No System?

systemower spec 4325
hard drive:6GB EIDE(10 yrs old-"repaired" 3 times)
video:3D AGP w/permediaII chipset
processor:intel celeron 366MHz
OS: windows 98...legally.
configuration: MicroATX

Problem: mouse started locking up(new install) and screen pixels "melted" and then all came to a stop..message= desktop encountered porblem...yada yada
do you want to reinstall? yup,but mouse don't work! reboot and kerblamo!!
cannot start in safe mode 'cause the desktop is gone w/o start menue. when i reboot system...it gets to about 1/2 way done with checking memory and then screen goes to black with blinking cursor. tried to install system disc and does not seem to read cd..prior to this i could get into setup screen(big mistake for me!) probably put in some wrong values for cmos and bios thingies. i'll stop now only to say that this is the same system "I/we/geeks" got up and running last year....this is a stand alone and not on internet...whew! that about covers it...any ideas??? don't everyone speak at once...

 

sounds like you might have tinkered too much with your bios...if you did, you should reset the bios by removing the battery for about 30 mins, then put it back and try, or if you feel like looking, sometimes there is a jumper on the motherboard that you can set to reset the bios.

 

if it boots to DOS mode you could also try SCANREG / RESTORE in case it is just a corrupt registry.

 

tanks people....all very informative...ur right about me and da bios blues(lol)
they were messed up so i got my mama board book out and reset the bios.
had to reinstall the new mouse(tried to) but still locking up and still getting HUGE screen message about the desktop encountered bad stuff...yada yada.
got hugely bent and uninstalled win98 milinum (a real hoot w/o a mouse)
tried to reinstall my copy(legal) of windows 98 and get about 3% into before it tells me i got a problem on hard drive and cannot continue until i fix the problem.
not up to speed on reformat, how do i do dat? may just fugedaboutit and buy new hard drive. i await comments and/or suggestions from people who know WAY more than i do in matters concernig 'puters.

 

if your gonna reinstall, then yes format it first. you will need a boot disk and when you format, it will find (and attempt to fix) bad sectors on your hard drive. check out http://www.bootdisk.com for your correct one.

 

ok...up and running....so far and with the right screen resolution.
eye got myself a new hard drive and did the unzip thing from 3d labs site(as i/we/geeks did last year) for vid driver. thanks to all geeks who chimmed in and got me to thinking (which gave me a headache)
if'n you want, check out my thread in hardware section too...i must be off...ciao