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Windows 98 registry issues


Win98

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Alright, I installed ImgBurn,a web browser, and avast (I have already gone in and deleted these programs, i might add). After i did that, avast told me it needed to restart the computer before it would work, so i did.

Now heres the problem. It came up with the options ( Safe mode, ect), told me to go to command prompt and run ScanReg because some registry file was screwed up. I did, and it set on the ScanReg screen over night, to no avail. When i try to start it in safe mode, it says "While intilizing device VKD: Windows protection err" I read up, and it said something about a bad keyboard could do this, so i switched keyboards, and even tried once without a keyboard connected. No luck.

Anyone ever had this problem, or know how to solve it? Thanks!

Edited by Win98
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One is a PS2 type Emachines keyboard (My Backup keyboard) and the other one i use is a USB keyboard. Brand is apparently just "Smart keyboard". Picked it up at a garage sale a few years ago. Both work fine. I tested them on another computer.

Ive put the HDD in another computer, and the same error.

When i start scandisk, i get this:

Scandisk is unable to check a drive because there is no extended memory driver loaded on your computer.

To check this drive, make sure you have a HIMEM.SYS file on the disk from which you are starting your computer, and then restart using the 'command prompt only' option (Not safe mode, command prompt only). Depending on the location of the HIMEM.SYS file or DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS in the CONFIG.SYS file on your boot drive....

Edited by Win98
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Windows Protection Error with blue screen halt after installing a large software (Avast)? Could be registry size too large causing it to not be able to load one of the two hives.

IMHO, ScanReg is the worst idea. Useless. And it will throw away registries for no good reason. It may already be too late to recover the last good working copy prior to Avast.

Before going further I would get into F8 command line mode and copy whatever remains to a new directory like C:\Critical (for example) ...

attrib -r -s -h C:\Windows\*.da*

attrib -r -s -h C:\Windows\Sysbckup\*.cab

md C:\Critical

cd C:\Critical

copy C:\Windows\*.da*

copy C:\Windows\Sysbckup\*.cab

dir >reglist.txt

Then post what is in that text file. The sizes, times and dates will tell the tale (especially if you can recall the time of the Avast install).

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Scanreg wouldnt do anything, BUT i did something (Not sure what) But now it will boot to safe mode.

When i tell it to boot normally, it boots to the windows 98 boot screen, then the screen goes black..

About what you said for me to copy, I have no idea where what you want me to copy is.

....and now it booted normally.

Edited by Win98
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Scanreg wouldnt do anything, BUT i did something (Not sure what) But now it will boot to safe mode.

When i tell it to boot normally, it boots to the windows 98 boot screen, then the screen goes black..

About what you said for me to copy, I have no idea where what you want me to copy is.

....and now it booted normally.

It is possible that Scanreg used a previously successful stored registry. If you see all the Avast icons and it runs correctly then at least SYSTEM.DAT survived.

To be safe I would still grab all the registry copies that exist. From that previous post:

Reboot ... begin tapping F8 after the BIOS screen

At the black screen Startup Menu select: Command Prompt Only

You are now in DOS. Enter these commands

attrib -r -s -h C:\Windows\*.da*

attrib -r -s -h C:\Windows\Sysbckup\*.cab

md C:\Critical

cd C:\Critical

copy C:\Windows\*.da*

copy C:\Windows\Sysbckup\*.cab

dir >reglist.txt

You are now still in DOS in a new folder called \Critical and there is a plain text file called reglist.txt. You can either copy it to a floppy or something to access it on another computer or you can reboot this one right now by pressing the reset button or CTL-ALT-DEL.

When you get back to Windows just enter this into the Start > Run box ... C:\Critical\Reglist.txt ... and it should open up in notepad or something. Just copy/paste the contents into a post here into CODE or CODEBOX.

The information in there will show the dates, times, sizes of the live registry files and any backups saved by ScanReg. You also will have successfully saved safe copies of the registries to fall back on in an emergency (restoring them manually is a simple matter of a few more commands in DOS).

You should mention CPU and amount of memory. Is it Win95 original or updated OSR?

If you do not want to go to DOS, it can be done in Windows.

Start > Find > Files or Folders.

Uncheck the Include Subfolders

In Look In paste this: C:\Windows;C:\Windows\Sysbckup

In Named paste this: System.da? User.da? Rb???.cab

Click FIND NOW or press ENTER.

I would right-click drag/drop COPY them to a spare folder. You will still need a filelist of that folder and this will still be easier in a DOS prompt. But I will wait until I know what you are planning to do before typing all that out. :yes:

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Your Windows Registry may be corrupted (probably by Avast, which is no longer compatible with Windows 98SE). If so, there are two procedures you might try (SCANREG/RESTORE and SCANREG/FIX).

Use "SCANREG/RESTORE" to replace your current Windows Registry with a prior working version of the Windows Registry. Note, however, SCANREG/RESTORE has a scary side effect. Windows 98 makes only a limited number of Windows Registry backups. And, each time you restore to a prior Windows Registry, subsequent backup versions of the Windows Registry are lost. So use with care.

Use "SCANREG/FIX" to repair your current Windows Registry. I recommend you try SCANREG/FIX first, since no files are deleted. And you can always try SCANREG/RESTORE later, if SCANREG/FIX fails. For SCANREG/RESTORE, restore only the latest backup copy of the Windows Registry, one-by-one, until you find one, hopefully, that works.

Hold down the "Ctrl" key when starting your computer. Select "Command prompt only" using your arrow keys. Enter "SCANREG/?" for help, "SCANREG/FIX", or "SCANREG/RESTORE".

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