Start up problem...

Hello to all,

I am trying to figure out what has happened to my computer and have done much searching (both on this BBS and on the web) but haven't been able to find anything that I can understand. (From a beginners point of view )

I think this problem of starting my computer began shortly after the NAV did its liveupdate thing several days ago. After it did it's automatic update, there were many error messages (the dreaded blue screen scenerio), and there were so many I couldn't even begin to write them all down! I think I also had a screen that came up with something about a "TSR "?? and that my system resources were extremely low and it asked if I wanted to shut down several programs that were running at the time.

I was finally able to shut down the computer (figuring that a restart would correct all of this). However upon restarting my computer I received the following error message (on a black dos type screen) Windows protection error please restart your computer (or something similar). When I try to restart from that point I receive the message "it is now safe to turn off your computer ".

I did a crt/alt/del to restart and started in safe mode. I did start the scanreg /restore and was able to go to a date prior to all of this happening. But anytime the computer is shut down, I am back to the "windows protection error" and the "safe to turn off your computer" message upon restarting.

I have checked on the symantec web site also (as there was a reference I found somewhere to this happening after doing a live up date) and the information there mentioned something about a possible corrupt or missing Microsoft file namend Wininit.exe. It also explained how to remove the corrupt file and how to go about extracting a new one. The problem being that it instructs on how to do this using a Windows installation CD and I don't believe I have one? This computer came with Windows98 already installed. I do have an "applications" cd disk and a "product recovery and diagnotics" cd that came with it. I also have a "Windows 98 start up disk" that I made way back when I first got the computer.

But how do I know if this is actually where the problem is? (The Wininit.exe file) It also mentioned that your computer would fail to restart in safe mode, but mine does.

What I am wondering is if I should just try and reinstall my Windows98 (over itself) and hope that this would correct the problem? If this would work, how do I go about doing that? I have tried to look for instructions on how to do that (i.e. step-by-step) but have only found them when using reference to using an installation cd.

Thank you for you time and any help would be greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,
Vicki

 

First, you can probably use your "Product Recovery" CD to restore the missing file. Just follow the instructions you've already found and let it look on the CD drive. If it can't find it there, try the next approach.

The contents of the Windows 98 installation CD are usually put on the harddrive during the windows installation. You can check to see if it's on your computer like this:
1. Open My Computer
2. Open (click on) the C drive
3. Open the Windows Folder
4. Open the Options folder
5. See if there's a Cabs folder...if so, you've got what you need and you can close that window.

Next, follow the instructions you already have on how to restore a missing file but instead of letting it look on the CD drive (which is probably D), tell it to look in that C:\Windows\Options\Cabs folder.

If restoring that file doesn't fix the problem, then you can reinstall Windows without wiping the harddrive clean first (which is what many Product Recovery CDs insist on doing) and losing all your data.

Go back into that C:\Windows\Options\Cabs folder, find the "setup.exe" file, open it as you would any other file and the Windows reinstallation should start.

 

Thinning hair.....

Thank you, Miz, for replying and trying to help me with figuring this whole thing out.

I dug out my "product recovery" disk, but after reading the instruction information it came with (that using it my cause a "reformat" of my drive), I didn't want to take a chance on using that!

So I thought I'd try the next option you had listed and was able to find the cabs folder you mentioned. So I proceeded to use the sfc to do the extracting. (I did read the information on how to do that but get somewhat confused at this point.) The information I found says "in the 'Specify the system file you would like to restore' box, type drive:\windows\path\file (where drive is the drive on which the Windows folder is installed, generally drive C, path is the location in the windows folder is the destination of the file that you are extracting, and file is the file that you want to extract. "

Would you please guide me through what I need to type in at that point?

Thanks for your assistance!
Sincerely,
Vicki