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Just Wanted to Say Thanks for All the Good Information



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 9th 06, 03:30 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsme.general
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Default Just Wanted to Say Thanks for All the Good Information

I have a custom made PC that was built in late 98 and a few months ago I
started getting the error "unable uo update ESCD" on boot but windows would
go ahead and load. A look on the internet said it was the bios chip on the
motherboard gone bad so I went to a couple of local PC builders and was told
to junk the PC. I found another Asus P299 motherboard on eBay for $10.00 so
I got it and swapped out the bios chip and then updated the bios to the
latest version. I had always been afraid to try this before. Disabled
things I don't use in bios, serial ports, parallel port, etc.and then
decided to reformat and reinstall Windows. Downloaded all the various
drivers and put them on a CD, did all the Windows updates. Next I installed
Office XP only installing the features I actually use and then did the same
thing with the rest of my software. It's amazing how stable WinMe can be
and how fast it boots (6sec) and shuts down (3sec) when it's installed
properly and and doesn't have a bunch of useless stuff loading at startup.

Over the years I've printed many messages from this newsgroup and they were
invaluable in configuring and eliminating glitches. A few things I
remembered how to do like switching from APM which ME installed to ACPI but
many of them I had completely forgotten.

It might have been silly to put all this time into an old PC but It was a
good project to focus on while awaiting surgery for prostate cancer and I
learned a lot about PCs. Even got the nerve to do a bios update to my XP
Pro machine.

Again, thanks for taking the time to help people with their problems.

Al


  #2  
Old February 9th 06, 06:07 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsme.general
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Posts: n/a
Default Just Wanted to Say Thanks for All the Good Information


Al:

Your computer success story is nice to read, not so your health report. Wish
you the very best of luck. Myself I had opted out on surgery and the others,
to prefer "watchful waiting". Of course, I am probably a bit older than you,
too.
Only 6sec. to boot? That's amazing, how did you accomplish it?
Really would like to know.

Harry.


"Alton Davis" wrote in message
...
I have a custom made PC that was built in late 98 and a few months ago I
started getting the error "unable uo update ESCD" on boot but windows

would
go ahead and load. A look on the internet said it was the bios chip on

the
motherboard gone bad so I went to a couple of local PC builders and was

told
to junk the PC. I found another Asus P299 motherboard on eBay for $10.00

so
I got it and swapped out the bios chip and then updated the bios to the
latest version. I had always been afraid to try this before. Disabled
things I don't use in bios, serial ports, parallel port, etc.and then
decided to reformat and reinstall Windows. Downloaded all the various
drivers and put them on a CD, did all the Windows updates. Next I

installed
Office XP only installing the features I actually use and then did the

same
thing with the rest of my software. It's amazing how stable WinMe can be
and how fast it boots (6sec) and shuts down (3sec) when it's installed
properly and and doesn't have a bunch of useless stuff loading at startup.

Over the years I've printed many messages from this newsgroup and they

were
invaluable in configuring and eliminating glitches. A few things I
remembered how to do like switching from APM which ME installed to ACPI

but
many of them I had completely forgotten.

It might have been silly to put all this time into an old PC but It was a
good project to focus on while awaiting surgery for prostate cancer and I
learned a lot about PCs. Even got the nerve to do a bios update to my XP
Pro machine.

Again, thanks for taking the time to help people with their problems.

Al




  #3  
Old February 9th 06, 04:22 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsme.general
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Just Wanted to Say Thanks for All the Good Information

Harry,
In the bios I disabled the serial ports, parallel port, USB support (put in
a USB2 card), and boot up floppy seek. I also set it to boot straight from
the C drive since you can always change that if you need to boot from a
floppy or CD.
I set the folders view to Classic, don't use Active Desktop which means you
have to use a bmp for the background rather than a jpg, and unchecked all
the visual effects. Active Desktop seems to make a difference but not sure
about the others. Office XP puts osa.exe in the startup folder. Deleting
that makes it take a bit longer the first time you start an Office app. but
after that Office apps start as fast as if osa.exe was loaded.
ATI puts a control on the taskbar but that can be disabled in the software.
It's only useful if you're constantly changing screen resolutions, etc.
I have an HP photosmart 2410 all in one and it loaded a bunch of stuff, some
in the start menu and some in the registry. I was able to remove all of it
without ill effect except that the buttons on the all in one won't activate
the software which I never did anyway.
Acrobat Reader never seemed to play well with ME so I installed Foxit Reader
instead. Foxit Reader is still rather primitive but it works for me.
QuickTime loads QTTask which I eliminated without ill effect.
After going through all my software and doing this the only things that load
at startup a
Scan Registry
System Tray
Load Power Profile
Load Power Profile
*StateMgr
KB891711
Still ImageMonitor
The only things in the taskbar are the clock and volume control.
The last thing I did was use jv16 to clean everything out of the registry
that I thought was safe to eliminate (several hundred items).
I have a Linksys BEFSR41 router which seems to be adequate as a firewall so
I don't use firewall software. I don't think this helps with speed but I
set a static IP address behind the router and turned off DHCP. Also, I
don't use antivirus software. This might be dumb but I've never had a
virus, worm, or any other malware. I use judgment about where I go and the
same judgment seems to work well on the internet. I do use SpyBot Search
and Destroys Immunize feature to block bad web sites. Also having a good
ISP with great antivirus and spam software helps. In a year I only get
perhaps a half-dozen spam e-mails.
I had my prostate surgery on my 66th birthday. It's been nearly a year now
and the tests still come back less than 01 so I'm sure they got it all. I
didn't even consider an alternative to surgery since I wanted the cancer out
ASAP. My surgeon was surprised by my attitude when he did the counseling
about options but I couldn't consider it a big deal. I have a grandson with
leukemia. He has diagnosed at 9 mos. and has had 2 stem cell transplants.
He's 5 now and has been in remission for nearly 6 mos. After watching
everything he's gone through and how he's taken it I think it would be hard
to complain about anything that happens to me.
Al


  #4  
Old February 9th 06, 05:26 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsme.general
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Just Wanted to Say Thanks for All the Good Information


Thank you Al for your detailed descriptions.
You most certainly have a healthy attitude.
The parallel between your and my story seemed quite coincidental. Our 7 year
old grandson recently died of neuroblastoma after a four year battle.
In hindsight I wouldn't even have had the biopsy, but my PSA is fairly
stable at a low rate and it doesn't look bad.
I am happy for your success, because in half the cases there are problems,
even reoccurrences.
You have been very helpful with insightful instructions.

Harry.


"Alton Davis" wrote in message
...
Harry,
In the bios I disabled the serial ports, parallel port, USB support (put

in
a USB2 card), and boot up floppy seek. I also set it to boot straight

from
the C drive since you can always change that if you need to boot from a
floppy or CD.
I set the folders view to Classic, don't use Active Desktop which means

you
have to use a bmp for the background rather than a jpg, and unchecked all
the visual effects. Active Desktop seems to make a difference but not

sure
about the others. Office XP puts osa.exe in the startup folder. Deleting
that makes it take a bit longer the first time you start an Office app.

but
after that Office apps start as fast as if osa.exe was loaded.
ATI puts a control on the taskbar but that can be disabled in the

software.
It's only useful if you're constantly changing screen resolutions, etc.
I have an HP photosmart 2410 all in one and it loaded a bunch of stuff,

some
in the start menu and some in the registry. I was able to remove all of

it
without ill effect except that the buttons on the all in one won't

activate
the software which I never did anyway.
Acrobat Reader never seemed to play well with ME so I installed Foxit

Reader
instead. Foxit Reader is still rather primitive but it works for me.
QuickTime loads QTTask which I eliminated without ill effect.
After going through all my software and doing this the only things that

load
at startup a
Scan Registry
System Tray
Load Power Profile
Load Power Profile
*StateMgr
KB891711
Still ImageMonitor
The only things in the taskbar are the clock and volume control.
The last thing I did was use jv16 to clean everything out of the registry
that I thought was safe to eliminate (several hundred items).
I have a Linksys BEFSR41 router which seems to be adequate as a firewall

so
I don't use firewall software. I don't think this helps with speed but I
set a static IP address behind the router and turned off DHCP. Also, I
don't use antivirus software. This might be dumb but I've never had a
virus, worm, or any other malware. I use judgment about where I go and

the
same judgment seems to work well on the internet. I do use SpyBot Search
and Destroys Immunize feature to block bad web sites. Also having a good
ISP with great antivirus and spam software helps. In a year I only get
perhaps a half-dozen spam e-mails.
I had my prostate surgery on my 66th birthday. It's been nearly a year

now
and the tests still come back less than 01 so I'm sure they got it all. I
didn't even consider an alternative to surgery since I wanted the cancer

out
ASAP. My surgeon was surprised by my attitude when he did the counseling
about options but I couldn't consider it a big deal. I have a grandson

with
leukemia. He has diagnosed at 9 mos. and has had 2 stem cell transplants.
He's 5 now and has been in remission for nearly 6 mos. After watching
everything he's gone through and how he's taken it I think it would be

hard
to complain about anything that happens to me.
Al




 




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