W98 Problems.

[Lalakai]

Need some help folks. My system has been slowing down with frequent lock-ups. Tried doing some simple maintainence (defrag), but some program would keep writing to the hdd and would start defrag over again. May just opt to reload 98 ver.2 and go from there. My questions:
1. how can i observe which programs are running, that might be changing data on the hdd?
2. is there a simpler alternative to reinstalling W98, or is the general recommendation to do a complete
reformat and clean install???

athalon 1.2 non-oc'd
256 megs ram
santa cruz
voodoo 2k
W98 Plus
30 gig and 10 gig hdd's


also currently using the most up-to-date Norton Anti-Virus.

I will also post this in "software", but any suggestions would be appreciated. And hopefully the mods will let this thread stay here (much more activity here ).

 

[Horsepower]

Do the three finger salute (ctl,alt,del) and close all programs except explorer, then run defrag. You may have to close some twice to get them all closed. If you have to re-install, a clean install is always the best.

 

[brentman]

Doing a format and clean install would make sure that whatever software problems go away. Alternatively you could try to just overlay Windows. Just run the setup w/o formatting and the windows system will be installed as is but you won't lose any settings or installed software. Of course it may not help your issue, but that is a gamble you might wanna take to possibly save from re-installing all your software. The overlay really doesnt take that long so I would try it, IMHO.

Also try downloading AdAware from lavasoft, it removes spyware and other unwanted programs that hog up your system.

Another thing to try would be cleaning up your startup using MSconfig.

Well, hopefully something there helps you out. Good luck to you.

 

[HumbleFish]

Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information > System Start Up (or System Configuration or something like that), then uncheck all the Programs that You don't want to run and reboot... Also, you can do Start > Programs > Startup and pull all the Programs that You don't want to run on to the desktop.

 

[Muzzy]

I also have one AMD XP, and HAD one T-Bird system. They both display the same symptom, but not anymore. I'm not sure if what I did was the true fix or not. What did I dot? Put in a better power supply. No more random reboot and lock up. The XP rig has the 1600+, TDK burner, LiteOn dvd, Zip 250, ti 200, one hard drive, one neon light, one NIC, and 6 fans. The old ps was the one that came with the Antec SX830. It now has the Allied True450. I could be wrong of course.

 

[Lalakai]

thanks for the input people. will try and eliminate all non-essentials first then run defrag. If that works, will try and overlay W98 w/o reformatting. As Muzzy mentioned, the ps may be an issue, so i've been disconnecting anything extra (fans, cd-drives, zips, ect), but that doesn't change anything. Have been using ctrl-alt-del to reduce programs that I'm not using, but still running very slow.

I'll try the easy ways first, but if I do go the route of reformatting, may just opt for a new hdd (getting some bad sectors on the 30 gig) and go with clean install; then shoot the kids as soon as they start dl'g stuff from dubious sites. Thanks again, and if someone else has some suggestions, toss 'em in.

 

[buleyb]

You turned off all screen savers and power saving too right? Those always screw defrag in 98.

What about safe mode?

 

[Muzzy]

If you do opt for new HD, go for those with 8 MB cache. Cost a bit more, but man I love them. Makes a world of a different. As for those kids........

 

[Lalakai]

yep, turned off all screen savers and power down modes. would even sit there and watch the defrag program restart after 1-2 minutes: "new data written to hdd". ouch!!

as for the 8 mb cached hdd, yes that's probably the route I'll go, though don't want to invest too much at this time since i'm planning on making a new system some time this summer and will leave this one to the kids (Ha, there is justice in the world lol ).

I do have AdAware and have that running too, but no bugs or spyware have been detected.

May opt for new ps, as i'll need one for the new system, and can see if that has any impact.

will keep you posted. thanks again.

 

[bacillus]

have you tried defraging in safe mode?

 

[Woodchuck2000]

Seriously, go 2K or XP.
Either one will run find on your system and it'll save you a lot of minor irritants...

The sooner microsoft drives a big pointy stick through the 9x range the better...

 

[buleyb]

Originally posted by: Woodchuck2000
Seriously, go 2K or XP.
Either one will run find on your system and it'll save you a lot of minor irritants...

The sooner microsoft drives a big pointy stick through the 9x range the better...

when is the official unsupported time? Sometime this year yes/no?

 

[kjacobs]

When you DO get defrag to work...make your kids sit down and watch it! (Boring stuff!)

 

[HumbleFish]

Lalakai,

I don't know if You can get this to work for you but it works for me... From your desktop stick in your Win98 CD and open it up so you can see all the contents... Then doubleclick on win98setup.exe (I'm not sure about the actual file name)... And Win98 will begin to install as a upgrade (let it install)... It's fixed my system before.

 

[Lalakai]

I did manage to work through the defrag by closing everything else except "explorer" so thanks for that one

Punishment for the kids will be leaving them with this system while I hide my new one and lock 'em out of it.

As for abandoning W98, may have to go that route, but still pissed at MS for how they've configured XP so that everytime I do something like this and have to reformat, that i have to call ahead and get permission to reinstall the OS that I own!!!!!! May just go as far as 2K and call it quits from there. Relating to that, Turbo Tax has also joined XP on the discard heap.

But the system is still "glitchy" and more so then a few months ago, so may have to opt for the clean format and fresh install - pizza and pop night - and stay away from dad. lol But will purchase a better ps and try that first just to see.

have a good weekend everyone

edit = and i'll also try the last suggestion for re-installing W98 and seeing if it'll take it as an upgrade.

 

[oldfart]

but still pissed at MS for how they've configured XP so that everytime I do something like this and have to reformat, that i have to call ahead and get permission to reinstall the OS that I own!!!!!! May just go as far as 2K and call it quits from there

I prefer Win2K over XP myself. I dont like the XP bloatware and Telletubby interface of XP. 2K is a much "cleaner" OS than XP IMHO.

 

[buleyb]

Originally posted by: Lalakai
I did manage to work through the defrag by closing everything else except "explorer" so thanks for that one

Punishment for the kids will be leaving them with this system while I hide my new one and lock 'em out of it.

As for abandoning W98, may have to go that route, but still pissed at MS for how they've configured XP so that everytime I do something like this and have to reformat, that i have to call ahead and get permission to reinstall the OS that I own!!!!!! May just go as far as 2K and call it quits from there. Relating to that, Turbo Tax has also joined XP on the discard heap.

But the system is still "glitchy" and more so then a few months ago, so may have to opt for the clean format and fresh install - pizza and pop night - and stay away from dad. lol But will purchase a better ps and try that first just to see.

have a good weekend everyone

edit = and i'll also try the last suggestion for re-installing W98 and seeing if it'll take it as an upgrade.

The XP authorization scheme isn't that bad. You can simply bypass it for up to 14 days, and do it while you are online sometime...

 

[HumbleFish]

XP authorization

You have to get authorization to install XP?

 

[Lalakai]

Humblefish, MS started a security procedure with XP that only allows you to load it onto one system. If you need to reload it (after hdd crash, move to another system, reinstall, ect.), you have to contact MS and verify that you are still the original purchaser and that it is being loaded onto only 1 system. so even though you have purchased the software and legally liscensed it, you still have to get their permission to reinstall or take it off one system and move it to another system.

hence the trash heap.


aaaahhhhh for the days of DOS

 

[moonshinemadness]

I reinstall XP Pro every 4-8 weeks with a reformat of the HDD gets rid of all the crap there but not once have i needed to contact MS i just put in my key one time it sent me to the XP Web page and told me to change the computer details but that was all. <<Shrugs>> Maybe im just lucky!

 

[Ostack]

Have you tried running system file checker from msconfig?

PS
I give a strong vote for switching to win2k.

 

[Nocturne05]

Simple fix with 98, just wipe it clean and start from scratch, I recomend saving all your valuables to a seperate partition if you've got one, 98 just accumulates junk the longer it runs, that's not even counting the bad memory management. I would recommend you go to 2000/XP if possible though, you'd probably never see that problem again

 

[Lalakai]

yep, will be making the switch to 2000 ASAP; already have that loaded on a laptop and it works well.

 

[HumbleFish]

Lalakai,

Thanks for the info, I didn't know that. I'm glad I went with Win2kPro (thanks LORD).

Ostack:

Have you tried running system file checker from msconfig?

That might help... And don't forget to try that Win98 Upgrade thing (at Your own risk of course).

 

[Muzzy]

Originally posted by: Ostack
Have you tried running system file checker from msconfig?

PS
I give a strong vote for switching to win2k.

From what I've read, don't use "msconfig" in XP, use "services.msc" instead.