Help.............PC won't turn on properly
Discussion
Complete computer dummy here......
When turning my home PC (running Windoes 98)on it goes through its startup procedure. Desktop wallpaper appears then the box that asks for my password, I enter the password, click OK or whatever, the box disappears leaving me with just my desktop wallpaper - no icons at all. The mouse pointer is there and it can be moved around.
Press ctrl/alt/del and box comes up empty, can press ctrl/alt/del again to reboot or click on shutdown to switch off.
Any ideas good people, I'm hoping I don't have to do a factory reset!
When turning my home PC (running Windoes 98)on it goes through its startup procedure. Desktop wallpaper appears then the box that asks for my password, I enter the password, click OK or whatever, the box disappears leaving me with just my desktop wallpaper - no icons at all. The mouse pointer is there and it can be moved around.
Press ctrl/alt/del and box comes up empty, can press ctrl/alt/del again to reboot or click on shutdown to switch off.
Any ideas good people, I'm hoping I don't have to do a factory reset!
Thanks Darren,
Just tried your suggestion, no change.
As regards Caps Lock, my keyboard has got a light on (No1, on the left of the 3 lights) this is the same numbered light as the Caps Lock on my laptop if that means anything, but pressing the CL key doesn't do anything.
Any more ideas?
Just tried your suggestion, no change.
As regards Caps Lock, my keyboard has got a light on (No1, on the left of the 3 lights) this is the same numbered light as the Caps Lock on my laptop if that means anything, but pressing the CL key doesn't do anything.
Any more ideas?
best thing to do is when your PC is booting up, just after the table of information (i.e. during the BIOS post squence, not windows loading - before the scrolly windows thing) has been displayed hit F8 a couple of times (once is enough but to make sure hit it a couple more 
), this brings a menu up with lots of options.
One of which will be "Safe Mode". This is a different version of the software which loads minimal drivers, and no software so you can tell if your machine is really screwed or it is something you have loaded recently.
Right, have you installed anything recently, downloaded anything, got anything through Kazaa or similar. Do you have any programs like Kazaa installed? Do you have an Anti Virus program (get one from www.grisoft.com, v6.0 is free)? Do you have a Firewall (get one from www.sygate.com, there is a free version)? Are you running Win98 or Win98SE?
As for repairing, if memory serves Win98 didn't come with a repair function, that arrived with Win2k and possibly ME (although I'm not at all sure on ME).
I think thats enough for you to check
>> Edited by docevi1 on Tuesday 9th September 21:37
), this brings a menu up with lots of options. One of which will be "Safe Mode". This is a different version of the software which loads minimal drivers, and no software so you can tell if your machine is really screwed or it is something you have loaded recently.
Right, have you installed anything recently, downloaded anything, got anything through Kazaa or similar. Do you have any programs like Kazaa installed? Do you have an Anti Virus program (get one from www.grisoft.com, v6.0 is free)? Do you have a Firewall (get one from www.sygate.com, there is a free version)? Are you running Win98 or Win98SE?
As for repairing, if memory serves Win98 didn't come with a repair function, that arrived with Win2k and possibly ME (although I'm not at all sure on ME).
I think thats enough for you to check
>> Edited by docevi1 on Tuesday 9th September 21:37
Thanks Stefan,
Did as you said (No3 is safe mode)lots of whirring going on in the box then a washed out looking deasktop wallpaper and nothing else (except "safe mode" in each corner of screen.
I have just noticed that a small blue box header saying EXPLORER momentarily appears then disappears in the bottom left of screen. This happens in safe and normal modes.
I haven't downloaded anything lately, haven't got antivirus but have a Zonealarm, don't know what Kazaa is.
It's Win98 not SE.
>> Edited by neilmac on Tuesday 9th September 22:33
Did as you said (No3 is safe mode)lots of whirring going on in the box then a washed out looking deasktop wallpaper and nothing else (except "safe mode" in each corner of screen.
I have just noticed that a small blue box header saying EXPLORER momentarily appears then disappears in the bottom left of screen. This happens in safe and normal modes.
I haven't downloaded anything lately, haven't got antivirus but have a Zonealarm, don't know what Kazaa is.
It's Win98 not SE.
>> Edited by neilmac on Tuesday 9th September 22:33
if safe mode won't load, sorry but you are screwed. Simple as that really 
As I said, safe mode is the very basic operating system, bottom level - you can't get a more basic startup, if that don't work, your OS is screwed. Which is bad news.
Personally, been from a partially tech background, I would format the PC and re-install windows. The reason, matter of time vs effort vs chance of success. The likelihood is that you will not manage to solve the problem and if you do it will not run perfectly from now on! So to save time and effort it is often easier to start again.
However, starting again means you lose everything (there are ways to do it without losing everything but it is safer to lose everything for quality of install if that makes sense). So, do you have anything important on the maching? What sort of maching is it (i.e. Dell, Tiny, homebuilt...)
We can talk you through and install of Windows easy enough
As I said, safe mode is the very basic operating system, bottom level - you can't get a more basic startup, if that don't work, your OS is screwed. Which is bad news.
Personally, been from a partially tech background, I would format the PC and re-install windows. The reason, matter of time vs effort vs chance of success. The likelihood is that you will not manage to solve the problem and if you do it will not run perfectly from now on! So to save time and effort it is often easier to start again.
However, starting again means you lose everything (there are ways to do it without losing everything but it is safer to lose everything for quality of install if that makes sense). So, do you have anything important on the maching? What sort of maching is it (i.e. Dell, Tiny, homebuilt...)
We can talk you through and install of Windows easy enough
Don't think there's anything really important, (will probably realise things are missing afterwards) it's just the inconvenience of setting it all up again!
It's a Tiny machine, about 4 years old so pretty out of date. I did have to do a reset a year or so ago, should have learnt from that and backed up.
I think factory set internet explorer is out of date now but I think I borrowed a Word CD? that had a more uptodate version on it.
Oh well, thanks a lot for all your help.
Resetting up should keep me busy for a while......
It's a Tiny machine, about 4 years old so pretty out of date. I did have to do a reset a year or so ago, should have learnt from that and backed up.
I think factory set internet explorer is out of date now but I think I borrowed a Word CD? that had a more uptodate version on it.
Oh well, thanks a lot for all your help.
Resetting up should keep me busy for a while......
trooper1212 said:
the best thing to do would be to re-run the windows installation from your windows 98 cd, without deleting anything. That should fix any problems with your explorer and you won't lose anything.
If that doesn't work, then reformat and re-install.
I wouldn't mind trying that but how do I run the CD when the blank desktop doesn't give me anything to point at to click on to select the CD drive?
you don't do it that way (sounds like you did an update).
As your machine is starting to boot up (very start) press the "Del" key (assuming it's del to enter setup on the Tiny boxes). This takes you into the BIOS which is what is used to pre-configure and control the hardware of your machine. In there, under a boot menu will be the option to change the boot squence of your machine. If you put it as:
a (3.5 floppy)
d (CDROM)
c (HDD)
then, save it and restart your machine with the Win98 CD in it will automatically start.
If that doesn't work, goto www.bootdisk.com and download a win98 bootdisk (unless you have one or you have another Win98 machine), boot from the floppy, choose CD support and get to the setup using the Dos system (type d:setup.exe assuming d is your CD drive).
As your machine is starting to boot up (very start) press the "Del" key (assuming it's del to enter setup on the Tiny boxes). This takes you into the BIOS which is what is used to pre-configure and control the hardware of your machine. In there, under a boot menu will be the option to change the boot squence of your machine. If you put it as:
a (3.5 floppy)
d (CDROM)
c (HDD)
then, save it and restart your machine with the Win98 CD in it will automatically start.
If that doesn't work, goto www.bootdisk.com and download a win98 bootdisk (unless you have one or you have another Win98 machine), boot from the floppy, choose CD support and get to the setup using the Dos system (type d:setup.exe assuming d is your CD drive).
docevi1 said:
you don't do it that way (sounds like you did an update).
As your machine is starting to boot up (very start) press the "Del" key (assuming it's del to enter setup on the Tiny boxes). This takes you into the BIOS which is what is used to pre-configure and control the hardware of your machine. In there, under a boot menu will be the option to change the boot squence of your machine. If you put it as:
a (3.5 floppy)
d (CDROM)
c (HDD)
then, save it and restart your machine with the Win98 CD in it will automatically start.
If that doesn't work, goto www.bootdisk.com and download a win98 bootdisk (unless you have one or you have another Win98 machine), boot from the floppy, choose CD support and get to the setup using the Dos system (type d:setup.exe assuming d is your CD drive).
Did all the above, thought I was getting somewhere but end result still the same so I guess I will have to just take a deep breath and reset afterall!
Thanks again everyone for all your help.
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