Windows 98 troubleshooting

Windows 98 Second Edition Hangs During Suspend
1. Select Start > Run and type msconfig in the Open: box, then press OK.
2. Select the System.ini tab.
3. Click the + sign next to the [386Enh] section to expand it.
4. Select the line PagingFile= and click Edit.
5. Change the lowercase drive letter to uppercase.
6. Click Apply and OK.
7. When prompted, restart your computer.
When you try to resume your computer from Suspend mode, your computer may take 30 seconds or more to resume. This behavior can occur if you have a network adapter that is not attached to an active network connection.
When your computer enters Suspend mode, the drivers for your protocols are unloaded. When you try to resume your computer, Windows attempts to load the drivers for your protocols, and then bind them to the network adapter. If an active network connection is not found, a time out occurs and causes the delay.
To resolve this behavior, you either have to connect to an active network connection, or disable your network adapter:
1. Select Start > Settings > Control Panel, and then double-click System
2. Select the Device Manager tab, double-click the Network Adapters branch to expand it, and then select your network adapter
3. Select Properties, click to select the Disable in this hardware profile check box, click OK (twice), and then click Yes to restart your computer
Uninstalling updated Device drivers, system patches, or hot fixes
Device drivers, system patches, or hot fixes you installed using the Windows Update feature, can be uninstalled using the Restore page from the Web site. If you are unable to connect to the Windows Update Web site, you can uninstall the latest updates by using Update Wizard Uninstall found on the Tools menu of Microsoft System Information (Select Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information).
Existing files and drivers are automatically backed up before the new ones are installed.
Troubleshooting Video problems
If you having problems with your Video, first make sure you have the latest drivers for your graphics adapter.
In Windows 98, graphics hardware acceleration features can be turned off when system performance indicates incompatibility problems:
1. In Control Panel, open System, select the Performance tab, and then click Graphics
2. Drag the slider to change the Hardware acceleration setting, as summarized in the list below. Then click OK
o The default setting is Full, which turns on all graphics hardware acceleration features available in the display driver
o The first notch from the right can be set to correct mouse pointer display problems. This setting disables hardware cursor support in the display driver by adding SwCursor=1 to the [Display] section of System.ini
o The second notch from the right prevents some bit block transfers from being performed on the display card and disables memory-mapped I/O for some display drivers. This setting adds SwCursor=1 and Mmio=0 to the [Display] section of System.ini, and SafeMode=1 to the [Windows] section of Win.ini
o The last notch from the right (None) can be set to correct problems if your computer frequently stops responding to input, or has other severe problems. This setting adds SafeMode=2 to the [Windows] section of Win.ini, which removes all driver acceleration support and causes Windows 98 to use only the device-independent bitmap (DIB) engine rather than bit block transfers for displaying images.


Unable to Access CD-ROM Drive After Installing Windows 98
After you install Windows 98, you may be unable to access your CD-ROM drive. This can occur if you have a dual-channel IDE (Integrated Device Electronics) controller installed in your computer. To fix this:
1. Select Start > Settings > Control Panel, and double-click System
2. Select the Device Manager tab
3. Double-click the Hard Disk Controllers branch to expand it, select your IDE controller, and then select Properties
4. Select the Settings tab
5. In the Dual IDE Channel Settings box, select Both IDE Channels enabled, and then click OK (2 times), and restart your computer.



Invalid Page Fault in Kernel32.dll Errors
If you frequently receive Invalid Page Fault in Kernel32.dll Errors, from different drivers (Explorer, Guide.exe, Msgsrv32, Commgr32, Mprexe and others), it is possible that your password list file is damaged. Try re-creating your password list file:
1. In Windows Explorer select your \Windows folder
2. Press F3. This will bring up the Find: All Files window
3. In the Named: box type *.pwl
4. Click Find Now
5. When a list of found files is displayed, delete them all
6. Close the Find window and restart Windows
Note: you will lose any passwords you have stored, so make sure that you have the passwords written down so you can re-enter them when needed


Reduce your monitor's resolution
On some computers, very high resolutions require a lot of system resources to display properly. If you notice problems at high resolutions, try lowering the resolution until the problems disappear.

1. Open Display Settings by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, clicking Personalization, and then clicking Display Settings.
2. Under Resolution, move the slider to the resolution you want, and then click Apply.

Change color scheme

If you see poor display quality using the default desktop color scheme, try changing to another color scheme, such as Windows Vista Basic, to see if performance improves.

1. Open Appearance Settings by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, clicking Personalization, and then clicking Window Color and Appearance. If the Appearance Settings dialog box is not displayed, at the bottom of the page, click Open classic appearance properties.
2. In the Color scheme list, select another color scheme, and then click OK.




Installing and configuring Device Drivers

Here are the steps on how to install device drivers for Windows 2000 and above operating Systems.
Step 1: Determine the Hardware Manufacturer. To know the manufacturer perform these steps:
a. Right-click on My Computer, and then click Manage.
b. Click on the System Tools, and then click Device Manager.
c. In the right pane, expand the device category and select the device that you need to configure. For instance, expand Display adapters.
d. Right-click the device for which you need to install the driver, and then click on Properties.
e. Go to the General tab. Note down the name of the manufacturer and also the model number of the device.
f. Click Cancel, and then quit Computer Management.
NOTE: If you are unable to view the device in the Device Manager, or the device is listed as an "Unknown device", contact the computer or device manufacturer to obtain technical specifications about the device.
Step 2: Obtain the Driver.
Step 3: Install the Driver.
· Go to the Device Manager.
· Expand the device for which the driver needs to be installed.
· Right click on the device and click on its properties.
· Click on the drivers tab.
· Click on update driver.
· You will be prompted to provide the drivers source. Then insert the installation disk or give the location of the drivers.
· Follow the on-screen instructions and complete the installation.
· On completing installation, if you are prompted to restart the computer then restart it.
Note: If the device is not listed in the device manager then install the device manually by using the ADD/Remove Hardware wizard located under control panel.