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#11
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Incomplete startup of Me
Forget about the XP upgrade PERIOD
If your system isn't booting this is the last thing you should be doing. Once you've corrected the booting problem and you've run the XP Upgrade Advisor then perhaps you should consider upgrading to XP but not before. And then if this doesn't work, I'll use scanreg /restore to get back to where I was just yesterday Scanreg offers no such escape route OR are you saying that when running scanreg /restore you can see a backed up copy of the registry from yesterday and then no others except for four (a total of five should be visible) from "years ago"? If so that is indeed very strange and begs the question as to why the registry started being backed up yesterday having not been so for a year or more. Data backup. If you can only boot to DOS using a boot floppy then this is probably easiest done using an external USB drive which should I think be available provided you enable USB Legacy Support in the PC's bios. -- Mike Maltby JNB wrote: Thanks guys for the suggestions....so I guess my approach will be to use the scanreg /restore to get back to a very old registry, assuming Me boots then I'll use Sytem Restore and hopefully there is a much more recent checkpoint available. Before this though, will it be possible to backup my data files and other downloaded executables (esp updates) to CD? How? And then if this doesn't work, I'll use scanreg /restore to get back to where I was just yesterday and try the XP upgrade. Please comment one last time. |
#12
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Incomplete startup of Me
OK....will a memory stick in a USB port work? Also, I have a ZIP drive on
the computer. Please guide me, I speak some the language but as you can tell I really am a novice. "Mike M" wrote: Forget about the XP upgrade PERIOD If your system isn't booting this is the last thing you should be doing. Once you've corrected the booting problem and you've run the XP Upgrade Advisor then perhaps you should consider upgrading to XP but not before. And then if this doesn't work, I'll use scanreg /restore to get back to where I was just yesterday Scanreg offers no such escape route OR are you saying that when running scanreg /restore you can see a backed up copy of the registry from yesterday and then no others except for four (a total of five should be visible) from "years ago"? If so that is indeed very strange and begs the question as to why the registry started being backed up yesterday having not been so for a year or more. Data backup. If you can only boot to DOS using a boot floppy then this is probably easiest done using an external USB drive which should I think be available provided you enable USB Legacy Support in the PC's bios. -- Mike Maltby JNB wrote: Thanks guys for the suggestions....so I guess my approach will be to use the scanreg /restore to get back to a very old registry, assuming Me boots then I'll use Sytem Restore and hopefully there is a much more recent checkpoint available. Before this though, will it be possible to backup my data files and other downloaded executables (esp updates) to CD? How? And then if this doesn't work, I'll use scanreg /restore to get back to where I was just yesterday and try the XP upgrade. Please comment one last time. |
#13
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Incomplete startup of Me
A USB stick should work provided USB Legacy Mode is enabled in the bios.
This may or may not be an option and depends on your motherboard. A Zip drive may or may not be usable depending on whether DOS drivers are required and if so whether they are available. It does rather depend on how the Zip is connected. If internal it may need no special drivers. -- Mike Maltby JNB wrote: OK....will a memory stick in a USB port work? Also, I have a ZIP drive on the computer. Please guide me, I speak some the language but as you can tell I really am a novice. |
#14
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Incomplete startup of Me
I totally concur with your conclusions Mike (thanks for chipping in mike),
however there was a niggling point which I overlooked from JNB's original post and consequently I (we?) made an ASSumption. JNB, you wrote :- .... tried booting in Safe Mode and it I get a grey screen with Safe Mode in each corner. But you didn't say whether you could progress beyond that point - i.e. have you tried to access System Restore in Safe Mode? Can you do anything in Safe Mode? If Safe Mode just 'hangs' with the "grey screen with Safe Mode in each corner", how do you close down? And what happens when you re-boot? Does WinMe attempt a Scandisk? And if so, what - if anything - does it report? Regarding rescuing your data, if Mikes plan doesn't work due to the driver issues discussed, you may have to remove your HDD and connect it to your 'other' PC (a couple of options available), but don't expect to transfer *INSTALLED* downloaded executables, only the pre-installed files. Updates - as in WinMe updates - are all still currently available from MS - I think!! Mart "Mike M" wrote in message ... A USB stick should work provided USB Legacy Mode is enabled in the bios. This may or may not be an option and depends on your motherboard. A Zip drive may or may not be usable depending on whether DOS drivers are required and if so whether they are available. It does rather depend on how the Zip is connected. If internal it may need no special drivers. -- Mike Maltby JNB wrote: OK....will a memory stick in a USB port work? Also, I have a ZIP drive on the computer. Please guide me, I speak some the language but as you can tell I really am a novice. |
#16
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Incomplete startup of Me
Mike wrote :-
Whenever that has happened ... the problem has always been cleared by scandisk running automatically following a reboot. Unless of course one cancels the 'forced' scandisk operation as being irrelevant, totally unnecessary and a compete waste of time VBG (Not exactly unheard of - and not that long ago, either) BTW - WinMe Auto-update is still working - just tried it this morning. Mart "Mike M" wrote in message Mart, I had thought along much the same lines as yourself, that is, that Safe Mode had "hung" at around the point the desktop is usually displayed. Whenever that has happened to me the problem has always been cleared by scandisk running automatically following a reboot. -- Mike Maltby |
#17
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Incomplete startup of Me
Sorry for the delay guys....i'm having to use someone elses
computer/connection so there is a delay between reading you comments and trying/checking stuff and replying. Anyway...scandisk did run automatically, i've learned that when the system hangs and I have to use the power button to shut down that scandisk finishes alot faster if i start in Safe Mode. Then I do an orderly shutdown from Safe Mode and then it has always powered up normally. However, now after scandisk finishes it goes to the grey screen that I mentioned before and hangs...I cant do anything. I dont recall now if scandisk runs automatically anymore after i use the power button to shutdown from the hung state (I'll have to go back and try it) Also, one mystery that I can clear up is the reason there is a very recent .cab available from scanreg /restore is that I after you guys turned me on to scanreg I noticed its "backup" option and used it to create the .cab. The other 4 that show up in the list now are several years old. Is this still the right way to proceed? I'm deathly afraid I'll blow away data etc if I try this and it doesnt work. For now though from DOS, I've looked around on the C: drive and it looks like all is still intact and the HDD is OK. I havent tried saving to the memory stick yet but that will be my next step...or should I just take the HDD to another computer and back it up there first? "Mart" wrote: Mike wrote :- Whenever that has happened ... the problem has always been cleared by scandisk running automatically following a reboot. Unless of course one cancels the 'forced' scandisk operation as being irrelevant, totally unnecessary and a compete waste of time VBG (Not exactly unheard of - and not that long ago, either) BTW - WinMe Auto-update is still working - just tried it this morning. Mart "Mike M" wrote in message Mart, I had thought along much the same lines as yourself, that is, that Safe Mode had "hung" at around the point the desktop is usually displayed. Whenever that has happened to me the problem has always been cleared by scandisk running automatically following a reboot. -- Mike Maltby |
#18
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Incomplete startup of Me
No 'solutions' I'm afraid but a couple of further pointers which might be
worth looking at :- "How to Troubleshoot Windows Millennium Edition Startup Problems" http://support.microsoft.com/kb/273738/en-us Virus has to be a (strong?) contender - as mentioned in the KB article. Try F-Protect for DOS from http://www.f-prot.com/download/ BTW - May be worth throwing as much hardware off as you can (especially USB), leaving minimal kit - Monitor, Keyboard and (preferably) serial or ps/2 Mouse. Also :- "How to Start the System Restore Tool from a Command Prompt" http://support.microsoft.com/kb/279736/en-us But the fact that you haven't got any *recent* .CAB files (typically 5) - as Mike has already pointed out - is a major worry, especially for the days leading up to the day on which your PC went down. ..or should I just take the HDD to another computer and back it up there first? If you've got some serious (personal) data which you can't afford to lose, then Yes! Mart "JNB" wrote in message ... Sorry for the delay guys....i'm having to use someone elses computer/connection so there is a delay between reading you comments and trying/checking stuff and replying. Anyway...scandisk did run automatically, i've learned that when the system hangs and I have to use the power button to shut down that scandisk finishes alot faster if i start in Safe Mode. Then I do an orderly shutdown from Safe Mode and then it has always powered up normally. However, now after scandisk finishes it goes to the grey screen that I mentioned before and hangs...I cant do anything. I dont recall now if scandisk runs automatically anymore after i use the power button to shutdown from the hung state (I'll have to go back and try it) Also, one mystery that I can clear up is the reason there is a very recent .cab available from scanreg /restore is that I after you guys turned me on to scanreg I noticed its "backup" option and used it to create the .cab. The other 4 that show up in the list now are several years old. Is this still the right way to proceed? I'm deathly afraid I'll blow away data etc if I try this and it doesnt work. For now though from DOS, I've looked around on the C: drive and it looks like all is still intact and the HDD is OK. I havent tried saving to the memory stick yet but that will be my next step...or should I just take the HDD to another computer and back it up there first? |
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