NS won't open after WIN98 hard drive reformat

Problem: My IBM laptop with WIN98SE pre-install had to be reformatted. I re-installed WIN 98SE. using the IBM recovery CD. I then loaded many programs back in and all opened fine except NS 7.2.

My problem has been heavily discussed since my first posting 29 March, on another Forum "The Netscape Unofficial FAQ. Unfortunately, it has not been solved. In order not to repeat too much, I refer you to

http://ufaq.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=14947#14947

Suffice to say that I was given a link to Ramona's "Clean Install List" and I executed Step 2 but without success.

I've spent countless hours working on this without success. I'm thinking about re-formatting the hard drive with the Recovery CD again, but I have very little confidence that that will change things and I will lose all the time and effort spent in Windows and IBM updates as well as installing other programs.

If you could review the advice given, and my answers on the other forum and then offer suggestions, I would be very appreciative. Please note that the "usual" suggestions are not having the desired effect!

Please note the following:
1. There is no firewall or antivirus program installed (yet).
2. When I attempt to install NS, nothing is added to the Add/Remove Programs List in Control Panel. Therefore, all deletes have to be done in WIN Explorer by deleting folders applicable to NS. I have deleted all the folders as suggested in the Clean Install Write-up, including \Windows\Temporary.
3. My install attempts have been with both the NS CD and the downloaded full off-line installer. There is no difference; neither will complete the installation so as to allow NS to open. I recently used this CD to install NS 7.2 on a new IBM laptop running WIN XP and it installed normally.
4. Prior to the reformat, the problem computer had NS 7.2 installed and it worked normally.

Ted

 

Hi Ted,

Welcome to the BBS.

I took a look at the posts in the link you provided and, while not questioning Westside's or JayGarcia's advice, the one thing that wasn't mentioned was cleaning the registry. I've found, on numerous occasions, that a faulty installation leaves all kinds of entries behind in the registry, and that the only way to get a good installation is to go through the registry with a utility like RegSeeker and get rid of them.

On another note, I have a suggestion should you need to reformat your hard drive.

Personally, I HATE the way IBM sets up their laptops. I've owned three over the past few years, running both Win98 SE and XP Pro. With each one, I've formatted the hard drive and installed a plain vanilla OS from an OEM disk. With XP, particularly, relatively few IBM drivers and utilities have to be installed, which makes for a much cleaner machine.

 

Welcome to the Forum, Gardyloo!

Ted,

Sounds as if you have problems indeed! What is discouraging is the fact that Netscape isn't listed in the Add/Remove Programs List. So now you are actually unable to either uninstall or reinstall. This is what I suggest:

You will have to uninstall manually if netscape's install log is missing. Without the log, the uninstall cannot know which files to uninstall.

First you should try to manually run the uninstaller.

Either one of these should start the uninstaller, assuming you have an install log.

C:\program files\Netscape\Netscape\uninstall\NSUninst.exe
C:\WINNT\NSUninst.exe


The install log is named:

c:\program files\netscape\netscape\uninstall\install_wizard*. log
c:\program files\common
files\mozilla.org\GRE\1.4f_2003062408\uninstall\in stall_wizard*.log

Additionally, try to run the GRE uninstaller. One of these should work, assuming you have an install log.

C:\program files\Common Files\mozilla.org\GRE\1.4f2003062408\uninstall\GRE Uninstall.exe
C:\WINNT\GREUninstall.exe

If these fail, you may have to uninstall netscape by manually deleting files and Registry entries. If you aren't comfortable editing the Registry, and have no experience, then don't do it!

To manually delete the Netscape program files, delete all files and folders pertaining to Netscape from C:\Program Files:

This is going on the Assumption that you have no other Netscape or Mozilla browser installed, other than Netscape 7.2. Ensure that you have backed up your Registry before doing this Registry edit...

Registry Keys to Delete

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mozilla\Netscape 7.2
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\mozilla.org\GRE\1.7.2_2 004080415
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Netscape\Netscape
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\IM
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Netscape
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInter net\Netscp.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInter net\Netscp.exe\DefaultIcon
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInter net\Netscp.exe\InstallInfo
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInter net\Netscp.exe\shell
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInter net\Netscp.exe\shell\open
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInter net\Netscp.exe\shell\open\command
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Gtek
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Gtek\AOD
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\App
Paths\Netscp.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\App
Paths\Netscp6.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Uninstall\Netscape
(7.2)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Netscape 7.2
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\mozilla.org\GRE\1.7.2_ 2004080415
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Netscape


Directories to Remove

c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Netscape 7.2
c:\Program Files\AOD
c:\Program Files\AOD\aol
c:\Program Files\Common Files\mozilla.org\GRE\1.7.2_2004080415
c:\Program Files\Netscape


Files to Remove

c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\Free AOL & Unlimited
Internet.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\Instant Messenger.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\Netscape 7.2.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\Netscape Mail & Newsgroups.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Free AOL & Unlimited
Internet.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Netscape 7.2.lnk
c:\WINNT\NSUninst.exe
c:\WINNT\GREUninstall.exe

I hope this works for you!

Ramona

 

SUCCESS!

After reading the suggestions for changes to the Registry, I decided the easiest thing to do was to bite the bullet and do another hard drive reformat.

Did that, reinstalled the IBM supplied WIN98SE & associated program load. Then, the first thing I did was to try to install NS 7.2 from the CD. It worked.

Thanks to both of you, JSS and Ramona, for the suggestions.

Ted

 

Hi Ted,

You're welcome, and thanks for posting back.

Glad you've solved your problem, even though you resorted to reformatting and reinstalling your OS. I found that to be the only real answer with Win9x on numerous occasions. I'm much happier (and have fewer problems) with XP.

 

After working with McAfee AntiVirus, it seems like a snap. About three years ago I was having problems with that cussed program, and there were over 100 Registry keys to delete. I did this about ten-twelve times, and I finally got the program working, but by then AVG was a full time resident, and I knew the Registry inside out.
But, wow! what a pain to get Netscape going.