Whoa. What was that? 98 load failure and....

All was well early this morning but just fired this thing back up a
short while ago and screen went black and comp shut itself down. Restarted
and got the Safe Mode screen with the options and a warning that 98 failed
to finish loading. Played a couple of *very large* games of solitaire and
tried the internet. "Unable to load page." Start button shut down
restart. May have started a little slower than usual but it did finish.
Desktop icons re-sized and re-arranged and some windows shrunk. Spybot S&D
found nothing.but new definitions *real* slow to load. AdAware SE and
Spyware Blaster OK and no problems found. AVG a bit slow and with a
different screen layout but nothing found there either. IE and OE
(obviously) OK.
A bit of sinility - what do you call it when reverting to previous
state of affairs? "Restore"? And are previous states automatically stored
or should I have been saving them on purpose ocassionaly ? Wish I could
restore myself sometimes.
Going to try and find the 'restore' option and give it a try but if its
not called 'restore' it might take a while to find it. Will try restart
again first and see what happens and maybe revisit Gary's "Clean Boot" too..
Any suggestions?

Did you actually start in Safe Mode, or did you choose Normal Mode
instead?
If you went into Safe Mode, that would account for most, if not all, of
your problems. Safe Mode doesn't load normal drivers. Video is lowest
resolution and performance. You also have no networking support unless
you chose Safe Mode w/ Networking. It also causes the Start Menu to
switch to Large buttons and that has to be changed back once you go into
Normal Mode.

The "Restore" option you're looking for is done by booting to Command
Prompt Only and then running the following:

SMARTDRV enter
SCANREG /RESTORE enter (Space after SCANREG)

Choose backup based upon date, not filename. Choose most recent one from
*before* the problem started.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"keith" wrote in message
...
All was well early this morning but just fired this thing back up
a
short while ago and screen went black and comp shut itself down.
Restarted
and got the Safe Mode screen with the options and a warning that 98
failed
to finish loading. Played a couple of *very large* games of solitaire
and
tried the internet. "Unable to load page." Start button shut down
restart. May have started a little slower than usual but it did
finish.
Desktop icons re-sized and re-arranged and some windows shrunk. Spybot
S&D
found nothing.but new definitions *real* slow to load. AdAware SE and
Spyware Blaster OK and no problems found. AVG a bit slow and with a
different screen layout but nothing found there either. IE and OE
(obviously) OK.
A bit of sinility - what do you call it when reverting to
previous
state of affairs? "Restore"? And are previous states automatically
stored
or should I have been saving them on purpose ocassionaly ? Wish I
could
restore myself sometimes.
Going to try and find the 'restore' option and give it a try but
if its
not called 'restore' it might take a while to find it. Will try
restart
again first and see what happens and maybe revisit Gary's "Clean Boot"
too..
Any suggestions?

When I restarted after the laod failure the computer went to the Safe
Mode, Normal Mode, etc., option screen. Left it on option 3 (Safe Mode) and
'enter'ed. Safe Mode is where I got the real large solitaire, large icons,
and the bum internet. Then I restarted (startshut downrestart) and got the
normal mode and the re-sized/re-arranged icons and smaller windows and ran
the different scans. Will probably have to re-size a window and 'Like
Current Window' again. Bin There and Dun Dat before.
Had second thoughts about restarting again and checked for replies
before doing anything more. Haven't tried you're Command Prompt Only,
SMARTDRV, etc. suggestion yet. That's next but will print an unfinished
letter to my sister first. I think thats the only thing I saved yesturday.
Just got a couple of updates from Spy Bot and/or AVG and/or Ad Aware, etc.
Will rerun those.
Thanks. Will post back after trying my hand at restore.
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
Did you actually start in Safe Mode, or did you choose Normal Mode
instead?
If you went into Safe Mode, that would account for most, if not all, of
your problems. Safe Mode doesn't load normal drivers. Video is lowest
resolution and performance. You also have no networking support unless
you chose Safe Mode w/ Networking. It also causes the Start Menu to
switch to Large buttons and that has to be changed back once you go into
Normal Mode.

The "Restore" option you're looking for is done by booting to Command
Prompt Only and then running the following:

SMARTDRV enter
SCANREG /RESTORE enter (Space after SCANREG)

Choose backup based upon date, not filename. Choose most recent one from
*before* the problem started.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"keith" wrote in message
...
All was well early this morning but just fired this thing back up
a
short while ago and screen went black and comp shut itself down.
Restarted
and got the Safe Mode screen with the options and a warning that 98
failed
to finish loading. Played a couple of *very large* games of solitaire
and
tried the internet. "Unable to load page." Start button shut down
restart. May have started a little slower than usual but it did
finish.
Desktop icons re-sized and re-arranged and some windows shrunk. Spybot
S&D
found nothing.but new definitions *real* slow to load. AdAware SE and
Spyware Blaster OK and no problems found. AVG a bit slow and with a
different screen layout but nothing found there either. IE and OE
(obviously) OK.
A bit of sinility - what do you call it when reverting to
previous
state of affairs? "Restore"? And are previous states automatically
stored
or should I have been saving them on purpose ocassionaly ? Wish I
could
restore myself sometimes.
Going to try and find the 'restore' option and give it a try but
if its
not called 'restore' it might take a while to find it. Will try
restart
again first and see what happens and maybe revisit Gary's "Clean Boot"
too..
Any suggestions?

"keith" wrote in message
...
When I restarted after the laod failure the computer went to the
Safe
Mode, Normal Mode, etc., option screen. Left it on option 3 (Safe
Mode) and
'enter'ed. Safe Mode is where I got the real large solitaire, large
icons,
and the bum internet.

That's Safe Mode doing what Safe Mode does. Safe Mode loads minimal
drivers, minimal background applications. It's not meant for normal use,
it's for trouble-shooting. Your Load Failure prompted the system to
suggest a Safe Mode trouble-shooting of the failure.

Then I restarted (startshut downrestart) and got the
normal mode and the re-sized/re-arranged icons and smaller windows and
ran
the different scans. Will probably have to re-size a window and 'Like
Current Window' again. Bin There and Dun Dat before.

Check to see if your usual video resolution is changed by booting into
Safe Mode and then back to Normal Mode.

Had second thoughts about restarting again and checked for replies
before doing anything more. Haven't tried you're Command Prompt Only,
SMARTDRV, etc. suggestion yet. That's next but will print an
unfinished
letter to my sister first. I think thats the only thing I saved
yesturday.
Just got a couple of updates from Spy Bot and/or AVG and/or Ad Aware,
etc.
Will rerun those.
Thanks. Will post back after trying my hand at restore.

The Start menu items will be "large icons" after returning from Safe
Mode to Normal Mode . It's always like that, and there's nothing to fix.
It's definitely a pain, but there's no remedy that I know of. Just use
Taskbar & Start Menu settings to switch back to Small icons.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm





"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
Did you actually start in Safe Mode, or did you choose Normal Mode
instead?
If you went into Safe Mode, that would account for most, if not all,
of
your problems. Safe Mode doesn't load normal drivers. Video is
lowest
resolution and performance. You also have no networking support
unless
you chose Safe Mode w/ Networking. It also causes the Start Menu to
switch to Large buttons and that has to be changed back once you go
into
Normal Mode.

The "Restore" option you're looking for is done by booting to
Command
Prompt Only and then running the following:

SMARTDRV enter
SCANREG /RESTORE enter (Space after SCANREG)

Choose backup based upon date, not filename. Choose most recent one
from
*before* the problem started.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"keith" wrote in message
...
All was well early this morning but just fired this thing
back up
a
short while ago and screen went black and comp shut itself down.
Restarted
and got the Safe Mode screen with the options and a warning that
98
failed
to finish loading. Played a couple of *very large* games of
solitaire
and
tried the internet. "Unable to load page." Start button shut
down
restart. May have started a little slower than usual but it did
finish.
Desktop icons re-sized and re-arranged and some windows shrunk.
Spybot
S&D
found nothing.but new definitions *real* slow to load. AdAware SE
and
Spyware Blaster OK and no problems found. AVG a bit slow and with
a
different screen layout but nothing found there either. IE and OE
(obviously) OK.
A bit of sinility - what do you call it when reverting to
previous
state of affairs? "Restore"? And are previous states
automatically
stored
or should I have been saving them on purpose ocassionaly ? Wish I
could
restore myself sometimes.
Going to try and find the 'restore' option and give it a try
but
if its
not called 'restore' it might take a while to find it. Will try
restart
again first and see what happens and maybe revisit Gary's "Clean
Boot"
too..
Any suggestions?

Well, I stumbled and fumbled into Command Prompt Only and had a short
list of dates to choose from. One was today the 16th and the others were the
13th, 14th, and 15th. Picked the 15th. When I got back to the desktop, AVG
was missing from the sys tray by the clock but AVG was checking the boot
sequence and I could 'find' numerous AVG listings with startfindAVG. That
seemed odd and thought I'd try another date.Had a heck of a time getting
back to Command Prompt Only for another date (this is the machine that
doesn't find the main drive on first try and needs F1 to continue) and it
turns out the 13th, 14th, and 15th were JULY '04.
If I hold F8 or Ctrl during boot the sytem beeps like a stuck key when
it gets to the 'F1 to continue' stage so I release the F8 or Ctrl key and it
gets tricky or I get lucky getting back to the start up menu with the safe
mode, normal mode, etc options. I swear there are only the four dates to
choose from; the three from last July and the one from earlier today. Picked
the one from earlier today to get the AVG icon back.
Don't know what my next move will be or should be. Have been tempted for
a few months to get a newer used machine. Maybe thats the move. Or maybe
I'll just watch tonights NHL / Red Wings game and sleep on the computer
problem and try again in the morning.
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
"keith" wrote in message
...
When I restarted after the laod failure the computer went to the
Safe
Mode, Normal Mode, etc., option screen. Left it on option 3 (Safe
Mode) and
'enter'ed. Safe Mode is where I got the real large solitaire, large
icons,
and the bum internet.

That's Safe Mode doing what Safe Mode does. Safe Mode loads minimal
drivers, minimal background applications. It's not meant for normal use,
it's for trouble-shooting. Your Load Failure prompted the system to
suggest a Safe Mode trouble-shooting of the failure.

Then I restarted (startshut downrestart) and got the
normal mode and the re-sized/re-arranged icons and smaller windows and
ran
the different scans. Will probably have to re-size a window and 'Like
Current Window' again. Bin There and Dun Dat before.

Check to see if your usual video resolution is changed by booting into
Safe Mode and then back to Normal Mode.

Had second thoughts about restarting again and checked for replies
before doing anything more. Haven't tried you're Command Prompt Only,
SMARTDRV, etc. suggestion yet. That's next but will print an
unfinished
letter to my sister first. I think thats the only thing I saved
yesturday.
Just got a couple of updates from Spy Bot and/or AVG and/or Ad Aware,
etc.
Will rerun those.
Thanks. Will post back after trying my hand at restore.

The Start menu items will be "large icons" after returning from Safe
Mode to Normal Mode . It's always like that, and there's nothing to fix.
It's definitely a pain, but there's no remedy that I know of. Just use
Taskbar & Start Menu settings to switch back to Small icons.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm





"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
Did you actually start in Safe Mode, or did you choose Normal Mode
instead?
If you went into Safe Mode, that would account for most, if not all,
of
your problems. Safe Mode doesn't load normal drivers. Video is
lowest
resolution and performance. You also have no networking support
unless
you chose Safe Mode w/ Networking. It also causes the Start Menu to
switch to Large buttons and that has to be changed back once you go
into
Normal Mode.

The "Restore" option you're looking for is done by booting to
Command
Prompt Only and then running the following:

SMARTDRV enter
SCANREG /RESTORE enter (Space after SCANREG)

Choose backup based upon date, not filename. Choose most recent one
from
*before* the problem started.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"keith" wrote in message
...
All was well early this morning but just fired this thing
back up
a
short while ago and screen went black and comp shut itself down.
Restarted
and got the Safe Mode screen with the options and a warning that
98
failed
to finish loading. Played a couple of *very large* games of
solitaire
and
tried the internet. "Unable to load page." Start button shut
down
restart. May have started a little slower than usual but it did
finish.
Desktop icons re-sized and re-arranged and some windows shrunk.
Spybot
S&D
found nothing.but new definitions *real* slow to load. AdAware SE
and
Spyware Blaster OK and no problems found. AVG a bit slow and with
a
different screen layout but nothing found there either. IE and OE
(obviously) OK.
A bit of sinility - what do you call it when reverting to
previous
state of affairs? "Restore"? And are previous states
automatically
stored
or should I have been saving them on purpose ocassionaly ? Wish I
could
restore myself sometimes.
Going to try and find the 'restore' option and give it a try
but
if its
not called 'restore' it might take a while to find it. Will try
restart
again first and see what happens and maybe revisit Gary's "Clean
Boot"
too..
Any suggestions?

First of all, I don't think you really needed a Registry Restore, and
that's what SCANREG /RESTORE does. (Also restores backed up copies of
other primary configuration files like MSDOS.SYS, WIN.INI and
SYSTEM.INI. It does *not* restore any other files unless you
specifically tell it to using SCANREG.INI. The only way to get that kind
of backup in Windows 98 is to use a backup or imaging utility.)

Since their wasn't likely anything wrong with your Registry that
couldn't be fixed with the methods I already described (Display Settings
and/or Taskbar and Start Menu settings), there was no real need to do a
SCANREG /RESTORE. However, when you did the procedure, it saved the
existing files in a file called RBBAD.CAB in C:\Windows\SYSBCKUP (a
Hidden folder.) Was that by chance the name of the name of the backup
that you restored last, the one from earlier today, FEB. 16, 2005? Or
did it have a name like RB003.CAB, with three digits in place of BAD?

That you only had old backups suggests that your automatic Registry
Checker (SCANREGW) must have been disabled. Let me introduce you to
MSCONFIG, aka System Configuration Utility. You get there by typing
MSCONFIG into the Start\Run box. Once the app pops up, before you do
*anything*, look, just look, at what's checked, unchecked and/or grayed
on the General Panel. Then look at the Startup tab. Write down which
items are disabled (aren't checked) if any. You don't need to write down
the whole command line, just the names, so you know what to turn back
off later if needs be.

Important Note: When writing down disabled items, take note, also, if
any that are disabled has a twin that is enabled. Back on the General
tab, if any of the other items under "Selective Startup" (besides
Startup Programs) are checked but grayed, write down which ones, then go
to each one's corresponding tab and look for unchecked lines. Write down
what each of those unchecked lines, if any, says (I think you have to
click on the +plus sign by the checkbox to see the lines themselves.)
When you're sure you have made a note of all disabled items (anything
that's unchecked on any of the tabs), choose Normal Startup on the
General tab.

Next, to make getting into the Startup Menu easy (where Safe Mode,
Command Line Only, etc. launch from), click on the Advanced button on
the General tab of MSCONFIG and check "Enable Startup Menu". You can
either leave it that way, or disable it when you don't need the Startup
Menu, or I can tell you a couple of tricks for making it appear at every
boot, but for a shorter time than the default 30 seconds. Click OK to
get back to General tab. Finally, click OK but *do_not* restart when
prompted to.

Next, run System Information (MSINFO32) from the Start\Run box. Expand
(click the + sign by) Software Environment, then click on Startup
Programs. Click anywhere in the right-hand pane, then press Ctrl-A. Then
press Ctrl-C. Then open a reply to this post and use Ctrl-V to paste in
the Startup info. Go back to the top of the message and add your list of
what was disabled in MSCONFIG before you re-enabled Normal Startup.

Close MSINFO32 (System Information), then run MSCONFIG again and disable
all of the items from your previous list. You want to put it back the
way it was until we can comment on the list, in case one or more things
*need* to be disabled. EXCEPTION: If there were two of an item in
MSCONFIG Startup tab, those twins I told you to take note of if there
was one enabled and one disabled, and there is now only one in the list
(enabled), leave it enabled. When there's one enabled and one disabled,
that indicates that it was at one time disabled using MSCONFIG, but then
re-enabled using settings from elsewhere. Until you re-enable all, there
will be two entries, one enabled and one disabled, but when you
re-enable all, the duplications disappear.

Finally, send the post.

To recap: The effects you saw that caused you to write us in the first
place are probably the usual effects of a visit to Safe Mode. You should
be able to put them back the way they belong using
StartSettingsTaskbar and Start Menu or StartSettingsControl
PanelDisplay, Settings tab. You *probably* didn't need a Registry
restore, but so long as you really restored back a copy from today,
you're OK. You did, right? Restore a backup dated today?

Once you've checked the locations I mentioned in order to change the
display settings back to what they should be, and you have posted the
startup list for review, along with anything that is still bothering you
with the display and layout of your system after using the methods I
suggested for remedy, we can offer suggestions as to what more needs to
be done.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"keith" wrote in message
...
Well, I stumbled and fumbled into Command Prompt Only and had a
short
list of dates to choose from. One was today the 16th and the others
were the
13th, 14th, and 15th. Picked the 15th. When I got back to the desktop,
AVG
was missing from the sys tray by the clock but AVG was checking the
boot
sequence and I could 'find' numerous AVG listings with startfindAVG.
That
seemed odd and thought I'd try another date.Had a heck of a time
getting
back to Command Prompt Only for another date (this is the machine that
doesn't find the main drive on first try and needs F1 to continue) and
it
turns out the 13th, 14th, and 15th were JULY '04.
If I hold F8 or Ctrl during boot the sytem beeps like a stuck key
when
it gets to the 'F1 to continue' stage so I release the F8 or Ctrl key
and it
gets tricky or I get lucky getting back to the start up menu with the
safe
mode, normal mode, etc options. I swear there are only the four dates
to
choose from; the three from last July and the one from earlier today.
Picked
the one from earlier today to get the AVG icon back.
Don't know what my next move will be or should be. Have been
tempted for
a few months to get a newer used machine. Maybe thats the move. Or
maybe
I'll just watch tonights NHL / Red Wings game and sleep on the
computer
problem and try again in the morning.
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
"keith" wrote in message
...
When I restarted after the laod failure the computer went to
the
Safe
Mode, Normal Mode, etc., option screen. Left it on option 3 (Safe
Mode) and
'enter'ed. Safe Mode is where I got the real large solitaire,
large
icons,
and the bum internet.

That's Safe Mode doing what Safe Mode does. Safe Mode loads minimal
drivers, minimal background applications. It's not meant for normal
use,
it's for trouble-shooting. Your Load Failure prompted the system to
suggest a Safe Mode trouble-shooting of the failure.

Then I restarted (startshut downrestart) and got the
normal mode and the re-sized/re-arranged icons and smaller windows
and
ran
the different scans. Will probably have to re-size a window and
'Like
Current Window' again. Bin There and Dun Dat before.

Check to see if your usual video resolution is changed by booting
into
Safe Mode and then back to Normal Mode.

Had second thoughts about restarting again and checked for
replies
before doing anything more. Haven't tried you're Command Prompt
Only,
SMARTDRV, etc. suggestion yet. That's next but will print an
unfinished
letter to my sister first. I think thats the only thing I saved
yesturday.
Just got a couple of updates from Spy Bot and/or AVG and/or Ad
Aware,
etc.
Will rerun those.
Thanks. Will post back after trying my hand at restore.

The Start menu items will be "large icons" after returning from Safe
Mode to Normal Mode . It's always like that, and there's nothing to
fix.
It's definitely a pain, but there's no remedy that I know of. Just
use
Taskbar & Start Menu settings to switch back to Small icons.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm





"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
Did you actually start in Safe Mode, or did you choose Normal
Mode
instead?
If you went into Safe Mode, that would account for most, if not
all,
of
your problems. Safe Mode doesn't load normal drivers. Video is
lowest
resolution and performance. You also have no networking support
unless
you chose Safe Mode w/ Networking. It also causes the Start Menu
to
switch to Large buttons and that has to be changed back once you
go
into
Normal Mode.

The "Restore" option you're looking for is done by booting to
Command
Prompt Only and then running the following:

SMARTDRV enter
SCANREG /RESTORE enter (Space after SCANREG)

Choose backup based upon date, not filename. Choose most recent
one
from
*before* the problem started.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"keith" wrote in message
...
All was well early this morning but just fired this thing
back up
a
short while ago and screen went black and comp shut itself
down.
Restarted
and got the Safe Mode screen with the options and a warning
that
98
failed
to finish loading. Played a couple of *very large* games of
solitaire
and
tried the internet. "Unable to load page." Start button
shut
down
restart. May have started a little slower than usual but it
did
finish.
Desktop icons re-sized and re-arranged and some windows
shrunk.
Spybot
S&D
found nothing.but new definitions *real* slow to load.
AdAware SE
and
Spyware Blaster OK and no problems found. AVG a bit slow and
with
a
different screen layout but nothing found there either. IE and
OE
(obviously) OK.
A bit of sinility - what do you call it when reverting to
previous
state of affairs? "Restore"? And are previous states
automatically
stored
or should I have been saving them on purpose ocassionaly ?
Wish I
could
restore myself sometimes.
Going to try and find the 'restore' option and give it a
try
but
if its
not called 'restore' it might take a while to find it. Will
try
restart
again first and see what happens and maybe revisit Gary's
"Clean
Boot"
too..
Any suggestions?

Wow. Thanks for your most generous reply(ies). Might take a while to get
thru the steps and get back to you. What am I doing up at four in the
morning? Maybe it was the midnight coffee. Might as well have some more.
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
First of all, I don't think you really needed a Registry Restore, and
that's what SCANREG /RESTORE does. (Also restores backed up copies of
other primary configuration files like MSDOS.SYS, WIN.INI and
SYSTEM.INI. It does *not* restore any other files unless you
specifically tell it to using SCANREG.INI. The only way to get that kind
of backup in Windows 98 is to use a backup or imaging utility.)

Since their wasn't likely anything wrong with your Registry that
couldn't be fixed with the methods I already described (Display Settings
and/or Taskbar and Start Menu settings), there was no real need to do a
SCANREG /RESTORE. However, when you did the procedure, it saved the
existing files in a file called RBBAD.CAB in C:\Windows\SYSBCKUP (a
Hidden folder.) Was that by chance the name of the name of the backup
that you restored last, the one from earlier today, FEB. 16, 2005? Or
did it have a name like RB003.CAB, with three digits in place of BAD?

That you only had old backups suggests that your automatic Registry
Checker (SCANREGW) must have been disabled. Let me introduce you to
MSCONFIG, aka System Configuration Utility. You get there by typing
MSCONFIG into the Start\Run box. Once the app pops up, before you do
*anything*, look, just look, at what's checked, unchecked and/or grayed
on the General Panel. Then look at the Startup tab. Write down which
items are disabled (aren't checked) if any. You don't need to write down
the whole command line, just the names, so you know what to turn back
off later if needs be.

Important Note: When writing down disabled items, take note, also, if
any that are disabled has a twin that is enabled. Back on the General
tab, if any of the other items under "Selective Startup" (besides
Startup Programs) are checked but grayed, write down which ones, then go
to each one's corresponding tab and look for unchecked lines. Write down
what each of those unchecked lines, if any, says (I think you have to
click on the +plus sign by the checkbox to see the lines themselves.)
When you're sure you have made a note of all disabled items (anything
that's unchecked on any of the tabs), choose Normal Startup on the
General tab.

Next, to make getting into the Startup Menu easy (where Safe Mode,
Command Line Only, etc. launch from), click on the Advanced button on
the General tab of MSCONFIG and check "Enable Startup Menu". You can
either leave it that way, or disable it when you don't need the Startup
Menu, or I can tell you a couple of tricks for making it appear at every
boot, but for a shorter time than the default 30 seconds. Click OK to
get back to General tab. Finally, click OK but *do_not* restart when
prompted to.

Next, run System Information (MSINFO32) from the Start\Run box. Expand
(click the + sign by) Software Environment, then click on Startup
Programs. Click anywhere in the right-hand pane, then press Ctrl-A. Then
press Ctrl-C. Then open a reply to this post and use Ctrl-V to paste in
the Startup info. Go back to the top of the message and add your list of
what was disabled in MSCONFIG before you re-enabled Normal Startup.

Close MSINFO32 (System Information), then run MSCONFIG again and disable
all of the items from your previous list. You want to put it back the
way it was until we can comment on the list, in case one or more things
*need* to be disabled. EXCEPTION: If there were two of an item in
MSCONFIG Startup tab, those twins I told you to take note of if there
was one enabled and one disabled, and there is now only one in the list
(enabled), leave it enabled. When there's one enabled and one disabled,
that indicates that it was at one time disabled using MSCONFIG, but then
re-enabled using settings from elsewhere. Until you re-enable all, there
will be two entries, one enabled and one disabled, but when you
re-enable all, the duplications disappear.

Finally, send the post.

To recap: The effects you saw that caused you to write us in the first
place are probably the usual effects of a visit to Safe Mode. You should
be able to put them back the way they belong using
StartSettingsTaskbar and Start Menu or StartSettingsControl
PanelDisplay, Settings tab. You *probably* didn't need a Registry
restore, but so long as you really restored back a copy from today,
you're OK. You did, right? Restore a backup dated today?

Once you've checked the locations I mentioned in order to change the
display settings back to what they should be, and you have posted the
startup list for review, along with anything that is still bothering you
with the display and layout of your system after using the methods I
suggested for remedy, we can offer suggestions as to what more needs to
be done.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"keith" wrote in message
...
Well, I stumbled and fumbled into Command Prompt Only and had a
short
list of dates to choose from. One was today the 16th and the others
were the
13th, 14th, and 15th. Picked the 15th. When I got back to the desktop,
AVG
was missing from the sys tray by the clock but AVG was checking the
boot
sequence and I could 'find' numerous AVG listings with startfindAVG.
That
seemed odd and thought I'd try another date.Had a heck of a time
getting
back to Command Prompt Only for another date (this is the machine that
doesn't find the main drive on first try and needs F1 to continue) and
it
turns out the 13th, 14th, and 15th were JULY '04.
If I hold F8 or Ctrl during boot the sytem beeps like a stuck key
when
it gets to the 'F1 to continue' stage so I release the F8 or Ctrl key
and it
gets tricky or I get lucky getting back to the start up menu with the
safe
mode, normal mode, etc options. I swear there are only the four dates
to
choose from; the three from last July and the one from earlier today.
Picked
the one from earlier today to get the AVG icon back.
Don't know what my next move will be or should be. Have been
tempted for
a few months to get a newer used machine. Maybe thats the move. Or
maybe
I'll just watch tonights NHL / Red Wings game and sleep on the
computer
problem and try again in the morning.
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
"keith" wrote in message
...
When I restarted after the laod failure the computer went to
the
Safe
Mode, Normal Mode, etc., option screen. Left it on option 3 (Safe
Mode) and
'enter'ed. Safe Mode is where I got the real large solitaire,
large
icons,
and the bum internet.

That's Safe Mode doing what Safe Mode does. Safe Mode loads minimal
drivers, minimal background applications. It's not meant for normal
use,
it's for trouble-shooting. Your Load Failure prompted the system to
suggest a Safe Mode trouble-shooting of the failure.

Then I restarted (startshut downrestart) and got the
normal mode and the re-sized/re-arranged icons and smaller windows
and
ran
the different scans. Will probably have to re-size a window and
'Like
Current Window' again. Bin There and Dun Dat before.

Check to see if your usual video resolution is changed by booting
into
Safe Mode and then back to Normal Mode.

Had second thoughts about restarting again and checked for
replies
before doing anything more. Haven't tried you're Command Prompt
Only,
SMARTDRV, etc. suggestion yet. That's next but will print an
unfinished
letter to my sister first. I think thats the only thing I saved
yesturday.
Just got a couple of updates from Spy Bot and/or AVG and/or Ad
Aware,
etc.
Will rerun those.
Thanks. Will post back after trying my hand at restore.

The Start menu items will be "large icons" after returning from Safe
Mode to Normal Mode . It's always like that, and there's nothing to
fix.
It's definitely a pain, but there's no remedy that I know of. Just
use
Taskbar & Start Menu settings to switch back to Small icons.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm





"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
Did you actually start in Safe Mode, or did you choose Normal
Mode
instead?
If you went into Safe Mode, that would account for most, if not
all,
of
your problems. Safe Mode doesn't load normal drivers. Video is
lowest
resolution and performance. You also have no networking support
unless
you chose Safe Mode w/ Networking. It also causes the Start Menu
to
switch to Large buttons and that has to be changed back once you
go
into
Normal Mode.

The "Restore" option you're looking for is done by booting to
Command
Prompt Only and then running the following:

SMARTDRV enter
SCANREG /RESTORE enter (Space after SCANREG)

Choose backup based upon date, not filename. Choose most recent
one
from
*before* the problem started.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"keith" wrote in message
...
All was well early this morning but just fired this thing
back up
a
short while ago and screen went black and comp shut itself
down.
Restarted
and got the Safe Mode screen with the options and a warning
that
98
failed
to finish loading. Played a couple of *very large* games of
solitaire
and
tried the internet. "Unable to load page." Start button
shut
down
restart. May have started a little slower than usual but it
did
finish.
Desktop icons re-sized and re-arranged and some windows
shrunk.
Spybot
S&D
found nothing.but new definitions *real* slow to load.
AdAware SE
and
Spyware Blaster OK and no problems found. AVG a bit slow and
with
a
different screen layout but nothing found there either. IE and
OE
(obviously) OK.
A bit of sinility - what do you call it when reverting to
previous
state of affairs? "Restore"? And are previous states
automatically
stored
or should I have been saving them on purpose ocassionaly ?
Wish I
could
restore myself sometimes.
Going to try and find the 'restore' option and give it a
try
but
if its
not called 'restore' it might take a while to find it. Will
try
restart
again first and see what happens and maybe revisit Gary's
"Clean
Boot"
too..
Any suggestions?

No rush--It's now 3 am on the Left Coast and I'm not likely to be back
for 6 or 7 hours my own self. Gotta snooze sometime.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"keith" wrote in message
...
Wow. Thanks for your most generous reply(ies). Might take a while to
get
thru the steps and get back to you. What am I doing up at four in the
morning? Maybe it was the midnight coffee. Might as well have some
more.
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
First of all, I don't think you really needed a Registry Restore,
and
that's what SCANREG /RESTORE does. (Also restores backed up copies
of
other primary configuration files like MSDOS.SYS, WIN.INI and
SYSTEM.INI. It does *not* restore any other files unless you
specifically tell it to using SCANREG.INI. The only way to get that
kind
of backup in Windows 98 is to use a backup or imaging utility.)

Since their wasn't likely anything wrong with your Registry that
couldn't be fixed with the methods I already described (Display
Settings
and/or Taskbar and Start Menu settings), there was no real need to
do a
SCANREG /RESTORE. However, when you did the procedure, it saved the
existing files in a file called RBBAD.CAB in C:\Windows\SYSBCKUP (a
Hidden folder.) Was that by chance the name of the name of the
backup
that you restored last, the one from earlier today, FEB. 16, 2005?
Or
did it have a name like RB003.CAB, with three digits in place of
BAD?

That you only had old backups suggests that your automatic Registry
Checker (SCANREGW) must have been disabled. Let me introduce you to
MSCONFIG, aka System Configuration Utility. You get there by typing
MSCONFIG into the Start\Run box. Once the app pops up, before you do
*anything*, look, just look, at what's checked, unchecked and/or
grayed
on the General Panel. Then look at the Startup tab. Write down which
items are disabled (aren't checked) if any. You don't need to write
down
the whole command line, just the names, so you know what to turn
back
off later if needs be.

Important Note: When writing down disabled items, take note, also,
if
any that are disabled has a twin that is enabled. Back on the
General
tab, if any of the other items under "Selective Startup" (besides
Startup Programs) are checked but grayed, write down which ones,
then go
to each one's corresponding tab and look for unchecked lines. Write
down
what each of those unchecked lines, if any, says (I think you have
to
click on the +plus sign by the checkbox to see the lines
themselves.)
When you're sure you have made a note of all disabled items
(anything
that's unchecked on any of the tabs), choose Normal Startup on the
General tab.

Next, to make getting into the Startup Menu easy (where Safe Mode,
Command Line Only, etc. launch from), click on the Advanced button
on
the General tab of MSCONFIG and check "Enable Startup Menu". You can
either leave it that way, or disable it when you don't need the
Startup
Menu, or I can tell you a couple of tricks for making it appear at
every
boot, but for a shorter time than the default 30 seconds. Click OK
to
get back to General tab. Finally, click OK but *do_not* restart when
prompted to.

Next, run System Information (MSINFO32) from the Start\Run box.
Expand
(click the + sign by) Software Environment, then click on Startup
Programs. Click anywhere in the right-hand pane, then press Ctrl-A.
Then
press Ctrl-C. Then open a reply to this post and use Ctrl-V to paste
in
the Startup info. Go back to the top of the message and add your
list of
what was disabled in MSCONFIG before you re-enabled Normal Startup.

Close MSINFO32 (System Information), then run MSCONFIG again and
disable
all of the items from your previous list. You want to put it back
the
way it was until we can comment on the list, in case one or more
things
*need* to be disabled. EXCEPTION: If there were two of an item in
MSCONFIG Startup tab, those twins I told you to take note of if
there
was one enabled and one disabled, and there is now only one in the
list
(enabled), leave it enabled. When there's one enabled and one
disabled,
that indicates that it was at one time disabled using MSCONFIG, but
then
re-enabled using settings from elsewhere. Until you re-enable all,
there
will be two entries, one enabled and one disabled, but when you
re-enable all, the duplications disappear.

Finally, send the post.

To recap: The effects you saw that caused you to write us in the
first
place are probably the usual effects of a visit to Safe Mode. You
should
be able to put them back the way they belong using
StartSettingsTaskbar and Start Menu or StartSettingsControl
PanelDisplay, Settings tab. You *probably* didn't need a Registry
restore, but so long as you really restored back a copy from today,
you're OK. You did, right? Restore a backup dated today?

Once you've checked the locations I mentioned in order to change the
display settings back to what they should be, and you have posted
the
startup list for review, along with anything that is still bothering
you
with the display and layout of your system after using the methods I
suggested for remedy, we can offer suggestions as to what more needs
to
be done.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"keith" wrote in message
...
Well, I stumbled and fumbled into Command Prompt Only and had
a
short
list of dates to choose from. One was today the 16th and the
others
were the
13th, 14th, and 15th. Picked the 15th. When I got back to the
desktop,
AVG
was missing from the sys tray by the clock but AVG was checking
the
boot
sequence and I could 'find' numerous AVG listings with
startfindAVG.
That
seemed odd and thought I'd try another date.Had a heck of a time
getting
back to Command Prompt Only for another date (this is the machine
that
doesn't find the main drive on first try and needs F1 to continue)
and
it
turns out the 13th, 14th, and 15th were JULY '04.
If I hold F8 or Ctrl during boot the sytem beeps like a stuck
key
when
it gets to the 'F1 to continue' stage so I release the F8 or Ctrl
key
and it
gets tricky or I get lucky getting back to the start up menu with
the
safe
mode, normal mode, etc options. I swear there are only the four
dates
to
choose from; the three from last July and the one from earlier
today.
Picked
the one from earlier today to get the AVG icon back.
Don't know what my next move will be or should be. Have been
tempted for
a few months to get a newer used machine. Maybe thats the move. Or
maybe
I'll just watch tonights NHL / Red Wings game and sleep on the
computer
problem and try again in the morning.
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
"keith" wrote in message
...
When I restarted after the laod failure the computer went
to
the
Safe
Mode, Normal Mode, etc., option screen. Left it on option 3
(Safe
Mode) and
'enter'ed. Safe Mode is where I got the real large solitaire,
large
icons,
and the bum internet.

That's Safe Mode doing what Safe Mode does. Safe Mode loads
minimal
drivers, minimal background applications. It's not meant for
normal
use,
it's for trouble-shooting. Your Load Failure prompted the system
to
suggest a Safe Mode trouble-shooting of the failure.

Then I restarted (startshut downrestart) and got the
normal mode and the re-sized/re-arranged icons and smaller
windows
and
ran
the different scans. Will probably have to re-size a window
and
'Like
Current Window' again. Bin There and Dun Dat before.

Check to see if your usual video resolution is changed by
booting
into
Safe Mode and then back to Normal Mode.

Had second thoughts about restarting again and checked for
replies
before doing anything more. Haven't tried you're Command
Prompt
Only,
SMARTDRV, etc. suggestion yet. That's next but will print an
unfinished
letter to my sister first. I think thats the only thing I
saved
yesturday.
Just got a couple of updates from Spy Bot and/or AVG and/or Ad
Aware,
etc.
Will rerun those.
Thanks. Will post back after trying my hand at restore.

The Start menu items will be "large icons" after returning from
Safe
Mode to Normal Mode . It's always like that, and there's nothing
to
fix.
It's definitely a pain, but there's no remedy that I know of.
Just
use
Taskbar & Start Menu settings to switch back to Small icons.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm





"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
Did you actually start in Safe Mode, or did you choose
Normal
Mode
instead?
If you went into Safe Mode, that would account for most, if
not
all,
of
your problems. Safe Mode doesn't load normal drivers. Video
is
lowest
resolution and performance. You also have no networking
support
unless
you chose Safe Mode w/ Networking. It also causes the Start
Menu
to
switch to Large buttons and that has to be changed back once
you
go
into
Normal Mode.

The "Restore" option you're looking for is done by booting
to
Command
Prompt Only and then running the following:

SMARTDRV enter
SCANREG /RESTORE enter (Space after SCANREG)

Choose backup based upon date, not filename. Choose most
recent
one
from
*before* the problem started.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"keith" wrote in message
...
All was well early this morning but just fired this
thing
back up
a
short while ago and screen went black and comp shut itself
down.
Restarted
and got the Safe Mode screen with the options and a
warning
that
98
failed
to finish loading. Played a couple of *very large* games
of
solitaire
and
tried the internet. "Unable to load page." Start button
shut
down
restart. May have started a little slower than usual but
it
did
finish.
Desktop icons re-sized and re-arranged and some windows
shrunk.
Spybot
S&D
found nothing.but new definitions *real* slow to load.
AdAware SE
and
Spyware Blaster OK and no problems found. AVG a bit slow
and
with
a
different screen layout but nothing found there either. IE
and
OE
(obviously) OK.
A bit of sinility - what do you call it when
reverting to
previous
state of affairs? "Restore"? And are previous states
automatically
stored
or should I have been saving them on purpose ocassionaly ?
Wish I
could
restore myself sometimes.
Going to try and find the 'restore' option and give
it a
try
but
if its
not called 'restore' it might take a while to find it.
Will
try
restart
again first and see what happens and maybe revisit Gary's
"Clean
Boot"
too..
Any suggestions?

First things first.
Thanks a heap.
It was an RB(3 digit) cab file.
Startup Menu now showing at boot. 30 seconds isn't too bad.
Seem to have lost an hour on the computer clock.

And now the rest: Hope the 'columns' line up.

MSCONFIG
Selective Start Up *(list A)
Process configsys file gray, no check tab shows no
listings, just blank white pane
Process autoexec.bat file white, checked tab shows ALL
expanded items checked
Process winstart.bat file gray, no check No tab
Process system ini file white, checked tab shows
ALL expanded items checkd
Process win ini file white, checked tab shows
ALL expanded items checked
Load start up group items gray, checked
Start-up tab
Checked *(list B) (Alt/Ctrl/Del usually shows just
Explorer, AVGcc, AVGemc, and systray.)
System Tray
AVG7_CC
AVG7_EMC
AVG7_AMSVR
TkBellexe **** twin
Unchecked *(list C)
EPSON Status Monitor 3
TkBellExe **** twin
TaskMonitor
AdaptecDirectCD
ScanRegistry
LoadPowerProfile
QuickTime Task
ashMaiSv
SAgent2ExePath
defwatch
LoadPowerProfile
rtvscn95

* Question. Your last paragraph before recap - ...'then run MSCONFIG
again and disable all of the items from your previous list.'
Which list? A, B, or C?

Comment. No win98 load failure since that one time. So far so good
and maybe still a few preferences to reset.



"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
No rush--It's now 3 am on the Left Coast and I'm not likely to be back
for 6 or 7 hours my own self. Gotta snooze sometime.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"keith" wrote in message
...
Wow. Thanks for your most generous reply(ies). Might take a while to
get
thru the steps and get back to you. What am I doing up at four in the
morning? Maybe it was the midnight coffee. Might as well have some
more.
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
First of all, I don't think you really needed a Registry Restore,
and
that's what SCANREG /RESTORE does. (Also restores backed up copies
of
other primary configuration files like MSDOS.SYS, WIN.INI and
SYSTEM.INI. It does *not* restore any other files unless you
specifically tell it to using SCANREG.INI. The only way to get that
kind
of backup in Windows 98 is to use a backup or imaging utility.)

Since their wasn't likely anything wrong with your Registry that
couldn't be fixed with the methods I already described (Display
Settings
and/or Taskbar and Start Menu settings), there was no real need to
do a
SCANREG /RESTORE. However, when you did the procedure, it saved the
existing files in a file called RBBAD.CAB in C:\Windows\SYSBCKUP (a
Hidden folder.) Was that by chance the name of the name of the
backup
that you restored last, the one from earlier today, FEB. 16, 2005?
Or
did it have a name like RB003.CAB, with three digits in place of
BAD?

That you only had old backups suggests that your automatic Registry
Checker (SCANREGW) must have been disabled. Let me introduce you to
MSCONFIG, aka System Configuration Utility. You get there by typing
MSCONFIG into the Start\Run box. Once the app pops up, before you do
*anything*, look, just look, at what's checked, unchecked and/or
grayed
on the General Panel. Then look at the Startup tab. Write down which
items are disabled (aren't checked) if any. You don't need to write
down
the whole command line, just the names, so you know what to turn
back
off later if needs be.

Important Note: When writing down disabled items, take note, also,
if
any that are disabled has a twin that is enabled. Back on the
General
tab, if any of the other items under "Selective Startup" (besides
Startup Programs) are checked but grayed, write down which ones,
then go
to each one's corresponding tab and look for unchecked lines. Write
down
what each of those unchecked lines, if any, says (I think you have
to
click on the +plus sign by the checkbox to see the lines
themselves.)
When you're sure you have made a note of all disabled items
(anything
that's unchecked on any of the tabs), choose Normal Startup on the
General tab.

Next, to make getting into the Startup Menu easy (where Safe Mode,
Command Line Only, etc. launch from), click on the Advanced button
on
the General tab of MSCONFIG and check "Enable Startup Menu". You can
either leave it that way, or disable it when you don't need the
Startup
Menu, or I can tell you a couple of tricks for making it appear at
every
boot, but for a shorter time than the default 30 seconds. Click OK
to
get back to General tab. Finally, click OK but *do_not* restart when
prompted to.

Next, run System Information (MSINFO32) from the Start\Run box.
Expand
(click the + sign by) Software Environment, then click on Startup
Programs. Click anywhere in the right-hand pane, then press Ctrl-A.
Then
press Ctrl-C. Then open a reply to this post and use Ctrl-V to paste
in
the Startup info. Go back to the top of the message and add your
list of
what was disabled in MSCONFIG before you re-enabled Normal Startup.

Close MSINFO32 (System Information), then run MSCONFIG again and
disable
all of the items from your previous list. You want to put it back
the
way it was until we can comment on the list, in case one or more
things
*need* to be disabled. EXCEPTION: If there were two of an item in
MSCONFIG Startup tab, those twins I told you to take note of if
there
was one enabled and one disabled, and there is now only one in the
list
(enabled), leave it enabled. When there's one enabled and one
disabled,
that indicates that it was at one time disabled using MSCONFIG, but
then
re-enabled using settings from elsewhere. Until you re-enable all,
there
will be two entries, one enabled and one disabled, but when you
re-enable all, the duplications disappear.

Finally, send the post.

To recap: The effects you saw that caused you to write us in the
first
place are probably the usual effects of a visit to Safe Mode. You
should
be able to put them back the way they belong using
StartSettingsTaskbar and Start Menu or StartSettingsControl
PanelDisplay, Settings tab. You *probably* didn't need a Registry
restore, but so long as you really restored back a copy from today,
you're OK. You did, right? Restore a backup dated today?

Once you've checked the locations I mentioned in order to change the
display settings back to what they should be, and you have posted
the
startup list for review, along with anything that is still bothering
you
with the display and layout of your system after using the methods I
suggested for remedy, we can offer suggestions as to what more needs
to
be done.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"keith" wrote in message
...
Well, I stumbled and fumbled into Command Prompt Only and had
a
short
list of dates to choose from. One was today the 16th and the
others
were the
13th, 14th, and 15th. Picked the 15th. When I got back to the
desktop,
AVG
was missing from the sys tray by the clock but AVG was checking
the
boot
sequence and I could 'find' numerous AVG listings with
startfindAVG.
That
seemed odd and thought I'd try another date.Had a heck of a time
getting
back to Command Prompt Only for another date (this is the machine
that
doesn't find the main drive on first try and needs F1 to continue)
and
it
turns out the 13th, 14th, and 15th were JULY '04.
If I hold F8 or Ctrl during boot the sytem beeps like a stuck
key
when
it gets to the 'F1 to continue' stage so I release the F8 or Ctrl
key
and it
gets tricky or I get lucky getting back to the start up menu with
the
safe
mode, normal mode, etc options. I swear there are only the four
dates
to
choose from; the three from last July and the one from earlier
today.
Picked
the one from earlier today to get the AVG icon back.
Don't know what my next move will be or should be. Have been
tempted for
a few months to get a newer used machine. Maybe thats the move. Or
maybe
I'll just watch tonights NHL / Red Wings game and sleep on the
computer
problem and try again in the morning.
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
"keith" wrote in message
...
When I restarted after the laod failure the computer went
to
the
Safe
Mode, Normal Mode, etc., option screen. Left it on option 3
(Safe
Mode) and
'enter'ed. Safe Mode is where I got the real large solitaire,
large
icons,
and the bum internet.

That's Safe Mode doing what Safe Mode does. Safe Mode loads
minimal
drivers, minimal background applications. It's not meant for
normal
use,
it's for trouble-shooting. Your Load Failure prompted the system
to
suggest a Safe Mode trouble-shooting of the failure.

Then I restarted (startshut downrestart) and got the
normal mode and the re-sized/re-arranged icons and smaller
windows
and
ran
the different scans. Will probably have to re-size a window
and
'Like
Current Window' again. Bin There and Dun Dat before.

Check to see if your usual video resolution is changed by
booting
into
Safe Mode and then back to Normal Mode.

Had second thoughts about restarting again and checked for
replies
before doing anything more. Haven't tried you're Command
Prompt
Only,
SMARTDRV, etc. suggestion yet. That's next but will print an
unfinished
letter to my sister first. I think thats the only thing I
saved
yesturday.
Just got a couple of updates from Spy Bot and/or AVG and/or Ad
Aware,
etc.
Will rerun those.
Thanks. Will post back after trying my hand at restore.

The Start menu items will be "large icons" after returning from
Safe
Mode to Normal Mode . It's always like that, and there's nothing
to
fix.
It's definitely a pain, but there's no remedy that I know of.
Just
use
Taskbar & Start Menu settings to switch back to Small icons.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm





"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
Did you actually start in Safe Mode, or did you choose
Normal
Mode
instead?
If you went into Safe Mode, that would account for most, if
not
all,
of
your problems. Safe Mode doesn't load normal drivers. Video
is
lowest
resolution and performance. You also have no networking
support
unless
you chose Safe Mode w/ Networking. It also causes the Start
Menu
to
switch to Large buttons and that has to be changed back once
you
go
into
Normal Mode.

The "Restore" option you're looking for is done by booting
to
Command
Prompt Only and then running the following:

SMARTDRV enter
SCANREG /RESTORE enter (Space after SCANREG)

Choose backup based upon date, not filename. Choose most
recent
one
from
*before* the problem started.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"keith" wrote in message
...
All was well early this morning but just fired this
thing
back up
a
short while ago and screen went black and comp shut itself
down.
Restarted
and got the Safe Mode screen with the options and a
warning
that
98
failed
to finish loading. Played a couple of *very large* games
of
solitaire
and
tried the internet. "Unable to load page." Start button
shut
down
restart. May have started a little slower than usual but
it
did
finish.
Desktop icons re-sized and re-arranged and some windows
shrunk.
Spybot
S&D
found nothing.but new definitions *real* slow to load.
AdAware SE
and
Spyware Blaster OK and no problems found. AVG a bit slow
and
with
a
different screen layout but nothing found there either. IE
and
OE
(obviously) OK.
A bit of sinility - what do you call it when
reverting to
previous
state of affairs? "Restore"? And are previous states
automatically
stored
or should I have been saving them on purpose ocassionaly ?
Wish I
could
restore myself sometimes.
Going to try and find the 'restore' option and give
it a
try
but
if its
not called 'restore' it might take a while to find it.
Will
try
restart
again first and see what happens and maybe revisit Gary's
"Clean
Boot"
too..
Any suggestions?

PS: Just checked back on the restore cab files.
2-16-05 Not started rb002.cab
2-16-05 Not started rb001.cab
7-18-04 Started rb000.cab
7-17-04 Started rb005.cab
7-16-04 Started rb004.cab
Haven't done anything yet but put shortcut SCANREG.EXE on the desktop.
Do a back up once in a while or can it be 'schedualed'?
"keith" wrote in message
...
First things first.
Thanks a heap.
It was an RB(3 digit) cab file.
Startup Menu now showing at boot. 30 seconds isn't too bad.
Seem to have lost an hour on the computer clock.

And now the rest: Hope the 'columns' line up.

MSCONFIG
Selective Start Up *(list A)
Process configsys file gray, no check tab shows
no
listings, just blank white pane
Process autoexec.bat file white, checked tab shows ALL
expanded items checked
Process winstart.bat file gray, no check No tab
Process system ini file white, checked tab shows
ALL expanded items checkd
Process win ini file white, checked tab
shows
ALL expanded items checked
Load start up group items gray, checked
Start-up tab
Checked *(list B) (Alt/Ctrl/Del usually shows just
Explorer, AVGcc, AVGemc, and systray.)
System Tray
AVG7_CC
AVG7_EMC
AVG7_AMSVR
TkBellexe **** twin
Unchecked *(list C)
EPSON Status Monitor 3
TkBellExe **** twin
TaskMonitor
AdaptecDirectCD
ScanRegistry
LoadPowerProfile
QuickTime Task
ashMaiSv
SAgent2ExePath
defwatch
LoadPowerProfile
rtvscn95

* Question. Your last paragraph before recap - ...'then run MSCONFIG
again and disable all of the items from your previous list.'
Which list? A, B, or C?

Comment. No win98 load failure since that one time. So far so good
and maybe still a few preferences to reset.



"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
No rush--It's now 3 am on the Left Coast and I'm not likely to be back
for 6 or 7 hours my own self. Gotta snooze sometime.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"keith" wrote in message
...
Wow. Thanks for your most generous reply(ies). Might take a while to
get
thru the steps and get back to you. What am I doing up at four in the
morning? Maybe it was the midnight coffee. Might as well have some
more.
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
First of all, I don't think you really needed a Registry Restore,
and
that's what SCANREG /RESTORE does. (Also restores backed up copies
of
other primary configuration files like MSDOS.SYS, WIN.INI and
SYSTEM.INI. It does *not* restore any other files unless you
specifically tell it to using SCANREG.INI. The only way to get that
kind
of backup in Windows 98 is to use a backup or imaging utility.)

Since their wasn't likely anything wrong with your Registry that
couldn't be fixed with the methods I already described (Display
Settings
and/or Taskbar and Start Menu settings), there was no real need to
do a
SCANREG /RESTORE. However, when you did the procedure, it saved the
existing files in a file called RBBAD.CAB in C:\Windows\SYSBCKUP (a
Hidden folder.) Was that by chance the name of the name of the
backup
that you restored last, the one from earlier today, FEB. 16, 2005?
Or
did it have a name like RB003.CAB, with three digits in place of
BAD?

That you only had old backups suggests that your automatic Registry
Checker (SCANREGW) must have been disabled. Let me introduce you to
MSCONFIG, aka System Configuration Utility. You get there by typing
MSCONFIG into the Start\Run box. Once the app pops up, before you do
*anything*, look, just look, at what's checked, unchecked and/or
grayed
on the General Panel. Then look at the Startup tab. Write down which
items are disabled (aren't checked) if any. You don't need to write
down
the whole command line, just the names, so you know what to turn
back
off later if needs be.

Important Note: When writing down disabled items, take note, also,
if
any that are disabled has a twin that is enabled. Back on the
General
tab, if any of the other items under "Selective Startup" (besides
Startup Programs) are checked but grayed, write down which ones,
then go
to each one's corresponding tab and look for unchecked lines. Write
down
what each of those unchecked lines, if any, says (I think you have
to
click on the +plus sign by the checkbox to see the lines
themselves.)
When you're sure you have made a note of all disabled items
(anything
that's unchecked on any of the tabs), choose Normal Startup on the
General tab.

Next, to make getting into the Startup Menu easy (where Safe Mode,
Command Line Only, etc. launch from), click on the Advanced button
on
the General tab of MSCONFIG and check "Enable Startup Menu". You can
either leave it that way, or disable it when you don't need the
Startup
Menu, or I can tell you a couple of tricks for making it appear at
every
boot, but for a shorter time than the default 30 seconds. Click OK
to
get back to General tab. Finally, click OK but *do_not* restart when
prompted to.

Next, run System Information (MSINFO32) from the Start\Run box.
Expand
(click the + sign by) Software Environment, then click on Startup
Programs. Click anywhere in the right-hand pane, then press Ctrl-A.
Then
press Ctrl-C. Then open a reply to this post and use Ctrl-V to paste
in
the Startup info. Go back to the top of the message and add your
list of
what was disabled in MSCONFIG before you re-enabled Normal Startup.

Close MSINFO32 (System Information), then run MSCONFIG again and
disable
all of the items from your previous list. You want to put it back
the
way it was until we can comment on the list, in case one or more
things
*need* to be disabled. EXCEPTION: If there were two of an item in
MSCONFIG Startup tab, those twins I told you to take note of if
there
was one enabled and one disabled, and there is now only one in the
list
(enabled), leave it enabled. When there's one enabled and one
disabled,
that indicates that it was at one time disabled using MSCONFIG, but
then
re-enabled using settings from elsewhere. Until you re-enable all,
there
will be two entries, one enabled and one disabled, but when you
re-enable all, the duplications disappear.

Finally, send the post.

To recap: The effects you saw that caused you to write us in the
first
place are probably the usual effects of a visit to Safe Mode. You
should
be able to put them back the way they belong using
StartSettingsTaskbar and Start Menu or StartSettingsControl
PanelDisplay, Settings tab. You *probably* didn't need a Registry
restore, but so long as you really restored back a copy from today,
you're OK. You did, right? Restore a backup dated today?

Once you've checked the locations I mentioned in order to change the
display settings back to what they should be, and you have posted
the
startup list for review, along with anything that is still bothering
you
with the display and layout of your system after using the methods I
suggested for remedy, we can offer suggestions as to what more needs
to
be done.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"keith" wrote in message
...
Well, I stumbled and fumbled into Command Prompt Only and had
a
short
list of dates to choose from. One was today the 16th and the
others
were the
13th, 14th, and 15th. Picked the 15th. When I got back to the
desktop,
AVG
was missing from the sys tray by the clock but AVG was checking
the
boot
sequence and I could 'find' numerous AVG listings with
startfindAVG.
That
seemed odd and thought I'd try another date.Had a heck of a time
getting
back to Command Prompt Only for another date (this is the machine
that
doesn't find the main drive on first try and needs F1 to continue)
and
it
turns out the 13th, 14th, and 15th were JULY '04.
If I hold F8 or Ctrl during boot the sytem beeps like a stuck
key
when
it gets to the 'F1 to continue' stage so I release the F8 or Ctrl
key
and it
gets tricky or I get lucky getting back to the start up menu with
the
safe
mode, normal mode, etc options. I swear there are only the four
dates
to
choose from; the three from last July and the one from earlier
today.
Picked
the one from earlier today to get the AVG icon back.
Don't know what my next move will be or should be. Have been
tempted for
a few months to get a newer used machine. Maybe thats the move. Or
maybe
I'll just watch tonights NHL / Red Wings game and sleep on the
computer
problem and try again in the morning.
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
"keith" wrote in message
...
When I restarted after the laod failure the computer went
to
the
Safe
Mode, Normal Mode, etc., option screen. Left it on option 3
(Safe
Mode) and
'enter'ed. Safe Mode is where I got the real large solitaire,
large
icons,
and the bum internet.

That's Safe Mode doing what Safe Mode does. Safe Mode loads
minimal
drivers, minimal background applications. It's not meant for
normal
use,
it's for trouble-shooting. Your Load Failure prompted the system
to
suggest a Safe Mode trouble-shooting of the failure.

Then I restarted (startshut downrestart) and got the
normal mode and the re-sized/re-arranged icons and smaller
windows
and
ran
the different scans. Will probably have to re-size a window
and
'Like
Current Window' again. Bin There and Dun Dat before.

Check to see if your usual video resolution is changed by
booting
into
Safe Mode and then back to Normal Mode.

Had second thoughts about restarting again and checked for
replies
before doing anything more. Haven't tried you're Command
Prompt
Only,
SMARTDRV, etc. suggestion yet. That's next but will print an
unfinished
letter to my sister first. I think thats the only thing I
saved
yesturday.
Just got a couple of updates from Spy Bot and/or AVG and/or Ad
Aware,
etc.
Will rerun those.
Thanks. Will post back after trying my hand at restore.

The Start menu items will be "large icons" after returning from
Safe
Mode to Normal Mode . It's always like that, and there's nothing
to
fix.
It's definitely a pain, but there's no remedy that I know of.
Just
use
Taskbar & Start Menu settings to switch back to Small icons.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm





"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
Did you actually start in Safe Mode, or did you choose
Normal
Mode
instead?
If you went into Safe Mode, that would account for most, if
not
all,
of
your problems. Safe Mode doesn't load normal drivers. Video
is
lowest
resolution and performance. You also have no networking
support
unless
you chose Safe Mode w/ Networking. It also causes the Start
Menu
to
switch to Large buttons and that has to be changed back once
you
go
into
Normal Mode.

The "Restore" option you're looking for is done by booting
to
Command
Prompt Only and then running the following:

SMARTDRV enter
SCANREG /RESTORE enter (Space after SCANREG)

Choose backup based upon date, not filename. Choose most
recent
one
from
*before* the problem started.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"keith" wrote in message
...
All was well early this morning but just fired this
thing
back up
a
short while ago and screen went black and comp shut itself
down.
Restarted
and got the Safe Mode screen with the options and a
warning
that
98
failed
to finish loading. Played a couple of *very large* games
of
solitaire
and
tried the internet. "Unable to load page." Start button
shut
down
restart. May have started a little slower than usual but
it
did
finish.
Desktop icons re-sized and re-arranged and some windows
shrunk.
Spybot
S&D
found nothing.but new definitions *real* slow to load.
AdAware SE
and
Spyware Blaster OK and no problems found. AVG a bit slow
and
with
a
different screen layout but nothing found there either. IE
and
OE
(obviously) OK.
A bit of sinility - what do you call it when
reverting to
previous
state of affairs? "Restore"? And are previous states
automatically
stored
or should I have been saving them on purpose ocassionaly ?
Wish I
could
restore myself sometimes.
Going to try and find the 'restore' option and give
it a
try
but
if its
not called 'restore' it might take a while to find it.
Will
try
restart
again first and see what happens and maybe revisit Gary's
"Clean
Boot"
too..
Any suggestions?