Just a follow up. One of the most important reasons I wanted to update to SE was because I could not find a 10/100 ethernet card here in Greece. The one I bought yesterday did not install and the box said 98SE compatible. Fortunateley I went to Level ones site and read their instructions and tried again , succesfully this time and now the ethernet PCMCIA card is working . I also wanted to install a WIFI card that is not WIN 98 first edition compatible. Now that I have access to the net, is there that much difference between 98 FE and SE and should I dare to try the upgrade, or leave well enough alone? I thank you because regardless of what I do , I would have brought the ethernet card back to the store without trying again, had I not been so involved in Upgrading to SE. That meant I would have to leave my Toshiba laptop here in Greece with my wife , and buy myself a new one, to have when I got back to the States. So, in winding up I have saved a significant amount of money and the necessity to make a hasty decision from Greece about a new laptop that I can decide on without pressure when I get back. I am waiting your opinions on whether it is worth to UPGRADE OR NOT Thank you all Peter P peter JUST A BEGINNER

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... if its not there I doubt if your laptop will restart back into windows as normal. ... as long as you can boot-up with a floppy with CDROM support to access the CD etc and win.com <<<renamed? deleted? DO IT ... if its still there you'll get an error ... try search(?) on your harddrive you'll be OK with either boot disk

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when you boot with the win98se disk, you need to get to the d:\ prompt. then type cd win98 the next prompt will read d:\win98 at that prompt type format c:/s it''ll go then. after its formatted, hit enter for none. then at that same prompt type setup bingo, your setup will run the suwin errors are because the drive is not formatted

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OK, I hate to be a stick in the mud but there are rules here on this forum. "I AM TRYING TO INSTALL A WIN98 SE I DOWNLOADED" Helping someone install an illegal download is against forum rules. Peter, Possibly you are not aware of this, but typing in all caps is shouting, and is considered rude. Read the forum rules to see what I am referring to concerning help with your downloaded Win98se file.

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Why is this so difficult? 1st of all, make sure you have a legal copy of Win98SE with the product key. Then boot into your existing Win98 as you normally would & use the search feature to find win.com. Once you've found it, rename it to win.old. NOTE: at this point if you shutdown, you will NOT be able to boot into Win98 again. Win.com is a necessary file & by renaming it, it no longer exists as far as Win98 is concerned. However, if you're familiar with DOS commands, you can easily rename back to win.com again...but if you do the following correctly, it shouldn't be necessary. After you've renamed the file, simply reboot with the Win98SE boot floppy in place & select "with CD-ROM support". Watch the screen for the drive letter assigned to your CD drive. When it stops at the A:\> prompt, pop the Win98SE in the CD drive & change to the CD drive letter, then type SETUP & press [enter]. For example, let's assume the drive letter is E...here's what you'll need to do: A:\> A:\>E:\ [enter] E:\> E:\>setup [enter] Win98SE installation will begin....

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The 'easiest, safest' way is just to rename win.com and redo the installation. When it asks what directory to install it in it'll default to WINDOWS.001. Change that back to just WINDOWS so that everything installs in your original directory. Some of the recommendations to format will work too but of course you'll lose all your drivers and software, which I think you specifically didn't want to happen.

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"When it asks what directory to install it in it'll default to WINDOWS.001. Change that back to just WINDOWS so that everything installs in your original directory." Excellent point! I forgot about that.

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Mavis007 in C drive windows I could not file the file named win.com A friend said that the WIN file was prolly the same ( AKA WIN COMPILER ). Assuming that was the case I changed the WIN file to WIN.OLD and when prompted changed the default WINDOWS 000 not WINDOWS 001 to plain WINDOWS AS DAVE IN CAPS suggested. So far so good albeit it seems puter considerabley slower Thx to all Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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Oh dear now you have c:\WINDOWS 000 and c:\windows... just goes to show .. "too many cooks spoil the broth"

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I do not understand. Did I do something wrong? I was not able to find the win.com file and I renamed the win file as I said instead assuming it was the file you referred to. A friend just came over and opened the win (PLAIN) file and it said WIN.COM is its name in DOS. ARe you refering to changing the windows installation directory from 001 to WINDOWS. That friend that just now came over fina looked and said I do not have 2 windows installations. Would some one please answer if I renamed the correct file?? win plain AKA win.com in DOS Please JAM and DAVE speak up also. Now on rebooting I am getting a screen that says C:\> REM : BY Windows 98 network for netware upgrade C : \WIndows\LSL.com and also C:\> REM BY windows 98 network - C:\WINDOWS\Net start Does that mean anything to anyone. All I can see it doing is slowing down the reboot process. JUST A BEGINNER

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... sounds like these progs are kicking when you start up your laptop via the file "autoexec.bat" right click it to option edit in the top two lines type: @ECHO OFF CLS ... were it says: C:\> REM BY windows 98 network - C:\WINDOWS\Net start ... alter by typing REM infront so: REM C:\> REM BY windows 98 network - REM C:\WINDOWS\Net start ... if you have problems you can alter back autoexec.bat is in c:\autoexec.bat info about net start: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...

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I got very disheartened after the installation. First would you please answer my question as to whether WIN (plain file) is the same as WIN.COM file? I felt like such an idiot after your comments and the new errors , that I used the recovery disk and am now back to the originaL win 98 FE. Question#! Did I do anything wrong? Question #2 Is it worth it to UPGRADE to SE if the devices I need like the 10/100 ethernet card and the printer are working properly . I have to reinstall " WORD "but that is all my wife needs to get her work done. Awaiting your reply. Thx again Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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From your provided information it would appear that you renamed the correct file (you have Explorer set to not show known file extensions but DOS showed it's name). Your info suggests that you did change the installation directory to Windows and that too is correct. Using Win98SE is better than Win98FE. Bryan

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WIN.COM is its name both in dos and windows. There's going to be at least 2 files starting with WIN--WIN.COM and WIN.INF in the windows folder so you have to check the extension. There may be others too as some software installations make a backup of the original win.ini--maybe win.bak. If everything worked OK with FE I guess you had no reason to upgrade although as Bryan mentioned, overall SE is better. There are windows 98 full version, upgrade and update disks. If you decide to go to SE again you might try using an update disk. The difference between the upgrade and update disks is the upgrade requires you have windows 3.1, 95 or 98 FE. The update disk requires you have 98 FE. It should be a simplier installation and you can usually find the disks cheaper on ebay than the full or upgrade versions.

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I thought you did very well. At least experimenting trial n error learning curves show that you had a "back-up" safety net with your "Recovery disk". Its worth doing the whole thing again just to familiarise yourself n win98 se ... lol

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To DAVEINCAPS , I guess everything did not work as well as I expected cause I got these on reboot: C:\> REM : BY Windows 98 network for netware upgrade C : \WIndows\LSL.com and also C:\> REM BY windows 98 network - C:\WINDOWS\Net start Also is the update as good as the upgrade? TO Bryco: Bravo. That has caused the confusion all along. How do I change the folders to show extensions? To Mavis I am crazy enough to try it again if I have a spare week on my hands LOL Now back to business I have installed IEv6 sp1 and get error line 163 Char 1 Error :Object doesnt support this property or method Code :O URL http://yahoo.com" My thanks to all for their time Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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Those messages are coming from autoexec.bat. You previously REM'd out those lines, meaning you disabled them. But they're still showing on the dos screen when you boot up. You might want to post back the contents of autoexec.bat. You can run SYSEDIT, open autoexec.bat and copy and paste its contents on your next post. There may be nothing there you need and if so you can run msconfig and uncheck 'process autoexec.bat file'. The update should be exactly the same as the upgrade when going from FE to SE.

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First to DAVEINCAPS, I have restored my puter back via the IBM recovery CD. Now I am back at square one as I said in Post #18 " I felt like such an idiot after your comments( Mavis's) and the new errors , that I used the recovery disk and am now back to the originaL win 98 FE. " Now my friend says he looked thru his house , and has a Microsoft original version of SE. I have not looked at it yet, but how do I find out if this is a FULL INSTALL , upgrade , update or what ?? Also is it worth reinstalling SE If I have to then reinstall : Level one 10/100 ethernet card,I.E V 6.0 Sp1 , hp printer, ccleaner, avg antivirus, all the microsoft updates, and then I still have an MSIEXEC error, and a script error that I have to clear up. Will the FE version clear this problem up ? If you think it is worth it , can I just rename WIN.com , run the setup again with the CD-ROM and change the install to WHAT from whatever will show up now. Also thanks to Bryco who mentioned that Internet Explorer may have the file extensions hidden. I changed that, and can now see the WIN.COM that was eluding me. I am not sure where it will suggest that I install the directory to now. Do I have to change that regardless of what it says ? Also in the windows folder, there are files that say WININIT.exe I recall someone mentioning change more than just the WIN.COM files . I really am learning alot , albeit I cant for the life of me think of what good it will do me LOL Thx again Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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" I wanted to update to SE was because I could not find a 10/100 ethernet card here in Greece." If you have made up your mind about reinstalling 98, I would create a 512 mb partition for some small version of linux. I think as time goes on, with some of these older machines, you really need to consider a linux dual boot setup. Im using damn small linux on verizon broadband currently, because windows Me would not recognize 3 different network cards and, Im to lazy to look for drivers. larry

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If you're unsure if the SE disk is full or upgrade, post back what is written on it. You've already run the restore disk and reverted back to FE. That should have wiped all your software anyway so if the disk is a full version you might as well format the drive and do a fresh installation. And again, that's only if you want to go to SE. If everything is working OK with FE you might as well just leave it that way. I wouldn't worry about all the MS updates. Maybe just update to IE 6 and then the latest IE security update.

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... unless that restore CD installed "all" which you referred to of course. I say do it again... 1 hr's work? ... you can always revert back (2 hr's?) ... overwriting which you tried (panic)will leave drivers intact with maybe update for LSL.com needed? p.s ... they were'nt errors just "echo's" from the Bat file

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While I am waiting for my friend to drop by with the 98 SE CD; In the event that I attempt the SE installation again : What is the answer to this question ? "Also in the windows folder, there are files that say WININIT.exe I recall someone mentioning change more than just the WIN.COM files " Do I have to rename that file also ? Also any advice on script errors for 98 FE or SE . Also any help on the MSIEXEC error that I believe stops The Lavasoft and AVAST and prolly some future programs like "WORD" from loading properly. Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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http://www.microsoft.com/resources/... http://technet2.microsoft.com/windo... ... when you're prompted as to were to install Windows type c:\windows NOT c:\windows 000 c:\windows 001 ... a clean install of Windows ME will sort out any driver problems and run fine on your laptop.

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My friend says the WIN 98 SE he has, is OEM for a DELL desktop he had. He has the COA and all. But he also tells me that it will not cure the MSIEXEC problem I have, and will only possibly help with the Script error. I believe I will lose all the IBM laptop drivers etc. if I install it? I have already installed the Level one ethernet card, AVg antivirus, IE 6, The HP printer, Ccleaner, plus all the Microsoft critical updates. All of these work just fine. Aside from the problem I had installing Avast instead of AVg , Plus Lavasoft ( I will try SPYAWARE next), unless I have a problem installing Office, I will prolly stay with 98 FE unless someone thinks there is a valid reason to do the UPGRADE given all the facts I have stated here! Thx again Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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You won't lose any drivers or software if you install in the same directory as the existing OS. The only file you need to rename is WIN.COM when upgrading using a full version CD. But, yeah, it may be best to stay with FE. MSIEXEC.EXE is part of windows installer. If you keep getting the error message try updating installer: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...

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Thx DAVEINCAPS, I will postback how it worked tomorrow I hope. Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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... try windows ME clean install (future project)

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"line 163 Char 1 Error :Object doesnt support this property or method Code :O URL http://yahoo.com" That is simply a message stating whomever wrote the page did it incorrectly and you do not need to see or analyze the poorly written page. In Internet Explorer go to Tools, Internet Options, Advanced and in the Browsing section place a tick/check next to Disable Script debugging (Internet Explorer and Other) in addition to that also remove the tick next to Display a notification about every script error. Click Ok. Bryan

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I installed the MS installer and downloaded SPY BOT search and destroy. It seemed to install OK but when I click on it, it makes a sound like it is playing the floppy and not finding anything . It just makes that grinding sound for 1-3 seconds and the program does not open. I clicked on update and got a "BAD SUMM" error message in all 4 boxes GRRR.Then the puter froze and I had to do a hard shut down . I am uninstalling it again for the 2nd time. GRR Any thoughts TIA Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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ya http://download.lavasoft.com/public...

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Mavis , That site said public access denied. I went to Lavasofts home site and downloaded 2007 edition and found out, it is not supported by anything older than Win 2000. Any other ideas. Can I find an older version of Adaware elsewhere, and would that be a good idea? Thx Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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I found a older version from file.hippo. I ran it and selected Thorough scan and got a blue screen during the scan. Could I have overtaxed or overheated the laptop? I reran it with the normal settings and it seemed OK. It is either the ADaware scan , or the addition of a wired PS2/USB Mouse that caused the Blue screen Since this puter crashed running XP with the same mouse , I am worried about leaving it connected. Could it be the cause of the Blue screen or is the antispyware scan more likely ? Thx Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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I've never had any problems with adaware or spybot. If you think it may be the mouse, well you can just remove it and see if that fixes it.

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To DAVEINCAPS, I removed the mouse and did 2 regular scans without any problems. Did you read my post #35 re Spybot? Cant for the life of me figure out what that is, that happens? Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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I haven't used spybot for a few years. I use the older version of adaware. I suspect spybot was polling the floppy drive. Had there been a disk in it you probably would have been given the option to scan it also. I'm not sure why it gave the error message.

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Hey That makes sense. It was polling the floppy! I do not know what it did after that but I have the Adaware now thx to you , so all is well for the time being LOL Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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Can anyone recommend an external mouse that will not cause a blue screen. I am not certain that was the cause , but the thinkpad is a little tough for my wife to manage with the trackpoint. Or do you guys think I should try the mouse again, and pay attention to what the Fatal error is? Do I run the risk that I will have to recover the whole OS again? I do not want to blow the whole thing up , now that it is working properly , albeit with an external mouse. Is is that the old motherboards do not have enough enough current to support the mouse , or something else. I had to unplug and replug it a few times to keep it working before the Blue screen . Does That indicate something to anyone ? Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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I haven't checked this thread in a while & cannot believe that it's still going! Why did such a simple task become such a chore? Where does your system stand now? Which OS is now installed? Did you reinstall & the device drivers & other software? run Windows Update?

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yo PETERP "a little tough for my wife to manage with the trackpoint" ... may I suggest that you pull out and convert that trackpoint so that its at least six inches long. The guy that invented that instrument of torture needs to be horse whipped and is responsible for many boss-eyed laptop geeks. "Win ME" should sort out the mouse problem

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A simple task became such a choire because a simple Person "ME" was doing it LOL. Actually it would had been a lot easier if my file folder settings had not been set to hide extensions , and I would not be confused as to WIN.COM file versus WIN (plain ) file. I am running win 98 FE. I had problems installing SE and used the recovery disk provided by IBM for their laptop, to recover the original OS. I did not have to reinstall any drivers just added drivers for a 10/100 PCMCIA ethernet card as I have stated . Also got all the MSFT updates. Any input as to whether a wired USB/ PC mouse could be the cause of a blue screen JAM ? Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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Can the trackball mouse be disabled in cmos/bios setup?

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PETERP: ... when you say "trackpoint" ... do you mean "accupoint" ?? refer: http://www.computing.net/hardware/w...

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Does this blue screen have an error message on it?

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To Mavis, Trackpoint is the name old IBM laptops use for their cursor pointing device. To Jam , Ater all the problems I had with this puter , when I saw the error message I turned puter off before any damage could be done. Isnt there a way to view the ERROR logs somewhere in WIN 98 ? If not I can reinstall the mouse and work with puter till I get an error message and then write it down. Do you think this is safe or may bring about what I mention in the next paragraph?? MY main concern was , that in my experience, error messages that are not heeded eventually create complete instability or even a crash that requires reinstalling the OS. I had this in MY Toshiba win XP from a USB to serial port adaptor that caused so many error messages that OS became unstable. Thx Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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Hi Guys, This is a little of topic but I think you guys will help anyway. I had Lotus Smart suite on my IBM and I think Adobe reader was part of it . I removed the entire Lotus Suite and want to know if there is any version of adobe reader compatible with win 98 FE. Also if there is where can I find it ? Do I have to remove any folders named Adobe that I find if I do a file search for Adobe? I hope I didnt blow it by removing Lotus and does anyone know whether Adobe reader version 2 was incorporated in it? Thx again Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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Go here: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrob...

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DAVE IN CAPS to the rescue . Thx again guys. When I went to adobe site all I found were newer non compatible versions . Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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I'm running ver 6 on 98 SE and I think it'll run OK on FE also. I know ver 5 will.

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DAVEIN CAPS I downloaded ver 5.05. I used it already to print out a rebate and it worked just fine Thx again Peter P JUST A BEGINNER

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