Windows 98 hangs after entering password on fresh install












1















I am doing a fresh reinstall of Windows 98 SE on a Dell Optiplex GX1 550Mbr+. I previously had this very same version of Windows on this machine. The install works perfectly, but when I get to the login screen, I hit escape (or type in the password and press enter), and it just hangs.



I have tried:




  1. Changing hard drives

  2. Changing CD drives

  3. Changing the RAM

  4. Swapping the hard drive into another machine

  5. Removing the password


The first 3 points result in no improvement, event if I re-install from scratch.



When I swap the hard drive into another computer, I can log in just fine, so it doesn't seem to be the installation at fault.



When I remove the password (using another computer), it just hangs at the green desktop background. The mouse will move, but nothing ever loads.



CTRL + ALT + DEL will bring up the task manager, and I can restart the computer, or kill the only process (Hidserv).



Running the computer in Safe Mode works.










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New contributor




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  • Does the computer have a network card and is it connected? The next thing after login is connecting to the network.

    – tofro
    9 hours ago











  • It has onboard ethernet, but it is not connected.

    – Jonathan
    9 hours ago











  • Can you try connecting it? Or disable the NIC from safe mode?

    – tofro
    9 hours ago













  • I connected it to the offline network, to no avail. The online network does not work any better. I'm going to try disabling it from safe mode now

    – Jonathan
    8 hours ago













  • Disabling the NIC (I did it right from the BIOS) does not work either - it still hangs right after where the login screen would be (I currently have it removed).

    – Jonathan
    8 hours ago
















1















I am doing a fresh reinstall of Windows 98 SE on a Dell Optiplex GX1 550Mbr+. I previously had this very same version of Windows on this machine. The install works perfectly, but when I get to the login screen, I hit escape (or type in the password and press enter), and it just hangs.



I have tried:




  1. Changing hard drives

  2. Changing CD drives

  3. Changing the RAM

  4. Swapping the hard drive into another machine

  5. Removing the password


The first 3 points result in no improvement, event if I re-install from scratch.



When I swap the hard drive into another computer, I can log in just fine, so it doesn't seem to be the installation at fault.



When I remove the password (using another computer), it just hangs at the green desktop background. The mouse will move, but nothing ever loads.



CTRL + ALT + DEL will bring up the task manager, and I can restart the computer, or kill the only process (Hidserv).



Running the computer in Safe Mode works.










share|improve this question









New contributor




Jonathan is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





















  • Does the computer have a network card and is it connected? The next thing after login is connecting to the network.

    – tofro
    9 hours ago











  • It has onboard ethernet, but it is not connected.

    – Jonathan
    9 hours ago











  • Can you try connecting it? Or disable the NIC from safe mode?

    – tofro
    9 hours ago













  • I connected it to the offline network, to no avail. The online network does not work any better. I'm going to try disabling it from safe mode now

    – Jonathan
    8 hours ago













  • Disabling the NIC (I did it right from the BIOS) does not work either - it still hangs right after where the login screen would be (I currently have it removed).

    – Jonathan
    8 hours ago














1












1








1








I am doing a fresh reinstall of Windows 98 SE on a Dell Optiplex GX1 550Mbr+. I previously had this very same version of Windows on this machine. The install works perfectly, but when I get to the login screen, I hit escape (or type in the password and press enter), and it just hangs.



I have tried:




  1. Changing hard drives

  2. Changing CD drives

  3. Changing the RAM

  4. Swapping the hard drive into another machine

  5. Removing the password


The first 3 points result in no improvement, event if I re-install from scratch.



When I swap the hard drive into another computer, I can log in just fine, so it doesn't seem to be the installation at fault.



When I remove the password (using another computer), it just hangs at the green desktop background. The mouse will move, but nothing ever loads.



CTRL + ALT + DEL will bring up the task manager, and I can restart the computer, or kill the only process (Hidserv).



Running the computer in Safe Mode works.










share|improve this question









New contributor




Jonathan is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












I am doing a fresh reinstall of Windows 98 SE on a Dell Optiplex GX1 550Mbr+. I previously had this very same version of Windows on this machine. The install works perfectly, but when I get to the login screen, I hit escape (or type in the password and press enter), and it just hangs.



I have tried:




  1. Changing hard drives

  2. Changing CD drives

  3. Changing the RAM

  4. Swapping the hard drive into another machine

  5. Removing the password


The first 3 points result in no improvement, event if I re-install from scratch.



When I swap the hard drive into another computer, I can log in just fine, so it doesn't seem to be the installation at fault.



When I remove the password (using another computer), it just hangs at the green desktop background. The mouse will move, but nothing ever loads.



CTRL + ALT + DEL will bring up the task manager, and I can restart the computer, or kill the only process (Hidserv).



Running the computer in Safe Mode works.







windows-98






share|improve this question









New contributor




Jonathan is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











share|improve this question









New contributor




Jonathan is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









share|improve this question




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edited 8 hours ago







Jonathan













New contributor




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asked 9 hours ago









JonathanJonathan

1264




1264




New contributor




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Check out our Code of Conduct.





New contributor





Jonathan is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






Jonathan is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.













  • Does the computer have a network card and is it connected? The next thing after login is connecting to the network.

    – tofro
    9 hours ago











  • It has onboard ethernet, but it is not connected.

    – Jonathan
    9 hours ago











  • Can you try connecting it? Or disable the NIC from safe mode?

    – tofro
    9 hours ago













  • I connected it to the offline network, to no avail. The online network does not work any better. I'm going to try disabling it from safe mode now

    – Jonathan
    8 hours ago













  • Disabling the NIC (I did it right from the BIOS) does not work either - it still hangs right after where the login screen would be (I currently have it removed).

    – Jonathan
    8 hours ago



















  • Does the computer have a network card and is it connected? The next thing after login is connecting to the network.

    – tofro
    9 hours ago











  • It has onboard ethernet, but it is not connected.

    – Jonathan
    9 hours ago











  • Can you try connecting it? Or disable the NIC from safe mode?

    – tofro
    9 hours ago













  • I connected it to the offline network, to no avail. The online network does not work any better. I'm going to try disabling it from safe mode now

    – Jonathan
    8 hours ago













  • Disabling the NIC (I did it right from the BIOS) does not work either - it still hangs right after where the login screen would be (I currently have it removed).

    – Jonathan
    8 hours ago

















Does the computer have a network card and is it connected? The next thing after login is connecting to the network.

– tofro
9 hours ago





Does the computer have a network card and is it connected? The next thing after login is connecting to the network.

– tofro
9 hours ago













It has onboard ethernet, but it is not connected.

– Jonathan
9 hours ago





It has onboard ethernet, but it is not connected.

– Jonathan
9 hours ago













Can you try connecting it? Or disable the NIC from safe mode?

– tofro
9 hours ago







Can you try connecting it? Or disable the NIC from safe mode?

– tofro
9 hours ago















I connected it to the offline network, to no avail. The online network does not work any better. I'm going to try disabling it from safe mode now

– Jonathan
8 hours ago







I connected it to the offline network, to no avail. The online network does not work any better. I'm going to try disabling it from safe mode now

– Jonathan
8 hours ago















Disabling the NIC (I did it right from the BIOS) does not work either - it still hangs right after where the login screen would be (I currently have it removed).

– Jonathan
8 hours ago





Disabling the NIC (I did it right from the BIOS) does not work either - it still hangs right after where the login screen would be (I currently have it removed).

– Jonathan
8 hours ago










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















2














I found the answer! Using Safe Mode, in msconf, I disabled all the options in the startup tab except:




  • Scan registry

  • Task Monitor

  • System Tray


That worked, so then I re-enabled the following:




  • Load power profile

  • Load Power Profile

  • Scheduling Agent C:WINDOWSSYSTEMmstask.exe


That was still working, so I restarted again after enabling




  • Welcome

  • Hidserv


Since that did work, I finally enabled the last option in msconfig:




  • Scheduling agent mstinit.exe /firstlogon


And it worked!



I tried again on another fresh install on the same computer. This time, I only disabled hidserv, and I got the same success (Windows started normally, and I was able to re-enable hidserv in msconfig). So the problem was hidserv.






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    1 Answer
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    active

    oldest

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    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    2














    I found the answer! Using Safe Mode, in msconf, I disabled all the options in the startup tab except:




    • Scan registry

    • Task Monitor

    • System Tray


    That worked, so then I re-enabled the following:




    • Load power profile

    • Load Power Profile

    • Scheduling Agent C:WINDOWSSYSTEMmstask.exe


    That was still working, so I restarted again after enabling




    • Welcome

    • Hidserv


    Since that did work, I finally enabled the last option in msconfig:




    • Scheduling agent mstinit.exe /firstlogon


    And it worked!



    I tried again on another fresh install on the same computer. This time, I only disabled hidserv, and I got the same success (Windows started normally, and I was able to re-enable hidserv in msconfig). So the problem was hidserv.






    share|improve this answer








    New contributor




    Jonathan is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.

























      2














      I found the answer! Using Safe Mode, in msconf, I disabled all the options in the startup tab except:




      • Scan registry

      • Task Monitor

      • System Tray


      That worked, so then I re-enabled the following:




      • Load power profile

      • Load Power Profile

      • Scheduling Agent C:WINDOWSSYSTEMmstask.exe


      That was still working, so I restarted again after enabling




      • Welcome

      • Hidserv


      Since that did work, I finally enabled the last option in msconfig:




      • Scheduling agent mstinit.exe /firstlogon


      And it worked!



      I tried again on another fresh install on the same computer. This time, I only disabled hidserv, and I got the same success (Windows started normally, and I was able to re-enable hidserv in msconfig). So the problem was hidserv.






      share|improve this answer








      New contributor




      Jonathan is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.























        2












        2








        2







        I found the answer! Using Safe Mode, in msconf, I disabled all the options in the startup tab except:




        • Scan registry

        • Task Monitor

        • System Tray


        That worked, so then I re-enabled the following:




        • Load power profile

        • Load Power Profile

        • Scheduling Agent C:WINDOWSSYSTEMmstask.exe


        That was still working, so I restarted again after enabling




        • Welcome

        • Hidserv


        Since that did work, I finally enabled the last option in msconfig:




        • Scheduling agent mstinit.exe /firstlogon


        And it worked!



        I tried again on another fresh install on the same computer. This time, I only disabled hidserv, and I got the same success (Windows started normally, and I was able to re-enable hidserv in msconfig). So the problem was hidserv.






        share|improve this answer








        New contributor




        Jonathan is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
        Check out our Code of Conduct.










        I found the answer! Using Safe Mode, in msconf, I disabled all the options in the startup tab except:




        • Scan registry

        • Task Monitor

        • System Tray


        That worked, so then I re-enabled the following:




        • Load power profile

        • Load Power Profile

        • Scheduling Agent C:WINDOWSSYSTEMmstask.exe


        That was still working, so I restarted again after enabling




        • Welcome

        • Hidserv


        Since that did work, I finally enabled the last option in msconfig:




        • Scheduling agent mstinit.exe /firstlogon


        And it worked!



        I tried again on another fresh install on the same computer. This time, I only disabled hidserv, and I got the same success (Windows started normally, and I was able to re-enable hidserv in msconfig). So the problem was hidserv.







        share|improve this answer








        New contributor




        Jonathan is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
        Check out our Code of Conduct.









        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer






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        answered 7 hours ago









        JonathanJonathan

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