Startup problems!! (W98)

[chubsmalone]

The problem I am having is that programs that are selected to run on startup in the msconfig startup section are not all running on startup. I tried to unselect them and restart the computer then reselect them and restart again. That didn't work. I don't know what else to do to make them run when they are supposed to.

[TonyKlein]

What programs are these, and are they meant to start up from the Registry, or from your startup folder?

Would you mind doing this:

Go to Start/run, and type Msinfo32, followed by OK.
Go to Software Environment/Startup Programs.
Click Edit/'Select all', and then 'copy'
Now paste the contents in your post.

Please tell us which of those don't work.

[chubsmalone]

I am not sure whether they are supposed to startup from the registry or the startup menu. Looking at things now it seems that they are supposed to start from the registry. Here is the pasted Msinfo32 startup stuff...

AVP Monitor Startup Group "C:\Program Files\AntiViral Toolkit Pro\avpm.exe"
Sony PDA USB Switcher Startup Group "C:\Program Files\Sony Handheld\USBSwt.exe"
ZoneAlarm Common Startup Group "C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zonealarm.exe" -nopopup
AOL Instant Messenger (TM) Registry (Per-User Run) C:\Program Files\Netscape\Communicator\Program\AIM\aim.exe -cnetwait.odl
ScanRegistry Registry (Machine Run) C:\WINDOWS\Scanregw.exe /autorun
TaskMonitor Registry (Machine Run) c:\windows\taskmon.exe
SystemTray Registry (Machine Run) SysTray.Exe
LoadPowerProfile Registry (Machine Run) Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
Aureal A3D Interactive Audio Init Registry (Machine Run) A3dInit.exe
SXGDSENU Registry (Machine Run) SXGDSENU.exe
CriticalUpdate Registry (Machine Run) c:\windows\SYSTEM\wucrtupd.exe -startup
LVComs Registry (Machine Run) c:\windows\SYSTEM\LVComS.exe
DXM6Patch_981116 Registry (Machine Run) C:\WINDOWS\p_981116.exe /Q:A
POINTER Registry (Machine Run) point32.exe
InCD Registry (Machine Run) C:\Program Files\Ahead\InCD\InCD.exe
AVPCC Registry (Machine Run) C:\Program Files\AntiViral Toolkit Pro\avpcc.exe /wait
WinPoET Registry (Machine Run) C:\Program Files\VerizonOnlineDSL\WinPoET\WinPPPoverEthernet. exe
Tweak UI Registry (Machine Run) RUNDLL32.EXE TWEAKUI.CPL,TweakMeUp
LoadPowerProfile Registry (Machine Service) Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
Aureal A3D Interactive Audio Registry (Machine Service) sa3dsrv.exe
ConfigServices Registry (Machine Service)
TrueVector Registry (Machine Service) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ZONELABS\VSMON.EXE -service
MiniLog Registry (Machine Service) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ZONELABS\MINILOG.EXE -service
SchedulingAgent Registry (Machine Service) c:\windows\SYSTEM\mstask.exe
HC Reminder Registry (Machine Service) hc.exe
AVPCC Service Registry (Machine Service) C:\Program Files\AntiViral Toolkit Pro\avpcc.exe /service

The ones that are not loading are INCD, Aol Instant Messenger, WinPoet and AVP stuff.

[TonyKlein]

I'm puzzled.

If you do Ctrl-Alt-delete, what do you see there?

[chubsmalone]

When I ctrl+alt+del, I get these programs:
explorer
ZoneAlarm
Point32
usbswt
lvcoms
sxgdsenu
systray

[TonyKlein]

I really don't know what to make of this.

A couple of things that are starting up from your HKLM Run key are running, and others seem not to be.

I don't know whether there's something like a 'corrupted Run key' that will allow some programs to start up but not others.

I'm kind of thinking there might possibly be, after a couple of things I've experienced lately (Mo will know what I'm talking about... ;))

Anyhow, I'd like you to first try one thing for me:

Uninstall your antivirus, reboot, and reinstall it.

Tell us, whether it will start up automatically now.

[chubsmalone]

I uninstalled, rebooted, reinstalled and rebooted again with the anti-virus program. The anti-virus program starts up like it is supposed to. The others still are not starting when they are supposed to.

[TonyKlein]

Well, what about doing the same thing with your other applications that are misbehaving?

This is encouraging, at least.

[Mosaic1]

I see this:
AVPCC Registry (Machine Run) C:\Program Files\AntiViral Toolkit Pro\avpcc.exe /wait
The wait switch tells evrything to wait until this program has finsished. At least that's how it works in DOS. Try removing the /wait and see what happens.

You also have a few things you could prune from that list. One thing at a time though.

[chubsmalone]

How do I get rid of the /wait?

[TonyKlein]

Open your registry (Start/run > Regedit)

Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Run, and click on the 'Run' subkey once in order to display its contents in the right pane.

Doubleclick the AVPCC entry there to bring up the 'edit ' box, and edit the line by removing the /wait part, so that it reads C:\Program Files\AntiViral Toolkit Pro\avpcc.exe only.

Click OK, close Regedit, and reboot.

Tell us what happens.

[chubsmalone]

Sorry for the slow replies...had to work a lot the last couple of days. Anyways, I got rid of the /wait and it did not fix the problem. I also went to msconfig and unselected each one of the programs individually and rebooted and there was no change. I don't know if this is important information either, but I also used the regclean utility to clean the registry and I am still having the same problem.

[Mosaic1]

Tony had you reinstall and then that particular program worked. Is that the case? If a program is set to start it should start.
If, however, the path to the program is not correct or the program is not working, it will not start.
What happens when you attempt to start these programs manually?

Maybe an uninstall and reinstall of any which are not starting is a good idea.