DirectX9.0c update hosed win98SE install - Please Help!

I made a stupid mistake today on my old Win98 SE PC. I allowed
Windows Update to upgrade DirectX to version 9.0c, and I did not do a
backup first.

Now when the computer starts up, everything looks fine, I log in with
my user name and password, the start bar on the bottom of the screen
displays then disappears. I cannot run anything because there is no
way to start it. No menu, No shell, No Icons, No Taskbar - just a
blank blue screen. The same thing occurs when booting in Safe Mode.

I can see the 98 PC from my XP PC, and can access the drives, so
everything appears to be working except the main shell "explorer?".

Anyone have any suggestions how I can solve this problem?

For example:
1. Any way to somehow stuff the DirectX 9.0c uninstall into the start?
2. Any way to replace the shell with something else?

Should I just reinstall Windows 98SE? (will this even help?)

Are there command line options to perform an inplace repair of 98SE
(which was an upgrade to 98)?
Thanks in advance for your support.

Cyberdude

"Cyberdude" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
>I made a stupid mistake today on my old Win98 SE PC. I allowed
> Windows Update to upgrade DirectX to version 9.0c, and I did not
> do a
> backup first.
>
> Now when the computer starts up, everything looks fine, I log in
> with
> my user name and password, the start bar on the bottom of the
> screen
> displays then disappears. I cannot run anything because there is
> no
> way to start it. No menu, No shell, No Icons, No Taskbar - just a
> blank blue screen. The same thing occurs when booting in Safe
> Mode.
>
> I can see the 98 PC from my XP PC, and can access the drives, so
> everything appears to be working except the main shell
> "explorer?".
>
> Anyone have any suggestions how I can solve this problem?
>
> For example:
> 1. Any way to somehow stuff the DirectX 9.0c uninstall into the
> start?
> 2. Any way to replace the shell with something else?
>
> Should I just reinstall Windows 98SE? (will this even help?)
>
> Are there command line options to perform an inplace repair of
> 98SE
> (which was an upgrade to 98)?
> Thanks in advance for your support.
>
> Cyberdude
>

Do you have Active Desktop enabled? Right-click anywhere on the
Desktop and uncheck "View Active Desktop as Webpage." One of the
options was to hide icons when using Active Desktop. My Active
Desktop always gave a white screen, so I disabled it when I was
using Windows 98 SE.

--
Earl F. Parrish

> 2. Any way to replace the shell with something else?

Yes. ProgMan is often used instead. See for example:

<title>KB293174 - Error Message: Explorer Caused an Invalid Page Fault in Module Browseui.dll</title>


BTW such troubleshooting would probably be better handled
in a newsgroup which specializes in that OS.


Good luck

Robert Aldwinckle
---


"Cyberdude" <> wrote in message news: oups.com...
>I made a stupid mistake today on my old Win98 SE PC. I allowed
> Windows Update to upgrade DirectX to version 9.0c, and I did not do a
> backup first.
>
> Now when the computer starts up, everything looks fine, I log in with
> my user name and password, the start bar on the bottom of the screen
> displays then disappears. I cannot run anything because there is no
> way to start it. No menu, No shell, No Icons, No Taskbar - just a
> blank blue screen. The same thing occurs when booting in Safe Mode.
>
> I can see the 98 PC from my XP PC, and can access the drives, so
> everything appears to be working except the main shell "explorer?".
>
> Anyone have any suggestions how I can solve this problem?
>
> For example:
> 1. Any way to somehow stuff the DirectX 9.0c uninstall into the start?
> 2. Any way to replace the shell with something else?
>
> Should I just reinstall Windows 98SE? (will this even help?)
>
> Are there command line options to perform an inplace repair of 98SE
> (which was an upgrade to 98)?
> Thanks in advance for your support.
>
> Cyberdude
>