Can't access Windows 98 anymore! Lock up

[PeeJay]

A while ago, I was working on my PC, running Win98, online and running Kazaa and MSN Messenger. I left it alone for an hour or so, and when I came back, there was an error and my system hung up. Didn't think to much of it, just did a ctrl-alt-del. When it was restarting, I got the message in DOS that he couldn't find the files savrt.vxd and savrtpel.vxd in the c:/program files/norton/ folder. After clicking them away, my computer hung up on my Windows desktop, just showing the wallpaper, no icons or start-button, nothing. I figured it was a program error in Norton that caused this problem (I installed Norton about a week earlier), and came up with the brilliant idea of deleting the c:/program files/norton/ folder in dos. Of course, that didn't help very much, and I started getting a little panicky. I searched on the internet, and found other people who got the same error messages from Norton, but none of them seamed to have a windows lock-up like me. I found the two missing files on the internet, and put them in the Norton folder, resulting that I no longer get the Dos error message, but get a message in windows saying:

NAV Auto-Protect - Unable to determine the location of the config files

After I clicking this away, I get:

Explorer - This program made an invalid error and is closed

After this I get on the locked up desktop, the only response I get is when I press ctrl-alt-del, I get the program box, saying only "Ptudfapp" is running. I'm a bit desperate here, there's a lot of work and files still on my computer, which I can only access using a floppy in DOS, so it's quite hopeless. What can I do?

-Can I re-install Win98 (or even XP), without the risk of losing my files?
-Can I access Win in any way, so I can use my CD-R or Zip-Drive to evacuate the files?
-If neither works, can I burn my data away in DOS?

Please, any help would be appreciated!

PeeJay

 

[bassetman]

You should be able to re-install Winders and keep your data as long as you don't format the HD before the install.

Kazaa is bad news!

 

[dogbonz]

Hi Peejay,

Can you get into safe mode ?

If you can, hit the "run" button and type in "regedit"
without the qoutes. Hit the "edit" at the top, then
"find" below.

Search for "symantec" and delete all the entries. There
will be many. (delete key- yes- F3 key) that finds the
next one.

After that, go through a search for "norton", and remove those.

That should clean out all references, and may allow it to work.

-bonz

 

[PeeJay]

Thanks guys...
however, the party isn't over yet...
Dogbonz, can't use safe mode either (that would easy things up a little, I know), I just get the same lock-up.

I've been looking for this, but haven't found a way yet:
is there a way to edit your registry in Dos?

 

[ceri sheeran]

Hi,

Boot with a full Windows 98 system floppy disk

http://www.bootdisk.com if you don't have one

Run the downloaded file to create the disk

Boot with the floppy disk and at the a: prompt type exactly

scanreg /restore

The gap between the g & / is correct

Choose the oldest date from the five offered

OK out and reboot

post back

hth

Ceri

 

[PeeJay]

Ceri, thanks,
but which is the oldest?

04j17j0 Started rb001.cab
03j21j0 Started rb003.cab
03j20j0 Started rb002.cab
03j18j0 Started rb000.cab
03j17j0 Started rb004.cab

I presume the 4th?
Waiting for your reply!

 

[ceri sheeran]

Hi,

The files are shown with month, then date.

To increase the number of copies of the registry saved above the default of 5 in win9x and ME, open the file scanreg.ini in notepad and change the number of copies from 5 to say 15.

This is two weeks worth

A copy is made on the first successful start each day when the computer is started. This itself is a very good reason for a shutdown and reboot daily.

Also put a path in say c:\registry and create that folder.

Then create a sub folder c:\registry\old copies and regularly move older copies from c:\registry to c:\registry\old copies.

With a major problem it is a simple DOS command issue to use these older copies


edit

Copy the five original file registry back ups from c:\windows\sysbckup to this folder

They are named RB001 to RB005 dot CAB


edit two

With a switch of /a a DIR command will show the dates

dir c:\windows\sysbackup *.cab /a

will show all five files with the dates


hth

Ceri

 

[brushmaster1]

[tsg=welcome] Welcome, PJ [/tsg]

Scanreg / restore is a good option, but it is not wise to select the OLDEST date...it is often corrupt.

 

[PeeJay]

-sigh- I wish I knew these things earlier.

Ceri, I'm afraid my computer is already down since the beginning of March, approximately. I tried restoring the oldest reg, but I just got a "failed" message...

 

[ceri sheeran]

Hi,

I have not come across this happening in many years of Win 98 use. I only moved to XP from 98 this year.

It is to avoid problems with a specifc copy of the registry becoming corrupt that I recommend changing the scanreg.ini file to make 15 or more copies. DOS commands then being used to make whatever date required available. With hard disks sizes becoming much larger and CDR / CDRW drives it would be very easy to have a years worth of registry copies saved.

In this case, with 15 copies the user could go back to a copy of his registry in his c:\registry\oldcopies folder prior to the date he installed Norton.

Then move one of the other copies out of c:\registry to c:\registry\old copies.

Boot with his floppy disk and choose the correct copy.

I have received some very good bottles of wine in gratitude for the scanreg /resore tip.

Peetay

Try each of the five copies.

Look at either Goback for recovery or Drive Image / Ghost for backups.


Ceri

 

[jscaufi]

I am havingalmost the identical problem.

I have tried the steps up to scanreg /restore, but when I do that in the A: prompt, I have gotten back an "unknown command" or something similar. I re-downloaded the bootdisk using a different link, and tried again, this time it says "Error reading drive E."

Any ideas? I feel I'm on the right track and will definately donate to the site whether or not I resolve this.

thanks

jack