Can't Install IE 6 Upgrade on Win ME:Error Msg: Setup cannot c

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GMiller wrote:
paste
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE wrote:
"GMiller" wrote in message

I keep getting this error message when trying to upgrade IE 5.5 to
IE6. Says setup cannot continue. Close all programs and try again.
I've done that innumerable times and it will go to 91% but no further
-- then same msg. I've tried the 'full install' and the 'browser
only' -- same thing. I'm going nuts because I need to contact Dell
tech chat to repair problem with another computer. PLEASE HELP. TIA.
Gail Miller

These instructions are from Jim Byrd:

Yours is a fairly common complaint, and this is my standard spiel
about such install problems. There are three things you might want to
check. In any of these install fixes, to quote Steve Cochran, "It is
essential that no "interfering" software be running during the install and
subsequent reboot. This is particularly true of antivirus software. Most
or many of the corrupt installs involve installations while AV or other
software is loaded and these prevent the ability of the setup process to
upgrade dlls, and consequently installations fail or are incomplete." In
addition, I would suggest disabling ALL Norton software, particularly
System
Doctor, if present.

Fix # 1: Try running ie6setup in Safe Mode. This was suggested by
Microsoft Support to one correspondent and worked for him after he had
tried
the fixes described below. If it doesn't for you then try the following.

Fix # 2: First, make sure in Win Explorer/Tools/FolderOptions/View that
you
show hidden and system files and show extensions. If your OS is NT, then
you MUST be logged on as Administrator both to install and for the first
reboot. Based on my own experience, I believe this is also a good
practice
for Win2k, but MS does not say it's required in that case.

Look in your c:\windows\inf folder and see if you find any files named
oemxx.inf which have a length of 0 (zero), where the xx can be any number.
There could be potentially many thousands. If you do, you need to erase
these. To do this, first select the c:\windows\inf folder, then hit
Search.
In the Search pane on the left, enter oem*.inf and down at the bottom
click
Size and At Most and 1 (one). Then do Search. When it finishes, you
should
have all of the zero length oemxx.inf files listed in the right pane along
with possibly some of size 1K. Do CNTL A to select all of them. Now hold
down CNTL while you click on (de-select) all of those at the top that are
1K, so the only the 0K size files are left selected. Now hold down SHIFT
and click DELETE to delete the zero length oemxx.inf files without sending
them to the Recycle Bin. It will take some time if you've a lot of these
files, so be patient. You'll know when it's done.

Now re-start your computer into DOS and run Scandisk C:, fixing any
errors.
If you're not NT or Win2k, also run Scanreg /fix. Re-boot to Windows and
defrag your computer (which will also probably take a little time), and
try
your install again from Safe mode.. If it works, fine.

Fix # 3: If not, or if you didn't have such zero length oemxx.inf type
files to start with, try the following. Find the c:\program
files\internet
explorer\uninstall information folder (It may be named something slightly
different depending on your operating system, for example, just Uninstall
in
WinME.) It probably will be hidden, and you will have to un-hid it.
Right
click on the folder, select properties, then un-tick the Hidden attribute.
(If you don't have this folder, then create an empty one named:
c:\program
files\internet explorer\uninstall information - now try your install
again
in Safe mode, re-selecting all components, even those already bolded. See
below.)

Now create a new empty folder and call it something like "IE Delete
Backup".
Move the contents of the \uninstall information folder to the new folder
you
created. (Just the contents - leave the old folder there.) Now try the
install again from the start in Safe mode, re-selecting all components,
even
those already bolded, that you want using the Advanced option, and see if
this works. It has in many, many cases, but not all. If it doesn't, you
can just restore the files you saved in "IE Delete Backup". Let us know
how
you make out, so that if this doesn't help, perhaps someone else can
suggest
something else for you. Regards, Jim Byrd
/paste

Thanks so much Frank. I have now tried most of the suggestions. Not all,
because 1) this computer won't seem to boot into 'safe mode'. It starts to
and then gives this error msg: 06:0157:00004A94. Happened twice.

In addition, when the screen comes up to provide the option to go into
safe
mode, there is no "boot to safe mode with command prompt" so I can't get
into DOS to do the scanreg /fix.

I did defrag the HDD and it's running a lot faster (or so it seems to me).

I found 3 oemxx.inf files of 2, 3, and 4 KB in size so I left them.

Based on a knowledge base article I found on the MS site before I
contacted
the newsgroup, I had renamed the IE Uninstall Info folder to OLD. So the
folder is no longer there and the install procedure did not duplicate it.

What can I try now? I desperatly need to be able to 'chat' with the Dell
people on this computer.

I bought this computer second hand (Dell Inspiron 1Ghz Processor, Pentium
III) and I notice in the IE explorer in program files, there's an ie6setup
file from 2000 when the previous owner may have tried to install ie 6.
Should I get rid of that?

Gail, please include all of previous message(s) in your replies to the
newsgroup.

It sounds like the original owner may have reinstalled WinME without having
first uninstalled the IE6 updgrade. If so, you're now suffering from what
the WinME experts call 'version soup'.

I'll point you to:

1. MVP Noel Paton's "fix" for the problem:
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/ReInIE.htm

2. The WinME General newsgroup, to which I'm crossposting this reply and to
which it'd be best for you to post all followup (If my supposition is
correct, yours is an OS-specific problem, not an IE one):

microsoft.public.windowsme.general

On the web:
http://www.microsoft.com/communities...dowsme.general

In your newsreader:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsof...dowsme.general

--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE, Security, Shell/User)

Gail (top-posted 'cos that's what I do - I'll change if you don'tg)

From what I can see of your problems so far, I'll try and do a quick recap

1) You bought a PC with ME installed, which has IE5.5 loaded
2) You tried to go to Windows Update and update it (very sensibly) to IE6SP1
3) the update has failed repeatedly despite various attempts and methods
4) Jim Byrd's 'fix-all' doesn't work for you - partly because you have no
way to boot to DOS to do a scanreg /fix from there.

A few points before we go further.

a) If you need a way to get to Real DOS mode in ME, you HAVE to boot from a
floppy drive - if you cannot create a Startup floppy from Add/Remove
Programs | Startup Disk, then you need to download the OEM Win ME boot
diskmaker from www.bootdisk.com and use that (download to (almost) any
machine running Windows, run the downloaded file, and it will save the
contents in the proper manner onto a 1.44MB floppy disk)

b) In ME there is another option for SCANREG commands - they can be run from
either Normal or Safe Mode (although the actual work goes on in DOS mode).
Simply go to Start | Run, and type
SCANREG /FIX
- and click OK.
Windows should ask for a reboot, and things can proceed from there.

c) It's worth running Belarc Advisor at this point (if it will run! - it's
based on IE) to see what it reports about the state of your installed
HotFixes. You *should* see that KB290700 is installed and functional - if
it's installed but not functional, or if it's not installed at all, then
it's fairly conclusive proof that the previous owner reinstalled ME over
itself without uninstalling IE6 first.

d) If b) fails to cure the problem (or change teh error message), then try
the full uninstall/reinstall on my site
Such symptoms are frequently the result of mistakenly attempting to
reinstall ME over itself without first reverting back to IE5.5 - the
resulting 'Version Soup' is almost impossible to repair, and the only sure
way known is to completely remove IE and then reinstall whichever version
you require.
Instructions for this process are here
http://www.crashfixpc.com/ReInIE.htm
Please post back if you need more details - preferably before attempting the
process!!g
It looks very complex - but isn't really, so long as you take note of ALL
the instructions!

HTH

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
"PA Bear" wrote in message
...
X-post to WinME General

GMiller wrote:
paste
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE wrote:
"GMiller" wrote in message

I keep getting this error message when trying to upgrade IE 5.5 to
IE6. Says setup cannot continue. Close all programs and try again.
I've done that innumerable times and it will go to 91% but no further
-- then same msg. I've tried the 'full install' and the 'browser
only' -- same thing. I'm going nuts because I need to contact Dell
tech chat to repair problem with another computer. PLEASE HELP. TIA.
Gail Miller

These instructions are from Jim Byrd:

Yours is a fairly common complaint, and this is my standard spiel
about such install problems. There are three things you might want to
check. In any of these install fixes, to quote Steve Cochran, "It is
essential that no "interfering" software be running during the install
and
subsequent reboot. This is particularly true of antivirus software.
Most
or many of the corrupt installs involve installations while AV or other
software is loaded and these prevent the ability of the setup process to
upgrade dlls, and consequently installations fail or are incomplete." In
addition, I would suggest disabling ALL Norton software, particularly
System
Doctor, if present.

Fix # 1: Try running ie6setup in Safe Mode. This was suggested by
Microsoft Support to one correspondent and worked for him after he had
tried
the fixes described below. If it doesn't for you then try the following.

Fix # 2: First, make sure in Win Explorer/Tools/FolderOptions/View that
you
show hidden and system files and show extensions. If your OS is NT, then
you MUST be logged on as Administrator both to install and for the first
reboot. Based on my own experience, I believe this is also a good
practice
for Win2k, but MS does not say it's required in that case.

Look in your c:\windows\inf folder and see if you find any files named
oemxx.inf which have a length of 0 (zero), where the xx can be any
number.
There could be potentially many thousands. If you do, you need to erase
these. To do this, first select the c:\windows\inf folder, then hit
Search.
In the Search pane on the left, enter oem*.inf and down at the bottom
click
Size and At Most and 1 (one). Then do Search. When it finishes, you
should
have all of the zero length oemxx.inf files listed in the right pane
along
with possibly some of size 1K. Do CNTL A to select all of them. Now
hold
down CNTL while you click on (de-select) all of those at the top that are
1K, so the only the 0K size files are left selected. Now hold down SHIFT
and click DELETE to delete the zero length oemxx.inf files without
sending
them to the Recycle Bin. It will take some time if you've a lot of these
files, so be patient. You'll know when it's done.

Now re-start your computer into DOS and run Scandisk C:, fixing any
errors.
If you're not NT or Win2k, also run Scanreg /fix. Re-boot to Windows and
defrag your computer (which will also probably take a little time), and
try
your install again from Safe mode.. If it works, fine.

Fix # 3: If not, or if you didn't have such zero length oemxx.inf type
files to start with, try the following. Find the c:\program
files\internet
explorer\uninstall information folder (It may be named something
slightly
different depending on your operating system, for example, just Uninstall
in
WinME.) It probably will be hidden, and you will have to un-hid it.
Right
click on the folder, select properties, then un-tick the Hidden
attribute.
(If you don't have this folder, then create an empty one named:
c:\program
files\internet explorer\uninstall information - now try your install
again
in Safe mode, re-selecting all components, even those already bolded.
See
below.)

Now create a new empty folder and call it something like "IE Delete
Backup".
Move the contents of the \uninstall information folder to the new folder
you
created. (Just the contents - leave the old folder there.) Now try the
install again from the start in Safe mode, re-selecting all components,
even
those already bolded, that you want using the Advanced option, and see if
this works. It has in many, many cases, but not all. If it doesn't, you
can just restore the files you saved in "IE Delete Backup". Let us know
how
you make out, so that if this doesn't help, perhaps someone else can
suggest
something else for you. Regards, Jim Byrd
/paste

Thanks so much Frank. I have now tried most of the suggestions. Not all,
because 1) this computer won't seem to boot into 'safe mode'. It starts
to
and then gives this error msg: 06:0157:00004A94. Happened twice.

In addition, when the screen comes up to provide the option to go into
safe
mode, there is no "boot to safe mode with command prompt" so I can't get
into DOS to do the scanreg /fix.

I did defrag the HDD and it's running a lot faster (or so it seems to
me).

I found 3 oemxx.inf files of 2, 3, and 4 KB in size so I left them.

Based on a knowledge base article I found on the MS site before I
contacted
the newsgroup, I had renamed the IE Uninstall Info folder to OLD. So the
folder is no longer there and the install procedure did not duplicate it.

What can I try now? I desperatly need to be able to 'chat' with the Dell
people on this computer.

I bought this computer second hand (Dell Inspiron 1Ghz Processor, Pentium
III) and I notice in the IE explorer in program files, there's an
ie6setup
file from 2000 when the previous owner may have tried to install ie 6.
Should I get rid of that?

Gail, please include all of previous message(s) in your replies to the
newsgroup.

It sounds like the original owner may have reinstalled WinME without
having first uninstalled the IE6 updgrade. If so, you're now suffering
from what the WinME experts call 'version soup'.

I'll point you to:

1. MVP Noel Paton's "fix" for the problem:
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/ReInIE.htm

2. The WinME General newsgroup, to which I'm crossposting this reply and
to which it'd be best for you to post all followup (If my supposition is
correct, yours is an OS-specific problem, not an IE one):

microsoft.public.windowsme.general

On the web:
http://www.microsoft.com/communities...dowsme.general

In your newsreader:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsof...dowsme.general

--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE, Security, Shell/User)

Thanks, Noel. Gail, I suggest you follow Noel's lead to resolve your
problem. Best of luck.
--
~PA Bear

Noel Paton wrote:
Gail (top-posted 'cos that's what I do - I'll change if you don'tg)

From what I can see of your problems so far, I'll try and do a quick recap
snip