strange windows restart problem

hi
i have a strange problem. when i try to boot my win98 se it goes to the system registry checker (safe mode, step-by-step confirmation mode does not matter still goes there) and updates/backups user.dat, system.dat and then asks for a restart. once i do that it again repeats the same process.

what is the problem. how do i fix it. will reinstalling win98 solve my problem. if i do reinstall windows will i lose the programs already installed?

please help

thanx

shyam

 

Hi Shyam, look at the stobolton's post for some ideas.
regards

 

You could try restoring the registry. If the machine won't boot into "Safe Mode Command Prompt Only" from the boot menu, you will need to boot up with a boot floppy. You can make one on any Windows 98 computer from Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs>Startup Disk tab.

Start the computer with the floppy in the drive and choose either with or without CD-ROM support (loads faster without).

Once into DOS, type scanreg /restore and press the Enter key. You should get a list of 5 previously used registries. Choose the newest one that said it loaded successfully and press the enter key.

To answer the second question, no, reinstalling Windows on top of the current installation should not mess with either your data files or your installed programs. I've done an over-the-top reinstall of Win98 a number of times on several different systems and never lost anything.

I say "should not mess with" because if an installed program has altered some Windows system files, which is what a reinstall replaces with the originals, you may have to reinstall that program.

You will need to get all the Windows updates again, though.