Odd boot problem on Win95B machine

[joea64]

I've just run into a strange Windows boot problem on my Windows 95 OSR2 machine (I'm typing this message from my Win98 SE machine).

As comprehensively as I can describe it, the problem started after I put in a CD-RW that I had just created using a Memorex CRW-1622 on the Win98 machine - that is, I put in the newly created CD-RW on the Win95 machine to test how well that system could access it.

Although the Win95 machine has a modern 50x CD-ROM drive, Windows 95 couldn't read the CD-RW properly and Explorer hung up on reading the disk's directory. I hit ctrl-alt-del to close Windows Explorer, then installed a different CD-ROM, and the system spontaneously rebooted and ran Norton Disk Doctor. No problems were found, but when the system booted to Win95, I got a strange dialog box asking me if I wanted to disable file and print sharing on my TCP/IP connection (I have DCC enabled on both machines, and had just been using DCC to move files from the Win95 box to the Win98 box before I tested the CD-RW disc).

I agreed to disable file/print sharing, and then the system brought up the Dial-Up Connection dialer dialog box. I clicked "cancel", but the dialer came up over and over again. As I couldn't get the desktop (Explorer) to respond, I hit ctrl-alt-del to reboot. The system rebooted normally, but this time when it got to the Windows desktop, the drivers that usually load into the system tray (video, sound, Norton CrashGuard, Norton SpeedStart, etc.) didn't load; instead, the Dial-Up Connection dialer popped up again and kept popping up every time I tried to close the box by clicking "cancel".

I rebooted to Safe Mode, then found my Norton SystemWorks 2001 CD and popped it into the CD-ROM drive (which is a bootable drive) and right now I'm running Norton Antivirus to see if there's a virus or worm in the system.

Again, here's the sequence of events:

1) DCC was running, files were transferred from Win95 box (host) to Win98 box (guest). When file transfer was finished, DCC was closed from host side without any problems occurring.

2) CD-RW was burned on Win98 box, tested successfully on Win98 box (works fine in the DVD drive I use as the primary CD), and then tested unsuccessfully on Win95 box, causing Windows Explorer to hang. CD-RW was removed and replaced with another CD-ROM, causing Win95 box to spontaneously reboot.

3) Win95 rebooted after run of NDD, then security message about file/print sharing came up, then DUN dialer came up and would not shut down no matter what I did. Had to C/A/D again. On second boot, drivers wouldn't load into Taskbar and DUN dialer kept popping up again.

4) Rebooted to Safe Mode, then put in Norton Systemworks CD, rebooted and am now running Norton Antivirus.

Questions:

a) Has anyone ever run into a similar problem?
b) What might cause it?
c) What might I be able to do to fix it?

-Joe-

[Whyzman]

Joe,

Not familiar with what the NDD does, so I'm not sure if it handles what I am going to suggest.

With the different things you have tried it could be possible that you now have some "ghost drivers" hanging around, scary thought around Halloween! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

You might try SAFE MODE,right click MY COMPUTER> slidedown to PROPERTIES>DEVICE MANAGER and have a look-see at the CD-ROMs. You might want to just REMOVE all of them. REBOOT and let Windows find the drive and reinstall.

------------------
May all your dealings in life be win/win!

Whyzman

[iisbob]

Reading CDRW disks is not a physical drive action, it's a software need-goto Adaptec'ssite and download a file called " udf reader it's for systems that don't have CD mastering software installed since a CDRW is burned in a packet process. It's not closed out like a normal CDR, so there is no standard " file " system for windows to access to "see " what's on the CDRW.

That's why Windows hung up trying to access it, to it the CDRW was a formless void. Install the UDF software and then you'll be able to access files off fo a CDRW on a machine without cd burning software.

As for the DCC problems, go into your connection and reset it, W95 is trying to re-establish a connection again using the DUN. You'll have to go into your Network properties and restart your DDC connection all over again from scratch-just like you set it up the first time.

------------------
iisbob
"Ward, come upstairs and talk to The Beaver."
-- June (Mrs. Frisky) Cleaver

[joea64]

I _was_ wondering if maybe I should have used CD-R's instead. Even the much faster Win98 machine requires a few seconds to load the CD-RW so that it can see the files on the disk. Oh well, next time I go to the store I'll pick up some CD-R's and then go back and redo the disks. No real harm done since the CD-RW's read fine on the Win98 machine and I'm using the CD-RW drive more for backup than anything else.

As for the boot problem I was originally discussing, I found out why it was happening; I got hit by a worm, specifically the w32.hll.bymer worm. I don't know for sure how it originally got onto the Win95 box, but when I rebooted to Safe Mode again, I first ran a check for the SirCam worm just to make sure (my system was clean of _that_ nasty bug), then, because I had already had a previous problem with the Bymer worm, I checked the \windows\system directory and found a fake wininit.exe file (the real wininit.exe is located in the main \windows directory and is about 40 KB; the infected file was 220 KB). Obviously I hadn't cleaned it out properly last time, so I went to Symantec's site, found the appropriate knowledge base entry, and cleaned the system step-by-step properly. The Win95 box has worked properly since then, and the DUN dialer no longer pops up; plainly that's one of the main effects of the worm, which seems to be intended mainly as a backdoor attempt.

-Joe-



Originally posted by iisbob:
Reading CDRW disks is not a physical drive action, it's a software need-goto Adaptec'ssite and download a file called " udf reader it's for systems that don't have CD mastering software installed since a CDRW is burned in a packet process. It's not closed out like a normal CDR, so there is no standard " file " system for windows to access to "see " what's on the CDRW.

That's why Windows hung up trying to access it, to it the CDRW was a formless void. Install the UDF software and then you'll be able to access files off fo a CDRW on a machine without cd burning software.

As for the DCC problems, go into your connection and reset it, W95 is trying to re-establish a connection again using the DUN. You'll have to go into your Network properties and restart your DDC connection all over again from scratch-just like you set it up the first time.