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Old December 14th 07, 10:04 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsme.setup
Mart
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 1,190
Default Me hangs at detecting hardware

Ouch! Now why was I somewhat sceptical on reading your original post? - It
sure explains why you were a bit 'lite' on background, the first time round
g

The fact that the error report refers to a "PCI Communication Device" may be
a bit misleading, but *could* refer to an in-built modem perhaps, but I
really don't know and I'm certainly not conversant with the Gateway 2500.

You may be able to cross-match your (known?) hardware devices against those
shown as working in DevMan and try to determine the offender and (possibly?)
disable it in the BIOS (or even physically remove it). You *may* even be
able to disable the device in DevMan. But until or unless you are able to
obtain the correct driver for it, its likely to a thorn in your side.

Try Googling for "Gateway solo 2500" - there seems to be plenty of support
out there and you may even be able to pick up a copy of the 'correct'
installation disk on eBay.

Otherwise, it's a bit like trying to fit a Mustang engine in a Model T,
because they're both Ford doesn't mean that they will 'just work'.

Good luck - I think you're going to need it!

Mart


"Ocean" wrote in message
...
Thanks Mart! There is a yellow question mark. It reads as Other devices,
PCI
Communication Device. Any thoughts? I am using a Gateway Me disk however
it
is not the disk for the laptop in question. I was thinking the BIOS
settings
were not correct because of the disk I am using, but what do I know, lol!

"Mart" wrote:

Ocean, select the Safe Mode option and (assuming it eventually
continues -
probably to the Help Console) then close the Help pages and open Device
Manager.

In DevMan, look for any/all yellow 'bangs' (exclamation marks) or
question
marks and make a note of any/all such flagged devices.

This(these) are the offending device(s) which are likely to be causing
the
'hang' and will need to be rectified. Either disconnect the device(s) -
if
external, and/or confirm that you have the correct (latest) WinMe
driver(s)
for the device(s).

You may have to 'Remove' the (offending) device(s) whilst in Safe Mode
before you are able to re-boot into Normal Mode and proceed further.
However, as your pc is a laptop, my guess is that you are not using
Gateway's installation disk, but rather an MS WinMe retail disk. So my
first
thoughts are that the correct Video driver (or some other Gateway
specific
device driver) is not included on the WinMe CD. You *may* need to go to
the
Gateway web site to see if you can still get any/all device drivers
required
for your particular model of laptop. If it is a Video driver issue, you
*may* get temporary respite by selecting a Generic VGA driver, but from
here, it's 'suck-it-and-see'

Good luck!

Mart


"Ocean" wrote in message
...
I wrote the drive to zeros, there is no other software loaded. Windows
tries
to load but freezes. You turn it off manually and then it goes to a
start
up
page which offers four options, normal, logged, safe mode, step-by-step
confirmation. Perhaps this info will help, thank you.

"Mike M" wrote:

Ocean wrote:

While trying to install Me on a Gateway solo 2500. I have tried
everything offered from Microsoft on this issue. Perhaps there is
someone out there that knows a trick or two.

Is this a clean install or are you reinstalling Win Me over itself?
If
the latter I very much hope that you first uninstalled IE6 and WMP9
(if
installed), if not you probably have much bigger problems in store
than
this one. Do you have any Symantec crudware installed?

Check your windows\inf folder (a hidden system folder and you will
have
to
enable the viewing of such files and folders in Explorer (Tools |
Folder
Options | View and check "Show hidden files and folders" and uncheck
"Hide
protected operating system files") and look for large numbers of
oem*.inf
files that are all 0 bytes in size. If you've got thousands of such
files
this is the cause of your problem as you're probably at the limit of
the
number of entries that can be entered in a FAT folder and therefore
cannot
add any inf file associated with the update. Delete these 0 byte
oem*.inf
files.

Why has this happened? Do you have Norton's System Doctor installed
and
perhaps forget to disable System Doctor before updating your system
from
the Windows Update site? If you don't delete these files some
software
and most hardware and driver installs will take a very long time to
complete if they complete at all.

For more details see the Symantec site:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...15010309&src=n
and also MS KB 281967 - "Computer Stops Responding (Hangs) During
Setup,
Installing Updates, or Adding New Hardware"
(http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=281967). Sadly since Win Me is
long
out of support your chances of obtaining a copy of the new ifsmgr.vxd
v4.90.3003 by calling Microsoft is highly unlikely. Alternatively
dump
the Witch Doctor, it's simply not worth the trouble it causes.
--
Mike Maltby