win 98 continuous reboot???

[Jay Peterson]

4 days ago I started my computer and it wouldn't stop rebooting... It goes through all the motions and just before the login screen it delays and then does a complete reboot occasionally automatically going to safe-mode, and occasionally going through scandisk as if it wasn't shut down properly!!!

I have no idea what else to try.  I went through disk defrag and the long version of scandisk to look for disk problems, but it still doesn't get out of the reboot, or automatically sends me to safe mode.

system: win 98
gateway 700 mhz
amd athalon

if anyone can help i'd appreciate it... thanks!
[email protected]

[Fed]

Can you start in safe mode?
If you can try here first.
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/
and
http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/

[Jay Peterson]

yes i can start in safe mode and that's when i ran scandisk.

I'll try the link you gave... more info later.

thanks,
J

[Jay Peterson]

only problem is i have broadband and can't get online while i'm in safe mode??? or maybe I just don't how

So i can't get to those links in safe mode and i'm not sure what else to do.

[Sidewinder]

When you get the option menu for safe mode, one of the choices should be "Safe mode with networking support". Give that a try.

Let us know.

[jayapet]

I can log in safe mode using the network that allow me to use my passwork, but I am still unable to connect to the internet it gives me the ol' "can't connect to.. site"

So we're making progress but it still goes directly into safe mode...?? Is there any other info you need about my system?

[Sidewinder]

I found a few links which may help. You haven't made any hardware changes lately, have you?

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000597.htm

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q143283/

Hope this helps.

[jayapet]

No hardware changes... the support from microsoft seems closest to my problem I'll try that this morning when I get home from work...

Something I noticed also... I can't shut down the computer normally without pressing the power button when it goes into that continuous cycle... I tried shutdown from safe mode, and it made the noise like it was shutting down but then automatically rebooted and continued on as it has been.... I am stumped!

[Sidewinder]

If you can keep the system up long enough in safe mode, I think your best bet it to delete Wnbootng.sts and see what happens.

Good luck.

[jayapet]

I searched everywhere for wnbootng.sts couldn't find it...I tried the file search in c:\ but nowhere...

One thing I noticed when it goes through scandisk the warning says that windows did not fully load on previous attempt and that's why it starts scandisk or safe mode...?
Any ideas??

[Sidewinder]

Not really

The only information I could find points to:

bad hard-disk
loose IDE cable
storage not detected in BIOS,
corrupted master boot record ( MBR)
misconfigurred BIOS data about hard-disk etc.

Is there a splash screen during boot that you can dismiss and see what is happening? With any luck Win98 might tell you about mssing or corrupt DLL's that could be replaced.

Another possibility would be to restore the registry to a date when it worked. scanreg /restore but I would be very careful with this.

[jayapet]

This is a big THANK YOU to Sidewinder!!!!

Your suggestion about the scanreg/ restore worked like a charm... It brought up several dates, to which I was able to go back to the early part of June and bring up those registry files, and it took care of almost all the problems I've been having!

YOU  ARE TRULY COMPUTER A GOD!

THANKS AGAIN...
JAY

[merlin_2]

and the reason for this  is a damaged wav file......

[jayapet]

Merlin,

Is there anything else I need to do.?... I see you put a comment about a damaged wav file.... Is this going to happen again?  What's your suggestion?

Thanks for the help guys!

[Mac]

and the reason for this  is a damaged wav file......

Is that the Windows Start-Up sound .wav file?