Full Version: System Problems after power outage
The power in my home went out and my computer rebooted itself. Now it will only boot in safe mode and THE MOUSE DOESN'T WORK. I exchange mice from a working computer and mouse and it still doesn't work. I can only use the keyboard. I'm running windows ME and don't have a copy of it if I have to restore Windows. However, I do have windows 98 and windows 98SE. Can I install win 98 over ME? Can I install 98 without the mouse working? I went to msconfig and attempted to do a system restore and received a message that there were no checkpoints to restore to. Help. I need my system back up and running.
Hi vip4bham, here are some quick answers to your questions/issues:
1. OS starts in safe mode only after power outage: The computer may have been going through a read/write operation when this happened which could have caused some corruption in your files. There are repair options you could try, but as long as your hardware is all OK, I'd tend to save the data, perform a clean installation, and then restore your data.
2. Windows 98 will not install over Me because it's a newer OS.
3. Mouse doesn't work - this could be a hardware problem or a "mucked-up" configuration. Here are some things you can try:
a. Boot with a Windows 98 Startup floppy - here you boot with DOS and a mouse driver is loaded if the mouse was seen by the system during POST. If this does work, it'll tell you there's nothing wrong with the motherboard or the mouse & everything will work once you clean the old stuff & install the new.
b. Check in the BIOS Setup to see if there are any settings for your mouse, and while you're there, enable the use of USB in DOS for the KB & Mouse.
c. Try a USB Mouse or a Serial Mouse - the serial mouse should work if all else fails.
Once you get the mouse working, you should save your data to another partition, another disk, or CD if you have a burner. If you have problems with this, take the hard drive out and attach it as a slave to another computer and copy the data that way.
Once your data is saved, clean everything from the hard drive and run some diagnostics to satisfy yourself there's no hardware problem here - use the manufacurer's diagnostics for this. Then configure the drive (partition & format) and make sure you make the Primary partition ACTIVE - you can use FDISK for the configuration. Now you're ready to install your OS - out of what you have, I'd choose 98SE.
Make sure you have everything else you need for a full installation like:
1. Other Applications & Utilities,
2. Drivers for all your devices including those on the motherboard.
1. OS starts in safe mode only after power outage: The computer may have been going through a read/write operation when this happened which could have caused some corruption in your files. There are repair options you could try, but as long as your hardware is all OK, I'd tend to save the data, perform a clean installation, and then restore your data.
2. Windows 98 will not install over Me because it's a newer OS.
3. Mouse doesn't work - this could be a hardware problem or a "mucked-up" configuration. Here are some things you can try:
a. Boot with a Windows 98 Startup floppy - here you boot with DOS and a mouse driver is loaded if the mouse was seen by the system during POST. If this does work, it'll tell you there's nothing wrong with the motherboard or the mouse & everything will work once you clean the old stuff & install the new.
b. Check in the BIOS Setup to see if there are any settings for your mouse, and while you're there, enable the use of USB in DOS for the KB & Mouse.
c. Try a USB Mouse or a Serial Mouse - the serial mouse should work if all else fails.
Once you get the mouse working, you should save your data to another partition, another disk, or CD if you have a burner. If you have problems with this, take the hard drive out and attach it as a slave to another computer and copy the data that way.
Once your data is saved, clean everything from the hard drive and run some diagnostics to satisfy yourself there's no hardware problem here - use the manufacurer's diagnostics for this. Then configure the drive (partition & format) and make sure you make the Primary partition ACTIVE - you can use FDISK for the configuration. Now you're ready to install your OS - out of what you have, I'd choose 98SE.
Make sure you have everything else you need for a full installation like:
1. Other Applications & Utilities,
2. Drivers for all your devices including those on the motherboard.
I went into the BIOS setup utility and checked every item on every tab in search of how to enable USB keyboard and Mouse in DOS and did not find it. The only place where I found the word "USB" was an option on the "advanced" tab to neable or disable "Legacy USB Support." I left it as I found it (enabled). Is this correct? If not, where else should I have looked?
To resolve my problem, I am removing the hard drive and placing it into another computer, configuring it as the slave and copying the data.
I have a spare hard drive that has never been used. I would like to install it. Put an operating system on it (windows 98SE) and begin using it in this computer which has the problem. How do I do that?
To resolve my problem, I am removing the hard drive and placing it into another computer, configuring it as the slave and copying the data.
I have a spare hard drive that has never been used. I would like to install it. Put an operating system on it (windows 98SE) and begin using it in this computer which has the problem. How do I do that?
| QUOTE |
| The only place where I found the word "USB" was an option on the "advanced" tab to neable or disable "Legacy USB Support." I left it as I found it (enabled). Is this correct? |
Yes, Legacy Support normally covers "available to older operating systems".
| QUOTE |
| I have a spare hard drive that has never been used. I would like to install it. Put an operating system on it (windows 98SE) and begin using it in this computer which has the problem. How do I do that? |
1. First check to see if the new hard drive is compatible with the computer you're putting it into - not much of a problem with newer computers but the older ones have various issues with things like size, speed, etc. You can plug it in as the Primary Master (jumpered appropriately) and see if it's recognized for what it is (size & speed - you should see these particulars on one of the startup screens) during Power On Self Test (POST). If yes, then go to point #2 and if no, give us some details on the Motherboard and the hard drive.
2. You'll need to configure the hard drive (if it's still blank - blank doesn't mean empty) starting with partitioning, followed by formatting - then you're ready to use it for installation or whatever. You'll be able to partition the drive using the FDISK utility and format it using the FORMAT utility - both are available on the standard W98 Startup Floppy.
Let us know how much detail you need to perform this task & whether you have a startup floppy.
You can also use the hard drive manufacturer's utilities to do all this - you'll need to let us know the make & model of the HD for a link to download these utilities if you'd prefer trying this.
I have the new drive installed in my other computer that is running XP. Can I partition it, format it and install windows 98SE on it here, and then remove it and put it into the machine where it's going to run permanently.... Or, do I have to find a way to do all of that while it's in the actual machine that it's going to reside in? Can you point me to a link that details the petitioning and formatting process?
You can partition and format the drive while it's still in your XP machine but you'll need to install the OS after the drive is in it's destination machine. Your XP help files should give you some good instructions on how to use the partition and format utilities.
When configuring the HD, you'll need:
1. One Primary Active Partition
2. Extended Partition - this is an option if you want to have additional logical hard drives available.
3. For Windows 98, you should use FAT32 as the file system - NTFS won't be recognized.
When configuring the HD, you'll need:
1. One Primary Active Partition
2. Extended Partition - this is an option if you want to have additional logical hard drives available.
3. For Windows 98, you should use FAT32 as the file system - NTFS won't be recognized.
vip4bham,
Just some general thoughts.
If you are running ANY operating system that you don't have copy of, you are "pretty much screwed" when the day comes [and it will !!] that you have to re-install.
NOTE: I have the CD - Win98SE [without Windows] and I have installed & reinstalled it well over "a dozen times" on half-a-dozen different hard drives.
With what you've got - I would fdisk & format the HD on that WinME machine and install Win98SE.
NOTE: "Most people" think Win98SE is better then WinME anyway !!
Just some general thoughts.
If you are running ANY operating system that you don't have copy of, you are "pretty much screwed" when the day comes [and it will !!] that you have to re-install.
NOTE: I have the CD - Win98SE [without Windows] and I have installed & reinstalled it well over "a dozen times" on half-a-dozen different hard drives.
With what you've got - I would fdisk & format the HD on that WinME machine and install Win98SE.
NOTE: "Most people" think Win98SE is better then WinME anyway !!
I agree with you and will take your advice to install Win 98SE on the new hard drive. What are the steps that I need to take to prepare the new hard drive to receive the operation? Doed anyone know of a website that explains the step by step process to do this? (i.e. Partitioning, Fdisking... and etc.). I'm a novice at operating system intstallation, but I am computer literate.
vip4bham,
You can see from my "signature" my home-bilt has a TRIOS hard drive switcher and three HD's installed. Before the TRIOS, the original configuration was a single 40 gig Western Digital hard drive.
You have never mentioned the make or size of your "new hard drive", but here is how I set up my original HD.
Since I don't buy any "commercial software", I don't need a lot of room for programs. I essentially split the drive as two 20 gigs with the following partitions.
C:\> = 5 gigs for Win98SE
D:\> = 15 gigs for programs
E:\> = 5 gigs
F:\> = 15 gigs
Using a Win98SE floppy to fdisk, format and "activate" the CD drive, I used my Win98SE CD to install Windows on the C:\> partition and "everything else" on D:\>. Note: "some things" insist on going on C:\> so installation is not 100% "clean".
Now to explain the "partition setup". After everything was "up & running" on C:\> and D:\> I used the Western Digital floppy to copy the C:\> partition onto E:\> and D:\> onto F:\>.
This gave me "back-ups", so if anything happened to either C:\> or D:\> I could copy E:\> or F:\> backwards onto them.
The only "tricky part" is the original partitioning. C:\> is set as the "primary DOS partition" of 5 gigs [with a "balance" of 35 gigs] Note: you can't "see the balance" while you are doing this.
Next you create an "extended DOS" of 15 gigs [hidden balance of 20 gigs] Finally, another 5 gig partition with a "remainder" of 15 gigs.
I am typing this [from memory] on Xandros/Firefox being unable to "reference" Win98SE so I may have to come back to explain further.
Good Luck !!
You can see from my "signature" my home-bilt has a TRIOS hard drive switcher and three HD's installed. Before the TRIOS, the original configuration was a single 40 gig Western Digital hard drive.
You have never mentioned the make or size of your "new hard drive", but here is how I set up my original HD.
Since I don't buy any "commercial software", I don't need a lot of room for programs. I essentially split the drive as two 20 gigs with the following partitions.
C:\> = 5 gigs for Win98SE
D:\> = 15 gigs for programs
E:\> = 5 gigs
F:\> = 15 gigs
Using a Win98SE floppy to fdisk, format and "activate" the CD drive, I used my Win98SE CD to install Windows on the C:\> partition and "everything else" on D:\>. Note: "some things" insist on going on C:\> so installation is not 100% "clean".
Now to explain the "partition setup". After everything was "up & running" on C:\> and D:\> I used the Western Digital floppy to copy the C:\> partition onto E:\> and D:\> onto F:\>.
This gave me "back-ups", so if anything happened to either C:\> or D:\> I could copy E:\> or F:\> backwards onto them.
The only "tricky part" is the original partitioning. C:\> is set as the "primary DOS partition" of 5 gigs [with a "balance" of 35 gigs] Note: you can't "see the balance" while you are doing this.
Next you create an "extended DOS" of 15 gigs [hidden balance of 20 gigs] Finally, another 5 gig partition with a "remainder" of 15 gigs.
I am typing this [from memory] on Xandros/Firefox being unable to "reference" Win98SE so I may have to come back to explain further.
Good Luck !!
If you're just starting, I don't think you want to complicate the installation scenario with multi-booting etc. HERE's a good site to start with. You'll see a paragraph on preparing your hard drive to install W98 - select the "FDISK and Format Procedure for W98" and this will take you to more info than you really need. Read through this and at the bottom of that "page" you'll see a couple of paragraphs on FDISK and Format procedures - read these carefully and let us know what you don't understand. If the whole thing makes sense to you, then go to it - it's not rocket science 
I'd still recommend doing all the configuration while the drive is attached to your XP machine - here's what you do:
1. Open or Select Administrative Tools
2. This will give you a selection of various utilities including Computer Management – select this.
3. This will display the Computer Management utility window and in the left pane you will see three groups of utilities – under Storage you will see Disk Management – select this.
4. This causes the right pane to display information on all recognized disks (CD, HARD, etc.) and you should see your old hard drive listed here.
5. You will also notice that the right pane is further divided into two parts – the upper part shows all the hard drive partitions and the lower part shows you each drive with a pictorial (graph) representation of each partition beside the drive description. You can do all your work from either section.
6. If your drive has only one partition, then you will first delete this partition, then you’ll create a new partition (or more than one), then make the Primary partition Active, and finally you’ll Format it. All these actions can be done by right-clicking over the partition and selecting the appropriate “command” from the drop-down menu.
7. If your drive has more than one partition, you’ll still do things the same way except when deleting, work from right-to-left when using the pictorial (graphic) representation and when creating, start with the Primary Partition if you want more than one partition
Other things:
1. Use FAT32 as the file system - FAT16 is too limited in size and NTFS is not understood or recognized by W98.
2. Post your questions for any points you don't understand.
3. Make the simplest installation you can conceive - once you've done this once or twice & understand the do's & don'ts, you can start to get more complicated.
1. Open or Select Administrative Tools
2. This will give you a selection of various utilities including Computer Management – select this.
3. This will display the Computer Management utility window and in the left pane you will see three groups of utilities – under Storage you will see Disk Management – select this.
4. This causes the right pane to display information on all recognized disks (CD, HARD, etc.) and you should see your old hard drive listed here.
5. You will also notice that the right pane is further divided into two parts – the upper part shows all the hard drive partitions and the lower part shows you each drive with a pictorial (graph) representation of each partition beside the drive description. You can do all your work from either section.
6. If your drive has only one partition, then you will first delete this partition, then you’ll create a new partition (or more than one), then make the Primary partition Active, and finally you’ll Format it. All these actions can be done by right-clicking over the partition and selecting the appropriate “command” from the drop-down menu.
7. If your drive has more than one partition, you’ll still do things the same way except when deleting, work from right-to-left when using the pictorial (graphic) representation and when creating, start with the Primary Partition if you want more than one partition
Other things:
1. Use FAT32 as the file system - FAT16 is too limited in size and NTFS is not understood or recognized by W98.
2. Post your questions for any points you don't understand.
3. Make the simplest installation you can conceive - once you've done this once or twice & understand the do's & don'ts, you can start to get more complicated.
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