Reinstalled Win98 original over 2nd edition by mistake

[sgamer]

I am trying to get my brother-in-law's HP Pavillion working as he was having all kinds of trouble booting and shutting it down.

Specifically, nearly every time it booted the message "A required .DLL file, WKSGEN.DLL was not found" and then would lock up requiring a hard boot. Occasionally, it didn't lock up but then it didn't shut down properly. Several processes didn't shut down by themselves such as "Audio Services Internal Messages RMAEngine Comm Internal.." I started uninstalling the programs that were associated with some of the messages but it just came back with different program the next time. So I decided to reinstall 98 over the existing installation which I've done several times in the past without issue. I ran setup from the cab directory but it complained of several missing .inf files that weren't in either cab directory.

I then copied the cabs from my old Acer’s startup CD to a separate directory on the HP and installed from there. I haven't done much with 98 in the last few years and forgot that there are two versions. Now, judging from OS file dates, I have a "hybrid" of the two operating systems. One more attempt to install from HP’s cab files produces something about not being able to continue due to the OS version running and that I have to get the win98 upgrade edition.

Finally, the question: While it seems to work fine the way it is, I would like to get it back to the second edition OS. What would be the cheapest way to do so? I don't care how much work it takes. Thanks.

 

[JavaDude32]

HP Pavillions normally come with recovery cds, now if it had Win 98 SE originally and you have the cd it shouldn't be a problem. If data loss isn't a problem, then the entire problem can be solved by reformating the hard drive using a boot disk, otherwise just try to recover system files from the cd.

 

[sgamer]

Thanks JavaDude,

After I posted I checked HP's site and noticed that I can use the restore CD to overwrite the OS as opposed to formatting the disk and starting from scratch.

Although, upon further inspection, I've made another dumb mistake. I assumed my brother-in-law used virus protection. As it turns out it looks like someone deleted the McAfee directory as the link is still under Programs and it shows up as being installed in the Add/Remove programs.

Of course the PC has multiple viruses infecting various files. "kernal32.exe" is infected with the "w32.badtrans.b@mm" virus which I've been unable to repair so it looks like I would have had to at least updated the files if not wipe it clean and start from scratch anyway.

Currently, I booted my Norton AV to CD and am trying to clean up what I can. Unfortunately it can't repair most of them. Oh well... thanks again.