[Baldman]

Hi, I had many problems with my hard drive. I had a couple people suggest I format my hard drive and re-install my windows. Windows 98. So I formatted my c drive and tried re-installing Win 98, got thru all of setup and then when it's about to enter I'm guessing the log in screen it freezes. The power stays on until I turn it off by holding down the power button. If I try to boot again, right after I choose boot normal it'll freeze. I'm able to boot into Safe Mode but I can't do anything in Safe Mode.
Gateway G6-333C
333 MHz Celeron
64 MB SDRAM
6 GB hard drive (c:), 40 GB hard drive (d:)
Delta 52x CD-ROM (e:)

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

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Boot the PC to safe mode, click start, all programmes, accessories, system tools, system information, tools, system file checker, load the Windows CD then scan for altered files and replace any it asks for.

Boot the PC and keep tapping the F8 key until you get the options screen, select command prompt only, type scanreg.exe /fix then press enter, when it says OK, press enter then press the ctrl + alt + delete keys together to reboot

These steps will make sure the file system and the registry are correct

[Retired Tech]

Boot the PC to safe mode, click start, all programmes, accessories, system tools, system information, tools, system file checker, load the Windows CD then scan for altered files and replace any it asks for.

Boot the PC and keep tapping the F8 key until you get the options screen, select command prompt only, type scanreg.exe /fix then press enter, when it says OK, press enter then press the ctrl + alt + delete keys together to reboot

These steps will make sure the file system and the registry are correct

[Baldman]

I did the above, seems things are alright but it still won't boot up normally. It just stops loading or booting right after the Windows 98 screen flashes. All help is appreciated I will basically do anything right about now. Also my CDROM drive isn't shown/recognized on My Computer. I'm also thinking about detaching my 2nd drive (40GB) since that's sorta my backup drive. Will it affect anything I'll be doing?

Edited by Baldman, 10 June 2005 - 09:15 PM.

[Retired Tech]

The hope was that in repairing the registry and replacing the system files it would start properly.

[Baldman]

So I should look into buying another computer right? I was about to give up and do that before posting. If anyone else can think of something post up. Thanks for the help Keith.

[wannabe1]

Hi Baldman...Welcome to G2G!

Mind if I ask a couple of silly questions?

First, what was your hard drive doing that made you want to format and reinstall? Did you have any similar symptoms before the format?

Hanging and Freeze-ups aren't always software problems. Some things you might also look into would be the powersupply (is the fan spinning? Is it making noise that it shouldn't?). How about inside the case? Is it full of dust, dander, and the crud that we humans and our pets polute a computer's environment with? The CPU fan...is it spinning? Are the "cooling fins on the CPU cooler free of debris? (a can of compressed air can sometimes work wonders)

Heat often causes many of the symptoms you describe...So can a power supply that is headed south. Just a thought.....

wannabe1

[Retired Tech]

Ahead of getting a new PC you could look at the pinned topics at the top of this forum.

Reinstalling and keeping the data intact has obvious advantages so go with that first.

The system you have is capable of running 98, as long as you are not using proccessor intensive applications.

Should you get a new PC??

Who doesn't like new PC's? However, you need to see what is wrong with this one as it will be useful, even if you only stream things while you are working on another one.

[bdlt]

don't pitch your old pc, yet. if you attempt to reinstall win98, please look at D Hooper's excellent reference and identify the last successful screen shot displayed before the install fails.

[Baldman]

I decided to format the drive cause a couple of friends told me I should do that and re-install windows. My past problems were some Windows error messages that looked like 0E: ~~~~~~~~~~~~. It had something to do with my display adapter I think. So I decided to do a bunch of things which I believe led me to uninstalling the driver to it. When I tried to use the restore CD from Gateway I ended up trying to restore the computer since I couldn't find where the driver was. In the restore CD it requested a Win95 CD to finish restoring the system, but I didn't have one so used a Win98 Cd. Win98 loaded fine, but whenever I startup my computer I have to bypass a Win95 request screen. Anyways, I started getting other windows errors which I didn't jot down and accidentally uninstalled my ISP program since I saw I had 2 copies of it installed. When I tried to re-install that it said I need an administrative account. After about 2 weeks of dealing with all that I might have cracked or something, I decided to say screw it and formatted my hard drive

I checked the inside, there's not a lot of dust buildup or anything. I'm pretty sure cpu is fine, I know the fans are spinning I can feel and hear them. Also I can run a game from my backup drive in DOS, Bubble Bobble (the one where you capture monsters in bubbles you shoot out of your mouth and pop them).


I did try the DHooper thing. The last screen could be this one:

Now the program will check the Hard Drive, and then will make the partition. Press Y then Enter.

Only cause right after that it says I already have a partition and then I'm back to square one.

[Retired Tech]

If you have a 98 CD then you could format the drive then load straight from that without having 95 on there.

[bdlt]

creating the partition is optional. if you are happy with the current partition, then bypass those steps. otherwise, the current partition needs to be deleted before creating a new one.

[Baldman]

I tried again yesterday but just posting today. I formatted the 6GB hard drive, detached my 2nd drive. I deleted the partitions as in Dhooper's step 13. Going by Dhooper's post, my last successful screen was part of Step 11, and I never had to do the clock setup step, so it finished whatever it did I didn't enter anything and it restarts. It then freezes on an all black Screen I've left it alone for approximately 1 hour with no change it says:

Please wait while Setup updates your configuration files.
This may take a few minutes...

Completed updating files, continuing to load Windows...

To shut down I had to press and hold the power button til my computer turned off.

I tried the system file checker, load the Windows CD then scan for altered files and replace any it asks for thing. Got a message that user.exe may be corrupted, but I can't replace the file cause I can't get to my CD ROM drive, it doesn't have its driver installed or something so it's not listed in My Computer. I actually encountered this the 1st time and clicked update but now I chose skip.

[bdlt]

step 11 is hardware setup. there are 2 screen shots for step 11. to be clear, the clock setting never displayed. did the 2nd screen shot start?

it sounds like a hardware problem. please look at Doby's post#5 here:

memtest

Edited by bdlt, 13 June 2005 - 09:37 AM.