Ok, I did something stupid. I can only boot into safe mode now. I won't go
into details but it involved updating motherboard drivers. Now when I boot up
it gives me a black screen and says "Unable to initialize CONFIGMG device.
Restart compter. Years ago I had a simular problem and just overlayed my 98se
without losing my files. Can someone point me to a link or instructions to
reinstall without formating the drive? I just can't remember how I did it
before. I have all disks needed. I tried restore but it didn't work.

What brand computer? What kind of installation media do you have? A standard
Win98 CD? Or some "Recovery CD"?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"Joe T" <JoeT@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:84B2ECD8-5D56-4066-826E-12556DD04450@microsoft.com...

If this problem is less than five days old, restore a copy of the registry
that predates the onset of the problem and see if that helps. The five-day
limit assumes that the computer is booted every day. If it is not booted
every day, you may have an old enough registry backup that you can use even
though more than five days have elapsed. Note that any registry changes
made after the date of the restored registry will be lost.

Ways of restoring the W98 registry include:

On the Start Menu, select Shut Down and Restart in MSDOS Mode. At the
Windows prompt, type: scanreg /restore and hit enter.

Boot to the boot menu by holding down either the ctrl or F8 key after the
ram count occurs on the boot screen. Select Command Prompt Only and at the
C: prompt, type: scanreg /restore and hit enter.

Boot with the W98 start up floppy disk--CDRom support doesn't matter. At
the A: prompt, type: C: and hit enter. At the C: prompt, type: CD
Windows\Command and hit enter. At the Command prompt, type: scanreg
/restore and hit enter.

Once the registry restore screen appears, select the date of the registry
that you wish to restore by highlighting it and then click enter. If you
see a registry named: Rbbad.cab, that is a copy of the registry that has
already been replaced.


--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Joe T" <JoeT@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:84B2ECD8-5D56-4066-826E-12556DD04450@microsoft.com...

Standard Win98se CD disk with all documents, not a recover disk. I built this
computer. I have motherboard disks, Word 2000 disks etc. Elite Group K7s5a
motherboard disks/drivers.
Unfortunately, I have turned off the computer more than 5 times. I did try
scanreg / restore but to no avail. Just need to overlay now. I'm going to go
to XP but I just need to pull some files first then wipe disk and install XP.
I'm not concerned with any performance issues.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

Why not get a new HDD and install XP to that. Leave the 9x disk disconnected
until XP is installed. That way, your files are kept intact, in case you
later remember something you forgot to recover when you had the chance.

Not sure if an OEM disk will overinstall Win98. If not, there are some
tricks. Otherwise, all you do is boot to the Emergency Boot Disk (Windows
Startup floppy), use CD support, then start Setup from the CD. The fact that
it is an overinstall is assumed from the presence of the existing system..

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"Joe T" <JoeT@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
newsAE49BE7-D5A1-46ED-8E7A-0135E111EEF7@microsoft.com...

I appreciate your idea of a new HDD, however that will not work for me at
this time. You see, since I can only boot to Safe Mode because of the error
"Windows protection error. While initializing CONFIGMG device. Restart
computer".
My computer does not recognize any other storage device in Safe Mode like my
USB drive to which I wish to move my files to then wipe the drive and install
XP. I cannot even e-mail any files to my office work computer. Yes, I can use
my floppy drive for some files, but I have some files larger than 1.44 disks.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

See if this article on changing the shell from explorer to program manager
helps.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=293174

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"jt3219" <jt3219@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7E393879-9253-4C01-9542-314CD60C1473@microsoft.com...

Sorry, but I forgot to mention I have dial up connection at home with
external 56K modem. It won't dial my WalMart ISP in safe mode, hence why I
cannot e-mail. I'm using my work computer to send to you people.
I'm not sure after reading the link you list is what I'm after. How does
changing shell from explorer to program manager work or the reason for it? I
also found this article KB 293185 "How to turn on CD-Rom Support in Dos
Mode". I'm thinking that I can just reload my motherboard drivers with this.
Am I correct or just wishing?

"Ron Badour" wrote:

I was suggesting another internal HDD. One that can be accessed in Safe
Mode. Or, as I suggested, used for the XP installation, saving the old
system as a slave HDD, fully accessible from the XP drive and preserved
intact.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"jt3219" <jt3219@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7E393879-9253-4C01-9542-314CD60C1473@microsoft.com...

Assuming the drivers files you want to reinstall are on a CD, and that they
are copiable from the CD, you can use a Windows Setup floppy boot disk to
copy the files from the CD to the HD, then restart in Safe Mode and run them
from there. Helps if you load XCOPY onto the startup floppy before booting
it.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"jt3219" <jt3219@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7E393879-9253-4C01-9542-314CD60C1473@microsoft.com...

"Ron Badour" <Sorry@NoAddress.com> wrote in message
news:%23%23zjLoMZHHA.2552@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
I wish I'd read that before last night! It _sounds_ like the fault I had,
anyway. I'm currently building up an old '98 system, and thought I'd try the
universal USB driver (that has been on here a lot - I think mine is
something like version 23e) rather than the pen drive's own. It caused the
system to freeze as described in the above article ("Explorer caused fault"
message, then blank desktop if you OK the error message). I just reinstalled
the OS, as I wasn't far along, but the above might have been quicker.

For interest, it is a system being installed via 98lite (4.5), using one of
the options that avoids IE3 altogether. This is another reason why I think
the above may be the right answer (in that the KB article talks about
restoring IE, or at least one of its files); obviously 98lite makes the
system work fine without it, but possibly the universal USB driver
installation in combination with 98lite breaks the system. (I won't be
bothering to repeat the experiment, since I do have the drivers specific to
my pen drive, which do work with a "lite"d system.)

"Joe T" <JoeT@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:850BE5DA-6CD0-4825-8D36-35F8964B4152@microsoft.com...
(I haven't read that KB article, but the simplest way to turn on CD support
in DOS is probably just to boot from ['98 or later] a boot floppy - assuming
you've got one that is.)

Well, you could get at them; however, they're probably designed to be loaded
from Windows. You _might_ be lucky and they'll run from DOS, but I suspect
it's unlikely. (And if you do run them from Windows and they require a
restart, you've then got the problem of losing CD again during the restart -
unless you copy them to C: anyway.)

As someone else said, just putting a new HD in and installing XP to that,
then connecting the old HD back in (changing the link to slave if it's on
the same cable), will let you access your files no problem; or you could as
you said use floppies. You said you had the odd file over a floppy's worth -
no problem, there are lots of ways - there are certainly zipper utilities
that will run from DOS (in fact the zip format, and the software that makes
it, predates Windows), and with those you could zip the files across two or
more floppies.

"Ron Badour" <Sorry@NoAddress.com> wrote in message
news:OwQwOv5YHHA.3824@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
Yup - that rolling backup system bites again! The '95 ERU/ERD utility runs
fine under '98 (and, I'm told, Me), and lets _you_ decide when to make a
backup of a working system (and to keep that backup indefinitely if you
want - it doesn't get overwritten or deleted unless _you_ say so). Find it
under something like \other\misc on a '95 CD ...

When your PC cannot boot normally, changing the shell may allow it to boot
so you can get to the files you need. It only takes a couple of minutes to
try the procedure so you have little to lose.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Joe T" <JoeT@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:850BE5DA-6CD0-4825-8D36-35F8964B4152@microsoft.com...

Ok, thanks all. I have not bought XP yet so its premature to buy a new HDD.
I will try to load my motherboard drivers that way.

tnx

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

I sure wish someone could tell me for sure if overlaying will wipe the disk.
Any MS articles? I've searched for hours. They all say format disk.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

As long as you do not format the partition, do not delete the partition with
fdisk or ignore words (should you see them) to the effect that you are about
to lose all files, the disk will not be wiped.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Joe T" <JoeT@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7834B748-3C55-44A3-B079-EEC12CF6C548@microsoft.com...

Dash it all man, brilliant idea.Thanks Gary and Ron. I looked around the
house and found an old 3.2gb drive that was in the basement with 98se on it.
I'll do what Gary T suggested. I'll install that one, format and install
98se on the small drive, xfer files and pics in safe mode, make sure this
works, then format my WD120gb, reinstall 98se and xfer back with my Western
Digital lifeguard utility. And my ex-wife said I'm a pack rat and will never
need that junk. HAAAAAAAAA!!!!! Typical woman.

"Ron Badour" wrote:

You'd just love to see my "junk room", <g>. Strangest event is when I
*can't* find a part I need. But I usually have something that I can make do
until I can get something in from NewEgg.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"Joe T" <JoeT@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:3FFEE02A-8064-4204-9822-FAB4BE1C604E@microsoft.com...

It might take me 20 years, but I usually find a use for my valuable stuff
(junk). <G> I have had 4 pairs of matched cabinet hinges since around 1985
and just recently, my step son needed some for a cabinet he was building.
Saved him around $30.

--
Regards


Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo



"Joe T" <JoeT@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:3FFEE02A-8064-4204-9822-FAB4BE1C604E@microsoft.com...