What's wrong with my dad's computer?

[MrCodeDude]

I don't think you need specs, he's had this machine for ~2, maybe 3 years.

He's running Windows 98, whenever he clicks on an icon, explorer.exe crashes, he doesn't get BSOD, but explorer.exe crashes and then restores itself, and the process repeats with any icon on the desktop. Is there some kind of restore thing for 98, like there is in XP?

He's tried Restarting, a Cold Boot, running NAV and McAfee First Aid, nothing. Any ideas?
-- mrcodedude

 

[d33pt]

It's running windows 98

 

[tallest1]

Originally posted by: d33pt
It's running windows 98

exactly

 

[Scarpozzi]

Originally posted by: tallest1

Originally posted by: d33pt
It's running windows 98

exactly

Word up G.

 

[Kevin]

Start the computer in Safe Mode. If he can click the icons with no problem, its probably a hidden program.

Restart the computer in Normal Mode. Go to Start - Run. Type in msconfig. When the window pops up, go to the Startup Tab. Remove anything that doesn't seem to belong by unchecking the box. You can uncheck them all or just some, you can always enable it again in the future.

Also, I'm sure he had the most recent virus definitions when he scanned. If not, tell him to update and scan again...

 

[amdskip]

Put 2k on it and don't look back.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by: d33pt
It's running windows 98

Thanks.. Come on, seriously.. I'm running XP/Longhorn, other computer is running 2K, mom's computer is XP, server is 2K Server, dad is the only one running Windows 98.
-- mrcodedude

 

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by: kevin000
Start the computer in Safe Mode. If he can click the icons with no problem, its probably a hidden program.

Restart the computer in Normal Mode. Go to Start - Run. Type in msconfig. When the window pops up, go to the Startup Tab. Remove anything that doesn't seem to belong by unchecking the box. You can uncheck them all or just some, you can always enable it again in the future.

Also, I'm sure he had the most recent virus definitions when he scanned. If not, tell him to update and scan again...

We booted into safe mode, same thing happened.
-- mrcodedude

 

[Ime]

Originally posted by: d33pt
It's running windows 98

Trash it, and give it Win2k, XP, or your favorite Linux Distro.

 

[KGB1]

Whats wrong with 98? WTH man BEST platform for games and No Spyware. I just put 98 back in my 550 Athlon. Its like NEW AGAIN.

Well whats your dad's PC? Since you said its like 2-3 years. Maybe a Pentium 3 or late model P2. Maybe the HDD is defective. If I were you, I'd take his HDD, place it in yours as a SLAVE drive and BACKUP his DATA.

Place it back in your Dads rig, format Install 98 again, do some testing. If its oKay keep it. Or get out the Win 2k CD and start upgrading. Shouldnt be a no brainer. And how are u a newbie? WTH you got like 5K posts.. WTH MAN?

 

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by: KGB
Well whats your dad's PC? Since you said its like 2-3 years. Maybe a Pentium 3 or late model P2. Maybe the HDD is defective. If I were you, I'd take his HDD, place it in yours as a SLAVE drive and BACKUP his DATA.

Place it back in your Dads rig, format Install 98 again, do some testing. If its oKay keep it. Or get out the Win 2k CD and start upgrading. Shouldnt be a no brainer. And how are u a newbie? WTH you got like 5K posts.. WTH MAN?

It's a Athlon 650MHz. And I'm not a newbie. I'm not very familiar with 98, with XP, I just restore to the recent restore point. The last thing I wanted to do was to move HDD's around, if push comes to shove, I'll just put it on the server's 200GB of space.
-- mrcodedude

 

[Willoughbyva]

You could try installing 98 over itself again. You might lose stuff like the latest IE and Outlook, plu you'll have to repatch the system, but it might work. Might also go into device manager and delete all the hardware and let 98 find them again. Does he have all the latest updates and drivers installed?

 

[everman]

Originally posted by: KGB
Whats wrong with 98? WTH man BEST platform for games and No Spyware. I just put 98 back in my 550 Athlon. Its like NEW AGAIN.

Well whats your dad's PC? Since you said its like 2-3 years. Maybe a Pentium 3 or late model P2. Maybe the HDD is defective. If I were you, I'd take his HDD, place it in yours as a SLAVE drive and BACKUP his DATA.

Place it back in your Dads rig, format Install 98 again, do some testing. If its oKay keep it. Or get out the Win 2k CD and start upgrading. Shouldnt be a no brainer. And how are u a newbie? WTH you got like 5K posts.. WTH MAN?

Win 98 is no faster than xp/2k, take a look.

 

[Willoughbyva]

I also wanted to add that the best thing would probably try to save all the important data and do a freash install.

HTH

Will

 

[teqwiz]

Originally posted by: MrCodeDude

Originally posted by: KGB
Well whats your dad's PC? Since you said its like 2-3 years. Maybe a Pentium 3 or late model P2. Maybe the HDD is defective. If I were you, I'd take his HDD, place it in yours as a SLAVE drive and BACKUP his DATA.

Place it back in your Dads rig, format Install 98 again, do some testing. If its oKay keep it. Or get out the Win 2k CD and start upgrading. Shouldnt be a no brainer. And how are u a newbie? WTH you got like 5K posts.. WTH MAN?

It's a Athlon 650MHz. And I'm not a newbie. I'm not very familiar with 98, with XP, I just restore to the recent restore point. The last thing I wanted to do was to move HDD's around, if push comes to shove, I'll just put it on the server's 200GB of space.
-- mrcodedude

Why would you even consider putting anypotentially virus ridden data on your server? Not a good idea. Try right clicking and reestablish the icon links first in properties. That would be my first idea. Reistall second.

Try reposting in OS. you'll probably get better results.

 

[HappyPuppy]

Boot to a command prompt and run scandisk, then boot to safe mode and run scandisk again. Shut down, all the way down. Boot to safe mode again and shut down again. Fire it up and boot to normal mode.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
Boot to a command prompt and run scandisk, then boot to safe mode and run scandisk again. Shut down, all the way down. Boot to safe mode again and shut down again. Fire it up and boot to normal mode.

Alright, I'll have my dad try that.

And as for putting virus ridden things on the server? It would only be personal documents.
-- mrcodedude

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: everman

Originally posted by: KGB
Whats wrong with 98? WTH man BEST platform for games and No Spyware. I just put 98 back in my 550 Athlon. Its like NEW AGAIN.

Well whats your dad's PC? Since you said its like 2-3 years. Maybe a Pentium 3 or late model P2. Maybe the HDD is defective. If I were you, I'd take his HDD, place it in yours as a SLAVE drive and BACKUP his DATA.

Place it back in your Dads rig, format Install 98 again, do some testing. If its oKay keep it. Or get out the Win 2k CD and start upgrading. Shouldnt be a no brainer. And how are u a newbie? WTH you got like 5K posts.. WTH MAN?

Win 98 is no faster than xp/2k, take a look.

That link is to Toms Hardware. the same review site that said that the AMD XP CPU runs on 12 volts. A RECENT artice too. Morons.

 

[Sid59]

i think a clean install of win98 is in order. the 9x kernel likes to build junk and keep it. Backup your data and format the hard drive.

i don't think 98 holds much of lead, if any, when it comes to playing games.

 

[Sluggo]

I had a similar problem on a friends computer. After doing all the BS, and reformatting, turns out the problem was a bad memory module

Always check the simple stuff first.

K.I.S.S.

 

[fr]

I think some system files are just corrupt. Maybe it's an old HD that's dying or the computer wasn't shut down properly. Try scandisk with a surface scan and then reinstall Windows if that doesn't help it.

 

[AlienCraft]

Ok, the basic's... have you installed the critical updates for W98se?
I always have good results with wacky W98 machines by running Mcafee Clinic all over and through them.
I am assuming the NAV scan was up to date and produced no "hits".
A clean re- install never hurt anyone, just proves why copies of data and setups should be kept current, IMO.
Good Luck.

 

[tcsenter]

Format C:

 

[XCLAN]

Originally posted by: tcsenter
Format C:

 

[Siddhartha]

Originally posted by: MrCodeDude
I don't think you need specs, he's had this machine for ~2, maybe 3 years.

He's running Windows 98, whenever he clicks on an icon, explorer.exe crashes, he doesn't get BSOD, but explorer.exe crashes and then restores itself, and the process repeats with any icon on the desktop. Is there some kind of restore thing for 98, like there is in XP?

He's tried Restarting, a Cold Boot, running NAV and McAfee First Aid, nothing. Any ideas?
-- mrcodedude

Time to format the hard drive and reinstall Win 98.