can't click on icons

[rb trevor]

Hi, I have a problem that I'm stuck on and would like some expert help.
I'm using a known good mouse and keyboard.

I'm trying to get a friends computer going. It's a Dell L 733r, PIII.
The label says
NT 4.0 and W98, but it's been upgraded to W2K 5.0: build 2195 Service
Pack 4 Free. I'm not sure if it was a clean install or an upgrade. It
has some version of AOL on it, and some version of Norton AV. User said
that nothing was downloaded or changed prior to this happening. It
boots extremely slow, about 4 minutes to get to the admin logon, then
about 5 minutes to get to the desktop. The task bar takes about 2
minutes to build, then 3 or 4 minutes to get the icons. Then, there is
NO response to left or right clicking on icons and there is no response
to any keyboard shortcuts.

* When the cursor is placed over the task bar, it turns into an
hourglass.

What does work is ctrl+alt+del to open the Task Manager. There, all
mouse and keyboard functions work fine. Processes view takes a few
minutes to open, but there doesn't look like any thing out of the
normal 23 process. I did see ipconfig as a process, but it disappeared.
I think there were 2 entries of it. But when I attempt to close it
with the X, I get a corrupted view result. A small portion of the
taskbar is mixed in with a now blank WTM window and the mouse freezes
up. Cntrl+alt+delete to restart the comptuter works fine.

The processes in safe mode are:
sys idle
system
SMSS.EXE
CSRSS.EXE
WINLOGON.EXE
SERVICES.EXE
LSASS.EXE
SVCHOST.EXE
wINmGMT.EXE
EXPLORER.EXE
taskmgr>exe

In normal start up, these processes are added to the above list:

svchost.exe
svchost.exe
spoolsv.exe
AOLacsd.exe
NAVAPSVC.EXE
regsvc.exe
mstask.exe
mspmspsv.exe

I tried F8/ last known good config and that didn't help. Went to an F8
C: prompt and tried chkdsk /f and it didn't find any errors. I guess
there is no defrag option in W2K or it just wasn't on this computer.
I'm not sure what the degugging option does, but I tried it anyway, no
help.

Is there anything else I can do to recover this OS or is it toast ?

Are there any repairs that can be done from a command prompt ?

I don't have the OS disk, but can I perhaps download a W2K repair
floppy if there is such a thing ?

Actually, I just found a 120 day evaluation W2K disk that perhaps might
have some repair options on it ? But another prob, I can't seem to get
into the bios setup to check the drive boot sequence. It doesn't boot
to the eval disk. I tried F1 and F2 and Ctrl. There was an AOL disk in
the drive, so I'm going to assume that the drive probably works.

Does anyone know which key is supposed to get into the setup on this
Dell L 733r ?

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Dave Patrick]

Check Event Viewer for errors.

Task Manager|File|New Task
%systemroot%\eventvwr.msc

When you view the logged events in Event Viewer (double-click them in the
right-hand pane) in the upper right corner, third button down is a copy to
clipboard, then you can paste in the body of a reply message.

Please do so for each of the different System Log events (that are a Type:
'Error' or 'Warning') since last boot so we can see all of the event detail.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Hi, I have a problem that I'm stuck on and would like some expert help.
| I'm using a known good mouse and keyboard.
|
| I'm trying to get a friends computer going. It's a Dell L 733r, PIII.
| The label says
| NT 4.0 and W98, but it's been upgraded to W2K 5.0: build 2195 Service
| Pack 4 Free. I'm not sure if it was a clean install or an upgrade. It
| has some version of AOL on it, and some version of Norton AV. User said
| that nothing was downloaded or changed prior to this happening. It
| boots extremely slow, about 4 minutes to get to the admin logon, then
| about 5 minutes to get to the desktop. The task bar takes about 2
| minutes to build, then 3 or 4 minutes to get the icons. Then, there is
| NO response to left or right clicking on icons and there is no response
| to any keyboard shortcuts.
|
| * When the cursor is placed over the task bar, it turns into an
| hourglass.
|
| What does work is ctrl+alt+del to open the Task Manager. There, all
| mouse and keyboard functions work fine. Processes view takes a few
| minutes to open, but there doesn't look like any thing out of the
| normal 23 process. I did see ipconfig as a process, but it disappeared.
| I think there were 2 entries of it. But when I attempt to close it
| with the X, I get a corrupted view result. A small portion of the
| taskbar is mixed in with a now blank WTM window and the mouse freezes
| up. Cntrl+alt+delete to restart the comptuter works fine.
|
| The processes in safe mode are:
| sys idle
| system
| SMSS.EXE
| CSRSS.EXE
| WINLOGON.EXE
| SERVICES.EXE
| LSASS.EXE
| SVCHOST.EXE
| wINmGMT.EXE
| EXPLORER.EXE
| taskmgr>exe
|
| In normal start up, these processes are added to the above list:
|
| svchost.exe
| svchost.exe
| spoolsv.exe
| AOLacsd.exe
| NAVAPSVC.EXE
| regsvc.exe
| mstask.exe
| mspmspsv.exe
|
| I tried F8/ last known good config and that didn't help. Went to an F8
| C: prompt and tried chkdsk /f and it didn't find any errors. I guess
| there is no defrag option in W2K or it just wasn't on this computer.
| I'm not sure what the degugging option does, but I tried it anyway, no
| help.
|
| Is there anything else I can do to recover this OS or is it toast ?
|
| Are there any repairs that can be done from a command prompt ?
|
| I don't have the OS disk, but can I perhaps download a W2K repair
| floppy if there is such a thing ?
|
| Actually, I just found a 120 day evaluation W2K disk that perhaps might
| have some repair options on it ? But another prob, I can't seem to get
| into the bios setup to check the drive boot sequence. It doesn't boot
| to the eval disk. I tried F1 and F2 and Ctrl. There was an AOL disk in
| the drive, so I'm going to assume that the drive probably works.
|
| Does anyone know which key is supposed to get into the setup on this
| Dell L 733r ?
|
| Thanks for any suggestions.
|

 

[rb trevor]

Thank you for the suggestions, but I wasn't able to get to the system
logs. Entering %systemroot%/eventvwr.msc,
brings up an error box, "cannot find the path C:\WINNT\eventvwr.msc,
(or one of its components, make sure the path.........).

On the drop down menu under %systemroot%, there were about 100 choices,
but no eventviewer entry.

Even if I got to the system Logs, and opened notepad via DOS, I still
wouldn't be able to paste it in a post here because of no OS
operability to use the dial up modem. I don't believe I could open AOL
from DOS, and the way that computer is working, I would think that the
chances would be slim to actually get online.

Unless there is another approach, I think I'll repartition to FAT32 and
install 98. The guy just needs a basic machine set up to access the
Internet and eMail.

Thanks for your ideas and any future ones too.

rb

 

[Dave Patrick]

I agree a clean install is probably the best option. To do a clean install,
either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or setup disks. The set of four
install disks can be created from your Windows 2000 CD-Rom; change to the
\bootdisk directory on the CD-Rom and execute makeboot.exe (from dos) or
makebt32.exe (from 32 bit) and follow the prompts.

When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other partitions
found. After you delete the partition(s) abort the install, then again
restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected drive
letter assignments with your new install.

During Windows 2000 setup, at some point, will want to confirm the previous
operating system for the upgrade; at that point you'll simply insert the
qualified product install CD for it to verify. Then the install will
proceed.

Check the pc, mb or hardware manufacturer's web site for the latest bios and
or Windows 2000 drivers for your devices.

Be sure to apply these to your new install before connecting to any network.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/A/E6A04295-D2A8-40D0-A0C5-241BFECD095E/W2KSP4_EN.EXE
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-049.mspx

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Thank you for the suggestions, but I wasn't able to get to the system
| logs. Entering %systemroot%/eventvwr.msc,
| brings up an error box, "cannot find the path C:\WINNT\eventvwr.msc,
| (or one of its components, make sure the path.........).
|
| On the drop down menu under %systemroot%, there were about 100 choices,
| but no eventviewer entry.
|
| Even if I got to the system Logs, and opened notepad via DOS, I still
| wouldn't be able to paste it in a post here because of no OS
| operability to use the dial up modem. I don't believe I could open AOL
| from DOS, and the way that computer is working, I would think that the
| chances would be slim to actually get online.
|
| Unless there is another approach, I think I'll repartition to FAT32 and
| install 98. The guy just needs a basic machine set up to access the
| Internet and eMail.
|
| Thanks for your ideas and any future ones too.
|
| rb
|

 

[rb trevor]

Thank you so much for your detailed reply, but I'm sorry that I only
have a 120 day evaluation W2K cd, so I'll have to put 98 on it.

Can you tell me if I can use a 98 start up disk to repartition to
FAT32, format and install 98sE ?

I can boot to it, so I think I can do this. Please confirm, thanks.

 

[Dave Patrick]

I didn't think an upgrade would be possible with an eval disk. To wipe the
drive, some ways include; boot a win98/ME startup disk, run fdisk and delete
all partition information found (as long as NTFS is primary). Or boot the
Windows 2000 CD-Rom or setup disks and when you get to the point, delete the
existing NTFS and or other partitions found, then abort the install.


--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Thank you so much for your detailed reply, but I'm sorry that I only
| have a 120 day evaluation W2K cd, so I'll have to put 98 on it.
|
| Can you tell me if I can use a 98 start up disk to repartition to
| FAT32, format and install 98sE ?
|
| I can boot to it, so I think I can do this. Please confirm, thanks.
|

 

[rb trevor]

Thanks for you patience.

It's an 8 GB hard drive that I'm dealing with.

I used a 98 start disk and fdisked. It showed an active NTFS partition,
86%, and an Extended DOS partition 14%. I tried to delete the extended
DOS partition first, but it said it couldn't delete a partition with
Logical Drives on it. I displayed logical drives in the extended
partition, and it said that there weren't any !? So I deleted the NTFS
partition thinking this might allow me to delete the Extended DOS one,
although this seemed backwards, but I didn't have any other choices. I
decided that I would just live with the extra 16% extended Dos
partition and went through the 'create a primary DOS partition', (Y) to
enable FAT32, and for some reason, it didn't use up the remaining space
for the primary. It only used 29% of it. I didn't check the Byte or
%size before I hit enter to make the primary and make it active, I just
thought that it would default to the remaining space like it always did
before. But now I can't delete it to start anew and make sure that the
total remaining space will be used.

I tried to delete it and start over, and it said it couldn't delete the
primary partition because there were logical drives on it. Same error
message as before with the DOS partition attempt, but now it says the
same innaccurate status about the primary.

Issues again, but I'm learning a lot with this project.

Not sure if I need to flash the bios, (which will be my first flash,
but read lots about it).

Right now I'm installing 98 on the 2GB primary partition to make sure
that I can get 98 on this hard drive, no matter how much room I'm
using, and the next 45 minutes should tell. If I can't get the
partition thing straightened out, we might be able to live with a 2GB
hard drive space for the OS and to just use AOL.

If you can give me some advice on the catch 22 thing going on with the
bios setup, (if you think a flash will take care of it) , please reply
to this.

And thanks again for all your time.

regards,
rb

 

[Dave Patrick]

This is expected if there are NTFS formatted extended partitions. Boot the
Windows 2000 CD-Rom or setup disks and when you get to the point, delete the
existing NTFS and or other partitions found, then abort the install

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Thanks for you patience.
|
| It's an 8 GB hard drive that I'm dealing with.
|
| I used a 98 start disk and fdisked. It showed an active NTFS partition,
| 86%, and an Extended DOS partition 14%. I tried to delete the extended
| DOS partition first, but it said it couldn't delete a partition with
| Logical Drives on it. I displayed logical drives in the extended
| partition, and it said that there weren't any !? So I deleted the NTFS
| partition thinking this might allow me to delete the Extended DOS one,
| although this seemed backwards, but I didn't have any other choices. I
| decided that I would just live with the extra 16% extended Dos
| partition and went through the 'create a primary DOS partition', (Y) to
| enable FAT32, and for some reason, it didn't use up the remaining space
| for the primary. It only used 29% of it. I didn't check the Byte or
| %size before I hit enter to make the primary and make it active, I just
| thought that it would default to the remaining space like it always did
| before. But now I can't delete it to start anew and make sure that the
| total remaining space will be used.
|
| I tried to delete it and start over, and it said it couldn't delete the
| primary partition because there were logical drives on it. Same error
| message as before with the DOS partition attempt, but now it says the
| same innaccurate status about the primary.
|
| Issues again, but I'm learning a lot with this project.
|
| Not sure if I need to flash the bios, (which will be my first flash,
| but read lots about it).
|
| Right now I'm installing 98 on the 2GB primary partition to make sure
| that I can get 98 on this hard drive, no matter how much room I'm
| using, and the next 45 minutes should tell. If I can't get the
| partition thing straightened out, we might be able to live with a 2GB
| hard drive space for the OS and to just use AOL.
|
| If you can give me some advice on the catch 22 thing going on with the
| bios setup, (if you think a flash will take care of it) , please reply
| to this.
|
| And thanks again for all your time.
|
| regards,
| rb
|

 

[rb trevor]

Yes, this proved correct as my 98 install went to a point where it told
me that it found a NTFS partition and that it wouldn't be available for
98. I canceled the install and went to fdisk again to check this, and
the 98 fdisk program wasn't able to see any non-dos partitions that
the 98 install cd said were there.

Next action will be to try your option 2, to run the eval disk and
abort the install after it deletes the NTFS partition. If I can't do
this, I'll make the 4 floppies and attempt to delete like that. It's
worth a shot because I'd don't want to really leave him with a 2GB hard
drive.

This is expected if there are NTFS formatted extended partitions. Boot the
Windows 2000 CD-Rom or setup disks and when you get to the point, delete the
existing NTFS and or other partitions found, then abort the install

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Thanks for you patience.
|
| It's an 8 GB hard drive that I'm dealing with.
|
| I used a 98 start disk and fdisked. It showed an active NTFS partition,
| 86%, and an Extended DOS partition 14%. I tried to delete the extended
| DOS partition first, but it said it couldn't delete a partition with
| Logical Drives on it. I displayed logical drives in the extended
| partition, and it said that there weren't any !? So I deleted the NTFS
| partition thinking this might allow me to delete the Extended DOS one,
| although this seemed backwards, but I didn't have any other choices. I
| decided that I would just live with the extra 16% extended Dos
| partition and went through the 'create a primary DOS partition', (Y) to
| enable FAT32, and for some reason, it didn't use up the remaining space
| for the primary. It only used 29% of it. I didn't check the Byte or
| %size before I hit enter to make the primary and make it active, I just
| thought that it would default to the remaining space like it always did
| before. But now I can't delete it to start anew and make sure that the
| total remaining space will be used.
|
| I tried to delete it and start over, and it said it couldn't delete the
| primary partition because there were logical drives on it. Same error
| message as before with the DOS partition attempt, but now it says the
| same innaccurate status about the primary.
|
| Issues again, but I'm learning a lot with this project.
|
| Not sure if I need to flash the bios, (which will be my first flash,
| but read lots about it).
|
| Right now I'm installing 98 on the 2GB primary partition to make sure
| that I can get 98 on this hard drive, no matter how much room I'm
| using, and the next 45 minutes should tell. If I can't get the
| partition thing straightened out, we might be able to live with a 2GB
| hard drive space for the OS and to just use AOL.
|
| If you can give me some advice on the catch 22 thing going on with the
| bios setup, (if you think a flash will take care of it) , please reply
| to this.
|
| And thanks again for all your time.
|
| regards,
| rb
|

 

[rb trevor]

Tried to run setup at the D: prompt to run the W2K cd and it said that
"this program cannot be run in DOS mode. Guess I'll try to make the
floppies.

Do you think THESE will work to delete the NTFS partition ?

 

[Dave Patrick]

You'll want to boot from the CD-Rom.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Tried to run setup at the D: prompt to run the W2K cd and it said that
| "this program cannot be run in DOS mode. Guess I'll try to make the
| floppies.
|
| Do you think THESE will work to delete the NTFS partition ?
|

 

[rb trevor]

Tip of the hat and again so many thanks to you for your help.

One last bit of info to ask you.

All is fine, set the boot sequence, booted to the W2K cd, got rid of
ALL of the partitions, and set up an active primary and 3 logical
drives in the extended. The logical drives are 700MB, 700MB, and
2000MB. I heard it's good to have your swap file on its own drive and
your TEMP, Int. Temp Files, and Cookies on their own drives. Do you
agree with this ?

Do I just drag and drop the swap folder to the new drive in Windows
Explorer ? Or is it done from the Virtual Memory page ? If I do it in
explorer, please tell me the name of the virtual memory or swap file
folder or folders that must be transferred. Is it (are they) under
Windows ?

Last one, promise !

 

[rb trevor]

Tip of the hat and again so many thanks to you for your help.

One last bit of info to ask you.

All is fine, set the boot sequence, booted to the W2K cd, got rid of
ALL of the partitions, and set up an active primary and 3 logical
drives in the extended. The logical drives are 700MB, 700MB, and
2000MB. I heard it's good to have your swap file on its own drive and
your TEMP, Int. Temp Files, and Cookies on their own drives (all
together on one drive). Do you agree with this ?

Do I just drag and drop the swap folder to the new drive in Windows
Explorer ? Or is it done from the Virtual Memory page ? If I do it in
explorer, please tell me the name of the virtual memory or swap file
folder or folders that must be transferred. Is it (are they) under
Windows ?

Last one, promise !

 

[rb trevor]

Hello Dave!

I finally found out how to set the boot sequence and I booted to the
W2K disk, got rid of ALL the partitions, and am now formatting the
drives for FAT32. I don't anticipate any more problems and thank you
again kindly.

If I can get one more byte of information from you, I'd like to ask
about the benefit of using different logical drives for your virtual
memory page file, and another for the TEMP, Internet Temporary files,
and Cookies folders. I was told if you keep these on seperate drives,
less defraging will be needed or it will go faster, and the system
will run better in general. Do you agree with this ?

I set up an extended partition (50% of the drive), with 3 logical
drives. 20%, 20%, and 60%, (about 700MB, .700MB, and 2GB)

Can you tell me where I can find the virtual memory folder when I get
the 98 loaded on the C:, so I can place it on its own drive ? Is it in
Windows somewhere and what is it named.

I assume that I can just drag and drop it to its new drive in windows
explorer. I'll put it on one of the 700MB logical drives, since
there's only 128MB of RAM and I'll make a permanent swap file (the
min/max to 1.5XRAM, or about
200MB). I've had good luck defining the swap file size in other 98
installations. It seems to make the OS snappier on some applications.

I'll make the other 20% drive for the TEMP files, and recommend using
the 3rd logical drive for pictures.

What do you think ? Last one, promise !


rb

It's great to have a community of people to help out with answers.

 

[Dave Patrick]

Since all of the reads/writes will go through the same drives controller
channel I doubt there would be an advantage. No you wouldn't be able to drag
it anywhere. You'll need to tell the operating system the new location and
let it take care of the move. They'll be in a better position to answer
these questions here.

http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...2e8-7af3-4b4e-8137-1fbe446bf8eb&lang=en&cr=US

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Hello Dave!
|
| I finally found out how to set the boot sequence and I booted to the
| W2K disk, got rid of ALL the partitions, and am now formatting the
| drives for FAT32. I don't anticipate any more problems and thank you
| again kindly.
|
| If I can get one more byte of information from you, I'd like to ask
| about the benefit of using different logical drives for your virtual
| memory page file, and another for the TEMP, Internet Temporary files,
| and Cookies folders. I was told if you keep these on seperate drives,
| less defraging will be needed or it will go faster, and the system
| will run better in general. Do you agree with this ?
|
| I set up an extended partition (50% of the drive), with 3 logical
| drives. 20%, 20%, and 60%, (about 700MB, .700MB, and 2GB)
|
| Can you tell me where I can find the virtual memory folder when I get
| the 98 loaded on the C:, so I can place it on its own drive ? Is it in
| Windows somewhere and what is it named.
|
| I assume that I can just drag and drop it to its new drive in windows
| explorer. I'll put it on one of the 700MB logical drives, since
| there's only 128MB of RAM and I'll make a permanent swap file (the
| min/max to 1.5XRAM, or about
| 200MB). I've had good luck defining the swap file size in other 98
| installations. It seems to make the OS snappier on some applications.
|
| I'll make the other 20% drive for the TEMP files, and recommend using
| the 3rd logical drive for pictures.
|
| What do you think ? Last one, promise !
|
|
| rb
|
| It's great to have a community of people to help out with answers.