Windows 9x Recovery

Introduction to recovery

• There are times that an operating system  may need to bee monitored for problems in its functionality due to slow response or an unexpected response resulting from an identifiable and resolvable hardware or software  floor.

• Windows 95/98  have built in monitoring tools that empower the user in monitoring their system.

• There are a number of alternatives available to troubleshoot your system and eventually recover  your system if it is knocked out by hardware or software  changes.

• The troubleshooter has to be aware of all these options and to decide on the best alternative depending on the circumstances.

Key Topics

Introduction to Windows9x Monitoring and Prevention tools Dr Watson Resource Meter System Information

System Startup Disk Windows Safe Mode Windows Help Registry Checker Registry Problems Log files .

 

Introduction to Windows 9x

• There is a number of prevention, monitoring, troubleshooting  and fixing tools that windows provides which can be used to probe your windows environment and fix it.

• These tools include control panel safe mode , startup  disk, registry  checker, and system monitor.

Prevention Tools of Windows 9x

• Windows 9x has a number of preventatives and monitoring tools built in your system.

• These tools include the resource meter, Dr Watson , System Information , System Monitor .

• If these tools are used effectively, Windows 9x should not run in to serious problems.

Dr Watson

• Dr Watson  is a utility provided by windows to monitor and record system and program errors .

• Dr Watson  has an advanced option that allows the user to monitor and view all running 16 bit  and 32 bit software .

• Dr Watson  records all its information -coded information that can be checked with WWW.Support.Microsoft.Com in different files  located in \WINDOWS\DRWATSON\ folder on your hard drive .

• The File names are generated automatically using the following format  WatsonXX.WLG where XX is an incrementing number.

Exercise (DrWatson)

Click on startàand run Type the word DRWATSON and press OK Double click on the DRWATSON icon which just appeared next to the time on the taskbar DRWATSON should report that it found nothing obviously wrong with the system Click on view and then choose the advanced view You should now be able to view detailed information  about the system by clicking on the different tabs. This sort of detailed information can also be found in system information.

Resource Meter

• Used in windows 9x  to monitor and inform you of the percentage of the system resources  currently being utilized by the software  running.

 Exercise (Resource Meter )

Click on startàProgramsàAccessories àSystem toolsàResource Meter You should see its icon appear next to the clock on the status bar Double click on it and its window should appear on the screen

 

System Information

• System information  is a windows 98 utility providing you with detailed information about your system resource usage including CPU , RAM  and hard drive  resource usage.

• System information  also has built-in tools including:

• Automatic Skip Driver

• Skips some drivers , prevent windows from loading selected drivers and logs them in the ASD.LOG.

• Registry Checker

• Backup  and recovers the registry

• System Configuration

• Modify configuration temporarily during troubleshooting .

• System File Checker

• Scans for corrupted or lost system files  and recovers them from the windows CD .

System Information

 

1.      Click on Start àProgramsàAccessories  and then Choose System Information .

2.      As you can see, there are 3 main topics:

a.      Hardware  resources

b.     Components

c.      Software environment

3.      Under the hardware resources  tab, you can view resources such as IRQ , IO address , DMA  address and memory .

4.      Under components, you can check the different hardware components installed on the system,

5.       Under software  environment.  You can check all system drivers  installed, check on 16/32 modules installed, check running tasks.  All running and startup  program and software.

6.      You also have a tools menu with system information  allowing you to run.  System tools like Direct X Diagnostic tool.  Window Repeat wizard, Update Wizard uninstall, System File Check Signature Verification Tool, Registry Dates, Automatic Skip Drive Agent, Dr. Watson System Configuration Utility, Scan Disk, and Version Conflict Manager.

   

System Monitor

• System monitor is a windows utility that can be installed to monitor different device activity.

• If it is used correctly it can identify performance  bottlenecks within our system.

• The information  produced by the system monitor can be of great value to the system administrator  striving to have the system working optimally.

 

Exercise (System Monitor )

1.      Start  àProgramàAccessories à System àSystem Monitor . 2.      Click on Edit on the Menu and select Add Item from the drop down menu. 3.      From the category list , choose Kernel  and the Item list choose virtual machine, then click OK. 4.      While the system monitor is on the screen, click on Start àProgramsàMS DOS  Prompt. 5.      You should notice that the value for the virtual machines  chart increases 6.      As you add more MS DOS  prompts on the screen. You will notice this value increases.

 

Troubleshooting and Fixing your Windows 9X

• If your Windows 9x runs into serious problems resulting in the system not starting or registry  problem, you may consider using some of the troubleshooting  tools provided by Windows 9x.

• The troubleshooting  and fixing tools of windows 9x  include Windows Safe Mode, Windows Help , Emergency Boot Disk, log files , Windows Registry Checker , and the backup of the registry  files..

Making Windows Startup Disk

• It is sometimes referred to as the Emergency Boot Disk (EBD ).If your system does not boot from the C drive , you may want to use this disk to boot fix your system.

• It contains all important files  for booting in real mode , accessing your CD -ROM  drive, partitioning and fixing problems with your hard drive , accessing the registry  and fixing problems with the registry and having access to all internal and some external commands for troubleshooting  purposes.

Windows Safe Mode

• Sometimes due to the changes made in the system hardware your system cannot start normally. By using safe mode , which enables you to resolve configuration problems we may start the system and resolve any problems that exist inside windows.

• Within Safe Mode your system will function at limited capacity, which means that only the drivers , which are compulsory for the system to work in its GUI mode , are loaded and all other drivers are ignored.

• There also exists a Safe Mode with networking option that loads Safe mode including all networking features to allow our system to download important files  if required through the network .

Windows Help

• Windows help is a database of all information  related to windows clearly explained.

• Windows 98 also has troubleshooting  information  that guides you step by step to diagnosing your most common hardware problem and also eliminating the problem.

• This comprehensive help will ask you questions and diagnoses you problem from your responses, and also links you to the place where changes need to be made in the system.

Registry Checker

• The registry  checker is a tool provided by Windows 98 to make repeated daily backups of the registry in the WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP folder, and to repair a corrupted registry files .

• To access these backup files  you must use the startup  disk to boot and be in real mode , then you can try the following options of SCANREG;

• SCANREG/RESTORE Restores registry  from backup

• SCANREG/FIX Repairs a corrupted registry

• SCANREG/BACKUP makes new registry  backup, only use when the registry has no problems.

• SCANREG/OPT optimizes the registry  making its file size smaller

Recovery of Registry files  

• The Registry is stored in two separate files  (SYSTEM.DAT  and USER.DAT ) in the c:\Windows folder.

• Every time your system load Windows 95 to obtain the GUI environment , the current SYSTEM.DAT  and USER.DAT  are updated, and the previous SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT is backup as SYSTEM.DA0  and USER.DA0  inside the windows directory . If the registry  files  become corrupted you may be able to use the backup registry files to recover  you working registry.

• The registry  editor REGEDIT .EXE can be used to make direct changes to the registry, backup the registry and restore from previous backups.

Windows 98 Log files

• Log files  are a useful avenue that windows provides for you in its troubleshooting . There are specialized books on windows that will provide you with details on all these log files. 

• SETUPLOG.TXT

• Records all that occurs during the installation

• DETLOG.TXT

• Records all hardware detection  information  during installation .

• DETCRASH.LOG

• Is a binary  file used by the installation  program to store halted installation problems, and to bypass the problematic stage on the next part of the installation if the user opts to continue with the installation.

• BOOTLOG.TXT

• Record all device drivers  the system attempted to load and whether the load attempt was successful or not.

• NETLOG.TXT

• Keeps a log of all network  related components loaded and if they ware successfully achieved.

Questions

1. What is the function of the Dr Watson  utility in Windows 98? (Choose all that apply)

1. Monitors  and record program errors

2. Provide information  on the system hardware

3. Provide information  on the operating system

4. Provides option of running other applications

5. Fix software  problems

2. What is the function of the System Information  utility in Windows 98? (Choose all that apply)

1. Monitors  and record program errors

2. Provide information  on the system hardware

3. Provide information  on the operating system

4. Provides option of running other applications

5. Fix software  problems

3. What is the function of the System monitor utility in Windows 98? (Choose all that apply)

1. Monitors  and record program errors

2. Provide information  on the system hardware

3. Provide information  on the system bottle necks

4. Provides option of running other applications

5. Fix software  problems

4. What are the features of the startup  disk? (Choose all that apply)

1. Used to recover  the failed operating system

2. It can be created by using the Add/remove programs  icon

3. It can be created by using the Add new hardware icon

4. It  can be used to fix hardware problems

5. It is a bootable disk

5. What are the different ways of attempting to recover  your system in Windows 95? (Choose all that apply)

1. Registry checker

2. Windows safe mode

3. Windows log files

4. Using a startup  disk

5. DrWatson

6.  What are the different ways of attempting to recover  your system in windows 98? (Choose all that apply)

1. Registry checker

2. Windows safe mode

3. Windows log files

4. Using a startup  disk

5. Drwatson

7. What are the different ways of attempting to resolve your system problems in windows 95? (Choose all that apply)

1. Registry checker

2. Windows safe mode

3. Windows log files

4. Using windows help

5. Drwatson

6. System Information

8. What are the different ways of attempting to resolve your system problems in windows 98? (Choose all that apply)

1. Registry checker

2. Windows safe mode

3. Windows log files

4. Using windows help

5. Drwatson

6. System Information

Answers

1.      A,C

2.      B,C,D

3.      A,C

4.      A,B,E

5.      B,C,D

6.      A,B,C,D,E

7.      B,C

8.      A,B,C,D,E,F