can someone please help me everytime i try to open the control panel i get an error message c :\windows\system\main.cpl. then if i click on ok button it goes away and the control panel opens up but if i click on the keyboard icon the same thing happens

Have your Win98 CD in the CD drive and click Start, Run and enter SFC. When System File Checker starts, tell it to extract 1 file. Give it MAIN.CPL for the name. If asked where to get it, tell it X:\Win98 where X is your CD drive. If asked where to put it, tell it C:\Windows\System

see if that works:
but next time, put what OS you are using and what service packs.

still have same problem if i open control panel for the first time(an error occurred while windows was working with the control panel file C:\windows\system\main.cpl.) then if i click ok it goes away and the control panel opens but if i click on the keyboard or mouse icon same error everything else opens ok my os is windows98se not sure on service packs.

This is what you do... Pop in a Win2K cd >> Restart the PC >> Boot to CD >> Format and install


Problem solved..

That's not a legitimate solution, let's try to stay away from the obvious.
I'm looking into it, krapy.


Try taking a look at this page... How to Troubleshoot Control Panel Issues in Windows I don't know if it will work out for you. You could also pop in the 98 cd and copy main.cpl to windows\system.