win98 problem with no solution

[miketolbert01]

Help, please! Downloaded some mp3's, logged off the web, immediately scanned for viruses. Found three which were quarantined and deleted. Shut down computer, went to bed. Turned on computer next morning and all hell broke loose! Kept getting messages that Windows could not load because of missing files (ie., himem.sys, vmm32.vxd, comctrl.dll, etc....) Took the HDD out of my computer and slaved it to our other computer, checked for the "missing" files and found them to be intact and exactly where they were supposed to be. Put HDD back in my computer, booted up, and, after post, got same message plus "need to run setup to replace missing files". Ran setup eleven (yes, eleven!) times. After eleventh setup run, computer posted, and went to "registry error correction" screen, which informed me that registry errors were being corrected and I would need to restart. This scenario occurred seven times! The computer now posts and proceeds to the Windows98 startup screen, but hangs there. At no time during the boot process does pressing F8 (or any other key) have an effect. Furthermore, when I install my HDD as the master drive on our other computer, the computer boots normally and operates flawlessly. Conversely, if I install the other HDD on MY computer, the same bizarre behaviour ensues. Obviously, the HDD's are not the problem. Any ideas as to what the problem can be and possible solutions? Since I'm a 50-year-old computer illiterate, I really do need all the help I can get! Please help! :eek:

[renegade600]

are you able to get into safemode?

[miketolbert01]

No, Renegade600, once I start it up, it has a mind of its own. I can't go to safe mode, command prompt, or anything else. It posts, then goes to the Windows98 startup screen, and it freezes from that point on. I was thinking that perhaps a virus corrupted my BIOS or something before I quarantined and deleted it, but could that make the OS go wacky in a million different ways? I really don't know enough about this stuff to form an intelligent opinion. Here's another interesting tidbit: whatever the cause, it seems to have made my floppy inoperable also, so I can't even use a clean boot disk to boot from. That sux! Anyway, as I said, pressing F1, F2, F4, F8, ctrl-alt-delete, or anything else, has absolutely no effect whatsoever during boot. The thing posts, goes to the startup screen, and that's it.... Any thoughts would be more than welcome, believe me!:dizzy:

[The Dude]

Do you have a copy of the OS to try and re-install it??

Something got me$$ed up...If you can hook that HDD up to your other computer and its fine,then something on THAT computer is messed up.........I dunno if something blew out or what.......

Very wierd.........Good Luck my friend !!!!!!

Thank you for coming ashore :)

[miketolbert01]

Hi, The Dude and Renegade600! First of all, thanx for taking the time to examine my problem. The Dude, you are correct: I don't believe the problem is the HDD, since it is currently operating (with no problems) the computer I am using right now. I DID discover that I can get to the Windows98 startup menu by holding down ctrl key during boot. However, once I am at the startup menu, chosing safe mode causes the following message to be displayed: "ERROR: HIMEM.SYS has detected unreliable XMS memory at address 00810C04. XMS DRIVER NOT INSTALLED. To continue starting your computer, press ENTER" When I press ENTER, I receive the following message: "HIMEM.SYS is missing. Make sure the file is in your Windows directory. Windows has stopped." Of course, HIMEM.SYS is NOT missing, as I reported earlier. When at the startup menu, I CAN get a command prompt, but running "scanreg /restore" appears to restore the registry, yet the computer behaves the same afterwords. Further, if I choose the step-by-step confirmation option from the startup menu, everything seems to load fine until I get to the line "Load all Windows drivers (Y/N)". When I choose "Y", I get the following message: "Run-time error R6003 - integer divide by 0". As soon as that message appears, everything stalls - no keys cause any kind of response: escape does nothing, enter does nothing, etc. The only way to make anything happen is to hit the reset button on the computer, which takes me through the entire process once again, only to receive the same results. It's like that movie Groundhog Day, except every time I relive it, it stays the same :) In any case, I do NOT believe the HDD is at fault, as I am using it at this very moment with no problems. The question is: WHAT on the motherboard could a) prevent the Windows drivers from loading; b) cause an "R6003" runtime error; and, c) cause Windows to not recognize HIMEM.SYS ??? I know I say this alot, but: any thoughts or ideas would be highly appreciated, as I am so computer illiterate that I need a dictionary to spell IBM...;)

[The Dude]

Could the files have gotton corrupt somehow?????

Im not sure why that computer isnt recognizing them,could the computer have been accidently changed to another format perhaps?? And thats why it doesnt see the files anymore?? http://www.myfilestash.com/userfiles/thedude/confused.gif

I dunno buddy,its very,very strange........Good Luck :)

[Tom]

Given the timing, symptoms and some of the errors (which can reflect some DOS level memory access) I'd suggest checking RAM. Maybe swapping out for some sticks you know are good.

[miketolbert01]

Hi, guys. This is to let you all know that JinTan is a bona fide genius (thanx a million, bro). The first DIMM stick I pulled out seems to have been the problem. I pulled the stick (I don't have any spares to switch out with), hit the power switch, and the machine booted quickly, smoothly, and with no problems whatsoever. Again, thanx to everybody who put in their two cents' worth. It ALL helped, seriously. You guys are great -- you saved me tons of dispair (though I DID pull out a few clumps of hair ;)). Cudos to the team: Cybertechhelp ROX!!!

[Tom]

The compliment is unwarranted, but thanks anyway miketolbert01. Glad you are up and running.

Tom