Trouble with Windows 98? Here are solutions to some common problems.
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Standard disclaimers: These techniques have been tested on the original release of Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition. Your results may vary. Use at your own risk. Backup your important data!
Solving Hardware Problems
The most common problem with Windows 98 (indeed, as with all versions of Windows) is having a hardware device that isn't working properly. The first thing you should try is reading the Win98 Help on hardware conflict troubleshooting. After opening Help from the Start menu, just click "Troubleshooting," or use the Help system's Index or Search tabs to access specific topics.
We usually solve hardware hassles by opening the System control panel's Device Manager, removing the offending driver and restarting (or even simply clicking "Refresh" right there in Device Manager). This, we've found will solve nearly all plug-and-play driver problems. (If you need to update a device driver, check http://www.microsoft.com/hwtest/hcl/ for a list of the latest updates.) If Win98's plug-and-play re-detects the device, there is a good chance it will configure itself correctly. If that doesn't work, and "Add New Hardware" doesn't see the device, the next thing to try is disabling other devices (check the device properties box labeled "Disable in this hardware profile"). After restarting, check Device Manager to see if the device is working. If so, re-enable the disabled devices one by one, restarting each time.
COM port errors, which are frustratingly common, can often be solved in Win98 by setting the COM port memory addresses to "AUTO" in your system's BIOS. On the PCs we've tried this on, an internal modem that was conflicting with COM 3 automatically sorted itself out by simply doing this and restarting.
For example, let's say you have a problem with your modem. Try setting the COM ports to "Auto" in the BIOS, then open the System control panel's Device Manager and remove the com port with the yellow icon, then restart. If it doesn't fix it automatically (it probably won't), use the Add New Hardware control panel to redetect the new "Automatic" COM port. That should work. If it doesn't, you will have to manually isolate and eliminate the conflict that is causing the problem. The System control panel's Device Manager will help in this regard, by showing you the resource conflict(s).
Ironically, setting your COM ports manually may solve one common problem: not enough IRQs. If you are one IRQ short (typically, it is our sound card that shows up with a yellow alert icon after adding one too many expansion boards!), try this: set both COM ports to share IRQ4, using the appropriate BIOS setup option at startup time. From the BIOS configuration screen, give each COM port a different address -- for example, 3E8 and 3F8. Then, save the changes to the BIOS and restart. With a little luck, the alert icon will be gone and everything will work.
Failing that, you may be able to "Reserve Resources" by double-clicking the "Computer" icon in Device Manager and then entering the IRQ you want to reserve. This will force other plug-and-play devices to avoid this IRQ when auto-configuring. This works particularly well with PCI devices, which tend to place "IRQ holder for PCI steering" entries in places you may want an ISA device to go instead. Generally, set up your ISA devices first, as PCI devices can often share IRQs and auto-configure. After restarting with an IRQ reserved, you can removed the "reservation" and click the Enable Device button in the device's Properties dialog to re-enable the errant device. In the case of SCSI cards, COM ports and certain other devices, you may not even have to restart.
If all else fails (it rarely does), you may have to pull out other cards from the machine (with the power off, of course) to eliminate device conflicts. Then, add cards back one at a time. Check jumper settings and details like IRQs to eliminate conflicts.
Note that many motherboards allocate certain IRQs to certain slots. Consider, for example, this excerpt from an FAQ page for Abit's popular BH6 motherboard:
"...We suggest that you insert cards which need to use IRQs into PCI slots 2 and 3 such as SCSI, Sound and LAN cards. Other cards that do not need IRQs such as VGA or 3D acceleration cards, like Voodoo, Voodoo II and some kinds of PCI VGA cards, can be inserted into PCI slots 1,4,5. Whether or not a device can share IRQs depends on your interface card and its driver as to whether or not it follows the PCI V2.1 specification."
IRQ Conflict Problems:
If you have an ISA card that keeps changing its IRQ allocation to an unwanted and conflicting value, it may be because your BIOS is automatically allocating resources via Plug and Play PCI slot/IRQ allocation. Go into the CMOS setup (press DEL at power-on time) and set "Resources Controlled by:" to MANUAL. Then, assign the IRQ you want to reserve for ISA to "Legacy ISA." It may then be necessary to boot Windows and then reserve the desired IRQ by entering it into the "Resource Resources" page of the Device Manager tab, found by double-clicking the "Computer" icon in System Control Panel>Device Manager and then rebooting (this reallocated the other PNP device to a different IRQ address) and removing the reserved resource from the Reserved list, then finally clicking troubleshoot. with luck, you should see a message informing you that "A required resource has become available." Clicking Enable will get the system working.
If all else fails, you can gain an IRQ by switching a PS/2 mouse out in favour of a serial mouse. You can also disable an unneeded serial or parallel port to gain an IRQ.
Windows 98 Multi-monitor Issues
ATI supplied the answer to a troublesome problem in a readme file for a recent video driver:
If you have problems getting a second adapter to work in the system, add these lines to the CONFIG.SYS file:
device=c:\windows\himem.sys
device=c:\windows\emm386.exe X=C000-CFFF
If your machine has multiple video cards from multiple vendors, and you wish to use the Multiple Monitor feature of Windows 98, all installed video drivers must be multi-monitor compatible. (Drivers for most Banshee cards, for example, aren't.) ATI's 5.2 and higher drivers are multi-monitor compatible. Check with your other card manufacturer's to determine what version of their drivers you need.
"Windows Mode" References to non-existing DLLs (etc.) in the Registry or INI files
Sometimes, a badly behaved uninstaller will remove DLLs, VXDs or other system files required by the OS or other applications on your system. These error messages pop up as graphical dialog boxes in Windows mode, saying "Can't find so-and-so.DLL." The easiest way to avoid this problem is to not to click "Remove" when the uninstaller warns you that other apps might need these files. Thus, reinstalling the app, and then uninstalling it with this option solves the problem. Alternatively, reinstall the app that caused the problem (or find a copy on a different computer) and then copy them to a backup location, remove the offending app, then restore these system files to the required directories (usually, but not always, C:\Windows\System).
"Black Screen" References to non-existing DLLs (etc.) in the Registry or INI files
If you've ever started up Windows and seen one or more black-screen text-mode error messages appear (i.e., the Windows Desktop hasn't loaded yet) that warn you that the system can't find a required file, you may have to resort to a slightly more complicated procedure.
There are a number of more ways to get rid of this problem. The easiest first step is to uninstall (then test to see if the problem vanished) and then reinstall the app that created the problem. The fastest next step is to make note of all the names the error message says it can't find and then, when you get to Windows, remove them using the following procedure:
Standard caveat: this procedure could further screw up your operating system if something goes wrong. Back up any important data first.
There are tools, such as Microsoft's free RegClean that can automate the cleaning of the Registry, if you prefer.
Windows "Blue Screen" Errors
These problems are typically caused by programs or device drivers that are just plain incompatible with the version of Windows you are running. Uninstall the application or device you just installed to fix the problem. Obtain an updated version if possible.
Other Common Problems:
Shutdown Problems:
If your system restarts instead of shutting down, it may be a problem induced by a recently added video card or sound card driver. Before you reinstall Windows or waste a lot of time with other attempted fixes try this: type "msconfig" into the Star menu's Run dialog, then select Advanced, then click "disable fast shutdown." That should fix it. If it's already checked, then we'd recommend a look at Microsoft's Knowledge Base, for a few other possible explanations.
Floppy Drive spinning unexpectedly:
Solving Serious Problems:
Scandisk won't complete, and Windows Setup won't run because of it: Boot from the Win98 Emergency floppy and run: Setup /d
Crash on start: Press F8 when your system beeps at startup to enter the Boot menu's "Safe mode." Then, figure out what you added or changed that caused the problem.
Windows Protection Error: As above.
If all else fails: Use that Emergency Startup floppy (now with CD support) to restore Win98. Reformatting should not be necessary.
Alternately, You might try renaming the existing Windows directory on your HD to something like "Win-bak" and reinstalling a completely fresh version of Win98.
C:\REN WINDOWS WIN-BAK
Uninstall: And, if things really, really don't go well and you would rather bag Win98 entirely and revert to Windows 95 or Win3.1 and DOS, you can uninstall Win98 and restore your old OS using the Add/Remove Software control panel. Be aware, however, that the Win 98 emergency floppy doesn't include this uninstall utility. However, the utility is on the Win 98 CD-ROM, which you can easily access by booting from the Win98 Emergency Startup floppy. It's also stored on the hard disk in the Windows\Command folder.
Uninstall NT: You can install Win98 after installing Windows NT (not that you'd necessarily want to) by booting from floppy and renaming or deleting the NTLDR file in the C:\ directory that NT needs to load its Boot Manager. Then, run Win98's Setup program. NT can be restored later by re-running NT's Setup. As always, we recommend backing up your important files before attempting any action that could prevent you from accessing your data.
Icon Problems: Incorrect icons are caused when Windows' Icon Cache gets too full. You can increase the size of the Icon Cache with a free utility called ActivIcons from http://www.cursorarts.com/ca_aifw.html
For Further Reading
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