Windows 98 SE Re-Install... Please Advise 2

[TulsaJeff]

I am looking to re-install Windows 98 SE tonight because of a corruption in the system. Is there any chance that I could lose any of my software? Should I backup my whole C drive or just portions of it? I have a CD burner and this would be possible but is it needed?

Please advise... thanks! Ya' Gotta Love It!

 

[butchrecon]

If you reload over the top of the current installation without formatting you should not loose any info. You can use your CDR to back up files you want to keep JUST incase. If loading overitself does not fix it then a complete format and reinstall may be needed. What was the corruption? it might be something we can easily solve. James Collins
Field Service Engineer
A+, MCP

email: butchrecon@skyenet.net

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[TulsaJeff]

I am not really sure exactly what the corruption is. I have been dealing with the techs at Dell and after many tests they told me it was corrupted and I would need to reinstall Windows.

It started out as some blurry streaks across my monitor which they said was the video card so they sent me a new one. After installing it... I was unable to get it off 16 colors so I installed the correct drivers and still no luck.

the main thing that is happening is it will barely start-up. Sometimes it hangs and takes 10 or 15 minutes to start and then a lot of times it wants to start in safe mode. Once I get it started after many attempts, it runs very slow and refuses to open any microsoft office programs except Internet Explorer.

I ran msconfig and got my tray cleaned out to avoid getting below 70% on my available resources. I also ran some type of reg fix or something in MS-DOS and it found hundreds of corrupted or missing system files.

I am not a systems guru as you can see. My expertise lies within certain software platforms and that is where it ends. I am open to any advice I can get at this point. If reinstallation of my OS will fix the problem then great but if not then I will have to do whatever it takes. Ya' Gotta Love It!

 

[TulsaJeff]

Okay, NOW I'm not showing a D or E drive! I reset the system configuration to default in setup and still nothing. Any suggestions? I obviously can't reinstall Windows without these drives.

Ya' Gotta Love It!