I'm using a genuine Microsoft Win
Me CD which was supplied with my old (and now dead) PC.

Are you sure about that? Most if not all Win Me CDs supplied with new PCs
are what are known as OEM copies and in many cases can only be used to
install the operating system on PCs from the same manufacturer, possibly
even tighter than that, such as PCs having the same identical motherboard
and/or bios.

Reinstalling Win Me over itself. This is an area fraught with potential
problems. I hope you have taken the necessary steps before attempting
this such as removing, if installed, WMP9 (Win Me comes with WMP7) and IE6
(Win Me comes with IE5.5). If you don't do this then the system is going
to possibly be far worse after the reinstall than it ever was before due
to many of the files being incompatible with each other. You can remove
IE6, if installed, via Add/Remove Programs but no such luck with WMP9 and
the trick here is to rename the file wmploc.dll (found in the
windows\system folder) to wmploc.old which in most cases will then allow
the original WMP7 to install without problem. Of course, once Win Me is
reinstalled you can then upgrade WMP7 to WMP9 and IE5.5 to IE6 SP1.

So how to proceed? Well one way is to forget about the CD you have and to
reinstall Win Me using files that are already on the laptop and placed
there as part of the original Win Me installation. So having noted my
previous paragraph, using Windows Explorer look for the file BASE2.CAB
which by default should hopefully be located in either
C:\Windows\Options\Cabs (if originally installed from OEM media) or
C:\Windows\Options\Install (if originally installed from Microsoft media)
although some OEMs for reasons known only to themselves locate the cab
files elsewhere, sometimes even on a different partition. Once you have
located BASE2.CAB you should be able to locate a file setup.exe in the
same folder. Now boot to DOS using a floppy and at the DOS A:\ prompt
enter:
C:
then either
CD Windows\Options\Cabs
or
CD Windows\Options\Install
which depending on the location of setup.exe and then
SETUP.EXE
This should then start the reinstallation of Win Me.

Note that having reinstalled Win Me over itself you will need to reinstall
many of the various hotfixes and patches from the Windows Update site
although they may not appear as being required when you visit the Windows
Update site due to the various flags in the registry used to indicate that
the patches have been installed are still present following the reinstall
despite many of the original versions of the files having been restored.
I would therefore strongly urge you to download and run Belarc's Adviser
(http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html) as this will help you to
identify any updates that are broken and might need to be reinstalled.
Belarc uses a different mechanism to check than the Windows Update site.
One patch that you really need to ensure is installed is the 290700 patch
for system restore as without this system restore is dead in the water and
therefore unavailable to help you get out of any holes you might dig
yourself in to. Required patches not offered by the Windows Update site
can usually be obtained from the Windows Catalogue
(http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.co...n/default.asp).
--
Mike Maltby
MS-MVP Windows



calum wrote:

"Mike M" wrote:

What is the Full Text of the error message please?

Sorry, I can't remember the exact wording but I'll verify it when I
get home.

Does the laptop have an operating system currently installed , in
other words are you trying to upgrade from say Win 98SE or is it
"clean"?

Yes, it curently has Win Me and was already on the machine when I
recieved it. Its performance has degraded to level that I felt a
fresh installation was required. I'm using a genuine Microsoft Win
Me CD which was supplied with my old (and now dead) PC.

I choose the option to boot from CD and the installation begins.
After achieving around 10% installation, it halts with the given
error code.

What media are you using to install Win Me and what was its source?


CD, from PC vendor.