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bobdylan

Technical User
Mar 7, 2001
83
GB
My PC is running Win98 and I have just restored the machine from the backup disks. Now whenever I start the PC 9 times out of ten it keeps starting in Safe Mode. I have replaced the HD but it's still happening.

Does anyone know what else could be causing it or am I going to have to do another clean install and hope for the best?

Any help would be great..

Thanks
 
Thanks jmatt, I'll take a good look and give it a try
 
In case you're wondering why it happens in the first place, Windows found something upon startup that it was unable to load successfully, whether this be video drivers or what is somewhat hard to decipher when given a memory address, unless you program. In short, you most-likely had an unsuccessful backup. The only sure way to resolve this would be to fdisk/format c: and install a fresh copy of Windows 98. While you're at it, I would also create a folder called "cabs" at the root level of c: and copy the entire contents of the Windows CD into that folder, provided you have the hard drive space to accommodate this, obviously. I think of restores, backups, recoveries, whatever you want to call it, as a crutch until such time as you are able to format and start anew. That's just me though. I've not had a completely successful restoration ever in the 6 years I've worked with computers. There's always some bug that presents itself. Anyhow, just my two cents...
 
LoadedMind - You're sayin, load the WHOLE CD into a 'cabs' file? Not just the cabs? ... The whole CD isn't Cabs, is it?

And then, with that in the HDD as a resource, how do you use it? Do you simply drag any system file you need to replace over to replace an apparently corrupted file? Or does Win98 just go &quot;discover&quot; it? <smile>

I'd like to learn more about that if you pass through this thread again...
thx Mikl
bigpygme@earthlink.net
 
I create an installation folder w9xxin and a sub under that win9x, copy the setup.* to w9xx and the cd\win9x to the corresponding sub. Use the descriptive folder so I know what I have. Also put a file in there with activation codes.
All you need are the root files and the files in the win9x directory. Max space from 60 to 127mb depending on version. Installs in about 1/4 the time and you don't have to worry about the CD on the next hardware change. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
 
bobdylan,

A pretty common practice, is to use the following structure:

c:\windows\options\cabs

put only the FILES from the win9x folder on the CD into it, you don't NEED to have the folders, and there is already a Setup.exe in there.

Edit the &quot;msbatch.inf&quot; file, so that it contains the following in the [Setup] section:

[Setup]
ProductKey=&quot;xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx&quot;

Where the x's represent your product key. This way, when you run setup, the info is already filled in when you get to the EULA.

If you don't have an &quot;msbatch.inf&quot; file, you can make it with Notepad, and save it to the c:\windows\options\cabs folder.

Try running setup with an argument, just for fun:

setup.exe /ie

This tells setup not to prompt you to make an Emergency Repair Disk during setup!

or

setup.exe /ie /id /is

&quot;Ignores&quot; the Emergency Startup disk, the disk space check, and the disk scan, in that order!

:)
 
I would like to know if anyone knows a site on the internet to download the cabs files of windows 95. I know that I need the win 95 cd but It would be very helpfull if there is a site to download windows cabs files.
Thanks.


 
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