re: can only boot in safe mode
Friday, July 30, 2010 at 9:15 pm
Windows 98 Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by Ed
(741 messages posted)
Sorry, but I'm not familiar with the hardware devices you mention. Your setup
sounds like it was originally dial-up, and was later upgraded to broadband (because
ADSL is a type of broadband connection).
But you are really expecting
me to know too much about your specific hardware.
This forum is for resolving
problems in the Windows 98 operating system, a system I know quite a lot about. Which
is to say: this is a software forum. But you are now asking questions that it would
be more appropriate to post in a dedicated hardware
forum.
To find out what hardware devices the serial numbers / model numbers
you've mentioned relate to, do a Google search on those numbers. But don't start uninstalling software: read this post in full instead.
Another poster explained how to make a precautionary backup of your
driver files. If you don't have the original setup disks, do that before
doing anything else. Then you'll still have copies of the driver files on hand if
Windows deletes the originals in any of the steps you take.
The correct answer
to your question, "if I remove what is listed under modem, and it turns out that
is the wireless card, will it re-add it in?", is that in that event Windows will
ask you to insert the original disk(s) containing the hardware driver files needed,
because it re-installs the driver files from those disks.
If you don't
have those disks, you can point it instead to the folder in which you have saved
backup copies of the driver files in question, using the backup program which I mention above.
If you don't have the original disks, and you don't have the necessary backups
either, then you're stuffed. Windows can't magically recreate the necessary driver
files!
The usual problem is that Windows has already deleted or corrupted the hardware driver files. So making
a backup copy of those files after
the fault has manifested is usually a waste of time. You typically must
have the original setup disks (floppy disks or CD).
However, you can often
find copies of the setup files online, for example at the website of the hardware's
manufacturer. Or by advertising for help in the online forum at that website. Or
by e-mailing the manufacturer, through their help pages on that website.
Obviously, you don't need to find driver files for any irrelevent hardware
that you no longer use. You should switch off the computer normally, and then unplug
that hardware from the computer, observing the proper anti-static precautions. This
will reduce the complexity of your problem.
For one thing, it is not usually necessary to uninstall the
related driver files, when you remove a piece of hardware, as Windows will simply
ignore them if the device they relate to isn't detected during system startup.
Then start the system normally. The device manager will now display only
the remaining hardware, i.e. that which you're actually using.
A
word of warning: a broadband internet connection normally requires all the driver
files that your old dial-up connection used. So don't imagine you can uninstall files
that "only" relate to dial-up. The dial-up drivers are typically still essential
to your broadband connection.
And bear in mind that you are NOT
in the business of deleting files. You have a fault that indicates a missing (or
corrupt) driver file. What you are trying to do is add that file back in. So you're
in the business of adding files, not uninstalling them. Probably, nothing needs uninstalling.
When faced with a problematic re-install such as you now face, the trick
is to use the master setup disks to do an install (actually a re-install) first, without uninstalling anything. This is
an install "over the the top of" an existing set up, and often works the cure. It
adds back all the original files, including any that have been accidentally deleted.
If won't work if a file has been corrupted rather than deleted, but it will work
if a file is simply missing.
Only as a last resort would you actually
do an uninstall of anything. Use the device manager to delete the ATI card entry,
then shutdown, unplug the card, start up, install the driver files, shut down, plug
the card back in, then restart normally: Windows should now automatically detect
the card and the software and associate them (install them) correctly.
Make
sure you observe the correct anti-static precautions before opening the computer's
case.
Remember to read
the information provided at the link I posted. Then ask questions here about that
information, if anything in it isn't clear.
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 | | |  | re: can only boot in safe mode (Ed: Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 9:15 pm) |
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