WHY DID I REINSTALL WINDOWS ME?

WMP9 didn't work right and I had a few other problems. Those are all fixed
now. I had to reinstall rather than reformat. There are some things I might
not be able to fix with a format: third-party software activation, Windows
might not see my CD drives, I do not have all the drivers, etc. It took
forever to get Windows to recognize the CD drives and to get ASPI set up
properly for Nero/PowerDVD on this board. All that works fine now.

My mainboard failed recently, and I had to use a different one that isn't as
good. I put my hard drive with WinMe already installed into this other board.
There was no choice. Not all my hardware was compatible, so I had to swap
additional components. That's why third-party software activation might be a
problem. I don't have drivers for this board or the ISA sound card. If
Windows doesn't autodetect them and find drivers on its own, them I'm SOL.

HOW DID I REINSTALL WINDOWS ME OVER ITSELF?

To reinstall WinMe (which has IE5.5 and WMP7.1) overtop IE6SP1 and WMP9, I
followed advice that someone in a different Microsoft WinMe newsgroup gave.
After backing up important files and disabling stuff in msconfig, I booted to
DOS with a WinMe with startup disk and renamed folders.

Internet Explorer folder:
REN C:\Progra~1\Intern~1 OLDINT

Windows Media Player folder:
REN C:\Progra~1\Window~1 OLDWMP

It was also suggested to rename WMPLOC.dll, but I couldn't find that file.
I also did a few extra things on my own that I wish I hadn't. Following the
same procedure, I renamed the Outlook Express folder (big mistake) and
deleted the Windows Updates folder.

Windows reinstalled from DOS with a SUWIN error at 60-65%. The SUWIN error
did not have a number or error code. I had to click IGNORE about 50 times
before Windows would continue installing. The error is probably due to OE and
WMP.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE REINSTALL?

Once WinME was back up, I had no files at all in the Outlook Express folder
and no working WMP 7.1. When I tried to open WMP 7.1 I got an error, and it
wouldn't work at all. I tried the full install of WMP 7.1 to resolve it, but
that would not install. I tried the full install of WMP 9 and it installed
fine.

Next I installed IE5.5SP2 full install. Still nothing in OE. Then tried IE 6
SP1 full install from my CD backup. That didn't bring back OE6 either. Tried
repairing IE6. No dice. Luckily, I had zipped up all the files in my OE 5.5
folder way back when. I unzipped those files into the Outlook Express folder
and then had a working Outlook Express 5.5. My address book came back and I
could sign on and get email. I reinstalled IE6SP1. OE worked, but it was
still 5.5. Tried repairing IE6 again. Then I manually added OE6 as an
additional component and eventually got OE6 back on here.

WHAT'S THE CURRENT SITUATION WITH IE6SP1 & OE6?

Everything works fine except that the 837009 update won't install.
Reinstalled all the Windows Updates that the Windows Update said I need,
except for 837009 and 890175. There may still be some mild "version soup" in
IE/OE, but the majority of my current installation works fine. It's less of
"version soup" than some people have when reinstalling WinMe without
uninstalling IE6/WMP9, but at least it all works now, except for the 837009
update. How protected am I without that update? What other IE/OE updates do I
really have to have that I currently don't have? I wonder if there are some
registry entries that should be deleted when installing WinMe overtop IE6. It
is not always possible to uninstall IE6 first.

WHAT'S THE CURRENT SITUATION WITH WMP9?

All the WMP Windows Updates reinstalled fine. No WMP problems now, except
that some visualizations don't always work with every audio file. That's no
big deal. Visualizations work sometimes but not always. That's minor. I don't
use WMP very often. It might just be because the video card I have now is an
old one with 4MB video ram and no 3d stuff. It could also be something with
the chipset on this mainboard. Or, it could be that I'm using a 16-bit ISA
sound card instead of the onboard sound I had with the other mainboard. Not
worried about the visualization problem unless there is an easy fix for it.
My favorite visualization, Musical Colors "Neon Highway", does not always
work when playing certain files. Some other Musical Colors visualizations
don't work either. If I had a different video card that was either AGP 1.0 or
PCI, my visualization problem might not be a problem. DX9.0C is currently
installed, but the video card can't support all its features.

WHAT ABOUT THE LINKS GIVEN BY PA BEAR?

This link is invalid:
(http://snipurl.com/2bou).

Some of the directions given in this link may not work for me:
(http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/ReInIE.htm)
You're supposed to uninstall IE/OE6 before reinstalling WinMe, but you can't
uninstall OE6 if there is no OE5.5 info or corrupt OE5.5 info, as in my case.
Same with WMP9. My WMP7.1 was corrupt. Also, it's not always possible to
uninstall IE/OE6 first. I'd need an alternate workaround. I may need to just
leave it as it is, but I'll leave that decision up to the experts reading
this.

Thank goodness for these groups. I tried a few things that didn't work but
also a few things that did work. So please don't criticize about how stupid I
am. We learn by mistakes.

WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE...

Looking forward to some helpful posts.