Problem on Startup

[bioboy]

Hi,

A few days ago I started up my PC and the Login box (which I got rid of about 5 years ago) appeared on my desktop. Not only that but the screen resolution was ridiculous (640*480 I think). A message appeared on the screen saying "Run DLL had performed an illegal operation and will shut down" or something like that.

After several attempts I managed to get windows to boot up completely by pressing "enter" when I got this message. However, no mouse cursor appeared on the screen, so I could do nothing.

I tried starting in Safe Mode, and the mouse cursor appeared. I tried changing the desktop resolution in the Control panel, but only "16 colours" and "640*480 were available.

Can anybody suggest anything else I can try or suggest why this is happening?

Thanks for any help.

Regards,

Bill

 

[pmonett]

First thing I would do is check that the PC hasn't become infected with something. Does the AV program turn up a warning ?
Next, download the latest video driver version for the video card and install that, see what happens.

Pascal.


I've got nothing to hide, and I'd very much like to keep that away from prying eyes.

 

[bioboy]

Thanks for the reply. I have Avast antivirus, which updates at least daily and I had no warnings last time I used the PC. As I can only use the mouse in safe mode I can't scan with the antivirus at the moment.

I can't use the internet in safe mode either. However, I downloaded some drivers for the video card using my son's PC (strangely enough I couldn't get the drivers from Nvidia - the manufacturers). The drivers were too big to copy to a floppy disc, so I copied them to a CD. The only problem is you can't access the CD-ROM in Safe Mode! :-(

The only thing I can think of doing is zipping the driver to rar files on a floppy and extracting them to the PC, though I'm not sure whether I'll be able to use winrar in safe mode.

Is there any other way I can get the drivers on the PC when the mouse won't work in normal mode? Is there a command prompt I could use?

Thanks.

Bill

 

[jkl0]

If you have a startup disk you can boot to the command prompt with CD support and then copy to the hard drive.

Or

I think

http://www.bootdisk.com

might have what you need.

 

[bioboy]

I managed to extract new graphics drivers on my desktop, but when I executed it I got a message saying "no Nvidia graphics card is present". When I check in the control panel under device manager the Nvidia display adapter is shown.

Not sure what to try next?

 

[pmonett]

Are you sure you got the right version for your video card ? Be aware that NVidia has forked its driver line : you have a version for the new G80 generation, and another for the cards before that.

If you do have the right drivers, I'll admit that I'm rather stumped by the error. I would uninstall the drivers and remove the video card, but not before being sure that I have the right drivers ready to load in their place.

What video card do you have ?

Pascal.


I've got nothing to hide, and I'd very much like to keep that away from prying eyes.

 

[bioboy]

Pascal, I have the NVidia Riva TNT2 Model 64.

Although the Nvidia site gives you the choice of downloading drivers for that card when you click on Go nothing happens.

I got the drivers off a download site that said they were the ones for the card. (Nvidia 53.04_win9XEnglish)

Bill

 

[wolluf]

Have you considered reverting to earlier version of the registry? It sounds like you had some sort of corruption overnight - so if you restore the registry to a date prior to that, it might just solve the immediate problem (if it does you could do with finding out what caused that - could be hardware going bad - eg, the graphics card!).

In case you don't know, to restore registry, boot to a dos prompt (from safe mode menu) and then run scanreg /restore.

Might be worth running scandisk too - in case of filestore corruption.

 

[bioboy]

I managed to get newer drivers off the Nvidia site last night and tried to install those, but again I got a message saying there was no Nvidia chip present.

I read somewhere that I could try adding a standard VGA adapter in system/device manager, so tried that and it showed the Nvidia adapter and a standard VGA adapter. However, after a couple of attempts at rebooting the device manager showed 2 standard VGA adapters and I can't change back! :-(

It looks like I'll have to try to restore the registry as suggested, but I have a feeling the graphics card is kaput.

Bill

 

[bioboy]

Well I tried to restore my registry as suggested, but the restoration failed. I ran scandisk and got the Nividia adapter showing again, but it still didn't work and after a couple of reboots it disapeared again.

I tried running System File Checker and it found some problems, but I couldn't use the CD-Rom drive to get new files. Will try startup disc with CD-Rom support next.

Any other suggestions?

 

[pmonett]

A RIVA TNT2 ? Well that is quite an old model. Did you check the Archive section of NVidia drivers ?

I would suggest that you check out this page, and maybe specifically this driver version (56.64).

These links are for the Windows 98 series. If you have XP, you'll need to check out the XP archive instead.

Pascal.


I've got nothing to hide, and I'd very much like to keep that away from prying eyes.

 

[bioboy]

Cheers Pascal, tried those, but no joy. I now keep getting "Windows protection error" warnings when booting in normal mode, so I can only boot in safe mode. The only way I can boot in normal mode is reverting to a standard VGA display adapter and drivers. It looks like I'll have to backup all my documents to a hard drive on my son's computer on the network and do a system restore to my original manufacturer's settings.

I assume if the problem is still with me it's a hardware problem and time to bin the PC, because as you say it is old?

Bill

 

[wolluf]

Bill - that last sounds about right!

When you tried the registry restore - how did it fail, and did you try more than one date? (you can actually do it manually - the cab files holding the backups are in \windows\sysbckup - use extract from the dos prompt. The files all go in the \windows\system folder)

 

[pmonett]

Being an upgrade freak, I wouldn't necessarily bin the whole PC - just buying a new graphics card would do.

And you're in luck, because the TNT2 was an AGP card, and you can get a good AGP card today for just $50.

Of course, if you want to buy a new PC, go ahead and do it. If all the other components are just as old, there is certainly a case for thinking that they are not far from failing as well.

Pascal.


I've got nothing to hide, and I'd very much like to keep that away from prying eyes.

 

[bioboy]

Well after trying everything suggested, including the cab files in windows/sysbckup, I eventually bit the bullet and wiped the PC and reinstalled windows.

Hey presto! Everything is hunky dory and the PC boots in a fraction of the time. Had to reconfigure ethernet card and router and reinstall antivirus, firewall and Microsoft Office, reconfigure my e-mail etc, but well worth it. Oh, and I'd saved all my documents to another hard drive, so no problems there.

Thanks for all the advice anyway. Might well help me in the future.

Bill

 

[OldDaveW]

There is a freeware registry cleaner called Error Nuker that you might try. I personally use Tenebril Uninstaller which is easy to use and has other fuctions as well as cleaning the registry.

 

[STzvetkov]

Quote: "I managed to extract new graphics drivers on my desktop, but when I executed it I got a message saying "no Nvidia graphics card is present". When I check in the control panel under device manager the Nvidia display adapter is shown."

I have exactly the same problen on a preinstalled Windows98. I have NVidia TNT2 too. I found on Internet the older version of NVidia drivers and installed it, but still receiving the "no Nvidia graphics card is present" message.

Could you give me some advice, please.