I recently ran the disk defragmenter.

Now when I first boot the system, Windows 98 appears on the screen but does not load. After I press the reset button, the system reboots to a plain screen with a list of 7 choices, with safe mode highlighted. I'm not sure what to look for in Safe Mode, so I need your help.

I thought about reinstalling Windows 98, but in Safe Mode the system does not acknowledge that the E drive (DVD-ROM drive) exists. So I can't access the software.

I was able to run a HijackThis log, which I can post if needed.

Can you move around the system screen where 'safe mode' is highlighted?
Use the arrow keys, or can you not select any option other than safe mode?
Safe mode is designed to use the 'safest settings so that the computer can run.

Yes. I can choose any of the 7 options, including two types of safe mode.

hi, it could be a problem on the registry you can restore your registry by going to the DOS mode, try using this scanreg /restore, check if it works