Freecell won't work anymore

Ran the windows update on a win98 (first) edition. First thing downloaded
was MSIE 6.1. Rebooted, then went back for all the critical updates.

First, got directX 9.0. After rebooting , the game Freecell will launch,
but
the cursor remains an hour glass anywhere inside the window border. The
title bar, however, will show an arrow cursor, thus we can click on "Game"
but that's about it. Also, the title bar only shows the last two letters of
"FreeCell"

Rebooted in safe mode, and FreeCell will work there, but of course we don't
want to work in safe mode! But, maybe that's a clue. Game worked fine
before these two update were applied. I'm presuming that the MSIE update
was not a factor, but I am leaning toward the DirectX 9.0 Can that be
removed?

Haven't gone back to get the other critical updates yet.

Any idea what went wrong or how to fix?

Thanks.

--
Bill

When a program works in safe but not normal mode, that is normally an
indication that something else that starts in normal but not safe mode is
causing the problem. Use the technique in this article to try to pinpoint
what is running that causes the problem:

How to Perform Clean-Boot Troubleshooting for Windows 98
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=192926


--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo

"Bill H." wrote in message
...
Ran the windows update on a win98 (first) edition. First thing downloaded
was MSIE 6.1. Rebooted, then went back for all the critical updates.

First, got directX 9.0. After rebooting , the game Freecell will launch,
but
the cursor remains an hour glass anywhere inside the window border. The
title bar, however, will show an arrow cursor, thus we can click on "Game"
but that's about it. Also, the title bar only shows the last two letters
of
"FreeCell"

Rebooted in safe mode, and FreeCell will work there, but of course we
don't
want to work in safe mode! But, maybe that's a clue. Game worked fine
before these two update were applied. I'm presuming that the MSIE update
was not a factor, but I am leaning toward the DirectX 9.0 Can that be
removed?

Haven't gone back to get the other critical updates yet.

Any idea what went wrong or how to fix?

Thanks.

--
Bill

Well, the only problem with this approach, is that the only changes were
updates to MSIE and the DirectX 9.0 upgrade.

If they are causing the problem, which would seem likely, how can that
possibly be fixed, unless I remove DirectX, and I don't know how to do that.

Can DirectX 9.0 be uninstalled?

Thanks.

"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
When a program works in safe but not normal mode, that is normally an
indication that something else that starts in normal but not safe mode is
causing the problem. Use the technique in this article to try to pinpoint
what is running that causes the problem:

How to Perform Clean-Boot Troubleshooting for Windows 98
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=192926


--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo

"Bill H." wrote in message
...
Ran the windows update on a win98 (first) edition. First thing
downloaded
was MSIE 6.1. Rebooted, then went back for all the critical updates.

First, got directX 9.0. After rebooting , the game Freecell will
launch,
but
the cursor remains an hour glass anywhere inside the window border. The
title bar, however, will show an arrow cursor, thus we can click on
"Game"
but that's about it. Also, the title bar only shows the last two
letters
of
"FreeCell"

Rebooted in safe mode, and FreeCell will work there, but of course we
don't
want to work in safe mode! But, maybe that's a clue. Game worked fine
before these two update were applied. I'm presuming that the MSIE
update
was not a factor, but I am leaning toward the DirectX 9.0 Can that be
removed?

Haven't gone back to get the other critical updates yet.

Any idea what went wrong or how to fix?

Thanks.

--
Bill

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en
Says in part: The DirectX 9.0b runtime cannot be uninstalled.

You may be right but then again it may be something else that is starting at
boot that is causing a problem now that you have done a couple of updates.

--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo

"Bill H." wrote in message
...
Well, the only problem with this approach, is that the only changes were
updates to MSIE and the DirectX 9.0 upgrade.

If they are causing the problem, which would seem likely, how can that
possibly be fixed, unless I remove DirectX, and I don't know how to do
that.

Can DirectX 9.0 be uninstalled?

Thanks.

"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
When a program works in safe but not normal mode, that is normally an
indication that something else that starts in normal but not safe mode
is
causing the problem. Use the technique in this article to try to
pinpoint
what is running that causes the problem:

How to Perform Clean-Boot Troubleshooting for Windows 98
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=192926


--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo

"Bill H." wrote in message
...
Ran the windows update on a win98 (first) edition. First thing
downloaded
was MSIE 6.1. Rebooted, then went back for all the critical updates.

First, got directX 9.0. After rebooting , the game Freecell will
launch,
but
the cursor remains an hour glass anywhere inside the window border.
The
title bar, however, will show an arrow cursor, thus we can click on
"Game"
but that's about it. Also, the title bar only shows the last two
letters
of
"FreeCell"

Rebooted in safe mode, and FreeCell will work there, but of course we
don't
want to work in safe mode! But, maybe that's a clue. Game worked
fine
before these two update were applied. I'm presuming that the MSIE
update
was not a factor, but I am leaning toward the DirectX 9.0 Can that be
removed?

Haven't gone back to get the other critical updates yet.

Any idea what went wrong or how to fix?

Thanks.

--
Bill

Well, so far it appears that the mouse program that places a mouse icon in
the system tray is the culprit. I think it was labeled as pointer32 in the
list of startup items. Mouse still works as usual, and I even changed the
type and style of mouse to see if it stuck, and it did.

So for now I'm declaring the problem fixed.

Found out when I went back that the solitair game had a problem also where,
when the cards start to cascade down after a win, the program crashed. Don't
know if that's fixed since you have to win to see it, and it doesn't get
played much when freecell is working. :-)

Thanks.

"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en
Says in part: The DirectX 9.0b runtime cannot be uninstalled.

You may be right but then again it may be something else that is starting
at
boot that is causing a problem now that you have done a couple of updates.

--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo

"Bill H." wrote in message
...
Well, the only problem with this approach, is that the only changes were
updates to MSIE and the DirectX 9.0 upgrade.

If they are causing the problem, which would seem likely, how can that
possibly be fixed, unless I remove DirectX, and I don't know how to do
that.

Can DirectX 9.0 be uninstalled?

Thanks.

"Ron Badour" wrote in message
...
When a program works in safe but not normal mode, that is normally an
indication that something else that starts in normal but not safe mode
is
causing the problem. Use the technique in this article to try to
pinpoint
what is running that causes the problem:

How to Perform Clean-Boot Troubleshooting for Windows 98
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=192926


--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo

"Bill H." wrote in message
...
Ran the windows update on a win98 (first) edition. First thing
downloaded
was MSIE 6.1. Rebooted, then went back for all the critical
updates.

First, got directX 9.0. After rebooting , the game Freecell will
launch,
but
the cursor remains an hour glass anywhere inside the window border.
The
title bar, however, will show an arrow cursor, thus we can click on
"Game"
but that's about it. Also, the title bar only shows the last two
letters
of
"FreeCell"

Rebooted in safe mode, and FreeCell will work there, but of course
we
don't
want to work in safe mode! But, maybe that's a clue. Game worked
fine
before these two update were applied. I'm presuming that the MSIE
update
was not a factor, but I am leaning toward the DirectX 9.0 Can that
be
removed?

Haven't gone back to get the other critical updates yet.

Any idea what went wrong or how to fix?

Thanks.

--
Bill