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.










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
    5 hours ago











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

    – Jonathan
    5 hours ago











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

    – tofro
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 hours ago











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

    – Jonathan
    5 hours ago











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

    – tofro
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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




share|improve this question








edited 5 hours ago







Jonathan













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.









asked 5 hours ago









JonathanJonathan

1264




1264




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.





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
    5 hours ago











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

    – Jonathan
    5 hours ago











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

    – tofro
    5 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
    5 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
    5 hours ago



















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

    – tofro
    5 hours ago











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

    – Jonathan
    5 hours ago











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

    – tofro
    5 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
    5 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
    5 hours ago

















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

– tofro
5 hours ago





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

– tofro
5 hours ago













It has onboard ethernet, but it is not connected.

– Jonathan
5 hours ago





It has onboard ethernet, but it is not connected.

– Jonathan
5 hours ago













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

– tofro
5 hours ago







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

– tofro
5 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
5 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
5 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
5 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
5 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.






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.





















    Your Answer








    StackExchange.ready(function() {
    var channelOptions = {
    tags: "".split(" "),
    id: "648"
    };
    initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

    StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
    // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
    if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
    StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
    createEditor();
    });
    }
    else {
    createEditor();
    }
    });

    function createEditor() {
    StackExchange.prepareEditor({
    heartbeatType: 'answer',
    autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
    convertImagesToLinks: false,
    noModals: true,
    showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
    reputationToPostImages: null,
    bindNavPrevention: true,
    postfix: "",
    imageUploader: {
    brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
    contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
    allowUrls: true
    },
    noCode: true, onDemand: true,
    discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
    ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
    });


    }
    });






    Jonathan is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










    draft saved

    draft discarded


















    StackExchange.ready(
    function () {
    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fretrocomputing.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f9603%2fwindows-98-hangs-after-entering-password-on-fresh-install%23new-answer', 'question_page');
    }
    );

    Post as a guest















    Required, but never shown

























    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

    votes








    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






        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.









        answered 4 hours ago









        JonathanJonathan

        1264




        1264




        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.





        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.






















            Jonathan is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










            draft saved

            draft discarded


















            Jonathan is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.













            Jonathan is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.












            Jonathan is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
















            Thanks for contributing an answer to Retrocomputing Stack Exchange!


            • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

            But avoid



            • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

            • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


            To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




            draft saved


            draft discarded














            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fretrocomputing.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f9603%2fwindows-98-hangs-after-entering-password-on-fresh-install%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown





















































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown

































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown







            Popular posts from this blog

            Ponta tanko

            Tantalo (mitologio)

            Erzsébet Schaár