Windows 98 won't start up

[Saylok]

When I start up my Windows 98 computer, it goes thru the
whole process including connecting to network drives.
But then I quickly see the taskbar/start button flash on
the screen and then disappear. Then all I have is a
blank blue screen. And I can't do anything! Any ideas
what I can try? I can't even try a virus scanner because
I can't get to windows to run it.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Kim

[glee]

The symptoms indicate that explorer.exe, the shell, is crashing.
Follow the procedures here:
Blank Desktop or Illegal Operations Error Message After You Install Internet
Explorer:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=kb;en-us;249191

If those procedures do not help, have a look here...you may just want to start with
this:
Recovering From a Failed Internet Explorer Upgrade in Windows 98:
http://www.cs.bsu.edu/~gjjones/administrivia/stories/2003/03/21/recoveringFromAFaile
dInternetExplorerUpgradeInWindows98.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/r5ba

Especially this section at the end:

"If you still have boot problems after you reboot, you should use the command prompt
to edit the c:\windows\system.ini file. On the command line type edit
c:\windows\system.ini.

"Once it is open, change the line shell=explorer.exe to shell=progman.exe. What you
are doing here is changing the default shell (that is having problems) from the
Windows Explorer to the old Windows Program Manager shell.

"Reboot Windows. It should now successfully boot with no errors into an empty
Program Manager shell. Use the File | Run | Browse drop down menu selection to
browse to c:\program files\internet explorer and launch ie5setup.exe or ie6setup.exe
(depending on what is there). Do a custom install and check all the Bold faced
options. When the setup program alerts you that these files are already installed,
tell it to reinstall all of the files.

"When the Internet Explorer Setup program is done and reboots, hit the F8 key to
bring up a Boot Menu. Choose Command Prompt and boot to the command prompt. Once
there, type edit c:\windows\system.ini and, once it is open, change the line
shell=progman.exe back to shell=explorer.exe. Save and exit the file. You have now
set the shell back to the original value."

Please post back if you need more help or if you get stuck trying this.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


"Saylok" > wrote in message
...
> When I start up my Windows 98 computer, it goes thru the
> whole process including connecting to network drives.
> But then I quickly see the taskbar/start button flash on
> the screen and then disappear. Then all I have is a
> blank blue screen. And I can't do anything! Any ideas
> what I can try? I can't even try a virus scanner because
> I can't get to windows to run it.
>
> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Kim