Kurgan Posted September 11, 2002 Share Posted September 11, 2002 Argh, I know this has to be a common problem, because I keep hearing about it, but I don't know the best steps (most of the internet guides are for Win2K or XP). I (foolishly) recently uninstalled the program, because it was screwing up. Then later, I booted up to a VXD failure something-something error in Win98SE. So when it kept showing me the BSOD (blue screen of death) I decided to try a solution that worked for me in the past, which was to simply reinstall Win98SE (so I wouldn't lose my data completely, just the windows settings that were goofed up). Sadly, the Win98SE installation never finishes, because it keeps hanging on the "detecting plug and play devices" screen. I try turning the computer off and then on again, as the screen suggests, but it won't work. I know I can still boot into "Safe Mode" if I want to, so I was wondering if anybody knows a solution... I've heard that you are supposed to remove DirectCD or all the stuff in the registry relating to EasyCD Creator, but if anyone knows the exact files, I'd be much obliged. I just got this hunk of junk back together and I'm not going to let something tear it apart again.... (sigh) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jah Warrior Posted September 11, 2002 Share Posted September 11, 2002 Use Nero its far better, and consign roxio to the rubbish pile Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absurd Posted September 11, 2002 Share Posted September 11, 2002 You can reinstall Windows 98 SE from scratch and retain your data. Reboot F8 cd\ del . deltree c:\windows d: (or whatever the cd-rom is) setup.exe Voila. That's the best way to reinstall in a fresh manner. Notice that this method retains all your programs and data files. If you need Windows 98 to recognize your programs, simply do this: Make a backup directory, such as c:\backup Now, before you reinstall a program, move the old copy of your programs to c:\backup (this contains your saves, configs, etc.). After installing the new copy of the program, remove the new install, and copy the old directories (program) to the same location. This way the registry will recognize it the same - you'll have fresh shortcuts - and you retained everything you've worked on in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyth'emos Posted September 11, 2002 Share Posted September 11, 2002 Well, when I f***ed pc my old comp with win 98 what I did was renamed my C:\Windows and C:\Program Files folders to somthing like C:\winold and somthing. Then reinstall windows and you have everything clean but you still have the data there that you can transfer to the proper folders later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NerfYoda Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 Absurd has the right idea, but it needs to go a lil further. Backup your stuff onto some space out there in the internet (you should be able to boot into safe mode with networking support). After that you should fdisk & format the drive before reinstalling. This is fun, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absurd Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 Hrm, why do you need to format? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NerfYoda Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 Originally posted by Absurd Hrm, why do you need to format? VXD errors & BSOD's can be caused by many things. One likelyhood is a bad sector on the drive or a FAT problem or something. The chances of this are more remote than, say your generic Windows is screwing up problem. It's best to format then so you have a greater chance of fixing the cause of your error. Aslo from what I know of FAT & FAT32 the filesystem gets clunkier & clunkier as time goes on. the best way to fix it is to fdisk and format. Consider it standard maintenance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absurd Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 Ah, I figured scandisk and chkdsk do the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPY_jmr1 Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 as a tech guy, you seem to have all the help you need here. may I ask, why is win98POS... win98SE needed? win XP for all its horror storys is not very bad at all. for one thing, you get to use NTFS, rather then FAT or FAT32... never had a NTFS drive mess up that was not a hardware fallure. and also, the very first reply was right, DUMP ADPATEC/ROXIO EASY CD CREATOR... its a cheap peice of junk... nero can do everything that easycd can do, WITHOUT messing up your computer:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Groovy Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 I probably shouldn't comment, but this is one of the FEW threads tonite that has not escalated into a political debate. I have one of those cheap external hardrives made by HP. Why External? My PC is very small and has only one ROM drive which I hope to upgrade too DVD/ROM soon. It comes with it's own program which is pretty lame. I just use Musicmatche and have pretty good luck with that but, only with music cds. To copy antything else I just use the default HP program that came with the drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absurd Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 Originally posted by SPY_jmr1 as a tech guy, you seem to have all the help you need here. may I ask, why is win98POS... win98SE needed? win XP for all its horror storys is not very bad at all. for one thing, you get to use NTFS, rather then FAT or FAT32... never had a NTFS drive mess up that was not a hardware fallure. and also, the very first reply was right, DUMP ADPATEC/ROXIO EASY CD CREATOR... its a cheap peice of junk... nero can do everything that easycd can do, WITHOUT messing up your computer:) Beyond that XP supports writing built-in. The only external cd program I use is Clone-CD to make images, then Daemon Tools to read the images - of games. I do buy all my games - it shows in my pocket-book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurgan Posted September 12, 2002 Author Share Posted September 12, 2002 Okay, thanks for your help guys, I really mean that, and I hope I can get some more feedback soon, keep the good ideas coming. Comments on some of the suggestions: - Switching to Nero. I actually have the program and switching won't do me any good right now since my system is already fubar as far as I'm concerned. I'll file that for future reference though. Thanks. I want to know if removing EasyCD Creator will help and if so, how to do it! As I said, simply uninstalling didn't remove all the files. - Reformatting is not really an option I don't think, because I just reformatted (with a brand new Western Digital Drive I might add) less than a month ago. I shouldn't have to do that so soon, plus I have several gigs of data I need to retrieve (so I can burn them on CD). I don't have any practical way to backup all that data anyway, without purchasing yet another brand new hard drive (and risking the same problem as I have now). If I can just get windows working again, I'll be set. I can reformat some other time after all this stuff is backed up. Too bad I just have one big partition and not several to make it less painful.. ; p I have about 23 gigs that need to be backed up (on a 40 gig drive). - Switching to WinXP is not an option. First off, I need to get my files salvaged before I would do anything else. Next, I don't want to waste the processing power, just so I can re-learn a new OS at this very moment. That's alright, if I want to try out XP I can do so at a later time. But 98SE and Win2kpro have served me faithfully for many years. Its just that now I have a problem. Once that is solved maybe I can move on. So anyhow, I appreciate the help. Keep those comments coming... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clem Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 if its Pnp devices its crashing on .... y not try popping them out and run the setup (booting from cd if poss) then pop them back in 1 by 1 .... booting between each ... see which 1 messes up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurgan Posted September 12, 2002 Author Share Posted September 12, 2002 Good idea, although I'm not sure what else to disconnect. I removed my DVD-ROM drive, my speakers, my gamepads, there's no printer hooked up... I just have my monitor, hdd, keyboard, soundcard, video card, Zip Drive, floppy drive, CDRW drive and motherboard. I even removed my USB mouse and substituted a standard PS2 mouse. Is there any way to bypass the pnp check? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clem Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 not sure about bypassing ...... i expect theres a way .... sound card will be pnp so remove that .... other than that .... im not sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acdcfanbill Posted September 12, 2002 Share Posted September 12, 2002 I would think that it would be a bad driver or an error on the HDD, but thats just my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurgan Posted September 13, 2002 Author Share Posted September 13, 2002 Btw, I deleted all references to Roxio/Adaptec EasyCD Creator in my registry, and unplugged my sound card, but still having problems. I'm about ready to try some of the other stuff suggested above. Wish me luck! Okay, here's a question for ya... how do you get into Safe Mode with internet support? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acdcfanbill Posted September 13, 2002 Share Posted September 13, 2002 you cant, im pretty sure safe mode doesnt load any of your modem or ethernet card drivers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absurd Posted September 14, 2002 Share Posted September 14, 2002 Originally posted by Kurgan Btw, I deleted all references to Roxio/Adaptec EasyCD Creator in my registry, and unplugged my sound card, but still having problems. I'm about ready to try some of the other stuff suggested above. Wish me luck! Okay, here's a question for ya... how do you get into Safe Mode with internet support? As I recall F8 when you reboot - with network support? Does that work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCanr2d2 Posted September 14, 2002 Share Posted September 14, 2002 Have you tried booting to MS-DOS mode, and trying scanreg/restore - which, if you haven't booted too often, which sadly sounds like you have, could have copy of your registry from before you uninstalled the program..... Sounds like a problem with registry settings to probably stuff like CD and DVD drives.............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absurd Posted September 14, 2002 Share Posted September 14, 2002 Once you get everything working, definetly get this: http://www.lifesaverbackup.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Spy Posted September 14, 2002 Share Posted September 14, 2002 Maybe faulty IDE cable that was my recent problem with my cd-rw. so much for being 'easy'CD creator eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurgan Posted September 14, 2002 Author Share Posted September 14, 2002 Hmm, I'm pretty sure all my IDE cables are fine, but thanks anyhow. Just off the top of my head (I'm not at home right now, so I can't check at the moment) the F8 menu showed me "Normal" startup, "Safe Mode" "MS Dos Mode" and "MS Dos w/ cdrom support" but nothing with network support. If I had network support, I could in theory just go into safe mode and start burning cd's (after downloading something other than EasyCD to do it with), until I had everything and then just wipe the drive and start over... ; p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPY_jmr1 Posted September 14, 2002 Share Posted September 14, 2002 how bout you try and find someone with a burner and mount the drive in there as a slave? it will work, as long as its 98 or higher(me, 2k xp etc...) that way you can access the data, without messing up your stuff. if you dont know what I mean with mounting it as a slave, ask, I will post detailed directions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clem Posted September 14, 2002 Share Posted September 14, 2002 wont work spy ... he cant boot his pc ... he'd need his hdd in another pc this pc would really need either a burner to backup or 20 odd gig free space this would be the ultimate solution Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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