God help me, 'cause I don't seem to be doing real well on my own. I have
managed to take a problem with being unable to surf the web on AOL (and, as
it turns out, on bluelight.com), and have ended up with a nonfunctioning
computer. Ikes! To top it off, the problem may not have been with AOL or
I.E., but compatibility problems with McAfee VirusScan 6.0, which I recently
installed.
I am resigned to the likelihood that I will have to take my computer in for
service to get it up and running, but would like some input on what I should
be looking for, because I do not want to have to reinstall the operating
system and lose all my files. Being in west suburban Chicago, there are
plenty of options, I am sure, but need some guidance on what I should be
looking for, and where. With sincere apologies for the length, I submit my
woes for your perusal.
In a nutshell, here's the problem. When I turn on my HP Pavilion 8380, which
pretty much has original configuration, running Windows 98, the following
happens:
-keyboard lights flash on and off
-HP screen
-single beep
-blank screen, except cursor at top left of screen, with numlock light on.
Alt-cont-del recycles through the same sequence
*****2/28/01/BOOTABLE DISK-POST BIOS DOWNLOAD*****
At least trying to do things right, I created a bootable disk pre- and
post-BIOS download back in February. If I turn computer on with the POST
download disk, the following happens:
-keyboard lights flash on and off
-HP screen
-single beep
-"Starting Windows 98"
-numlock light goes on
-"This disk flashes BIOS on the following Pavilion Models: (followed by list,
including 8380) Ready to flash BIOS for one of the models listed above?
If I reply "NO", I get (A:)
If I reply "YES", I get:
-"Updating BIOS. PC will restart when programming done
-long beep
-HP screen (numlock light off)
-2 beeps
-numlock light on
-Various things passed, shadowed
-"Mouse initialized"
-"Fixed disk 0: WDC AC384006
-"ATAPI CD-ROM: Hitachi DVD-ROM GD-2500"
-"System Configuration ?data? updated
-Error 0251: System CMOS checksum bad-default configuration used.
-Press <F1> to setup, <F2> to resume
Pressing F2
Gets a beep, nothing performed and an A prompt
Pressing F1 took me into Phoenix BIOS setup utility, and exiting setup takes
me back to the same place as when I turned on machine.
That's what happens when I use POST-BIOS update bootable disk. If I start
computer using
*****2/28/01/BOOTABLE DISK-PRE BIOS DOWNLOAD*****
-keyboard lights flash
-HP screen (keyboard lights flash)
-beep
-"Starting Windows 98"
-Microsoft Windows 87 (with copyright information)
-I get an A prompt
As briefly as I can, here's the history:
A couple weeks ago I had my computer scanned online for viruses, and one
showed up. Subsequently, installed McAfee VirusScan 6.0, which located and
deleted JS/Seeker.gen virus.
I am not sure the exact sequence, but in the same time frame, I was
experiencing functionality problems with AOL, including disconnects, both
random and when I tried to change screen names. Most recently, could not get
on the web, either from AOL screen or from I.E..
After installing VirusScan, when turning computer on, I got:
-"McAfee Boot Scan"
-"Scanning for virus, et. al. . . . OK"
-got message that there was insufficient memory
-after skipping that message, got it again, and then computer appeared to
load normally
Ran SFC, and found 2 bad files, which I unzipped and successfully replaced.
Ran I.E. 5setup.exe, and apparently ended up with older version of I.E., as I
have done updates along the way. (I'm fairly certain this is where things
got REALLY wacked.)
Had a brainstorm and realized I should probably uninstall VirusScan (a hunch
confirmed by someone who advised offlist that AOL and McAfee do not get
along) only to NOT have it show up as an option on uninstall. I thought I
would see what would happen if I started VirusScan install, only to have it
tell me that it could not install without a specific servicepak (which I did
not record at the time.)
Please copy replies directly to me. I'm on digest, so it takes a day for me
to see any response, and I am already suffering from withdrawal, since my
home computer is down. If you've gotten this far, I offer my grateful
appreciation.
William Closure
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