Missing .dll and others on Compaq Armada 1700 Laptop

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donnap1957

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Problems and No OS discs.
I am trying to figure out why my brother's Compaq - Armada 1700 Laptop won't connect to the internet. The OS is Windows 98, Second Edition 4.10.2222 A - Pentium II with 96.0MB Ram. It has a Compaq 56VL Global Internal Modem. The problems started when he would try to establish internet connection and the sound the dialer was that of a rotary dial instead of touch tone. My brother is on the road 11 mos out of the year, so he shipped the laptop to me.

I first tried to connect and got the same thing, rotary dial and obiously no connection. I checked the settings and all are touch tone. I tried at least 4 times and got the same results.
There was alot of garbage in the start-up. I ran msconfig and deselected programs such as Kaaza. I checked each tab in the configuaration utility and found under:
1. General tab- Normal startup
2. Config.sys tab - Empty (No drivers and no 386enh)
3. Autoexec.bat tab - (2 items) Windows\net start
and
Progra~1\ grisoft\avg/fre~1\bootup.exe
4. System.ini tab - Looks pretty normal with 16 items until I
looked inside each folder.
a. The "Boot folder - I'm not sure. There are 16 checked items
b. Keyboard folder - Probably okay
c. Boot Description folder - has the system.drv, keyboard.typ,
mouse.drv, aspect, and display.drv in it.
d. 386Enh folder - Probably okay
e. Drivers32 folder - has 20 checked items all which are vidc
and msacm things in it
f. NonWindows App folder - has Fonts in it
g. Power.drv folder is empty
h. Drivers folder - has wavemapper, msacm, wave, and midi
stuff
i. iccvid.drv folder - is empty
j. mciseq folder - is empty
k. mci folder - has audio things in it
l. vcache foler - is empty
m. Password Lists
n. MSNP32 folder - is empty
o. TTFont DimenCache - Probably okay
p. Display folder - Probably okay
5. Win.ini tab - It's full of all kinds of goodies
6. Start-up tab - I guess it is okay

I looked at the System Properties, and under Network adapters, it has the yellow exclamation symbal on Existing Ndis2 Driver, and the other driver is Infrared PnP Serial Port. There is a PCMCIA socket with TX instruments PCI-1220 CardBus. The Modem shows LTMODEM.VXD. I don't know if all that was helpful or not.

When I try to update the drivers, I get the an error saying the best one is ready installed. When I click next, I get the error "Insert the disk labeled Windows 98", and then at least 50 more boxes giving me anouther .dll or .386, or.exe, or, .cnt, or .vxd not found.

Am I out of luck without the OS or what? "IF" I can find my Windows XP Professional Version 2002, Service Pack 2 that I loaded on my home PC, can it be loaded onto the laptop? I can't go out a purchase another OS. So I am looking for a reliable fix.

Thank you
 
To update the files you need, search for the following file in your windows\system folder: star.cab This is the base cab file for win98se, it will contain the system data that windows is looking for.
If that one doesn't help, when you search try the following paths from the hardware wizard when prompted:
c:\windows
c:\windows\cabs
c:\windows\system
 
Still can't locate them. Well, I can find cabs however, they start with the l's, i.e., lxbzdrv.dn_ (cn_ file) and continues with a list consisting of (3) cn's. Then there is a list of .dll's, again starting with "l" and ending with "l". Then there is msvcrt.dll, and a ptzipw32.dll, and usbmon.dll. The next is a dr_file, (10) ex_file, (2) hl_file, (4) ht_file, (2) in_file, (4) ou_file, (1) registration entry, (5) Security Catalog, (1) Setup Infomration (1) sy_, (1) TX_file, (3) Virtual device driver, (1) WE_File, (1) WEB file, and the last is ZI_File.

This is looking awful dim. I did find my XP OS disc. Do you know if I can install this on the laptop?
 
Those .dll files should be in star.cab, it's where they reside. If you can find star.cab, point the hardware wizard to that file, it should find what it needs there.

It sounds though that your OS is in a pretty bad state. With your xp disk you do have a few options.

You could wipe the drive and go for a clean install of XP (recomended) or an update to win 98se, which may not totally clear up the issue. Sometimes on updating an OS, if there is corruption/damage to the previous OS files, the update may encounter problems along the way.

If you are going to install XP, make sure you have the current drivers you need for that OS, specifically the dialup adapter.
Best thing to do in that regard, is wander over to the manufacturers site and grab the latest for XP.

Double check other drivers as well, audio, video, etc .. as the drivers you have for 98 will not be compatible with XP. keep in mind your system specs will not provide you the best running system, as your memory onboard is a little low (96mb)

Check out system requirements for XP here :
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/evaluation/sysreqs.mspx
 
If you have or can get a 98 disk, this will be a lot easier for you to reinstall. You have a corrupt system it seems to me.
 
I am making progress I think. I did find some of the files in windows\system.

I can now get the correct dial tone instead of a rotary tone. Juno is my ISP. It dials, it verifies id & password and it indicates logged on. It immediately drops and begins redialing. I am so frustrated because now it seams so simple....and I can't figure it out
 
Do you get an error code when the dialup drops out? If so, post it here so we can narrow down the issue and find you a solution.
If there is no error code, you may want to double check the dialer settings for accuracy, and also double check the phone number you connect to as well.
 
Dropped Connection

No error when connection is dropped. It just dials up again, connects, verifies user info, displays "You are logged on", then drops connection again.
 
[COLOR=red]Y'ALL are WUNDERFUL - THANK ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR HELP[/COLOR]

PERSISTENCE IS A VIRTUE. The Compaq Armada 1700 is up and running, AND connected to the internet. After 3 days of research, and bugging all of y'all, I finally did it!! (We finally did it) Couldn't have done it without y'all.

Thank you all so very much for your input and tips, and suggestion.

I was searching for the system restore, which by the way I still have not found on Windows98, but did find the Registry Checker and System File Checker. That fixed a couple of the .dll problems but still could not keep the connection to my ISP.

I decided to use the Connection Wizard provided by my ISP, and found the problem. The problem was Verturi, a communication software from Verizon wireless. I removed that and Whalla, connection made.

Lesson learned.

Thank you again.;)
 
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