win 98 se restarts in a loop

hi,
i've a p2 450mhz with win98 se installed. my problem is that now everytime i start my system the system registry checker is activiated and it updates/backups the user.dat, system.dat etc. then it restarts again this goes on in an endless loop.
what should i do? what is the problem? plz help...

shyam

 

Hi Shyam,

Welcome to the board. Please check out the following two microsoft articles and see if either fits the description of the trouble win98 is throwing at you:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=201655

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=186909

There are solutions offered in these. Have you tried any of these? If you need further help, easier explanations or a step by step to help walk you through them just give a shout. (You can't even get into win98 using safemode?)

 

We have similar posts on the board (search for them, since you seem to be able to get to the board from some PC) and it seems in most cases that windows boot detects an unloadable system file, tries to recover the latest of previous versions but the latest copy is also bad.
What do you have for system file backups ?
I do not use the standard Win98 backups at all and have forgotten their
names (RB001 etc ?) but Ann will tell you their names and about using
the registry restore program from DOS.
regards

 

Hello again,
It seems, between the two posts, you have gathered quite a few friendly helpers all with suggestions. Are you confused yet???? Have you been able to piece together enough of the information to make a logical plan of attack(fix)? Need that Step-By-Step?

Also..You may or may not be aware but it is best to keep the current posted Topic or problem and any directly related issue in the same post. Spreading them out causes confusion and multiple duplicate ways to fix the problem. It makes it hard to keep track of what has been done and what needs to be done. You can add to your original post by opening it and hitting the reply button from with in the box. You may have tried to separate your two questions, 1)scanreg and 2)win reinstall but as they're related they could have gone into the same post. So here's the crosslink for the other ongoing post. I'm sure the http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=32326 all powerful moderators will come along and glue them together at some point.

Description of the Windows Registry Checker Tool (Scanreg.exe)
SUMMARY
When you start your computer successfully, the Windows Registry Checker tool (Scanreg.exe) creates a backup of system files and registry configuration information (including user account information, protocol bindings, software program settings, and user preferences) once daily. Files that Windows Registry Checker backs up include System.dat, User.dat, System.ini, and Win.ini. This article describes the Windows Registry Checker tool.These backups will be stored in the \windows\sysbackup folder as rb***.cab files where *** is a number between 001 and 005 (5 days/dated backups are kept by default). If you have a regsitry problem all you normally need to do is to boot to a DOS prompt and enter the command SCANREG /RESTORE and then choose from the 5 available backups, one that predates the problem.See:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;183887

Error Message: You Have Restored a Good Registry...
SYMPTOMS
When you start your computer, you may receive the following error message:
You have restored a good registry. Windows found an error in your system files and restored a recent backup of the files to fix the problem. When you restart your computer, you may receive the error message again. See:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=201655

How to Manually Restore the Windows 98/Me Registry
SUMMARY
This article describes how to restore a backup copy of the Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition (Me) registry.See:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=221512

As for reinstalling windows on top of it's self; When Setup finds previous registry files it doesn't replace the registry,chances are that any problem there (the registry that is) would still remain. Removing or renaming the SYSTEM.DAT and SYSTEM.DA0 files from your Windows folder before reinstalling can be used and may solve whatever problem you're experiencing. You may also, however, need to rename/remove the USER.DAT and USER.DA0 files, but that will require you to reinstall most of your applications too. If this wasn't a registry problem an "Over the Top" install would not (in most cases) effect your other programs and personal files. However ..(seems like there's always a but doesn't it).. you would lose any customized settings, such as preferences for themes, sounds, fonts etc.; previously used or set in windows. You will have to stop by windows update site to see if you have lost any updates. Some of these, although not all, may have been overwritten or lost. "Reinstall" is always used as last ditch effort when you have nothing else left to try and are facing a clean install anyway. It is not the best recovery method but may work in a pinch.

Things can become even more complicated if this is an OEM install rather than a shelfed store bought version.

==========
As a side note..
Perhaps a c:\ prompt scandisk using the thorough option may be needed. It maybe possible that the harddrive has damage (a bad sector or two) that system files are trying use during a read/write. See:
From the boot menu option screen choose "c:\ prompt ".
At the MS-DOS command prompt, type:
scandisk.exe /all /surface
Follow the on-screen instructions and fix any problems that ScanDisk finds.

Perhaps these questions should have been covered from the get-go but better late than never.
*How did you find yourself in this mess? What started it?
*Can you describe and quote the bootup process and any messages or errors your getting?
*What message is scanreg giving you, is it restoring a registry backup or is it attempting to fix your current one?
*After it does this and proceeds to load windows do you get an error or message here such as windows has detected.... or windows was unable to start because... etc.

It may also help to know if any errors are going on behind the win98 clouds. You can temporarily suspend the clouds if you hit the tab key while the clouds (bootup logo) are running. The other option is to edit the msdos.sys file with the Logo=0 command:
Give me a minute why I double check my step instructions for this....on second thought, see if the tab key suspension works for you. The edit involves, at this point, a manual file edit using the c:\prompt command edit and the application that results from that command. I'm pretty sure you don't want to do this unless you have to (and you don't).