Start up hangs everytime

u can go to programs, accessories, system information. select tools and system configuration. goto the startup tab. here u will see all the program that load at startup. disable as necesary. i think this should help u fix your problem

I have already disabled all the programs from loading, as I said above the only thing that the computer shows running is systray & explorer.  I have un-checked all the programes from loading in the start-up tab box.  It is strange because it only hangs when it is a complete shut down, but when I choose restart computer it will bring me to the windows start up menu and that's where I choose #1 (normal mode) and windows loads to my desktop fine.  Also, please note that I have fixed the problem with Aol loading automatically, so that had nothing to do with this. I think this might have something to do with my network settings??  I do NOT use this computer for anything network, it is a stand-alone and I am the only user.  Thanks Blurry:)

try scanning it once and better yet defrag it next time it jumps to safemode then restart it Normally and see if it has the problems again. if yes i would copy a fresh Win98 Over the old one keeping everything and replacing old corrupt files

Muffy, did u ever try to format your whole PC and install a profer WIndows 98? If u have tried to doso, nevermind, i think u have some problem on the RUNdll32.exe and RUNDLL.exe . Try to get from other PC and paste it to the Windows throguth the dos prompt.

Other than that, try to type-in "msconfig" in the "Run" option after u click the Start button on the left bottom.
From the menu pop-up, see the statr-up tab panel and uncheck those unnessasary things.

Good luck.

Next time it does this, do a boot with Logging Enabled. Put up BOOTLOG.TXT, which will either be created in C:\ or C:\WINDOWS. I want to see what your system is trying to load.


Also, does Safe Mode work?

If your problem occurred after installing some new software, you can try uninstalling the software, to see if that corrects it.  Or, if no new software was installed, but the problem began recently, you may be able to go back to a Windows state before the problem began.  You would need to boot to a DOS command prompt and then type this command:  scanreg /restore.  (Choose a date before the problem occurred.)  Another possibility is the scanreg /fix command, to attempt a repair of the registry. Or, if none of these corrects the problem, you may need to let System File Checker try to replace any missing or corrupted system files:  go to the Start button, click on the Run command, type "sfc" (without the quote marks) in the dialog box, and click OK. If you don't have the Windows setup files on your hard drive, you will need the install CD to provide backup copies for the replacement process.  In order to replace both missing and damaged system files, you will need to put a dot next to Scan for altered files, click on the Settings button and put check marks next to both Check for changed files and Check for deleted files.

SmartGamer, I did the boot with logging, but there is no less than 24 pages!  So what can I tell you to narrow it down -or- can I email this to you??  Also, you asked if it runs in safe mode.  Yes it does, but it also runs in normal mode (option #1) if I choose that.  And there does not seem to be any other problems after windows is loaded, it's just driving me crazy to have to re-boot & choose normal mode everytime I start my computer.  Also, this may help you: it only freezes when I do a Cold Shutdown.  If I just do a Restart, it loads everything fine.  So my question is....what does the computer load differently when you compare total shutdown & start to simply re-starting?  Thanks a lot!!

24 pages of bootlog? Ouch! We all need to see this, but 24 pages is BIG... Email it to me at sgamer@swbell.net and I'll put it on my personal webspace at Homestead and put a link here so anyone can see it.

What hardware do you have attatched to your computer that you leave on over a restart, but you turn it off when you do a cold shutdown?

Do you do anything differently?

Is the room your computer is in especially cold?

--S.g>

SmartGamer, I did the boot with logging, but there is no less than 24 pages!  So what can I tell you to narrow it down -or- can I email this to you??  Also, you asked if it runs in safe mode.  Yes it does, but it also runs in normal mode (option #1) if I choose that.  And there does not seem to be any other problems after windows is loaded, it's just driving me crazy to have to re-boot & choose normal mode everytime I start my computer.  Also, this may help you: it only freezes when I do a Cold Shutdown.  If I just do a Restart, it loads everything fine.  So my question is....what does the computer load differently when you compare total shutdown & start to simply re-starting?  Thanks a lot!!

Yes. Email it to me. sgamer@swbell.net

I do not know of anything different that is done on cold shutdown vs. restart. My computer knowledge is somewhat limited, I'm no genius when it gets into this type of troubleshooting. I will need all the help I can get, thank you.  I will email the bootlog to you.  And no, the room temp is not cold, 70?. This computer is one that I purchased from a county courthouse, they sold about 400 of these because they were upgrading to a different system, I think it's 2 yrs old.

Hrm, it should work fine, temp-wise.

ALL PEOPLE WORKING ON THIS: Head to http://fungenius.homestead.com/eebootlog.txt to read her bootlog. I haven't picked through it yet, I've just uplaoded it.

Yes, Muffy, I got the file.

--S.G.

It's not showing up, since Homestead doesn't like remote loading. Go to http://fungenius.homestead.com/Experts to see the link to the file...

Sigh, another page used on my three page limit for free use.

Bleah. Homestead's really picky. Sorry, everyone...

http://fungenius.homestead.com/experts.html

Well, I looked for failures in the bootlog.txt and only found the following:

[000AB8B6] LoadFailed = ndis2sup.vxd

and

[000AB9D7] INITCOMPLETEFAILED  = SDVXD  

But as the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article states, these are normal:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q127970

Load Failures Listed in the Bootlog.txt File (Q127970)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:


Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Windows 95


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


SYMPTOMS
The Bootlog.txt file in the root folder on your hard disk may contain the following lines, even though your computer is running properly:

LoadFailed = dsound.vxd


LoadFailed = ebios


LoadFailed = ndis2sup.vxd


LoadFailed = vpowerd


LoadFailed = vserver.vxd


LoadFailed = vshare


InitCompleteFailed = SDVXD


NOTE : The Bootlog.txt file on a computer that is running Windows 98 may also contain the following lines:
Deviceinitfailed = MTRR


SysCritInitFailed = JAVASUP


DeviceInitFailed = MTRR





CAUSE
These load failures do not necessarily indicate a problem. It is common for some, if not all, of these load attempts to fail, depending on your system configuration. The following sections of this article contain more information about the causes of specific types of load failures.

LoadFailed = dsound
Many sound drivers are DirectSound-enabled. DirectSound is part of Microsoft DirectX, a set of libraries that are used by most Windows-based games. When a DirectSound-enabled sound driver is loaded, the driver attempts to register with the DirectSound library so that games can use the library. If no DirectX-based games are installed on your computer, the DirectSound library is not loaded. This behavior is typical.
LoadFailed = ebios
If the extended basic input/output system (BIOS) driver does not find an extended BIOS, the driver is not loaded.
LoadFailed = ndis2sup.vxd
If the network driver interface specification (NDIS) 2 support driver does not find any NDIS 2 drivers to support, the driver is not loaded.
LoadFailed = vpowerd
If the Advanced Power Management (APM) driver determines that your computer does not support APM, the driver is not loaded. However, APM support might be disabled. To determine if APM is disabled in Device Manager:
Click Start , point to Settings , and then click Control Panel.


Double-click System , and then click the Device Manager tab.


Double-click to expand System Devices .


Double-click Advanced Power Management Support to open its properties. (If Advanced Power Management Support is not listed, your computer does not support APM.)


Click the Settings tab.


Verify that the Enable Power Management Support check box is selected.


LoadFailed = vserver.vxd
Vserver.vxd saves memory by loading later in the startup process only if it is needed, rather than loading statically. For example, Vserver.vxd might not be needed when you start a laptop computer while the laptop computer is out of its docking station.
LoadFailed = vshare
If you examine the Bootlog.txt file, the file indicates that Vshare loaded successfully earlier in the startup process. The second copy of Vshare detects the instance of Vshare that is already loaded, and the second copy is not loaded.
Font Failures
After you first start Windows, the Bootlog.txt file may list many font load failures. This behavior is typical. When Font Manager searches the hard disk for fonts, it may find fonts in several folders. After Font Manager finds fonts, it records the information so that future attempts to locate a font proceed more quickly.
InitCompleteFailed = SDVXD
Windows automatically loads a miniature disk cache to increase the speed of the startup process. When the startup process is complete, the miniature disk cache is unloaded from memory. When the cache is unloaded, the "InitCompleteFailed = SDVXD" line is added to the Bootlog.txt file to indicate that the miniature disk cache has been removed from memory. This behavior is typical.
SysCritInitFailed = JAVASUP
If the Java support driver is not needed on your computer, the driver is not loaded. Java is a programming language that is used on the World Wide Web (WWW). Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 3.0 and later include a Java subsystem.

DeviceInitFailed = MTRR
Memory Type Range Registers (MTRR) is a .vxd file that is responsible for manipulating memory ranges. This file is loaded with DirectX 5.0; however, none of the DirectX core components use the service that is provided by MTRR. The Ntkern file and some video adapter drivers do use the service that is provided by MTRR to change memory ranges.

Muffy, did you look at and try my comment of 11:42 AM yet?

Sharon, if you still can figure out what happened now, please click on below link and read it out. I think it will help you to solve this question.

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q127/9/70.asp

muffy,

Click on start, run and type msconfig in the run window. When msconfig comes up click on the advanced
button in lower right. Look half way down in list for the "Enable Start Menu" line. Uncheck this line if it is checked.

This should solve your problem.

Cumbo

The downside to that solution is that you will disable your start menu...

You should still be able to access your start menu by pressing F-8 or Ctrl at boot up.

Cumbo

Ok, first of all I have tried ~everything~ given to me so far except re-installing win98, I do not have win98 install disks, but I'm sure I could get them from somebody if absolutely necessary. This computer was was purchased from the county, so it didnt come with a "package". It's kinda a bummer when there are no other problems except this starting windows thing, once I've finally loaded windows everything seems great! I was hoping at first that this was going to be some simple adjustment.  I can see that this is going to be a pain in the @$$. Thank you Everybody for all the suggestions!!!!  I will keep trying every one of them!  ***Cumbo, none of the boxes <including "Enable Start Menu"> were checked under the advanced tab.  

Muffy,

Ok run sysedit and check in the Autoexec.bat file for a line that says simply Win. If this line is there and has a slash
and a letter after it then type rem and a space in front of the line. Save the file and reboot.

There is a startup switch for windows that brings up the start menu. I don't remember what the switch is.

Cumbo

If you don't have the Windows installation CD, how did you run the System File Checker?  Perhaps the registry was modified so that the windows system files came from a copy of the CD on your hard drive?  (Or have you not run SFC?)  If so, then the most common place for these is in a directory like this:  C:\Windows\Options\Cabs .  If you don't find this directory, then use the Find files or folders function off the Start Menu to look for *.cab  If you have the copy of the CD on your hard drive you can reinstall windows by running the file setup.exe in whatever the directory is that contains the .CAB files.

Am I misunderstanding your problem, or are some of the others?  It appears to me that some think your problem is that you always get the Startup Menu when you turn your computer on.  I had the impression that this only happens when you do a restart of Windows.  And I understood that your real problem was that your system would hang on the Windows logo when you cold start your pc.  Which is your real problem?

If you want to turn off the Startup Menu when you cold start your computer, then Cumbo's advice may not be enough. If you want to bypass the Startup Menu,  this is controlled by means of a variable set in the hidden system file MSDOS.SYS, which, after you remove the hidden and read-only attributes, you can edit with Notepad, since it is an ASCII file. In order to see the hidden file MSDOS.SYS in your C: root directory, you may need to do this:  start up Windows Explorer, click on the View menu, select Folder Options, then on the View tab make sure Show all files is selected, and that Hide file extensions for known file types is NOT selected.  Then, to turn off the Read Only and Hidden attributes of MSDOS.SYS, right click it in Explorer and select Properties.  (After you've edited MSDOS.SYS in Notepad, you should turn these attributes back on again.)

The variable you want to edit in MSDOS.SYS is this:

BootMenu=Boolean
Default: 0
Purpose: A setting of 1 enables the Startup menu. If this setting is 0, then you must press the F8 key when "Starting Windows 95" appears, (or press and hold the CTRL key when your Windows 98-based computer restarts) to invoke the Startup menu.
 

I found a Microsoft Knowledge Base article that might be your answer:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q150/5/16.asp

Computer Hangs After Windows Logo Is Displayed at Startup

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Windows 95
Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If this article does not describe your hardware-related issue, please see the following Microsoft Web site to view more articles about hardware:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/windows/topics/hardware/hwddresctr.asp


SYMPTOMS
When you start Windows, your computer may stop responding (hang) after the Windows logo screen is displayed. However, a Windows 95-based computer may start properly if you press the F8 key (CTRL key for Windows 98) when you see the "Starting Windows" message, choose Step-By-Step Confirmation from the Startup menu, and then press Y at each prompt.

NOTE: To more effectively search the Microsoft Knowledge Base, use keywords that relate to your issue when you search. If you are searching for troubleshooting information that is not referred to in this article, please try searching the Microsoft Knowledge Base again by using keywords that are listed in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

Q242450 How to Query the Microsoft Knowledge Base Using Keywords



CAUSE
This issue can be caused by either of the following conditions:

An antivirus program warning screen may be hidden behind the Windows logo screen. This can occur if Windows is loading an antivirus program from the Autoexec.bat file to automatically check for a virus. The antivirus program detects that the Command.com file has changed as a result of the Windows installation and pauses the computer to inform you and wait for your input.


The display adapter that is installed in your computer is not properly processing the video-mode switching that occurs when the Windows logo screen is displayed. This video-mode switching does not occur when you choose Step-By-Step Confirmation from the Startup menu, because the Windows logo screen is not displayed.

NOTE: This issue is known to occur with the ATI Graphics Ultra Pro (Mach32) display adapter.





RESOLUTION
To work around this issue:

Determine if an antivirus program is running by pressing the ESC key during startup to close the Windows logo screen. If an antivirus program is running, you may be able to control the antivirus program from this screen. If possible, choose the option that makes the antivirus program update any affected files to prevent the pause from occurring when you start Windows in the future. If no anti-virus program is running, continue to the next step.


Disable the Windows logo screen. To do so, add the following line to the [Options] section of the Msdos.sys file:
Logo=0
For additional information about how to edit the Msdos.sys file, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q118579 Contents of the Windows Msdos.sys File
IMPORTANT: This method permanently prevents the logo screen from being displayed. Also, if you disable the Windows logo screen and it resolves this issue, contact the manufacturer of your display adapter for additional information about this issue. You may be able to reconfigure the display adapter so that the issue does not occur when the Windows logo screen is displayed.





MORE INFORMATION
The following anti-virus programs may cause your computer to stop responding (hang) after the Windows logo screen is displayed:

Microsoft Anti-Virus


Norton Anti-Virus


Central Point Anti-Virus


For additional information about how to troubleshoot startup or shutdown problems in Windows, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q136337 Troubleshooting Windows 95 Startup Problems and Error Messages
Q188867 Troubleshooting Windows 98 Startup Problems
Q145926 How to Troubleshoot Windows 95 Shutdown Problems
Q202633 How to Troubleshoot Windows 98 Shutdown Problems
The third-party products discussed in this article are manufactured by vendors independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.


Additional query words: HWDISTS hangs

Keywords : kb3rdparty kbhw kbui win95 appscomp win98 win98se kbHardware kbAppCompatibility
Issue type : kbprb
Technology : kbWin95search kbWin98search kbWin98SEsearch kbZNotKeyword3 kbWin98 kbWin98SE

LeeTutor, your correct about my problem. I hope I haven't confused anyone.  My problem in short is this: When I do a cold start, the computer freezes on the windows logo screen, I then have to press the re-boot button on the computer. This is when the startup menu comes up and says windows did not finish loading please choose a start up option. I choose #1-Normal (although I have used all the options at some point) it then loads windows and puts me on my desktop. If I then re-start my computer using <start-shutdown-restart> it will restart the computer with no problems or freezing and no startup menu (it goes right to my desktop like it should) I am confused about what you and cumbo are talking about in regards to by-passing or allowing the startup menu. I just want it the way it's supposed to be (it's not normal for people to actually want to load to the startup menu instead of their desktop, is it??) Now to answer some of the questions. I found the folder C:\WIN98 which looks like it contains all the install files, and when I opened setup.exe it came up with the windows 98 installation. That's a good thing right? Will re-installing erase everything on my hard drive or just install over it and hopefully "repair" anything messed up? As for cumbo's question, no there is nothing in my autoexec.bat file at all.
I have a question (I dont know if this has anything to do with my problem or not) why does it show a 3-1/2 Floppy B drive when I dont have one? It shows both A & B Floppy's in "My Computer". I only have an A drive.
One other thing I noticed is that when windows is loading (and all the info is on the black screen prior to the logo screen starting) it says: "Verifying DMI pool data..... Boot from ATAPI CD-ROM: Failure...".  Is that normal?? I'm just trying to give you all any kind of info that may be at the root of this problem.  Thanks guys!!!

Re-installing Windows 98 with the files in your WIN98 folder should probably be a last resort.  But it won't wipe out the rest of your hard drive, or anything like that.  I believe there is a question somewhere in the setup process where you have to be sure and reinstall Windows 98 over itself, rather than in a new folder.  If you decide to do this, some of your installed programs might not work, and will have to be re-installed, but most will probably still work ok.

The "verifying DMI pool data" message is normal, but I wouldn't think that the "boot from ATAPI CD-ROM: failure" message is right.  I wonder if your BIOS is set up to try and boot from the CD-ROM before it tries your floppy disk or hard disk?  And the presence of drive B: when you don't have it is probably a problem in your BIOS setup, too. You may have to get into the BIOS and set the parameter for drive B: to "none".  Do you know how to get into the BIOS on your computer?  (Usually, for the older ones, there is a message coming up on the screen when you first start up the computer saying something like "Press F1 for setup".) If this message goes by too fast for you to see it, and becomes obscured by the Windows logo, just press the ESC key to clear the logo and show you what is behind it.

Did you look at the Microsoft Knowledge Base article I  referenced at 4:12 PM?

NO CDROM INSTALL DISK????   LOOK UNDER C\WINDOWS\OPTIONS..
  I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION ALL THE WIN FILES FOR
INSTALL.  WERE THERE     WHEN I RUN SYS FILE CK, I
CAN ALWAYS REPLACE BAD FILES FRON THERE..
  WILL     XTENNIS374@CS.COM

Erm, Tennis, these things tend to read better if you use punctuation and captialization. This isn't like email, where you have to hit enter at every line- it wraps well...

Also, Tennis, read all the other comments before you post. Muffy already said (on 10/24 at 4:37 PM) that she found the Windows installation files in a folder C:\Win98, which is another common place to put them besides C:\Windows\Options\Cabs.  Muffy, could you please confirm whether you ran the System File Checker?

Sorry about all the "no text" postings, it would NOT let me post my comment and kept giving me error messages!

Yes, I have run the sfc. It did not find any corrupted files other than setupx.dll (which I think is normal, since it found the same thing on my newer Dell computer also). I did go into my bios setup and saw that the boot sequence was setup to boot <CDROM,A,C> I changed it to boot <C,CDROM,A> so no more cdrom failure message at startup (thanks leetutor) I also noticed that the B Drive was set to "none" so I went back into "my computer" to look closer and realized that the "Floppy B Drive" was referring to my Zip drive (it has always been referred to as Removable Disk on my other computers, sorry guys). Unfortunately none of these quirks are my real problem. The only thing in my c:\windows\options\cabs is 9 files (vxd's, dll's & a user.exe). So I would assume all my win98 install/setup files are in the c:\win98 folder. Can anyone tell me exactly what will happen if I do re-install win98 from this folder? Meaning what will it ask for during install and how should I answer etc. Do you all recommend doing this at this point? What are my chances of fixing the problem of windows freezing at start up by re-installing win98? Thanks

muffy,

I, too, had the wrong impression of your problem. Sounds like you have a startup program/file that is hanging on boot up.

The first thing I would try is disabling Power Management in the BIOS. If that doesn't help try running MSCONFIG
and disabling all of your Startup programs. Leave systray, explorer and scan registry active. If that works you can
go back and enable them one at a time until you find the culprit.

Also check your Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files for startup programs.

Cumbo

I think I have tried everything possible and still it will freeze everytime from a cold start. I actually disabled everything, and I mean EVERYTHING!  In the msconfig, I unchecked every single box (including the win.ini, system.ini, config.sys, autoexec.bat)  I also went into device manager and disabled every piece of hardware hoping to add back each one until I found the problem. But even with everything disabled, it still froze when I shut down completely and started the computer back up. I also diabled the power management in the bios. When I restarted after disabling devices and power management etc. a few different times it did say "found new hardware, unknown device, installing drivers". I don't know if that is what it was supposed to do, but either way it didn't help with my problem. What else could it possibly be??  I stopped everything possible from loading! Is there anything you can ask me to look at in the bios that would help you figure this out? I'm willing to try anything.  Oh, one other thing, after I disabled all the hardware in device manager and re-started and went back into device manager, I noticed that there was a listing at the bottom (above the system devices) for "tape drive controllers". This was never there before, and when I re-enabled all the devices and restarted, the "tape drive controllers" was gone. Any ideas on that??  The man that I normally take my computers to get fixed for serious problems is on vacation for 3 weeks, so I'm stuck. I have a windows98 cd that came with my Dell computer (not this one) Can I use that to install windows98 on my messed-up computer (it's not a Dell) If it will work, what is the best way to re-install windows98? I've never re-installed windows before. Do you have to get rid of the current windows98? Do you have to install it from Dos? I know your all probably sick of my problem by now, but I really do need to fix this.  Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Muffy, thanks for answering my question about System File Checker.  Did you try the proposed solution from the Microsoft Knowledge Base that I put in a comment on 10/24 at 4:12 PM?  Specifically, use the Esc key to see if the hang is because there is a message from your antivirus program that is waiting to be acknowledged.  Or, as the article says, your display adaptor may not be properly processing the display resolution change when the Windows logo comes up for the first time.  You can try the workaround that was suggested: edit the MSDOS.SYS file so that there is a line
  Logo=0
in the [Options] section.

In order to edit the MSDOS.SYS file, which is a hidden file in the C: root folder, you may need to change the Windows Explorer options under View -> Folder Options -> View tab -> Show all files and remove check mark for Hide file extensions for known file types.  You can edit the MSDOS.SYS file with Notepad, because despite the ".sys" file extension, it really is a plain old ASCII text file.

LeeTutor, thanks for the advise. I thought I had tried pressing esc at the logo screen and that it just brought me to the startup menu, but I've done so many things I can't remember.  But I will definately do the disable logo option in msdos.sys right now.  Probably a stupid question, but when you said re-install windows98 in the windows folder are you meaning install it in my c:\win98 folder (where the install/setup.exe are located right now?)Or am I actually supposed to install it in c:\windows. Btw, you do a great job of giving details and step by step instructions, sometimes computer experts forget that the avg person doesn't know a fraction of what you guys do :)

Thanks for the kind words, Muffy.  Perhaps I do a better job than most because part of my living is earned in tutoring people on computers (click on my name to read my profile.)

Now, to answer your question: no, I don't mean install it in the Win98 folder, I mean in Windows folder.  Install it "right over itself", and hopefully that will put fresh new and correct system files over the old ones which may have been corrupted or replaced with defective versions by the programs installed after Windows was first installed.

FINALLY!!!! Figured out the problem! It was the ATI Display Driver, it must have been corrupted or possibly the wrong one. After LeeTutor suggested "your display adaptor may not be properly processing the display resolution change when the Windows logo comes up for the first time", I got to thinking that just might be the problem. I downloaded a new driver from the ATI site and deleted the current display driver, then installed the new driver. IT WORKED!! Thank you everyone who left comments and gave me suggestions!!! I am awarding LeeTutor the points because it was his mentioning of the display driver that resulted in me finding the problem. Now, I just need to know what to do with a couple of things that people suggested to change on the computer in trying to fix this problem.
1. I was told to "Disable" the Power Management - should I change it back to "Enable" in the bios?
2. There are 2 lines in the Config.sys that have been un-checked, I don't even know if they need to be re-enabled or not. One is "Device=c"\windows\himem.sys" the other is "Device=c:\windows\emm386.exe NOEMS". I don't run any Dos programs, if that is what they are for?
3. In the msconfig/startup tab, do I need to re-enable the boxes for "hidserv" & "winmodem" to load at startup??
4. Im not sure if this is part of this issue or not, so please let me know if I should post this as a new question and award new points(I'm more than happy to give points if you feel that this is not related to this issue, I just want to make sure that whoever answers this is aware of the original problem in case the two are connected) I noticed that there is a folder called WININSTO.400 in the C:\ and it has 446 objects in it, mostly inf files and a few bin, also a suwin.exe. Is this supposed to be there. I don't remember this being there before my problem. And I'm worried I might have put it there when I tried to re-install windows from my win98 folder (but I canceled install because I realized I didn't know what I was doing - I actually tried to install windows98 from clicking on setup.exe in the win98 folder while in windows normal mode and not from a boot up disk, duh!) But,that was before LeeTutor gave me instructions on re-installing. So my question is: should I delete this folder (WININSTO.400), or is it supposed to be there? Or should I just leave it alone since my problem has been fixed and not risk messing something else up! It's a pretty large size folder so I wanted to free up space if possible. Thanks, ~Muffy

Hi, Muffy, glad you got your problem solved.  I think I can answer your questions 1 and 2, but I'm not sure at all about 3 or 4.  I think you should make a new question for them, and get the help of other experts.  No one else seems to be looking at this question since it's more than a week old.  

1. Power management should be handled either by the BIOS or by Windows (the Power Management icon in Control Panel) but not by both, since they can cause conflicts.  If everything is working OK without your BIOS not controlling power management, I'd say keep it that way.

2. For the most part, Windows 98 doesn't need the contents of Autoexec.bat or Config.sys, so I would say leave himem and emm386 unchecked.

I have no idea about question 3 at all.  I would say leave it there for your question 4, but if you are getting tight on disk space and would like to get rid of it, then maybe this deserves a new question.

Remember to accept my comment as answer in order to award me the points.  Thanks.

LeeTutor, Thank you for staying with me to the end!!!  I read your profile, < WOW! > you definately qualify for an expert!!  That's what I love about this site, where else can you get extremely qualified people such as yourself right at the tip of your fingertips. Everyone has their own advanced computer knowledge in different areas and can conquer just about any problem out there!  I LOVE THIS SITE!!!  ~Muffy

Muffy,

You are right, Lee did an outstanding job and deserves the points.

Maybe I can help on items 3&4, no points needed.

The items listed in item 3 are internet related. If you still have access to the internet leave them unchecked. If
your internet connections have changed in some manner recheck them.

The items listed in question 4 are from the aborted re-install. A simple way to tell if they are needed is to rename them.
Rename the wininsto.400 to wininsto.old rename the suwin.exe to suwin.old.

Note which folders they are each located (usually the root folder c:\). That way if windows won't start you can
rename them back from a DOS prompt. If windows starts with them renamed you can delete them.

I would leave them in the recycle bin for a week to be sure.

Cumbo

Thanks Cumbo, great idea on renaming the windows files. I really do want to get rid of them if they aren't needed. I appreciate your help!

~Muffy