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WIN 98 start up problems

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by computercare Sep 4, 2001 last reply Sep 21, 2001

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I am running WIN 98 upgrade. On start up it wants to hang up or freeze. I can open it up in safe mode but nothing else. Any ideas?

7 replies

by admin-stuart Sep 4, 2001

The fastest way to troubleshoot this problem is this:

Boot into Safe Mode.
Start>Run msconfig
Pick Selective startup.
Uncheck all radio buttons underneath

If you can boot up completely in Normal mode after that, then run msconfig again, andadd back one thing you deselected at a time, until the startup problem reappears. At that point, you have narrowed down the culprit. If the culprit is Autoexec.bat, then check the file for entries possibly recently added by new programs. If the problem is the startup group items, you might want to remove them and add them back one at a time to identify the problem.

Good luck.

by computercare Sep 21, 2001

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by oaguilar Sep 4, 2001

Remove any extra cards you may have installed (NIC's, modems, sound). Boot into safe mode and run msconfig. Under the general tab, fill in the radio button next to "Selective Startup" and uncheck the autoexec.bat and the config.sys. Go to the startup tab and uncheck any double items. For instance, you may have 2 loadpowerprofile's. Just leave one. After that's all done, click on OK. It will ask you to restart the computer, don't do it just yet. Go into your device manager. Make sure you do not have any phantom devices (i.e. 2 of the same modems, 2 keyboards, etc.) If you have doubles, remove them (i.e. 2 modems, remove both, 2 keyboards, remove both, etc). Restart the computer, with just your video, mouse, and keyboard, and try to boot normally. If successful, reinstall all of your cards one at a time, until you system hangs. This way you will see exactly which card is hanging the OS.

If you still get hung up after booting with the video card, mouse, and keyboard, go back into safe mode. Run msconfig again, and under the general tab, uncheck the win.ini, then try to boot normally again. If it boots, you'll have a 640x480 screen. Don't try to adjust your settings. Restart the computer back in safe mode. Run msconfig, recheck the win.ini box under the general tab, then select the WIN.INI tab across the top. You'll have to uncheck all of the items listed. Once that is done, check the first item, then restart the computer. Continue to do this until your computer locks up. This way you will find exactly what is hanging you OS. Good luck.