I have a Win98 first edition laptop (very old) that was using AOL7. Started to get messages about the browser needing updating to display websites. This was also true for IE. Struggled through the install of AOL9 and still got the same message. After further research realised that the problem was with IE rather than AOL. Downloaded version 6 to cd and installed it. This is where the fun begins...
Now whenever I start the computer (normal or safe mode) it simply hangs at startup with a blank desktop. Mouse moves and keyboard responds but it never gets any further than this. I know I can fix it with an in place install of windows, however, I only have win98SE cd. I can open task manager with Ctrl + Alt + Del but the only thing listed is explorer. Makes no difference if I close this.
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Whoops, sorry, I see you mentioned the same problem in Safe Mode.
Try the registry restore first of all and let us know what happens.
From DOS, Edit SYSTEM.INI and replace shell=Explorer.exe under the [boot] section to shell=Winfile.exe so that the old File Explorer loads instead of the standard desktop.
From there you have access to the "Run" field, and the command to open Add/Remove Programs is:
rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL
This may help:
http://www.mvps.org/sereni
"Repairing Windows 98" expandable secion.
Repair Explorer, the Desktop, Taskbar & Start Menu, Send To, etc in Win98:
This checks and sets between 2,000 and 3,000 registry entries
regsvr32.exe /i shdocvw.dll
This checks and sets between 4,000 and 6,000 registry entries
regsvr32 /i shell32.dll
regsvr32 just re-registers those named DLLs to fix bad or missing registry values.
Just checking. Explorer.exe is a different version in Win98 1st Ed and SE. It would make a difference, and the SE version would most likely be incompatible.
Have you checked to see if the setup *.CAB files are in either of the following locations?:
C:\Windows\Options\CABS
or
C:\Windows\CABS
If so, then you should have a setup.exe in amongst the files. If there's no setup, you could still use the EXTRACT command to restore files, or better still run SFC and have it restore any files you want from there.
One thing you could look at, but I'm not sure if you will be able to run it from the "Winfile" shell, is the version conflict manager's list of backed up file versions:
C:\Windows\VCMUI.exe or C:\Windows\System, can't recall which. Some essential files may have been replaced, and that would give you the relevant dates and the versions.
I'm not sure if the administrators would turn a blind eye if I uploaded a couple of ZIP files containing a few Win98 1st Edition "shell" related DLL's and/or *.exe's for you to try and copy from floppy to the affected machine. Probably not though. I have CD's for both Win98 versions, so getting the files or version numbers is no problem.
Tried again and this time I can give you the error messages that I recieved the first time. At about 44% get a UpdCrl error: AddCRL failed => 0x80090006 (-2146893818).
Click OK and it continues to the end. Asks to restart.
On next load get the 'windows 98 setup "updating system settings"' Gets nearly half way and then just stops. Last time I restarted the pc and ended up with the locked desktop. This time I Ctrl + Alt + Del and stoped the windows 98 setup program. PC churned for a while and then loaded properly. After restart, still works. AOL now displays web pages and IE reports to be IE6.
Not the cleanest of installs but seems to work.
Cheers
Thank you, bargefoot (unusual name :-)
At least you have a functional system now, albeit as you say not the cleanest of installations.
I've never had to use AOL, and thankfully I've always been able to shy away from peoples' systems where AOL seems to have instigated the problems, but I think it's more than a coincidence that the problems began after that.
I'm not sure if you are aware of it, but even though Internet Explorer 6 is supposed to be compatible with Win98/98SE, there are issues as explained here:
http://www.computer-help.n
If I had to guess, installing AOL9 over 7, then installing IE6 has left you with some dodgy Explorer/IE registry settings.
>>> "Been a while since I've worked on 98, let alone first edition 98" <<<
Here's some more interesting info with reference to Win98.
Download all the setup files for IE6 SP1 rather than updating over the internet:
http://www.broomeman.com/s
Streamline Win98 either from scratch or post-install:
http://www.litepc.com/98li
Use IE Eradicator to completely remove Internet Explorer:
http://www.litepc.com/iera
Alternatively:
How to Remove Internet Explorer 6 or Outlook Explorer 6 by Reinstalling Windows:
http://support.microsoft.c
Cheers
Bill
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: BillDLPosted on 2007-05-10 at 10:01:06ID: 19066837
Try booting into Safe Mode and see if it loads the Desktop. To do this, repeatedly press the F8 key during early boot until it shows the Win98 Boot Menu, then arrow down to Safe Mode (Probably option 3) and press <Enter>.
If it loads, then I suggest uninstalling the IE6 upgrade then AOL9 to see if you can get it back to where it was then we can suggest a workaround.
I don't think it will boot to Safe Mode either, because it seems to be hanging on explorer.exe and that's needed in Safe Mode also.
This could be a problem with the registry. A backup copy of the 2 files that make up the Windows Registry plus two of the important configuration files are made once a day and packed into *.CAB files in the C:\Windows\SYSBCKUP folder.
Boot to DOS (Same F8 menu and choose "Command Prompt" - probably option 5) and it should stop at the C:\> Prompt, then type the following single-line commands:
cd windows\command
scanreg /restore
There is a space between scanreg and /restore, and this command should show a list of *.CAB files in a box like this:
http://image.ahnlab.com/in
with names "rb000.cab" to "rb004.cab". Don't go by the names of the Cab files, but choose the one with the date just before the problems started, and choose to Restore it.
Hopefully it will reboot normally and we can take it from there. If it still doesn't boot to Windows, then Explorer.exe may be corrupt and it should be possible to choose an alternative "shell" to boot into for troubleshooting, or you could restore a fresh copy of the file from the CD by booting to a Win98 boot floppy with CD-Rom support.
Let us know what happens.
Bill