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Can anyone help with a Windows 98 problem

C

CotswoldCS

Senior member
I am in the process of repairing a friend's PC (Windows 98 First Edition, Service Pack 1, IE6.0 SP1, Office 97). I've found and detected a good few problems (corrupted Windows & Office Files, etc) but have one or two problems I have yet to solve.

The following icons are missing in control panel:

Add New Hardware
Modems
System

When I right click on My Computer and choose Properties (equivalent of Control Panel -> System) nothing happens. When I try to dial the Internet (via 56K modem) Windows blue screens on me (Fatal Exception OE Error). I have upgraded Internet Explorer to 6.0, Updated the Dial Up Networking to v1.4 and still no joy.

Any idea how to get these back and functioning again????
 
Have you done a virus scan? Download AVG Free edition from http://www.grisoft.com if you don't have one.

This isn't probably what you (or your friend) will want to hear, but it might be easier just to backup, format, and reinstall. I've found that's the best way to fix Win9x problems when things get excessivly weird.
 
Well right off the bat I'd say get your 98 disk and reinstall. Not format, reinstall. Most of the stuff you're talking about sounds like missing system files and that would take a long, long time to track down. It'd be easier to install over the existing install. Beyond that... I dunno. Maybe get a better Operating System.
 
Get TweakUI for windows 98. There should be a panel that lets you add/remove icons from the Control Panel.
 
I did a virus scan and found the Win.Cap.A virus. However, this is just a Word Macro virus and was only affecting one Word document. I don't think this was the cause of the problem.

I really don't want to reformat the HDD and start all over. I'm certain that it will solve the problem but I hate using this approach unless I have tried everything else. If I reinstall windows over the top I'm sure it will mess about with all the programs and will take ages to get everything back again.

Any other ideas? Thanks for the suggestion though
 
Actually, I've always been able to just do a reinstall over top of the previous install (use the same directory) with little problem. You could backup your start menu if you want (just copy it elsewhere onto the drive if you have no CDRW).

I always did it with the upgrade copy though, not sure what the full/oem version would do. I'm guessing they'd work fine as well.
 
I've done it multiple times with the OEM version and it works just fine. A few years ago my Intellimouse Optical got a short in the cord and it stopped working, but apparantly it also fried the drivers somehow. I finally reinstalled and everything went back just fine. I lost none of my shortcuts though I had to redo my color setup. You might want to backup start menu and IE bookmarks as well, just in case.
 
I really did know that reinstalling Windows over the top worked that well. I always thought that it would struggle to find all the correct drivers, programs, etc. Good to know. I can always take an image with Drive Image before, just in case it doesn't work out. I might give it a try.

Thanks for the TweakUI reference. I use this regularly but didn't think about it this time. It didn't help actually but cheers anyhow.

I did crack it finally! I ran System File Checker (SFC) and restored the necessary CPL files from the Win98 CD. After a restart they were all back again and I can access system by right clicking on My Computer. It appears they were corrupted somehow - the files were half their size.

The modem is not functioning - so it looks like a new driver is necessary. Otherwise I think I'm there.

I am a bit concerned about all the corrupt files - so may consider a reinstall anyway.


Isn't file corruption part of Windows 98? Is there a way of disabling this feature without reformatting and installing Linux?????
 
Originally posted by: CotswoldCS
I really did know that reinstalling Windows over the top worked that well. I always thought that it would struggle to find all the correct drivers, programs, etc. Good to know. I can always take an image with Drive Image before, just in case it doesn't work out. I might give it a try.

Thanks for the TweakUI reference. I use this regularly but didn't think about it this time. It didn't help actually but cheers anyhow.

I did crack it finally! I ran System File Checker (SFC) and restored the necessary CPL files from the Win98 CD. After a restart they were all back again and I can access system by right clicking on My Computer. It appears they were corrupted somehow - the files were half their size.

The modem is not functioning - so it looks like a new driver is necessary. Otherwise I think I'm there.

I am a bit concerned about all the corrupt files - so may consider a reinstall anyway.


Isn't file corruption part of Windows 98? Is there a way of disabling this feature without reformatting and installing Linux?????
Click to expand...


I have worked with multiple Win98 and WinME computers, and it seems as though their system files get corrupted by the regular installation and use of normal software and drivers.

As others have suggested, I would definitely do a re-installation. I have done many re-installations in the past and have not lost anything. But as with anything, you should backup important stuff because it is better to be safe than sorry.
 
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