Unable to re-install program- Win98

[dibeach]

A client has asked for my help with a Win98 computer which has been happily running a CAD program (called GraphicWare I believe) for some years. Recently things have started going wrong and he tried to reinstall the CAD program which is apparently something he has done several times whenever there were problems. This time however it would not install - just hung endlessly. He believes this is due to a basic Win98 problem. Does anybody have any ideas on how to troubleshoot this?

Many thanks as always.

 

[Chadly01]

Unistall the program and delete all refrences to it from the registry. Reboot and try reinstalling it. Make sure you only delete references to THE CAD program and no other programs.

 

[edfair]

When things get munged in windows it is sometimes better to go back to square one and do a total reinstall , wiping the hard drive and starting with the windows install.
If you choose to go this route, document the hardware components and software install sequence. The OS is somewhat sensitive to install sequences. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.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.

 

[tsuji]

Hello, dibeach.

As you are an experienced technical person, I would be economic in words. Only want to point out that many setup programs are having their 16-bit stubs or squarely 16-bit programs, so the problem typically points to a defective VDM of his/her system. Here is a batch file doing a basic repair see if it corrects the problem. (You can detect what it does as it is self-explanatory enough. Freely make change to suit your client's system config. before running.)

:: ----------/repair00.bat/-------/tsuji/---
@echo off
:: MODIFY THE SYSTEM CONFIG INFO here-----
set cd_letter=J
set windir=c:\windows
:: MODIFY THE SYSTEM CONFIG INFO above----
c:
cd %windir%\system
if exist winoa386.mod ren winoa386.mod winoa386.old >nul
if exist vgafull.3gr ren vgafull.3gr vgafull.old >nul
cd %windir%\command
For %%F in (winoa386.new, vgafull.3gr) Do extract /a %cd_letter%:\win98\win98_22.cab /l %windir%\system %%F
cd %windir%\system
ren winoa386.new winoa386.mod
cd %windir%
set cd_letter=
:: ----------/repair00.bat/-------/tsuji/---

Edit the line on cdrom drive letter (J above) being running it. Also care about line-wrap.

If the above basic repair fails to correct the problem, meaning system still does not accept users to install applications, say, his/her cad program. Then, more dlls may have been damaged. In particular, you have to check those in the

[HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\KnownDLLs].

You have then more detective work to do.

regards - tsuji