If you backed up the VXD registry key to a text file as I stated in my original
reply, you cab replace the deleted sub-keys by simply importing the text file back
into the Registry:
Start Run Regedit,
Registry menu Import

I'm not sure what you have done since then....you state you allowed Windows to
install drivers for the mouse but I don't know what exactly was done.

SSIACT.386 appears to be a driver for a copy-protection device, or dongle,
apparently installed on the LPT (printer) port. Do you have such a device?
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


wrote in message
oups.com...
Glen:

Sorry I took so long to reply - I had to work tonight...

Anyway, let me bring you up to date. I did the MSINFO thing and didn't
see anything interesting. I've pasted it at the bottom of this post.

So then I did the regedit thing and removed two items - lmouse and
lmul. And then restarted. Boy things changed! When it rebooted it
complained that it couldn't find the files for the mouse and it wanted
the Windows98 CD. So I put in the CD but it couldn't find the files it
wanted. So I guided it to where the CAB files are (I had to move them
as I was out of space on my C drive) and it loaded the mouse drivers
and continued booting and then restarted and went back to safe mode.
Sad.

So I started poking around and it looks like the msmouse driver is now
loaded and good to go. So I tried the mode where you boot with
confirmation of each step. It seems the last step before going off to
never never land and rebooting is SSIACT.386. So, on a whim, I said yes
to everything else and then no to this last step and, wonder of
wonders, I boot almost normally. I say almost because it's really,
really slow. But here I am in my normal environment.

So now the question is what is SSIACT.386 and what do I do about this?
There is an entry in the System.ini in the [386Enh] that says
device=SSIACT.386.

I'll try checking for viruses and bots. Otherwise I'm still at a loss.

Thanks,

Steve

EPSON Background Monitor Startup Group "C:\Program Files\Common
Files\EPSON\EBAPI\Stms.exe"
ScanRegistry Registry (Machine Run) c:\windows\scanregw.exe /autorun
TaskMonitor Registry (Machine Run) c:\windows\taskmon.exe
SystemTray Registry (Machine Run) SysTray.Exe
POINTER Registry (Machine Run) C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\point32.exe
TCASUTIEXE Registry (Machine Run) TCAUDIAG.EXE -off
LexStart Registry (Machine Run) Lexstart.exe
LexmarkPrinTray Registry (Machine Run) PrinTray.exe
LoadPowerProfile Registry (Machine Run) Rundll32.exe
powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
CriticalUpdate Registry (Machine Run) c:\windows\SYSTEM\wucrtupd.exe
-startup
Iomega Startup Options Registry (Machine Run) C:\Program
Files\Iomega\Common\ImgStart.exe
Iomega Drive Icons Registry (Machine Run) C:\Program
Files\Iomega\DriveIcons\ImgIcon.exe
QuickTime Task Registry (Machine Run) "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\QTTASK.EXE"
-atboottime
TIPS Registry (Machine Run) C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\tips\mouse\tips.exe
Zone Labs Client Registry (Machine Run) D:\Program Files\Zone
Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe
AVG7_CC Registry (Machine Run) C:\PROGRA~1\GRISOFT\AVGFRE~1\AVGCC.EXE
/STARTUP
AVG7_EMC Registry (Machine Run) C:\PROGRA~1\GRISOFT\AVGFRE~1\AVGEMC.EXE
AVG7_AMSVR Registry (Machine
Run) C:\PROGRA~1\GRISOFT\AVGFRE~1\AVGAMSVR.EXE
EncMonitor Registry (Machine Service) C:\Program
Files\Encompass\Monitor.exe
dRMON SmartAgent Registry (Machine Service) drmon\SmartAgt\SmartAgt.exe
LoadPowerProfile Registry (Machine Service) Rundll32.exe
powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
MiniLog Registry (Machine
Service) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ZONELABS\MINILOG.EXE -service
SchedulingAgent Registry (Machine Service) mstask.exe
CVPND Registry (Machine Service) "C:\Program Files\Cisco Systems\VPN
Client\cvpnd.exe" start
TrueVector Registry (Machine
Service) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ZONELABS\VSMON.EXE -service
KB891711 Registry (Machine
Service) c:\windows\SYSTEM\KB891711\KB891711.EXE