Can't Normal Boot

A Compaq can boot into Safe Mode but hangs (desktop wallpaper but no icons;

no bar across the bottom; keyboard, including Start Button has no effect) if

attempting boot into Normal Mode. Can a virus or other "malware" be the

cause? I'll try editing the Registry at "Run", "Run Once", etc., to see if

there's anything unusual or that I cannot recognize. Any help is

appreciated.

--



Brian A. Sesko   { MS MVP_Shell/User }

Conflicts start where information lacks.

http://basconotw.mvps.org/



Suggested posting do's/don'ts:  http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

How to ask a question:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375









"Catin Dehat" <green.eggs@ham.net> wrote in message

news:eaAvWGo%23FHA.3388@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

>A Compaq can boot into Safe Mode but hangs (desktop wallpaper but no icons; no

>bar across the bottom; keyboard, including Start Button has no effect) if

>attempting boot into Normal Mode. Can a virus or other "malware" be the cause?

>I'll try editing the Registry at "Run", "Run Once", etc., to see if there's

>anything unusual or that I cannot recognize. Any help is appreciated.

>

Boot to DOS with a 98 boot disk and restore the registry to a prior date that

the issue started if available.  Then try to boot to Safe Mode and run a full

system anti-virus scan.  Then boot normal, run the scan again and run any

adware/spyware scans.



To restore an earlier registry type the below at the prompt and press Enter.

scanreg /restore    *Note the space before /.



--



Brian A. Sesko   { MS MVP_Shell/User }

Conflicts start where information lacks.

http://basconotw.mvps.org/



Suggested posting do's/don'ts:  http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

How to ask a question:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375









"Catin Dehat" <green.eggs@ham.net> wrote in message

news:eaAvWGo%23FHA.3388@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

>A Compaq can boot into Safe Mode but hangs (desktop wallpaper but no icons; no

>bar across the bottom; keyboard, including Start Button has no effect) if

>attempting boot into Normal Mode. Can a virus or other "malware" be the cause?

>I'll try editing the Registry at "Run", "Run Once", etc., to see if there's

>anything unusual or that I cannot recognize. Any help is appreciated.

>

"Catin Dehat" <green.eggs@ham.net> wrote in message

news:eaAvWGo%23FHA.3388@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

>A Compaq can boot into Safe Mode but hangs (desktop wallpaper but no icons;

>no bar across the bottom; keyboard, including Start Button has no effect)

>if attempting boot into Normal Mode. Can a virus or other "malware" be the

>cause? I'll try editing the Registry at "Run", "Run Once", etc., to see if

>there's anything unusual or that I cannot recognize. Any help is

>appreciated.

>



boot to "command prompt" and run scandisk ...any errors?



did this just start?system changed in any way?software installed lately?

"START button, Run, MSConfig" & turn off the Startup Group, Config.sys &

Autoexec.bat. (Note: when you later turn them back on, all items in them

will get checked. So, note what may be unchecked first.)



Can you boot to Normal Mode now? If so, there is some troubleshooting to

do, using MSConfig...



http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;281965

How to Troubleshoot Using the Msconfig Utility with Windows 98

(281965) - This article describes how to use the Microsoft System

Configuration (Msconfig) utility to troubleshoot configuration errors in

Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition.



BUT BE CAREFUL-- better not disable System.ini & Win.ini, because that

can be trouble. Well, if you are sure of your Registry backups, actually

those two can be recovered this way...



(a) Boot to DOS. (Hold Ctrl for the Startup Menu, & select "Command

Prompt Only".)

(b) Scanreg  /Restore

(c) Ctrl-Alt Del to Windows.



It will offer five dates. Choose the one of the last successful boot, to

start. These backups are done at boot, not at shut down. This should be

safe to do, if you haven't done anything to files in the mean time. This

will not restore files other than those .ini's & the Registry. It only

restores settings.





--

Thanks or Good Luck,

There may be humor in this post, and,

Naturally, you will not sue,

should things get worse after this,

PCR

pcrrcp@netzero.net

"Catin Dehat" <green.eggs@ham.net> wrote in message

news:eaAvWGo%23FHA.3388@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

| A Compaq can boot into Safe Mode but hangs (desktop wallpaper but no

icons;

| no bar across the bottom; keyboard, including Start Button has no

effect) if

| attempting boot into Normal Mode. Can a virus or other "malware" be

the

| cause? I'll try editing the Registry at "Run", "Run Once", etc., to

see if

| there's anything unusual or that I cannot recognize. Any help is

| appreciated.

|

|

"Catin Dehat" <green.eggs@ham.net> wrote:



>A Compaq can boot into Safe Mode but hangs (desktop wallpaper but no icons;

>no bar across the bottom; keyboard, including Start Button has no effect) if

>attempting boot into Normal Mode. Can a virus or other "malware" be the

>cause? I'll try editing the Registry at "Run", "Run Once", etc., to see if

>there's anything unusual or that I cannot recognize. Any help is

>appreciated.

>



Startup up the computer and bring up the Windows 98 Boot Menu (the one

that allows you to choose Safe Mode) and select the "Logged -

Bootlog.txt" option.



When it hangs, reboot and go into Safe Mode.   You will find two

hidden bootlog files in the root directory of the boot drive:

bootlog.txt = the bootlog from the successful startup in Safe Mode

bootlog.prv = the bootlog from the failed attempt to boot normally.



The last few entries in the the bootlog.prv file should show you where

in the boot process the normal startup failed.   You can also download

the free bootlog analyzer from

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/pk29/ and use it to look at

the content of the bootlog.prv file.



Good luck



Ron Martell     Duncan B.C.    Canada

--

Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)

On-Line Help Computer Service

http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Catin Dehat" <green.eggs@ham.net> wrote in message

news:eaAvWGo%23FHA.3388@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...



> A Compaq can boot into Safe Mode but hangs (desktop wallpaper but no

icons;

> no bar across the bottom; keyboard, including Start Button has no effect)

if

> attempting boot into Normal Mode. Can a virus or other "malware" be the

> cause?



Yes.



> I'll try editing the Registry at "Run", "Run Once", etc., to see if

> there's anything unusual or that I cannot recognize.



This would be unsafe unless you saved the old Registry

beforehand e.g.

XCOPY C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DAT SYSTEM.BAK

XCOPY C:\WINDOWS\USER.DAT USER.BAK

Then if needed you can rename these in DOS

to get back to where you were.



--

Don Phillipson

Carlsbad Springs

(Ottawa, Canada)

"Ron Martell" <ron.martell@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:ir1cp1hrs8cbnd4jc0mmgrk36m0gol4rfr@4ax.com...  

| "Catin Dehat" <green.eggs@ham.net> wrote:

|

| >A Compaq can boot into Safe Mode but hangs (desktop wallpaper but no

icons;

| >no bar across the bottom; keyboard, including Start Button has no

effect) if

| >attempting boot into Normal Mode. Can a virus or other "malware" be

the

| >cause? I'll try editing the Registry at "Run", "Run Once", etc., to

see if

| >there's anything unusual or that I cannot recognize. Any help is

| >appreciated.

| >

|

| Startup up the computer and bring up the Windows 98 Boot Menu (the one

| that allows you to choose Safe Mode) and select the "Logged -

| Bootlog.txt" option.

|

| When it hangs, reboot and go into Safe Mode.   You will find two

| hidden bootlog files in the root directory of the boot drive:

| bootlog.txt = the bootlog from the successful startup in Safe Mode

| bootlog.prv = the bootlog from the failed attempt to boot normally.



That doesn't have a theoretical ring of truth. As I understand it, a

Logged Boot renames "bootlog.txt" to "bootlog.prv" & generates a new

"bootlog.txt". But a boot to Safe Mode won't do that.



So... following those instructions, it's "bootlog.txt" that has the

failed attempt to boot normally of interest. And "bootlog.prv" was a

result of some earlier Logged Boot.



|

| The last few entries in the the bootlog.prv file should show you where

| in the boot process the normal startup failed.   You can also download

| the free bootlog analyzer from

| http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/terrace/pk29/ and use it to look at

| the content of the bootlog.prv file.

|

| Good luck

|

| Ron Martell     Duncan B.C.    Canada

| --

| Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)

| On-Line Help Computer Service

| http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote:





>That doesn't have a theoretical ring of truth. As I understand it, a

>Logged Boot renames "bootlog.txt" to "bootlog.prv" & generates a new

>"bootlog.txt". But a boot to Safe Mode won't do that.

>

>So... following those instructions, it's "bootlog.txt" that has the

>failed attempt to boot normally of interest. And "bootlog.prv" was a

>result of some earlier Logged Boot.

>



My actual experience has been the opposite.



I have done this a number of times (although not that recently) and it

has always happened that a bootlog will be generated for the safe mode

startup under these specific circumstances.



Ron Martell     Duncan B.C.    Canada

--

Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)

On-Line Help Computer Service

http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Ron Martell" <ron.martell@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:a6pep19et0vjhd1i9u62pkk1nlcptsh712@4ax.com...  

| "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote:

|

|

| >That doesn't have a theoretical ring of truth. As I understand it, a

| >Logged Boot renames "bootlog.txt" to "bootlog.prv" & generates a new

| >"bootlog.txt". But a boot to Safe Mode won't do that.

| >

| >So... following those instructions, it's "bootlog.txt" that has the

| >failed attempt to boot normally of interest. And "bootlog.prv" was a

| >result of some earlier Logged Boot.

| >

|

| My actual experience has been the opposite.



I was afraid you might be right! Well, all I can think, then, is... I

guess... the crash! Turning on the Logged Boot... & crashing... probably

doesn't allow Windows to turn it off-- not until there is a successful

boot to Safe Mode.



Therefore, two were generated. I guess they would then both have the

same date.



(But I can only be theoretical. And it still seems strange.)



|

| I have done this a number of times (although not that recently) and it

| has always happened that a bootlog will be generated for the safe mode

| startup under these specific circumstances.

|

| Ron Martell     Duncan B.C.    Canada

| --

| Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)

| On-Line Help Computer Service

| http://onlinehelp.bc.ca