PDA

View Full Version : Windows explorer stops responding


BW~Merlin
June 9th 04, 12:11 PM
Hi. I have a problem with a computer i am trying to fix. Windows
explorer stops responding when i try to open things like c drive, d
drive and so on. I get no error message and i do not see anything odd
in the hijackthis log of the computer. IE is working fine. The machine
is win98 SE. Does anyone have any ideas of what might be causing this
and how i can stop it?

PCR
June 9th 04, 08:59 PM
(1) "START button, Find, F/F, Autorun.inf".
I guess one of those can do it, if in a root directory, such as
"C:\" or "D:\". They do not belong there.

(2) As cquirke once said, "Control Panel, System, Performance tab". Are
you in "compatibility" mode? Then, try his site...
http://cquirke.mvps.org/9x/doscompat.htm

Also...
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;130179&Product=w98
Troubleshooting MS-DOS Compatibility Mode on Hard Disks
(130179) - The Performance tab in System properties shows that one or
more of the hard disks in your computer is using MS-DOS Compatibility
mode. MS-DOS compatibility mode may be in use either for the file system
or for virtual memory. You may receive the...


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"BW~Merlin" > wrote in message
...
| Hi. I have a problem with a computer i am trying to fix. Windows
| explorer stops responding when i try to open things like c drive, d
| drive and so on. I get no error message and i do not see anything odd
| in the hijackthis log of the computer. IE is working fine. The
machine
| is win98 SE. Does anyone have any ideas of what might be causing this
| and how i can stop it?

BW~Merlin
June 10th 04, 06:18 AM
Hi. I have had another look at the computer today and i think i have
found what might be causing the problems. There are two hdd's on the
computer and both appear to have a working OS on them. When i go into
add and remove only the programs installed on c show up while those on d
dont. Is there some problem in that windows doesnt quite know what
files to use which would be causing explorer to not work. I can veiw
and work on the computer by using the exploring window (the one you get
when us press the windows key and e at the same time). It also appears
that there is a norton ghost image on the secound hdd so im guessing
that image has been used. Norton ghost is on the secound hdd and it
works but like i said it doesnt show up in add and remove. Anyone got
any other ideas?

PCR
June 10th 04, 08:50 PM
It is OK to have two HDD, each with Windows installed. That is my setup
too. One is a clone of the other. Both are visible when I boot. The one
that is boot becomes C:\. (I actually haven't boot my clone ever, except
as a test. Even then, it wasn't a dual boot situation, but I moved
it/jumpered it & let BIOS boot it.)

But ONLY ONE of them may boot at a time. What you see in Add/Remove
Programs will be whatever has been installed to the one that you boot.
The other one has it's own stuff in it's own Add/Remove, which you may
see when you boot that one.

In order to preserve sanity & to avoid Registry confusion, I think one
should NEVER install a program across those drives, certainly NOT into a
partition that has it's own OS.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"BW~Merlin" > wrote in message
...
| Hi. I have had another look at the computer today and i think i have
| found what might be causing the problems. There are two hdd's on the
| computer and both appear to have a working OS on them. When i go into
| add and remove only the programs installed on c show up while those on
d
| dont. Is there some problem in that windows doesnt quite know what
| files to use which would be causing explorer to not work. I can veiw
| and work on the computer by using the exploring window (the one you
get
| when us press the windows key and e at the same time). It also
appears
| that there is a norton ghost image on the secound hdd so im guessing
| that image has been used. Norton ghost is on the secound hdd and it
| works but like i said it doesnt show up in add and remove. Anyone got
| any other ideas?

BW~Merlin
June 10th 04, 11:24 PM
Ok. So do you have any other ideas as to why expolorer keeps not
responding. Those link you gave me didn't help as the drives weren't
running in compatability mode and there were no problems with the
drivers ocording to device manager.

PCR
June 11th 04, 01:46 AM
(0) Does it happen in Safe Mode? If not, I have a grueling procedure for
you to do.

(1) Did you search for an Autorun.inf?
....First...
"START, Settings, Folder Options, View tab", & bolt "Show all
files"; may as well uncheck "Hide file extensions..." too.
....Then...
"START button, Find, F/F, Autorun.inf".
I guess one of those can do it, if in a root directory, such as
"C:\" or "D:\". They do not belong there.

(2) "START, Run, MSInfo32, Tools menu, IE Repair Tool"
It produces a rather large "Fix IE Log.txt" in C:\Windows. IE & E
are basically one & the same. If this crashes, an over-install of IE is
indicated. (I have instructions for that.)

(3) Did you post your HiJack This report to one of the proper NGs...?...
......Quote...................
....snip
What may help is this -
Download, unzip, and run Hijack This from one of these locations:
http://computercops.biz/downloads-cat-14.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads31.html
http://www.spywareinfo.com/downloads/tools/HijackThis.exe
Unzip to a folder other than your Desktop or the Temp folder,
doubleclick
HijackThis.exe, and hit "Scan".

When the scan is finished, the "Scan" button will change into a "Save
Log"
button.
Press that, save the log somewhere you can find it (Desktop, My
Documents, or
similar).
Most of what it lists will be harmless or even required, so do NOT fix
anything yet.

Copy the log files and paste them into a new post at one of these
forums:
http://forums.net-integration.net/
http://computercops.biz/forums.html
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?showforum=30
http://tomcoyote.org/forums/
http://www.lavasoftsupport.com
http://boards.cexx.org/

The folks there will tell you what to remove.
Please also post back here with the log file, so we may see what is
happening.

A tutorial for using Hijack This is located here:
http://tomcoyote.com/hjt/
and an in-depth tutorial is here:
http://aumha.org/a/hjttutor.htm
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
.......End of quote of Glee...............


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"BW~Merlin" > wrote in message
...
| Ok. So do you have any other ideas as to why expolorer keeps not
| responding. Those link you gave me didn't help as the drives weren't
| running in compatability mode and there were no problems with the
| drivers ocording to device manager.

"BW~Merlin" > wrote in message
...
| Hi. I have a problem with a computer i am trying to fix. Windows
| explorer stops responding when i try to open things like c drive, d
| drive and so on. I get no error message and i do not see anything odd
| in the hijackthis log of the computer. IE is working fine. The
machine
| is win98 SE. Does anyone have any ideas of what might be causing this
| and how i can stop it?

BW~Merlin
June 12th 04, 06:15 AM
Ok in response to your questions and suggestions.

The problem does not occure in safe mode.

Autorun.inf is no where present on any of the hdd's

Internet explorer repair would not work because scrrun.dll was missing

Here's what i did.

I used sfc to load scrrun.dll into the c:\windows\system folder and that
would allow me to open both c and d drive but i could not navigate to
any subfolders. I tried to use the internet explorer repair function
agian but the file version was to old. I then went to the windows
update site and downloaded all the criticl updates and service packs and
hay presto the problem was gone. i cant belive i didn't think of doing
that earlier (that is normaly the first thing i do but i think i though
i had already done them so that may be way i didn't think of doing the
windows updates). So its all fixed now and it only took me a couple of
days :) Thx for all your help PCR and ill try to think of windows
update earlier next time.

PCR
June 12th 04, 03:37 PM
You are welcome. Lucky you figured it out, 'cause next up was the
grueling procedure!

--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"BW~Merlin" > wrote in message
...
| Ok in response to your questions and suggestions.
|
| The problem does not occure in safe mode.
|
| Autorun.inf is no where present on any of the hdd's
|
| Internet explorer repair would not work because scrrun.dll was missing
|
| Here's what i did.
|
| I used sfc to load scrrun.dll into the c:\windows\system folder and
that
| would allow me to open both c and d drive but i could not navigate to
| any subfolders. I tried to use the internet explorer repair function
| agian but the file version was to old. I then went to the windows
| update site and downloaded all the criticl updates and service packs
and
| hay presto the problem was gone. i cant belive i didn't think of
doing
| that earlier (that is normaly the first thing i do but i think i
though
| i had already done them so that may be way i didn't think of doing the
| windows updates). So its all fixed now and it only took me a couple
of
| days :) Thx for all your help PCR and ill try to think of windows
| update earlier next time.

BW~Merlin
June 13th 04, 08:02 AM
Hi. Bad news. The problem is back. The owner said they weren't doing
anything and all of a sudden it just stop working. I went to try and do
the IE repair but there was a problem with file versions. The file that
i extracted was to old and it needs version 5.1.0.5010 of SCRRUN.DLL.
I think i might have to do the grulling proceduer. One the + side i
can now get into c and d drive but still cant get into any of the sub
folders.

PCR
June 13th 04, 06:26 PM
Well, before the grueling MSConfig procedure, SCRRUN.DLL is an IE file,
inside VBSCRIPT.CAB of "C:\WINDOWS\Windows Update Setup Files". It has a
Mod date in there of 6/26/01 & is 151,601 bytes, acc. to WinZip.
HOWEVER, this is my current Win98SE scrrun.dll...

scrrun.dll
Desc: Microsoft (r) Script Runtime
Loc: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM
Size: 147,456 bytes
Mod: Tuesday, January 14, 2003 01:18:30 PM
Ver: 5.6.0.8515

Although the file has been updated since IE6 SP1, when an IE Repair
fails, it is advisable to overinstall IE...

Over-install IE. Try first without, but I believe it will request an
internet connection. Perhaps it is best to let it connect, actually. If
you don't care to get this fancy, just skip to step (c).

(a) Turn off interfering programs. Use http://www.pcmag.com/ 's
"StartupCop" or "EndItAll2". Or "START, Run, MSConfig, Startup tab".
Note what is unchecked, if anything. Then, go to the General tab &
disable the entire Startup Group, by clicking "Selective.." & unchecking
"Load Startup...". Reboot.

(b) Perhaps, if you haven't got EndItAll2, then "Ctrl-Alt-Del" & end
task all but Explorer & Systray. If this goes badly, start again from
top, & skip it next time.

(c) "START, Find, F/F, IE6Setup.exe". Click it in the Find window.

NOTE: If you are IE5, then it's "IE5Setup.exe". If there are more
than one (I have two each), click the one in "C:\WINDOWS\Windows
Update Setup Files" or "C:\Windows Update Setup Files", as applicable.

(d) Re-enable the Startup Group. That will automatically check all
items. Go to the Startup tab & uncheck any noted in step (a). Reboot.

(e) Perhaps go to Windows Update, to see whether it now offers
criticals.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"BW~Merlin" > wrote in message
...
| Hi. Bad news. The problem is back. The owner said they weren't
doing
| anything and all of a sudden it just stop working. I went to try and
do
| the IE repair but there was a problem with file versions. The file
that
| i extracted was to old and it needs version 5.1.0.5010 of SCRRUN.DLL.
| I think i might have to do the grulling proceduer. One the + side i
| can now get into c and d drive but still cant get into any of the sub
| folders.

BW~Merlin
June 14th 04, 06:07 AM
Hi. The problem seems to be fixed once agian. I located the
ie6setup.exe in the c:\windows\windows updates folder and ran that after
disabling all start up items. That still did not fix the problem but it
did reinstall outlook express which we did not need to be installed. I
then tried to run the ie repair agian and once agian there was a problem
with scrrun.dll so i did a quick google search for scrrun.dll and the
first site had a version that was above the reqired one that the ie
repair tool wanted so i dl it then used sfc to extract it the
c:\windows\system and then ran the ie repair tool agian. this time it
worked and after the restart the problem was gone. i renabled the start
up itemas but have not restarted but there should be no problems on a
restart and the owner wanted to use the computer straight away. So once
agian thx for all your help and lets hope this time it starys working.

PCR
June 14th 04, 09:02 PM
You are welcome. Glad it seems OK now.

STILL, I wish the over-install had fixed it, or that it were fixed by
Windows Update afterwards. It is UNORTHODOX to take a scrrun.dll from
any odd site! How does it compare in version & size to the fit/proper
scrrun.dll I described?


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"BW~Merlin" > wrote in message
...
| Hi. The problem seems to be fixed once agian. I located the
| ie6setup.exe in the c:\windows\windows updates folder and ran that
after
| disabling all start up items. That still did not fix the problem but
it
| did reinstall outlook express which we did not need to be installed.
I
| then tried to run the ie repair agian and once agian there was a
problem
| with scrrun.dll so i did a quick google search for scrrun.dll and the
| first site had a version that was above the reqired one that the ie
| repair tool wanted so i dl it then used sfc to extract it the
| c:\windows\system and then ran the ie repair tool agian. this time it
| worked and after the restart the problem was gone. i renabled the
start
| up itemas but have not restarted but there should be no problems on a
| restart and the owner wanted to use the computer straight away. So
once
| agian thx for all your help and lets hope this time it starys working.

BW~Merlin
June 15th 04, 02:30 AM
Hi. The SCRRUN.DLL is 147,512 bytes and version 5.6.0.6626 and modified
and created on Sunday, 30 September 2001 11:24:26 AM. I was going to
use the scrrun.dll from my computer but i did think of that before hand
so i just google for scrrun.dll and used it instead and i really
couldn't be botherd to walk all the way back to my computer to find a
file that may or may not work. At least the problem is fixed which is
the main thing. Once agian thx for the help

PCR
June 15th 04, 07:35 PM
The Mod Date is more important than Created Date. Mod is the date the
programmer last modified the file. Created is when the file was copied
to your hard drive. Anyhow, looks like yours is bigger/later than mine!
(But I'm not going to worry over it. [Yet, WHY!?])

OK, OK, then; good luck with it!


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"BW~Merlin" > wrote in message
...
| Hi. The SCRRUN.DLL is 147,512 bytes and version 5.6.0.6626 and
modified
| and created on Sunday, 30 September 2001 11:24:26 AM. I was going to
| use the scrrun.dll from my computer but i did think of that before
hand
| so i just google for scrrun.dll and used it instead and i really
| couldn't be botherd to walk all the way back to my computer to find a
| file that may or may not work. At least the problem is fixed which is
| the main thing. Once agian thx for the help

BW~Merlin
June 16th 04, 03:34 AM
Hi. So far i havent herd back from the owner so im guessing its
working. The file version is older than yours but the size is bigger.
Thats not going to coause any problems? Thx for all the help.

PCR
June 16th 04, 04:41 AM
I am...
scrrun.dll
Desc: Microsoft (r) Script Runtime
Loc: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM
Size: 147,456 bytes
Mod: Tuesday, January 14, 2003 01:18:30 PM
Ver: 5.6.0.8515

You are... "The SCRRUN.DLL is 147,512 bytes and version 5.6.0.6626 and
modified
and created on Sunday, 30 September 2001 11:24:26 AM.".

Oh, that's right, mine is a later version! I also know... the one inside
SCR56EN.CAB of "C:\WINDOWS\Windows Update Setup Files" has a Mod date of
6/26/01 & is 151,601 bytes, acc. to WinZip. Well, let me extract it for
a closer look...

It is v. 5.6.0.6626, which is what you report. BUT, it has a size of
151,601 bytes & is Mod: Tuesday, June 26, 2001 04:39:42 PM, just as
WinZip has reported. Therefore, I don't know what is up with the file
you downloaded.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"BW~Merlin" > wrote in message
...
| Hi. So far i havent herd back from the owner so im guessing its
| working. The file version is older than yours but the size is bigger.
| Thats not going to coause any problems? Thx for all the help.

Bill Blanton
June 17th 04, 03:03 AM
You forgot about the MS dll database..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=/servicedesks/fileversion/dllinfo.asp

Interseting the "COCLASSES:" that it lists for that particular dll.


"PCR" > wrote in message ...
> I am...
> scrrun.dll
> Desc: Microsoft (r) Script Runtime
> Loc: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM
> Size: 147,456 bytes
> Mod: Tuesday, January 14, 2003 01:18:30 PM
> Ver: 5.6.0.8515
>
> You are... "The SCRRUN.DLL is 147,512 bytes and version 5.6.0.6626 and
> modified
> and created on Sunday, 30 September 2001 11:24:26 AM.".
>
> Oh, that's right, mine is a later version! I also know... the one inside
> SCR56EN.CAB of "C:\WINDOWS\Windows Update Setup Files" has a Mod date of
> 6/26/01 & is 151,601 bytes, acc. to WinZip. Well, let me extract it for
> a closer look...
>
> It is v. 5.6.0.6626, which is what you report. BUT, it has a size of
> 151,601 bytes & is Mod: Tuesday, June 26, 2001 04:39:42 PM, just as
> WinZip has reported. Therefore, I don't know what is up with the file
> you downloaded.
>
>
> --
> Thanks or Good Luck,
> There may be humor in this post, and,
> Naturally, you will not sue,
> should things get worse after this,
> PCR
>
> "BW~Merlin" > wrote in message
> ...
> | Hi. So far i havent herd back from the owner so im guessing its
> | working. The file version is older than yours but the size is bigger.
> | Thats not going to coause any problems? Thx for all the help.
>
>

PCR
June 17th 04, 03:35 AM
Yow. I never knew two of the same .dll can have the same version & a
different size. I can't even seem to SAY it... two .dll with the same
name & version have a different size... ah, that's it! OK, thanks.
(Geez!)


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Bill Blanton" > wrote in message
...
| You forgot about the MS dll database..
|
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=/servicedesks/fileversion/dllinfo.asp
|
| Interseting the "COCLASSES:" that it lists for that particular dll.
|
|
| "PCR" > wrote in message
...
| > I am...
| > scrrun.dll
| > Desc: Microsoft (r) Script Runtime
| > Loc: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM
| > Size: 147,456 bytes
| > Mod: Tuesday, January 14, 2003 01:18:30 PM
| > Ver: 5.6.0.8515
| >
| > You are... "The SCRRUN.DLL is 147,512 bytes and version 5.6.0.6626
and
| > modified
| > and created on Sunday, 30 September 2001 11:24:26 AM.".
| >
| > Oh, that's right, mine is a later version! I also know... the one
inside
| > SCR56EN.CAB of "C:\WINDOWS\Windows Update Setup Files" has a Mod
date of
| > 6/26/01 & is 151,601 bytes, acc. to WinZip. Well, let me extract it
for
| > a closer look...
| >
| > It is v. 5.6.0.6626, which is what you report. BUT, it has a size of
| > 151,601 bytes & is Mod: Tuesday, June 26, 2001 04:39:42 PM, just as
| > WinZip has reported. Therefore, I don't know what is up with the
file
| > you downloaded.
| >
| >
| > --
| > Thanks or Good Luck,
| > There may be humor in this post, and,
| > Naturally, you will not sue,
| > should things get worse after this,
| > PCR
| >
| > "BW~Merlin" > wrote in message
| > ...
| > | Hi. So far i havent herd back from the owner so im guessing its
| > | working. The file version is older than yours but the size is
bigger.
| > | Thats not going to coause any problems? Thx for all the help.
| >
| >
|
|

PCR
June 17th 04, 04:01 AM
Well, my own SCRRUN.DLL v.5.6.0.8515 seems to have but one size at that
site: 151,552. YIKES, that isn't my size! Well, I guess it has two,
then, & the DLL Database has not been updated as usual. I do not see IE
mentioned there for my SCRRUN.DLL v.5.6.0.8515. (Lord, this thread is
really making me batty!)

I guess our Registry has been flooded with SCRRUN.dll in those
"COCLASSES:".


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"PCR" > wrote in message
...
| Yow. I never knew two of the same .dll can have the same version & a
| different size. I can't even seem to SAY it... two .dll with the same
| name & version have a different size... ah, that's it! OK, thanks.
| (Geez!)
|
|
| --
| Thanks or Good Luck,
| There may be humor in this post, and,
| Naturally, you will not sue,
| should things get worse after this,
| PCR
|
| "Bill Blanton" > wrote in message
| ...
| | You forgot about the MS dll database..
| |
|
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=/servicedesks/fileversion/dllinfo.asp
| |
| | Interseting the "COCLASSES:" that it lists for that particular dll.
| |
| |
| | "PCR" > wrote in message
| ...
| | > I am...
| | > scrrun.dll
| | > Desc: Microsoft (r) Script Runtime
| | > Loc: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM
| | > Size: 147,456 bytes
| | > Mod: Tuesday, January 14, 2003 01:18:30 PM
| | > Ver: 5.6.0.8515
| | >
| | > You are... "The SCRRUN.DLL is 147,512 bytes and version 5.6.0.6626
| and
| | > modified
| | > and created on Sunday, 30 September 2001 11:24:26 AM.".
| | >
| | > Oh, that's right, mine is a later version! I also know... the one
| inside
| | > SCR56EN.CAB of "C:\WINDOWS\Windows Update Setup Files" has a Mod
| date of
| | > 6/26/01 & is 151,601 bytes, acc. to WinZip. Well, let me extract
it
| for
| | > a closer look...
| | >
| | > It is v. 5.6.0.6626, which is what you report. BUT, it has a size
of
| | > 151,601 bytes & is Mod: Tuesday, June 26, 2001 04:39:42 PM, just
as
| | > WinZip has reported. Therefore, I don't know what is up with the
| file
| | > you downloaded.
| | >
| | >
| | > --
| | > Thanks or Good Luck,
| | > There may be humor in this post, and,
| | > Naturally, you will not sue,
| | > should things get worse after this,
| | > PCR
| | >
| | > "BW~Merlin" > wrote in message
| | > ...
| | > | Hi. So far i havent herd back from the owner so im guessing its
| | > | working. The file version is older than yours but the size is
| bigger.
| | > | Thats not going to coause any problems? Thx for all the help.
| | >
| | >
| |
| |
|
|

BW~Merlin
June 17th 04, 09:36 AM
Arrrrr. This is one of those recuring nightmares. The problem is back
agian and this time the fix IE tool didnt work. I am doing a virus scan
online from norton which is showing several viruses at this point yet
nav which is installed and up to date did not find any so im wondering
if something has infected nav which could also be causing this problem
with WE. It should not matter soon as i have convinced the owner to
reformate the two hdd's and start from the begining agian so hopefully
this wont happen agian. Ill get back to you on what happens after the
virus scan.

Hugh Candlin
June 17th 04, 05:23 PM
BW~Merlin > wrote in message ...
> Arrrrr. This is one of those recuring nightmares. The problem is back
> agian and this time the fix IE tool didnt work. I am doing a virus scan
> online from norton which is showing several viruses at this point yet
> nav which is installed and up to date did not find any so im wondering
> if something has infected nav which could also be causing this problem
> with WE.

It is not uncommon for a virus writer to disable any virus scan product
it finds. That's one of the reasons why the vendors offer online scanning.

> It should not matter soon as i have convinced the owner to
> reformate the two hdd's and start from the begining agian so hopefully
> this wont happen agian. Ill get back to you on what happens after the
> virus scan.

Where is it written that that will solve your problem?

Two possibilities are that one, you will not be able to run the install,
and, two, the boot sector is infected and will remain infected.

Follow the instructions to eradicate each virus, then execute any
appropriate remedial actions to repair the system, such as running
the I.E. Repair Tool or the System File Checker, and then obtain,
install and configure a virus scanner.

Then buy a second hard drive and back everything up onto it.
Make it an external drive and you can keep it off-premise.

PCR
June 17th 04, 10:27 PM
As Candlin said, do those online scans, just to be sure any boot sector
virus is discovered. Note the name of any/all viruses discovered. Then,
if it weren't too many, may as well see how tough it is to recover by
following any additional manual steps the scanner site may specify.

If recovery seems hopeless, go for the fresh install. BUT there have
been many a horror story about THAT too, fresh installs gone bad.

You want to do a FRESH Install? Are you pure Windows or OEM, such as
Compaq? If you are OEM, then you can get back to factory condition by
using their recovery CD, such as QuickRestore, which may contain
proprietary drivers and add-ons. Otherwise...

http://www.hexff.com/index.html How to Clean Install
This first has it all, but..
(a) Perhaps don't do the 2.5 swap file thing, &
(b) You may rather have multiple partitions, &
(c) Attend it's warning: Have any non-Windows peripheral drivers
available to install afterwards. Here...
http://www.pchelpandconsulting.com/links/windows.html WinDrvExpert
http://www.jermar.com/wdrvbck.htm WinDrvBckup free version
Those two supposedly back up all currently installed drivers, such that
they can be reinstalled. I never tried it but have seen a favorable
report.

http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/w98_restore.html Badour has one
http://aumha.org/win4/a/clean.htm Aumha has one
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=250928 How to Reinstall Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=193902
How to Reinstall Windows into a new folder

"Setup.txt", located in the same folder as "Setup.exe", either on CD or
hard drive. This instructs how to run it from a folder on the hard
drive, but "hexff" says it better.

Get a Startup Diskette from
http://www.bootdisk.com/ , if you don't already have one from "Control
Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Startup Disk tab". Test the Startup
Diskette. Boot it, put in a CD and "DIR" the CD. It will say which
letter is the CD. (Otherwise, it is likely one letter higher than
normal.)

Here is what I know of those Installation CD's. The full list of
capabilities of each type of CD is as follows, says Harper. Each
requires a valid Product key. "Proof" means it must see you had a prior
version. So, if it isn't sitting there, expect to insert a floppy or
earlier CD.

FULL VERSION: Will perform either clean install or upgrade of existing
OS. Does not ask for proof of ownership of an earlier version.

UPGRADE VERSION: Will perform either clean install or upgrade of
existing OS. Will ask for proof of ownership of an earlier version if
one is not installed.

WIN98 SE UPDATES: Will only install if Windows 98 is present on the hard
drive. Cannot be used for a clean install at all.

OEM VERSION: Only installs on a clean, fresh-formatted hard drive. May
be customized to include or omit components that would be found/not
found on a retail CD.

Be sure of your ProductKey...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion
ProductKey "12345-12345-12345-12345-12345"

(1) "START, Run, RegEdit"
(2) Click plus signs beginning at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE", & ending with
"Windows".
(3) Click "CurrentVersion" in the left pane under "Windows".
(4) Look in right pane for ProductKey.

That is the one that was used to install your current Windows. Jot it
down, as it may work if different from the one on your Windows 98 Manual
or CD case.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"BW~Merlin" > wrote in message
...
| Arrrrr. This is one of those recuring nightmares. The problem is
back
| agian and this time the fix IE tool didnt work. I am doing a virus
scan
| online from norton which is showing several viruses at this point yet
| nav which is installed and up to date did not find any so im wondering
| if something has infected nav which could also be causing this problem
| with WE. It should not matter soon as i have convinced the owner to
| reformate the two hdd's and start from the begining agian so hopefully
| this wont happen agian. Ill get back to you on what happens after the
| virus scan.

BW~Merlin
June 18th 04, 12:47 AM
Hi. The results from the scan came back as netsky.d so i dl and run the
netsky fix tool and that took care of the problem. I then spent about
an hour updating norton agian and agian and agian till finaly it is
working (there seems to be some erros with it still that should have
been fixed occurding to there website with patchs contining newer
versions of there update program and norton). No other viruses were
detected so that means there should be no boot viruses. As for the
creation of a startup disk its not needed as the win98 cd is a startup
disk but i can see how it would be needed on old machines that cant boot
from cd. The computer is a compaq but im very sure a windows 98 cd was
used as i see no programs that are typicaly installed with OEM
installations and no options to use the recovery cd and so on. As for
the suggestion of getting a external hdd, im not made of money, why else
would i be using a amd k6 233mhz with a 3.2gb hdd and only 32mb ram.
Also its not my computer. Thx for the location of the cd key in the
regristry as that is going to prove very usefull. The main reason for
the fresh install is to get rid of all the junk that is on the two hdd's
so its owner can store songs and movies. As for dl a anti virus and
installing it cadlin you must have miss read the posts because noton is
already installed on there and while i use multiply av's on my computer
(obviosly auto protect is disabled on the others) this is not my
computer and i dont thing that is going to solve out problem and space
is very limited because of bad upgrading which has left alot of old
files on the 2nd hdd. I do have a question, when i fdisk it in 5 weeks
time and i am installing it i nkow that the first hdd will be formated
and then converted to fat 32, will the 2nd hdd also be formated and
converted or will i have to do formate d (c will be auto formated by the
install wizard) then once the OS is up then convert it to fat 32 or is
there a simpiler way? The problem is still there and i am still unable
to pin down the exact cause of the problem. i will run sfc again but i
dont think that will trun anything up. Thx for all your help once agian.

PCR
June 18th 04, 03:14 AM
Nothing happens to the 2nd hdd, unless you do it. That is providing you
are running one of the normal Windows Installation CDs, with the
possible exception of the OEM guy. I certainly would NEVER try my Compaq
QuickRestore, w/o first unplugging my 2nd HDD though. That one does
FRISKing of it's own, & it may get confused.

Better read those URLs I posted. I must recuse myself from giving
further advice, as I've never done it with a Windows Installation CD.
Good luck.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"BW~Merlin" > wrote in message
...
| Hi. The results from the scan came back as netsky.d so i dl and run
the
| netsky fix tool and that took care of the problem. I then spent about
| an hour updating norton agian and agian and agian till finaly it is
| working (there seems to be some erros with it still that should have
| been fixed occurding to there website with patchs contining newer
| versions of there update program and norton). No other viruses were
| detected so that means there should be no boot viruses. As for the
| creation of a startup disk its not needed as the win98 cd is a startup
| disk but i can see how it would be needed on old machines that cant
boot
| from cd. The computer is a compaq but im very sure a windows 98 cd
was
| used as i see no programs that are typicaly installed with OEM
| installations and no options to use the recovery cd and so on. As for
| the suggestion of getting a external hdd, im not made of money, why
else
| would i be using a amd k6 233mhz with a 3.2gb hdd and only 32mb ram.
| Also its not my computer. Thx for the location of the cd key in the
| regristry as that is going to prove very usefull. The main reason for
| the fresh install is to get rid of all the junk that is on the two
hdd's
| so its owner can store songs and movies. As for dl a anti virus and
| installing it cadlin you must have miss read the posts because noton
is
| already installed on there and while i use multiply av's on my
computer
| (obviosly auto protect is disabled on the others) this is not my
| computer and i dont thing that is going to solve out problem and space
| is very limited because of bad upgrading which has left alot of old
| files on the 2nd hdd. I do have a question, when i fdisk it in 5
weeks
| time and i am installing it i nkow that the first hdd will be formated
| and then converted to fat 32, will the 2nd hdd also be formated and
| converted or will i have to do formate d (c will be auto formated by
the
| install wizard) then once the OS is up then convert it to fat 32 or is
| there a simpiler way? The problem is still there and i am still
unable
| to pin down the exact cause of the problem. i will run sfc again but
i
| dont think that will trun anything up. Thx for all your help once
agian.

BW~Merlin
June 18th 04, 11:01 AM
Hi. The problem is still there. A scan of norton today turned up 100
off viruses that shouldn't have been there. How the hell they went
undetected by the norton site and by netsky removel tool is beyound me.
I will read those links when my dl quota gets refresh or i go home and
get on my cable but i have done windows installs many time from the
windows cd's. I also ran sfc today and it did not find any corrupt
files so i am still no closer to finding out what the problem is. Do
you have any more idea's, what about the gruling procedur you were
talking about or is it not worth it seeing as its going to be reformated
and start from the beginning agian (new patition table and everything).
Once its up and running it should only take up about 200mb hdd space
then you have to load everything on but it should be running lean and
mean when im finished with it.

PCR
June 18th 04, 10:50 PM
100 viruses!?! I think that is too many even for a grueling MSConfig
procedure! As you are practiced in it, go for the fresh install. Or
perhaps engage Candlin to see whether he STILL thinks a fight is
advisable against 100 viruses!


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"BW~Merlin" > wrote in message
...
| Hi. The problem is still there. A scan of norton today turned up 100
| off viruses that shouldn't have been there. How the hell they went
| undetected by the norton site and by netsky removel tool is beyound
me.
| I will read those links when my dl quota gets refresh or i go home
and
| get on my cable but i have done windows installs many time from the
| windows cd's. I also ran sfc today and it did not find any corrupt
| files so i am still no closer to finding out what the problem is. Do
| you have any more idea's, what about the gruling procedur you were
| talking about or is it not worth it seeing as its going to be
reformated
| and start from the beginning agian (new patition table and
everything).
| Once its up and running it should only take up about 200mb hdd space
| then you have to load everything on but it should be running lean and
| mean when im finished with it.

BW~Merlin
June 19th 04, 12:07 AM
Hi. Maybe i should have said 100 infected virus created files
(netsky.d) which is still odd because the symantec site didn't find them
and either did the netsky removel tool. Any way i deleted all the files
and there are no more viruses. I would not be alarmed by the number of
instances of a paticuler virus as i have justed fix a persons computer
which had 6441 sasser files on it so 100 is nothing to me now (i have
the log if you wish to read over it).

PCR
June 19th 04, 04:12 AM
Fine, show me the log. Also, what is the problem now, that the virus is
gone? Did you do any manual finishing touches posted at the virus
scanner site? What does that particular virus do, besides creating 100
files for one to delete?


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"BW~Merlin" > wrote in message
...
| Hi. Maybe i should have said 100 infected virus created files
| (netsky.d) which is still odd because the symantec site didn't find
them
| and either did the netsky removel tool. Any way i deleted all the
files
| and there are no more viruses. I would not be alarmed by the number
of
| instances of a paticuler virus as i have justed fix a persons computer
| which had 6441 sasser files on it so 100 is nothing to me now (i have
| the log if you wish to read over it).

Bill Blanton
June 20th 04, 12:46 AM
Could be they re-compiled it after changing something very minor,
such as an error message or some other text. Another possibilty
is to find some irrelavent code (or debugging code) that is now
never called, but got left in for whatever reason, and then was
removed. Other possibilties..

No reason to waste a new version number in a cases like that.
:-V


"PCR" > wrote in message ...
> Yow. I never knew two of the same .dll can have the same version & a
> different size. I can't even seem to SAY it... two .dll with the same
> name & version have a different size... ah, that's it! OK, thanks.
> (Geez!)
>

PCR
June 20th 04, 10:40 PM
I guess.. they could be thinking.. no one would go for that file on an
individual file basis. Then, when one takes one of the apps that
contains it, one gets the "right" one.

STILL, it can cause confusion (as size normally goes in tandem with
version & a difference indicates viral activity), & certainly it was an
embarrassment to me!


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Bill Blanton" > wrote in message
...
| Could be they re-compiled it after changing something very minor,
| such as an error message or some other text. Another possibilty
| is to find some irrelavent code (or debugging code) that is now
| never called, but got left in for whatever reason, and then was
| removed. Other possibilties..
|
| No reason to waste a new version number in a cases like that.
| :-V
|
|
| "PCR" > wrote in message
...
| > Yow. I never knew two of the same .dll can have the same version & a
| > different size. I can't even seem to SAY it... two .dll with the
same
| > name & version have a different size... ah, that's it! OK, thanks.
| > (Geez!)
| >
|
|