win98 error msgs won't boot (W98)

[Harkstone]

i have a win98 machine that recently started acting up and now attempts to boot with the following problems occuring (btw no new hardware or software before this started): program has performed illegal operation, etc, in this sequence:
msgsrv32, NAV auto-protect unable to load (i press ok), rundll32, mstask, runonce, then Explorer. then just a blank cloud/sky desktop. on each of these errors, details show 'invalid page fault in module comctl32.dll at 0177:bfbab33'. I press ctrl-alt-delete and all that is running is 'Hotkey' and 'wmexe'. All i can do is reboot and same exact thing thing each time. I've booted to Norton Systemworks cd and run a virus scan, is clean. everything looks ok in BIOS. 2+gig WD hd using EZ-Bios (not new). I tried to reinstall windows but it couldn't wouldn't boot to CD. Any thoughts/help would be greatly appreciated.

[Mosaic1]

You are on another machine now. Get out your Windows Install CD and extract comctl32.dll and copy it to floppy. (you can use System File Checker to do that)
Here's a link with screenshots and directions if you are not familiar with SFC:
<a target="_blank" href=http://users.erols.com/dj-paulen/ss/>http://users.erols.com/dj-paulen/ss/</a>


Boot to the command prompt on the sick machine and then put the floppy in the drive.
At the C:\&gt; type this

copy A:\comctl32.dll C:\windows\system

Press enter. Here's that command with the word space typed out to show you where to press the spacebar. DOS is particular about where you put the spaces.

copy space A:\comctl32.dll spaceC:\windows\system

Take the floppy out of the drive after you get the 1 file copied message.
At the next prompt. type win and press enter to start Windows. Does it boot?

[Harkstone]

The Win98 machine won't boot to run SFC. I'm using Windows 2000 here. If i could just somehow get the file.. maybe on IRC .???

[Mosaic1]

I don't know the 2000 system. But I can find a file in a cab using find files like this. I put the CD in the drive, Go to find files and perform a search for
*.cab
Fill in the "containing text". That will be the name of the file. Look in E or whatever the Drive letter might be.

The bottom line. You are going to search the CD Drive for the cab containing the file you need.
The search result will be the cab. Extract the file from this cab. Do you have cabview? or Winzip?
I am sorry. I have never used Windows 2000.

[reghakr]

Harkstone,

Hit F8 on startup, and choose Command Prompt. Type edit c:\windows\system.ini Under
[boot] Change
shell=;Explorer.exe
shell=progman.exe

If Program manager loads go to File&gt;Run, type msconfig, go to the Startup tab and uncheck everything.

Either go back and change system.ini to the original or if you're comfortable using File manager, you can type Winfile under the File&gt;Run and check your configuration files.
To open autoexec.bat, you go to the root of C: drive, highlight it, choose Run from the file menu and type notepad autoexec.bat

Hopefully this will get you back in.

reghakr

[Harkstone]

ok i did exactly as you described and percisely the same things happened on reboot. i can't tell what's on the second/slave hd, booting to prompt and typing D: or E: doesn't work. when i go from prompt to C:\windows\system and 'dir /p' here's what i get (omitting CAPS, files sizes and dates):
volume in drive c has no label. volume serial number is 112d-1aed.
directory of c:\windows\system
comctl32.dll (the one i copied, there was none before)
genmidi.wsl
oeminfo.oem
oemlogo.oem
pbblank1.gif
pbblank2.gif
pbewsdm.vxd
pb_blank.htm
11 file(s) 8,529.206 bytes
2 dir(s) 1,449,730,048 bytes free

&lt;c:\windows\system&gt;

the pb* stuff = Packard Bell (i know, it's sad). i can't find the system.ini anywhere. and i don't know what's on the 2nd (slave) drive i can't seem to access from the A: prompt. the thing should work, it's just messed up somehow. it wouldn't even boot as far as it does if it was totally hopeless. any other suggestions .? i don't want to reformat if i can save the data. thanks :).

[Harkstone]

hi. pls read my reply to mosaic. and when i get to C:\&lt;windows&gt; and do dir /p i don't see the system.ini. very frustrating

[Mosaic1]

It looks like your files have been wiped. I would suggest you go and Download F-Prot for DOS (Anti Virus). Run it and see if you have a virus before you do anything else.

<a target="_blank" href=http://www.f-prot.com/f-prot/download/>http://www.f-prot.com/f-prot/download/</a>

Also run scandisk.

[reghakr]

Harkstone,

You've got me confused.

Are we working on a Windows2000 machine or a Win98 machine?

If it's 2000, the directory would be C:\winnt\system32 for the comtl32.dll file.

reghakr

[Mosaic1]

Reghakr,
The problem machine is Win98. The working machine he is using to post etc is Win2000.

Mo

[reghakr]

Thanks Mo,

I still can't see his whole windows\system directory being gone and yet he said it makes it to the desktop.

Wouldn't that be impossible?

reghakr

[Mosaic1]

reghakr,
Yes. You're right. If there were no System and no vmm32.vxd there would be no boot to Windows of any kind. I turned off my brain and just answered an isolated question. Looking at this again from the beginning, it is confusing.

I wonder. Does it still make it to the desktop? Is this a Hard Drive problem which is getting progressively worse.

Maybe a try at letting the system boot and see how far it gets now.

Is there a second Windows Folder? Possibly windows\system is from an old damaged install of Windows?

You had a good idea about doing a dir.
Maybe a dir of the entire hard drive might shed more light.

[reghakr]

Yes, it is confusing...

One of those times when you wish you could actually view the system from our own machines.

A dir would be a good idea, could have been a simple typing error.

reghakr

[Harkstone]

i finally just reformatted and reinstalled 98SE. i updated everything from windows update and everything looked (looks) ok, but the computer just locks up for no reason. no error msgs or anything. i might be able to browse the web a bit and eventually (soon), it will freeze, cursor won't move, keyboard, ctrl+alt+delete won't work, even if i just boot it up and do nothing, just let it sit there for awhile, it'll lock up. i'm thinking maybe i could change something, like emm386 noems frames= or something, like i say, no error msgs. ran norton windoctor from cd, was ok. when it locks up, if i press the restart button, it won't send any video or anything. if i turn it off and let it sit for awhile, it will boot ok, but eventually lock up again. it doesn't freeze on any action ..just freezes on it's own for no apparent reason. ..any ideas .? thanks.

[Mosaic1]

None that are Software. I wonder if you have overheating, Bad RAM, Bad Power Suply or any number of other Hardware Problems.