RPM,

Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.
1.Update to the latest bios and reset your bios defaults.
2.Make sure you are formatting the HD before installing Win98.
3.Remove all external devices except your mouse,keyboard, monitor.
4.If using a USB keyboard or mouse, try a PS2 keyboard or mouse.

Thanks for the BIOS tip Karell: I'll try it tomorrow. Why doesn't Dell supply a CDR of all the updates which they have installed onto your hard drive? It would then be simple to get the machine back to the condition it was when delivered.

Regards, Robin

RPM,

The Dell Resource CD contains all the drivers to get the system up and running.
As for providing an "update" CDR, that would be to difficult as new updates
are released all the time.

Upgrading the BIOS from A6 to A11 just makes the PC hang each time I do a warm boot: something to do with checking NRAM that I don't understand. I'll have a hunt around and revert back to A6. Oh, and it didn't break the install, reboot, reinstall loop in my original message: the only thing which has successfully installed is the Intel Ultra ATA storage driver.

The device mangler says it doesn't have drivers for the following: PCI communications device, PCI ethernet controller, and PCI multimedia audio device. I think I can see drivers for the last two on the resource CD, but which is the driver for the communications device?

Robin

RPM,

PCI communication device is your modem driver.
PCI ethernet controller is your network card driver.
PCI audio device is your sound card driver.

Here are the instructions on how to reset the bios defaults.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Turn on (or restart) your system.
When the blue Dell logo appears, press (Delete Key) "Several Times"
If you wait too long and the operating system begins to load into memory, let the system complete the load operation. Then shut down the system and try again.
If you succeed you will get a screen that reads (Dell Dimension 4100 Setup)

Reset the defaults:
Press the (F9) key, this will prompt you to (Setup Default Configuration)
Highlight (Yes) and press the (Enter) key.

Clearing NVRAM:
Press the right-arrow key to move to the Advanced menu.
Use the down-arrow key to highlight (Boot Configuration), and press (Enter).
Press the down-arrow key to highlight (Reset Config Data) and press (Enter).
Then change the setting to (Yes).
Press (F10) and press (Enter) on (Save Changes and Exit).
The system should then reboot.
---------------------------------------------------------

I hope you can help me to understand, why cant my dell win98se find the drivers for all three of these, communications, network, sound?  I have done a clean install and no way can I get the drivers for any of these to work? Like him yellow exclamation in device manager everytime?  I boot plug and play finds the devices, but cant find the drivers, not on the cd not on the resource cd, not on c drive???

Where are those darn drivers???

Thanks for any and all help???

 

 

 

patti5,
The reason you're not able to install those three drivers is either because you're not using the correct media or you're not pointing the hardware wizard to the correct directory that contains the INF file for the device. Without knowing what model your modem, network and sound cards are, however, there's no way to tell.

Karell's right: the drivers are there, but they're not always easy to find - and that's just lazy on Dell's part. The resource disc has most of the drivers, and you'll probably find the modem drivers on a separate disc. Beware: I'm in England and I bought the computer here, but the modem driver disc only has the USA drivers (which don't work over here). The other problem with the modem drivers is that they installed the darned thing on COM1, of all places! You have to add more serial ports then install the modem.

This whole scenario is stupid: we didn't have to go through this rigmarole when we bought the computer, because Dell put the required files in the right places on the hard disc. We should not have to spend days and days frustratingly getting the system back again. It makes me reconsider Dell as a supplier.

Robin

Ok I finally found my drivers.

Now it didnt load my cab files on the hard drive?  How do I load cab files on hdd so I wont have to use my win98se cd all the time? The only thing I have is windows\system\precopy, which doesnt work:(

Well it looks like now my dyanmic link library was also not loaded??  Still getting lockups after all this trouble. I have installed win98se  3 times now, and still problems?

Ok now the computer goes out the window :)   MAJOR PROBLEMS NOW, cant install anything, getting errors everywhere, tried install IE6, got his error:

"unregmp2.exe linked to missing export advapi32.dll covertstringsecuritydescriptortosecuritydescriptorw" 

I dont think it installed any dll's at all :(

Thanks for replying :)  

 

Message Edited by patti5 on 02-27-2003 08:53 AM

Message Edited by patti5 on 02-27-2003 12:16 PM

Sorry for the late reply, Austin got iced in for 2 days and barely anyone made it to work...

RPM,
Your right about the driver process not being perfect, or anything but....
It has actually gotten easier now with the new systems.
The new Dell resource CD has a user interface that helps you narrow down and find
the correct drivers for your system. Loading drivers or finding them for Win98 was,
and still is not a perfect process.

Patti5,
Make a folder under your Windows folder called cabs.
C:\Windows\Cabs.
Then browse the Win98 cd and copy all the *.cab files to that folder.
Whenever you are asked for a file or driver, try C:\windows\cabs first.
If that does not work, try C:\windows\system or c:\windows\system32 or C:\windows\inf.
If that still does not work then you know it is not a native Win98 file or driver.
You should start looking for the driver on a cd, floppy, or the internet at that point.

unregmp2.exe linked to missing export advapi32.dll
I could not find much information on this error, but the information I found on the
file UNREGMP2.EXE pointed to it either being a virus or spyware.
You should update your anti-virus program, and run a full system scan.
You may also want to run spyware detecting applications like Ad-Aware or Spybot.