[delawaredrew]

Hi,
I have an older win98se computer that has recently suffered a total failure. I had a program called Advanced System Optimizer that was supposed to help remove unused reg entries and stuff but never really helped. I heard bad stuff about its reliability so I removed it with its included uninstaller. But when I restarted as instructed win98se thought it was the first boot and wanted the product key. I used what I thought was the product key although it was actually from an even older comp with win 98. It did get me past that screen but then explorer fails and it shuts down. It gives the invalid page fault message.
But, I had recently installed the hd of the older comp into the win98se comp without reformatting it to try to get some old files I wanted off it before discarding it. Through set-up i was able to get the machine to boot with the second hd and use the win98 still on it. This gets me into the file system of win98se but I don't know what to do now. any ideas? Next I'm gonna scan the SE drive with Spybot and Ad-aware, but after that I have run out of ideas. I can't even get onto the internet with it anymore and am now using a friends comp.
Thanks Drew

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Let me try and get my head around this
You can now read your 98SE disk as a slave? If yes copy all the files expect the windows folder to your Old 98 drive.Then run fixdisk & scan disk on the 98SE drive.
if this does nothing then delete the windows folder on the 98SE disk (now D: drive I assume and reinstall 98SE
or don't you have the disk.
Do not throw away any drive It may take som doing but we will get you going
Cheers
Peterm

[peterm]

Let me try and get my head around this
You can now read your 98SE disk as a slave? If yes copy all the files expect the windows folder to your Old 98 drive.Then run fixdisk & scan disk on the 98SE drive.
if this does nothing then delete the windows folder on the 98SE disk (now D: drive I assume and reinstall 98SE
or don't you have the disk.
Do not throw away any drive It may take som doing but we will get you going
Cheers
Peterm

[delawaredrew]

peterm,
Yeah it is a mess, but reversing the boot drive order was all I could think of to get me into the 98se drive. Yes, the se drive is now D: and I can access it. The problem seems to be in something the 98se explorer does immediately after launching. I'd try switching the 98se onto the older drive but am afraid I'll just succeed in corrupting that drive also. I've run spybot and ad-aware now and neither found anything wrong. But of course neither will scan the registry of the se drive as it is no longer the default registry. I'll try finding al the .reg files on the se drive and copying them into a folder to scan next. Then I 'll try moving everything but windows 98se all onto the win98 drive, that is a good idea.
Thanks,
Drew

[delawaredrew]

Oh, and no I don't have the 98se disks handy, I think I may be able to find them, but in storage about 150 miles away, so that is also a possibility over the weekend.

[peterm]

Hi Drew
Don't try to scan the 98se registry just copy the files to the old 98 disk
If you do not have enough disk space then look at buying a cd burner
very cheap or take your 98se disk to a friend who has a burner and
copy all the files you need. Then either buy 2000 and insall on the 98SE disk or get a 98se copy from a friend. Must be cheaper then petrol to go 150miles. If you still need to talk about this let me know.
Cheers peterm

[delawaredrew]

Peter,
Yeah I don't really want to drive that far, it'd be around $30 US to do it and take around 6 hours roundtrip. I'm gonna try to source a used 98 SE or 2000 disk this afternoon (now).
SO you think that if I copy all the other stuff off the drive and reinstall windows I can then just copy it back and it'll work? The only stuff I'm really worried about is easy enough to find, mostly word docs and bookmarks and stuff but I'd be even happier if I could save most of the programs and stuff.
Thanks, I'll post back and let you know how it worked out,
Drew

[delawaredrew]

Hi,
Well I'm back on my comp again with most of the functions working. I went to the the local comp store to look at buying XP and guy told me to try looking for the win98 install package in windows\options\cabs because most manufacturers leave it there to help them with service issues and new program installs. It was there, and with a little help from me setup was able to get the 98 drive back, no luck with the se drive but hey at least the box works now. Still need to reinstall Office 2000, it is smarter than me and knows that the 98 drive never had office 2000.
Thanks for your help.
Andrew

[peterm]

Hi Drew
Do you still have 98se as drive D if yes office will be on that
and will work from there
Cheers
Peterm

[delawaredrew]

P,
Yes office is on that drive but won't run from there as it must know where it was initially installed. I'm trying to find a way around this, it must record settings, maybe in system or user.bat. Both of which were updated by my mistaken product key entry. FYI: initial settings an be found in a file called oeminfo. So I was able to recover the SE product key ( I think).
Thanks,
D

[peterm]

Hi Drew
Sorry for the late reply but both my computers died. When I got backup
the web site was not working.
What happens when you try to run word from drive D:.
Peterm

[delawaredrew]

Peterm,
I get a message asking me to run the files from where they were first installed. I'm guessing there is some reference in user.dat or something that tells office where it belongs, maybe it thinks I've copied it since now it is being asked to run on a different vesion of windows. I'm also gonna delve into the reg and see it anything turns up.
But all this is telling me that I need a new comp, so I'm thinking of building a new one, my first build. I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions.
Thanks,
Drew

[peterm]

Hi Drew I don't know what KC means he should explain himself better.
if you see Don77 logged in you can ask him to explain.
Building a comp from scratch is easy today.
Why don't you look at rebuilding the one you have depending on the disc you have you might build an ok one using both drives. Drive c:
for windows & programs & D: for data. Most crashes happen only on
c: so you just have to reinstall and know your data is safe or you can use ME which has a restore point so if something goes wrong u can go back.
Cheers
peterm