Go Back   Cyber Tech Help Support Forums > Operating Systems > Older Windows Versions > Windows 98

Notices

Windows 98 Problem solving for the Windows 98 Operating System

Reply
 
Topic Tools
  #1  
Old August 8th, 2006, 10:20 AM
wig wig is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 155
Thumbs down Win 98 switching off machine.

EDIT: Possible solution found posted in thread post #13
-----------------------------------------------------------

Can I draw your attention to my WIN 98 problems.
http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/...d.php?t=127212

I don't think this is malware or virus but I posted over there rather than here. That thread has now almost reached its conclusion...the computer is aparently clean. So if you can think of any technical reasons for the problems please post in this thread. (some upto date info added by me in my reply below Nick)

The only thing I can add is that there was a long history of my active desktop causing problems, I quite often had to press the thing saying "restore my active desktop" I thought nothing of it because it wasn't a problem.

One question I would like answered, is can I reinstall windows onto drive C without losing the data on drive D E F G H It is one single drive partitioned. If I can do this can you tell me how to do it please. (in the other thread).

Last edited by wig; December 11th, 2006 at 03:07 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old August 8th, 2006, 10:30 PM
Nick Grana's Avatar
Nick Grana Nick Grana is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
O/S: Windows 98 SE
Location: Pensacola, Florida
Posts: 3,973
If C: is the partition you have windows currently installed on, you can format that partition and reinstall windows on it without disturbing the other partitions. Do not FDISK the drive as that will destroy all partitions.
Only format and reinstall on C:.

BUT if you have programs installed on the other partitions and they are a part of the active c: partition and registry, then those programs will have to be reinstalled.
Regardless, make a full backup before doing anything.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old August 15th, 2006, 10:59 AM
wig wig is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 155
Apparently on the other thread I have no infection.

Problem is currently

I am stuck in 16 colour changing it and restarting the machine does nothing.
going to advanced and "apply changes without restarting" does nothing (but the check box remains checked).
changing the colour setting clicking apply and ok then refusing to restart, andd checking the setting again it will be back to 16 colours, it never leaves 16 colours.

Interestingly when I installed Grisoft AVG after installation it automatically restarted the machine, during boot up the windows screen was in full colour, then it went back to 16 colour.

Every boot up asks me to enter a password in 16 colour.

Running the setup CD gave the problems I talked about in the other thread. I am considering running setup again without saving the old system files so they cannot be reinstalled. I think if I do this there is a high chance the system will be totally broken, and I will need to reinstall.

Can I have instructions on how to wipe the C: partition and reinstall windows on there. I have a startup disk.

I just ran setup again and decided to make a new startup disc, during the creation of the new disc the computer shutdown. I had to turn off and wait 3 - 4 seconds before turning on again (as per other thread). When I did turn on again I found again the initia; bootup windows screen was in full colour, then it reverted to 16 colour and asked for my password.

Then I went on the intrernet to come here, the computer shut down again. I rebooted and came back here, so far it hasn't shut down again.

If I can guess based on what I have experienced so far, any running of setup from within windows results in a system shutdown. I can run it from the startup boot disc and it doesn't shut down, but last time I did this it said upon reboot that the (newly installed) system files were a problem and autmatically reinstalled the old broken copy - back into 16 colours again. Hence what would happen if I did not create a backup of the system files?

And if I wipe C: partition Will a full install work at all?

What is causing my problem?

Last edited by wig; August 15th, 2006 at 11:37 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old August 15th, 2006, 03:43 PM
Jim Smith Jim Smith is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
O/S: Windows 10 Home
Location: Durham NC USA
Age: 90
Posts: 347
I don't have a neat solution. If it were I, I would boot using a Windows 98 boot disk and specify with CD-ROM support, reformat the hard drive, put in the Windows 98 CD, switch to the CD-ROM directory and run Setup, and reload Windows 989. You will have to reload a bunch of drivers.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old August 15th, 2006, 04:12 PM
wig wig is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 155
Can I reformat just the C: partition is it really straight forward? I don't want to lose the data on d,e,f,g & h. I will back some of it up but I can't back it all up, if I lose it all I will just have to live with that.

Should I keep copy's of those windows upddate files in the system folder?
e.g. KB891711.EXE, KB918547.EXE is it worth keeping them will it be a simple matter to install them back into the system folder andd add them to the startup folder?

Microsoft has stopped supporting Win 98 does this mean they no longer have these updates available or does it mean they still have all the updates available but they won't be adding any more?...In which case there is no need for me to keep those KB917.. files.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old August 17th, 2006, 12:51 AM
Jim Smith Jim Smith is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
O/S: Windows 10 Home
Location: Durham NC USA
Age: 90
Posts: 347
Sorry, I had meant to say reformat the C partition not reformat the hard drive. Format is on a Windows 98 boot disc. Put boot disk in floppy drive and boot, when you get the a:> prompt, type in format c: /s and hit Enter key. Format will erase everything on the C partition. If the C partition occupies the entire drive, it will erase the entire drive. If the C partition is only a portion of the hard drive, it will erase only that portion.

If you have multiple partitions they will show up that way in My Computer and reformatting just the C partition will not disturb the data on the other partitions.

Hard drives do fail. You are at risk for not backing up to another device. I have a external hard drive that I could use to back up my entire internal hard drive. All computer components can fail.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old August 17th, 2006, 04:06 PM
wig wig is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 155
Ok I'm back,

I have reformatted C: partition the only annoying thing so far is that I forgot about my internet explorer favourites folder, so I have lost all my fav links, oh well.

So upon installing windows I found that when it finally went through the last reboot it said something like

"no driver for plug and play monitor"

Would you like windows to find one? I said yes and it found I think monitor1.inf and I accepted that. I was still in 16 colours.

After trying to install my broadband modem I got the message no network adaptor installed, install a network adaptor and then try again.

I went to add/remove new hardware and looked at a list of 5 items which had '!' marks against them, they were all saying they were installed but without drivers (code 28) they were including:
PCI ethernet adaptor
Universal serial bus
Audio something
USB still digicam (I guess because it is plugged in by usb to the machine?)
and 1 other I don't remember

I eventually realised I had an old box my motherboard came in and I used an AMD CD rom to automatically install drivers for those things. I didn't know I would have to install drivers for the motherboard, but now I know for next time.

Then my broadband install went ok. Now I can come here again.

I also have a Geforce2MX graphics board on my motherboard, and I seem to remember my monitor driver was called nvidia before (nvidia relates to this graphics board I think) anyway I had a CD rom for that aswell (I think) it's called "startup driver computer video & sound product"

I used that and the instructions to install a new driver for "standard PCI graphics adaptor VGA" but it didn't fix the monitor 16 colours.

I tried changing the driver for the monitor somehow in windows it asked me to name the manufacturer I selected "proview tecnology" it offered model nos 570 870... Mine is model 572N so I selected 570, then it gave me driver monitor11.inf but still it did not fix the 16 colors. And still when windows boots up the first boot up windows 98 screen is displayed in full colour (as usual this screen then disappears but then it reverts to 16 colours when windows finally opens up

So I think what ever the problem was before it is still here, but I haven't got a clue what the problem is. I don't have an official driver for my monitor.

Any suggestions? I forgot to say...now in the display settings options the only options available are

2 colours
16 colours

There is no option any more for 256 colour or 16 million colour. ???

Maybe the graphics card has gone caput?...Is there a way to test this?

Last edited by wig; August 17th, 2006 at 04:21 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old August 17th, 2006, 10:05 PM
Jim Smith Jim Smith is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
O/S: Windows 10 Home
Location: Durham NC USA
Age: 90
Posts: 347
You need to find the make and model of your graphics card. Locate (use a search engine such as Google), download and install BelarcAdvisor or Everest. Run it and obtain the make and model number and go to the graphic card maker's web site and download and install the driver.

You might just open the case and remove the graphics card and its likely you will easily find the make and model.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old August 17th, 2006, 10:37 PM
wig wig is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 155
My graphics card is definately an nVIDIA Geforce2 MX-200, I have the box for it, and the instructions and the CD.

Right, When I follow the instructions as in the booklet..I put in a CD and the booklet says

updating device driver (for graphic adaptor)

2. select NEXT
3 select search for a better driver....
4 click the next button
5 insert cd rom
6 select specify location browse the cd the location of Nvidia Geforce2 MX is placed at the "\display\nvidia\win9x directory, select OK for the directory
7 press next
8 then the driver wiz will show the device is "nvidia geforce2 MX"
9. then select finish
10 then complete the installation

Now I run into a problem in that there are no files in the Win9x directory just 2 sub directories \v12.60 & \v8.04

\v12.60 has a file nvaml.inf & a load of help files
\v8.04 has a file nvaml.inf & a load of help files and a subdirectory \Pci

\pci has a subdirectory \disk1
\disk1 has a file nvpml.inf and a load of help files.

So referring to the above instructions
6. There are no files in the Win9x directory so "ok" is not allowed, if I choose one of the other sub directories I can click 'ok'

7. I can click next
8. It says it has found updated drivers and recommends the updated driver "Nvidia Geforce2 MX 100/200" it asks you to click NEXT not 'Finish'

9. there is no finish, it says it finds the nvaml file in C:\windows\inf\nvaml.inf
you click 'next' and it says "copying files" then it gives an error "please insert the disk nvidia compatible display driver disk 1" click OK. I click ok to get rid of the error message. and there is a window saying copying files...the file nvaml.inf on Nvidia compatible display driver disk 1 cannot be found.... insert nvidia compatible display driver disk 1 in the selected drive and click continue.
I tried changing the subdirectory path to the \disk1 directory but nothing works. It's as if this CD rom does not have the right information on it. Even though this is the one that came with the product.

10 easier than it sounds!

I remember now the person who set this computer up for me ran into problems this might be the problem they ran into, I need the drivers for this graphics card....(which is what you told me) question is where do I get them from? Can you help to find them?

Last edited by wig; August 18th, 2006 at 12:00 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old August 18th, 2006, 12:22 AM
wig wig is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 155
I went to Nvidia.com \ driver search \ graphics \ Geforce (the top one) \ win 9x

Then I downloaded the 11.7 mb file .exe I ran it it did something, restarted computer, now it did change the driver but I'm still in 16 colour I have no options except 16 colour..... under advanced \ adapter it is saying "unknown monitor" on "unknown device" So that didn't work very well.

I'm going to sleep now, hope someone can help me get this sorted....back in 10 hours.
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old August 18th, 2006, 09:21 AM
wig wig is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 155
OK, I got it sorted

I noticed on the nvidia webpage file download page the file said it should support my graphics card so it *should* work. I also noticed on running the file it said there should be no previous nvidia driver files installed.

I decided the easiest thing to do was to start again from scratch, now I knew roughly what to do and in what order. So I reinstalled Windows from scratch again. and the graphics driver worked this time, and now I have even better that 16M colours I now have 32bit colour.

The CD to install my broadband installs some programs I don't want, is there any way to do it manually? without the CD? It's difficult to see how because this CD configures the Modem and asks me for my username email address and password numbers etc etc but if it is possible I'd like to know and give it a go.

Thanks for your help Jim.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old August 18th, 2006, 04:06 PM
Jim Smith Jim Smith is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
O/S: Windows 10 Home
Location: Durham NC USA
Age: 90
Posts: 347
Quote:
Originally Posted by wig View Post
OK, I got it sorted

I noticed on the nvidia webpage file download page the file said it should support my graphics card so it *should* work. I also noticed on running the file it said there should be no previous nvidia driver files installed.

I decided the easiest thing to do was to start again from scratch, now I knew roughly what to do and in what order. So I reinstalled Windows from scratch again. and the graphics driver worked this time, and now I have even better that 16M colours I now have 32bit colour.

The CD to install my broadband installs some programs I don't want, is there any way to do it manually? without the CD? It's difficult to see how because this CD configures the Modem and asks me for my username email address and password numbers etc etc but if it is possible I'd like to know and give it a go.

Thanks for your help Jim.
I don't know how to do this.
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old December 11th, 2006, 03:05 PM
wig wig is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 155
This is a late update.

I'm pretty certain the reason my machine was switching off before is because I read about my motherboard recently (ASRock K7S8X) there is a safety function which turns off the computer if the CPU temperature goes above a certain level.

I recently had my box open and I cleaned with a hoover all the dirt clogging up the CPU cooling fins, I gave the whole box a good clean.

The problem started occurring when I played games or ran certain programs, probably memory heavy programs - I only have 256MB RAM I think I should get more RAM.

The problem became much worse before - As I said in my 2 threads above the Windows re-install did help a lot, but it still does it now even though I have cleaned the cooling fins it does it when I play certain games.

So this is just an update to say although the problem is greatly reduced it is still there, but I now think it is my motherboard acting to protect my CPU. Which is nice to know in a way.......

Question: Do you think more RAM will help? how about a faster (noisier) CPU fan?
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old December 11th, 2006, 03:13 PM
TheCheekMaster TheCheekMaster is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
O/S: Windows Vista 32-bit
Location: England, UK, Earth
Posts: 807
More RAM will help the performance of your machine... your CPU fan should be standard, you can add more fans within your pc to help with the air-flow.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Topic Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Topics
Topic Topic Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Windows 7 machine does not detect win xp machine Philip123 Networking 3 May 8th, 2012 12:45 PM
Switching HD's jerryrm Hardware 15 April 19th, 2005 09:40 PM
access to XP machine from W2K machine |=0$h!ZzL3 Networking 3 April 12th, 2004 12:59 AM
access to XP machine from W2K machine |=0$h!ZzL3 Windows NT, 2000, 2003, 2008, 2012 3 March 28th, 2004 06:56 AM
Install HD from ME machine for data download to 2000 machine Squish Windows NT, 2000, 2003, 2008, 2012 0 September 20th, 2003 05:16 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 04:08 PM.