Control Panel Failure(win95b pentium200)

after a power failure my control panel has lost some of its function. if i try to open add remove programs i get a message "an error occurred while windows was working with file c:windows\system\appwiz.cpl ". if i try to rightclick on desktop and go to properties i get the same message but for file main.cpl. my question is can these files be refreshed somehow without a complete install?

 

Yes, there is. You will need a 98 boot floppy to do so, as a 95 boot floppy typically will not give you access to the CD drive in dos. Download the file for 98SE OEM.
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm
Put a floppy in the drive and doubleclick the downloaded file, do not copy the file to a floppy and expect it to work.
Boot the computer with it, and select With CDrom support. Watch the screen for a message giving you the drive letter for the CD, it will not be the usual letter. It may be E:, use this letter in place of the X below. This message will appear before the A:\> appears.

When you see the A:\>, insert your 95 CD into the drive. Do these commands at the prompt, pressing Enter at the end of each line.
c:
cd\windows\system
extract /y X:\win95\win95_11.cab appwiz.cpl
extract /y X:\win95\win95_03.cab main.cpl
You should get a confirmation messsage of the file being extracted each time.

If those extract commands do nothing, use these instead. I have a OEM 95 CD to check up the locations, and may not be the same as 95b. It will take longer as all the CAB files will be searched starting with the one named here.
extract /a /y X:\win95\win95_02.cab appwiz.cpl
extract /a /y X:\win95\win95_02.cab main.cpl

Take out floppy and reboot when done.

 

followed instructions

ok, i was able to make the 95 and 98 boot disks. i was able to extract the appwiz and main.cpl files to the windows/system directory. rebooted same problem. however after playing with differnt things i was able to create errors with the desk.cpl, timedate.cpl, and access cpl. i didnt extract those yet. one other problem i ran into was using start menu to sttings and when i clicked on
taskbar i got an error saying a fault was created comctl32. dll and the tray dissapeared off the taskbar.

EXPLORER caused an invalid page fault in
module COMCTL32.DLL at 014f:bfbc0f99.
Registers:
EAX=29010010 CS=014f EIP=bfbc0f99 EFLGS=00010202
EBX=00000000 SS=0157 ESP=008af3d8 EBP=008af3e4
ECX=00000002 DS=0157 ESI=00000032 FS=18e7
EDX=008af3a8 ES=0157 EDI=00000001 GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
0f b7 10 49 8d 44 50 02 75 f6 0f b7 18 8d 4e ff
Stack dump:
00000001 0044a804 0044b30c 008af6f8 bfbc0f4e bfb70000 00000002 008af694 00000032 00000009 bfbc0fec 00001042 008af694 00000032 00000009 bfbbe511

i am thinking now the problen isnt in the cpl files but the reading of them.

 

Hi Ray:

If these piecemeal repairs don't work, don't forget it's possible to reinstall Win95 "over the top of an existing install," without formatting the whole hard drive. This can often save the bulk of your hard drive data.

Jerry

 

That is true. BUT DO NOT boot from the Hard Drive to do it. If you boot to the HD there are many OS files that will not get overwritten properly.

If you can get a 98 Startup floppy. Boot to it and then you should be able to type X:\Win95\setup. X beint the letter of the CDROM. And I believe Win95 is the folder on the CD that contains the setup files.

But one thing that does need to be confirmed here.

What type of machine do you have ? If it is a HP, Compaq or other OEM I believe you can forget my ideas.

Wait to see what others have to say but I think this is a very good chance to upgrade to 98. And by using my suggestion 98 will go on top of 95 with no problems.

OOPS A THOUGHT popped up I believe it does depend on which version 95 you have. The original will not work. The later ( 32 bit ) version will. I believe it is 95B or 95OSR2. It has been a LONG time since I did but 98FE or 95. And now the same machine has XP Pro on it.

BillyBob

 

IBM Clone Type

My machine is an ibm clone it was built about ten years ago second power supply second harddrive. . i ordered another computer so i can migrate the important stuff that has accumalated over the years. after that (or Now) i want to gather the info for a install like you mentioned that will refresh windows while preserving(hopefully my data. i have an oem code number and the install cd for win95b. i also have the cd copied to my hard drive. going slow seems to help . thanks for the info so far!

 

If that is the case then I believe you can forget my suggestions for rebuilding as I do not believe they will work.

I myself have never had an OEM machine. I had my first one built for me ( for DOS/Win3.1 and still running with Win98SE ) but have built my own since.

BillyBob

 

Can you run the applets by using the run command?

Go to Start>Run and try a few of the following (just copy and paste) and see if you still get the errors:

rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL appwiz.cpl,,1

rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL desk.cpl,,0

rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL timedate.cpl

 

run all three

ok i ran all three of those commands and it shows the same error warning!

 

Let's try this.....

Go to Start>Find>Files or Folders.

Look for Control.ini

Once found, right-click Control.ini, and select Rename

Rename it to Control.old, then press ENTER, and then click Yes to confirm the filename extension change.

Restart the computer.

Open Control Panel.

 

ok followed instructions

ok i followed instructions the symtoms remained the same. i was a little nervous about doing that but it seemed to cause no harm.

 

Hopefully someone else can jump in as I'm going out of town until Thursday. Good luck and I'll check back!

 

Thank You

thanks to all the advice so far i am even learning a few things!

 

Sorry to take so long to get back to you. I've come across THIS site that may be of help. Try his "fixes" and let us know how you make out.

 

Thanks

thanks this looks like a very informative site. i will give it a try. except for the control panel issues the rest of the system is staying stable. optimally i would like to try simple things beore i do the radical .

 

Just wanted to report that i have a new winxp computer and i am slowly migrating everthing i consider important from the win95b machine to the new one. other than the control panel problems the old one is working fine with no further problems. I would recommend an ups system to avoid this problem to start with.