[Ham-Computers] Help with Win 98

[jeff]

On Sat, 2005-08-27 at 14:23 -0500, Brian K. Gaskamp wrote:
> I have a problem here with a computer.
> The computer with Win 98 boots up then when the desktop appears so does the
> dial up screen and then it freezes up.

Most impressive.

You can try safe mode.  I'm trying to remember - I think you hit F5 or
F8 while booting and it will give you a choice.  From there you can
troubleshoot a bit.  This mode doesn't start all sorts of nonsense with
Windows, so it can help you narrow down the culprit.

If it is attempting to dial then freezes up, you can try removing the
modem and rebooting.  If it boots, you might have a modem issue.

Does the dialup window always come up on startup?  If not, you may have
a virus in there that desperately wants to phone home.

You can also check through your INI files in the Win/Windows/Win98
directory.  It's been a while since I've been in there, but one of them
(win.ini, system.ini, etc) will have startup info in it.  If you see
something that doesn't belong, comment out or delete the entire line
(write it down) and try restarting til you nail the bugger.

If you want to go really nuts, you can boot to a DOS or 98 floppy and do
some virus scanning.



Good luck.

jeff
Chief Infection Officer