Office XP stops during setup on a computer that is running Windows 98

This article describes how to troubleshoot when you are installing Microsoft Office programs on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows 98, and Setup appears to stop responding (hang) without apparent errors.

Make Sure That Setup Has Actually Stopped Responding

Setup may appear to stop, but in fact it is continuing slowly. Wait longer (about 20 minutes) before you end Setup. Before you conclude that Setup is stopped, examine the CD-ROM drive light and hard disk light for activity. Also, press CTRL+ALT+DELETE, and verify whether the Office Setup task appears as "Not Responding" in the Close Programs dialog box.

Remove a Beta Version of Office XP

If a beta version of Office XP was installed earlier, the beta version must be removed before you install the final version of Office XP. Although Office XP Setup prompts you to remove such a prerelease version, the removal process may not be completed successfully.

To remove a beta version of Office XP, follow these steps:

1. In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs.
2. In the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box, select the Microsoft Office XP entry (for example, select Microsoft Office XP Professional), and then click Add/Remove.
3. In the Maintenance Mode Options dialog box, select the Uninstall Office option, and then click Next.
4. Click Yes to confirm the removal.
5. After the beta version is removed, run Setup.exe again for Office XP.

Use the Setup Log Files

Office XP Setup automatically creates log files in your \Temp folder. The log files have names similar to the following:
where <edition> is the edition of Office XP that you are installing. For example, these files may be: The #### characters in the log file names are numbers beginning with 0001. They increment by 1 if you have to run Setup multiple times. Therefore, the log file with the highest number is the log file for the last time that you ran Setup.

Note You may have a Windows Installer log file for only the Office installation and not the System Files Update. On most versions of Microsoft Windows, the System Files Update installation is not required, so no log file is created for it. In this situation, the Windows Installer log file for the Office installation has "Task(0001)" appended to the log file instead of "Task(0002)".

Verbose logging is enabled by default in Office XP, so the Windows Installer log files will contain a great deal of information about events that occurred during installation. This file may be requested if you contact Microsoft Technical Support for further troubleshooting.

For additional information about how to create and how to read Office Setup log files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about how to create and how to read Office Setup log files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Quit All Unnecessary Programs

Quit all unnecessary programs that are running before you run Office XP Setup. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the Windows taskbar, click Start, and then click Run.
2. Type msconfig in the Open box, and then click OK.
3. In the System Configuration Utility dialog box, click Selective startup on the General tab. Clear the following check boxes under Selective Startup:
   • Process Config.sys file
   • Process Autoexec.bat file
   • Process Winstart.bat file
   • Process System.ini file
   • Process Win.ini file
   • Load startup group items
   Note One or more of these check boxes may not be available (may appear dimmed), depending on the files that are present on your computer.
4. Click OK.
5. Click Yes when you are prompted to restart your computer.

Clean-Boot Windows 98

For information about clean-booting Windows 98 by using the System Configuration Utility, please see the "How to Use the System Configuration Utility" and "How to Narrow the Focus of the Behavior" sections in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

Run Setup from a Flat File

If sufficient space is available on the hard disk, make a flat file of the contents of Office XP CD-ROM 1 by following these steps:

1. Create a new folder at the root of a hard disk volume, and name it "Flatfile".
2. Copy the entire contents of Office CD-ROM 1 into the Flatfile folder. In Windows Explorer, click the CD-ROM icon, and then click Select All on the Edit menu. Drag the items you selected on the right side of the Explorer window to the Flatfile folder on the left.
   
   If there are errors during the copy, it may indicate problems with the CD-ROM, lens, or drive.

You can use this flat file to install from a clean start or in Windows Safe Mode (see the "Start Windows in Safe Mode" section). Having a flat file makes it unnecessary to turn on real mode CD-ROM drivers in safe mode. If Setup from a flat file fails in safe mode or with a clean boot, it is still possible there is a problem with the CD-ROM, because a damaged flat file can be created without generating an error message.

Start Windows in Safe Mode

Windows has a built-in troubleshooting mode called safe mode. Safe mode bypasses startup files and uses only basic system drivers, including basic networking. When you start Windows in safe mode, Windows uses only the mouse, keyboard, and standard video graphics adapter (VGA) device drivers. This makes safe mode useful for isolating and resolving error conditions that are caused by both real-mode and Windows-based drivers. Windows also has troubleshooting features that may help you identify the problem. To start Windows in safe mode and make the additional troubleshooting features available, follow these steps:

1. Click Shut Down on the Start menu. Click Restart and then click OK.
2. Press and hold down the CTRL key until the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu appears.
3. On the menu, select Safe mode, and then press ENTER. Windows starts in safe mode.

When you use safe mode, or when you turn off 32-bit protected-mode drivers, Windows does not process protected-mode drivers (the Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files). Therefore, the CD-ROM drive is not available. To use safe mode with CD-ROM drive support, determine whether Windows uses protected-mode drivers for the CD-ROM drive. If Windows is using protected-mode drivers, install the real-mode (MS-DOS) drivers for the CD-ROM drive. The real-mode drivers are usually located on a disk that is shipped with the CD-ROM drive or with the computer. The drivers are installed in the Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files.

For additional information about how to determine if Windows is using protected-mode drivers, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about installing real-mode drivers for the CD-ROM, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Check for a Valid Temporary Folder and Delete Temporary Files

There should be at least 50 megabytes (MB) of free space on the hard disk that contains the temporary folder. To check for a temporary folder and delete excess files from that folder, follow these steps:

1. Restart your computer. Press and hold down the CTRL key until the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu appears.
2. On the menu, select Command Prompt Only, and then press ENTER.
3. At the MS-DOS prompt, type cd %temp% and then press ENTER. If you receive an error message, continue with step 4. If the directory path changes, with the final item in the path including "temp", proceed to step 6.
4. At the MS-DOS prompt, type set and then press ENTER. Note the location of the TEMP variable.
5. Change to the folder that you noted in step 4. For example, if TEMP is set to C:\Windows\Temp, type the following line and then press ENTER:
   cd c:\windows\temp
   If the folder that you noted in step 4 does not exist, create the folder. To create a temporary folder, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
   md c:\windows\temp
6. Delete any temporary files in this folder. Temporary files have a .tmp file name extension. To delete these files, type the following line, and then press ENTER:
   del *.tmp
   NOTE: Do not delete these files when you are running Windows, because Windows or a Windows-based program may be using one of these files.

In Windows 98, you can delete many unused or temporary files by using the Disk Cleanup utility. For more information about how to use this utility, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Check the Hard Disk for Disk Errors and Fragmentation

Use the Scandisk program to check the hard disk for lost clusters and other file allocation table (FAT) errors and to test the integrity of the hard disk. You can also use the Scandisk program to repair any of these problems. To run Scandisk, follow these steps:

1. On the Start menu, point to Programs.
2. Point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Scandisk.
3. Click the drive that you want to check for errors, and then click Start.

Hard disks that are very fragmented can affect the performance and reliability of Office programs and other tasks in Windows. To resolve this problem, run Disk Defragmenter to defragment the hard disk drive. To run Disk Defragmenter, follow these steps:

1. On the Start menu, point to Programs.
2. Point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.
3. Click the drive that you want to defragment in the Which drive do you want to defragment list, and then click OK.

Turn Off the CD-ROM Drive Cache and DMA

If the problem occurs while your computer is reading from a CD-ROM drive, try turning off the CD-ROM drive cache. This may make the drive more reliable but reduce performance. To turn off the CD-ROM drive cache, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. In Control Panel, double-click System.
3. Click the Performance tab, and then click File System.
4. Click the CD-ROM tab. In the Optimize access pattern for list, click to select No Read-Ahead.
5. Drag the Supplemental cache size slider to the left position (the Small setting), and then click OK.

If you are using real-mode CD-ROM drivers, the drive may be cached by the Smartdrv.exe program. If this is the case, you must make the Smartdrv.exe program unavailable in the Autoexec.bat file. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click System Information.
2. On the Tools menu, click System Configuration Utility.
3. Click the Autoexec.bat tab.
4. Click to clear the Smartdrv check box, and then click OK.
5. To restart the computer for the change to take effect, click Yes.

Also turn off DMA or Direct Memory Access, as explained in the "Workaround" section of the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

Verify That the CD-ROM Is Clean and Unscratched

If the problem occurs while you are installing from a CD-ROM, verify that the CD-ROM you are using is clean. You can wipe the CD-ROM with a soft, lint-free cloth. Also ensure that there are no large scratches on the CD-ROM. If the CD-ROM is damaged and unreadable, error messages may appear during installation.

For additional information, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Check for a Damaged Swap File

Setup problems may also appear if your Windows swap file is damaged. To create a new swap file, restart the computer in MS-DOS mode, delete the Win386.swp file in the Windows folder, and then restart the computer. To create a new swap file, follow these steps:

1. Click Shut Down on the Start menu. Click Restart and then click OK.
2. Press and hold down the CTRL key until the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu appears.
3. On the menu, select Command prompt only, and then press ENTER.
4. At the MS-DOS prompt, change to the Windows folder by typing the following command
   cd drive:\Windows
   where drive is the drive letter that contains the Windows folder. Typically, this is drive C.
   
   Note The swap file exists in the Windows folder if Windows manages virtual memory settings on your computer. If you chose to manage virtual memory settings on the computer, the swap file exists at the root level of the hard disk. To determine whether Windows manages virtual memory settings, right-click My Computer, click Properties, click Performance, and then click Virtual Memory.
5. To delete the swap file, type the following:
   del Win386.swp
6. After you delete the swap file, restart the computer.

Check for Software Updates

Outdated and incompatible software may also cause Setup problems. Check with the manufacturer of the computer for various software updates, such as BIOS updates, OEM Windows updates, and hardware driver updates (CD-ROM, video, and printer drivers). If you are using third-party partitioning software--for example, EZDrive or Ontrack Disk Manager--verify that you have the most recent versions of these products.

Scan the Computer for Viruses

If a virus is present on your computer and has damaged some files, problems may appear when you run Setup. Scan the hard disk and floppy disks with a virus detector. If the virus detector finds a virus on your computer, remove the virus before you run the Office Setup again.

Note Do not run a virus detector terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) program while you run the Setup program. Run a virus detector before you run Setup and then turn it off.

Check for Registry Damage

When you start Windows in safe mode, Windows does not read the entire registry. Therefore, damage to the registry may not be evident when you run Windows in this mode. You may have to replace the existing registry (System.dat) with a backup to determine whether a damaged registry is causing the problem.

Windows includes a tool called Registry Checker that can scan your registry for damage and, if necessary, restore a backup of the registry. Follow these steps to use Registry Checker to scan your registry:

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click System Information.
2. On the Tools menu, click Registry Checker. You may receive the following error message:
   Windows encountered an error accessing the system registry. Windows will restart the computer and repair the system registry for you.
   If you receive this error message, proceed to step 3. If you do not receive the error message, your registry is okay.
3. To restart your computer, click OK.
4. Press ENTER when the Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu appears.
5. At the command prompt, type Scanreg and then press ENTER.
6. In the Check Your Registry dialog box, press ENTER. You should receive the following message:
   Windows found an error in your system files and restored a recent backup of the files to fix the problem.
7. Press ENTER to restart your computer.

For additional information about the Registry Checker, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Check Hardware

If you exhaust all other troubleshooting steps and you are still receiving error messages, one or more pieces of your computer hardware may be incompatible with Windows or may be damaged. To identify a problem with your computer hardware, contact your computer vendor.

Badly seated memory or bad memory has been reported to cause Kernel32.dll error messages. Switching memory around in the motherboard memory banks has been known to correct some of these issues.

It has also been reported that running the Atron 380 Bus Mastering Ethernet Card can cause Kernel32.dll errors. Removing this card from the computer may resolve these error messages.

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.

Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.

For information about how to contact the companies mentioned in this article, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Reinstall Windows in a New Folder

Use this method only after you try all of the troubleshooting steps in this article. If you reinstall Windows in a new folder, you must reinstall all Windows-based programs under the new Windows installation.

For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Turn Off Enhanced BIOS Features

Most computers have several enhanced settings that allow the computer to fully use the computer hardware. These high-speed settings may cause the system to become unstable; turning off these features may make the computer more stable. Contact your computer manufacturer for information about entering the basic input/output system (BIOS) and changing the BIOS settings. You can enter the BIOS on most systems immediately after turning on the power. Usually a keystroke, such as DEL, is required to enter the BIOS. Below are the common features that can interfere with Office programs:

• Memory shadow RAM
• Video shadow RAM
• Internal cache
• External cache
• Built-in virus protection

Newer chipsets may have more advanced features, such as memory wait states, that can cause errors. Most BIOS installation programs have an option to load the BIOS default settings. This option usually turns off all advanced features.

Warning Incorrectly altering hardware BIOS settings can cause serious problems that may cause your computer to fail to start or function correctly. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems that result from the incorrect setting of hardware BIOS options can be solved. Alter the hardware BIOS settings at your own risk.

For more articles about troubleshooting Setup issues with Office XP: