card, see if your card is listed on this download page http://support.dell.com/FileLib/Form...leaseID=R20617

You might try a fix list like this:
1) Boot into Safe Mode.
2) Remove network adapter.
3) Also remove any other hardware listed that you are certain is no longer in the computer anymore.
4) Run RegClean (download this ahead of time. It will run fine in Safe Mode. All the details for running it are in the ReadMe file. RegClean 4.1 was updated to work well with Win98 --- here's the link http://download.com.com/3000-2094-881470.html?tag=list )
5) Reboot, and try the drivers downloaded from the Dell site.
6) If prompted for any network files, try pointing to the networking files folder you created earlier. (You might want to extract any files you've noticed were prompted for when trying to add NetBeui into that folder too.)

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[RootExposure]

I was using the full windows 98se cd. I have the recovery disk but didn't use it. It has always been windows 98se not an upgrade. The cd does have the files and i have tried extracting them into a seperate folder and just using that folder as the path when prompted for the files and it will seem to finish the install and prompt me to restart but when i restart and go into the network properties and click ok it starts to do the same install.
Thanks for the reply i'll attempt some of the other things you suggested.

[RootExposure]