Win98SE freezes before icons are loaded

I don't have specifics about the computer in question, because it belongs to friends and seems to be a mishmosh of components (and if the computer doesn't simply say "Dell" or "Compaq" or something on it somewhere, I'm clueless about brands). It's old, though - originally came with Win95 installed. Somewhere along the line it was upgraded to Win98SE. Various hardware upgrades have been done over the years, and apparently it's been running fine (burning CDs, using DSL; plenty of free space on the hard drive still) until recently.
A couple of weeks ago, the computer started freezing up just after startup. Icons and taskbar would load, and then the system would freeze. Occasionally the computer would work fine, but those instances were the exception, not the rule. Safe Mode worked fine - I tried scandisk, but about 1/10 of the way through, I got a message about scandisk having restarted 10 times because something else was running in the background (in safe mode? what else would be running? all I had clicked on was scandisk).
I was able to install AdAware and Spybot S&D on one of those rare times when the computer booted up okay - found a total of some 200 items between them, but the programs were apparently able to deal with them all. I uninstalled Norton Anti-virus (which had been giving them problems with updates for a while) and installed AVG free. AVG found one item and successfully got rid of it.
Now they report that the icons and taskbar aren't even loading - the background picture on their desktop loads, and then everything freezes.
They apparently had to reset the clock last week - it was showing the wrong year altogether (I didn't think the check the clock when I looked at the computer). They deny ever having changed the BIOS/CMOS battery themselves, but given the number of times the computer has been in for hardware upgrades, maybe it has been done. Could a dying battery cause this particular kind of problem? No error messages seem to pop up...
Can't find their Win98SE disk, so reinstallation isn't an option. (Couldn't make a boot-up diskette either, because a dll file is missing. I have a laptop with 98SE on it - could I make a boot-up diskette for them, or does the fact that they're different OEMs make a difference?)
I know the best thing for them would be to get a new computer, but finances are precluding that at the moment, so short of that, does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks!

 

1. I would replace the battery. This will cause the Bios to lose it's settings.

2. I would make sure that all traces of Norton was completely removed.

3. When booting up start tapping F8 or whatever key was used to access Safe Mode. Instead of selceting Safe Mode select Command Prompt Only. At the prompt type scandisk /autofix (notice space between k & /) then press <Enter>. I usually ignore the request to save to floppy disk when asked. After that has finished type scanreg /fix (space g & /), press <Enter>. When finished type scanreg /opt (space again), press <Enter>. If problems still exist boot back into Command Prompt Only and type scanreg /restore (space), press <Enter>. Select a date that started successfully previous to any problems.

 

I'll try to get over to the computer in the next day or two, and follow your suggestion #3 before doing anything else.
Before changing batteries and losing the BIOS settings, how will I go about resetting those settings once a new battery is in place?
Thanks!

 

Bios settings aren't a problem; most folks just use the defaults. The main thing is to make sure the hardware like the memory and ide and floppy drives are seen correctly and the date is updated.

 

Thanks for that, Sparrow!
I'll post back as soon as I'm able to get to that computer again.