catch 22

I had to reinstall WinME and I seem to be caught in a catch-22 situation.
Perhaps someone can help?
I am using a Compaq PC and it came with a resource CD, which only allows to
do a "factory reinstall". Although I am losing all data that I have on the
PC, that's the only thing I can do. I am using the PC mainly for email, light
word processing, etc., and as a gateway for a home network. The CD is a
couple of years old, so I need to download updates from the web.
So, after I "factory reinstall" WinME, everything seems fine. After that I
need to install the two network cards, and that seems to be OK also. Then I
start installing the updates, and at some point I get an error message from
the "Registry Checker", that some of my registry entries cannot be read. The
registry checker then says that it will "fix" the errors and restart Windows.
When Windows comes back, it inevitably has reverted to a point where none of
the updates are installed and the system cannot find one of the network
cards. So, it is back to square one: Install the network card drivers, start
updating the software until the Registry checker comes up again. Etc., etc.
I did a full hard disk check to find out if something is wrong with the
disk, but it came back "0 bytes in bad sectors".
Any help? Do I need to apply the updates (there are 21 critical updates) in
a particular order? If so, how do I find out which order to use?

mikebo

mikebo wrote:

I had to reinstall WinME and I seem to be caught in a catch-22 situation.
Perhaps someone can help?
I am using a Compaq PC and it came with a resource CD, which only allows to
do a "factory reinstall". Although I am losing all data that I have on the
PC, that's the only thing I can do. I am using the PC mainly for email, light
word processing, etc., and as a gateway for a home network. The CD is a
couple of years old, so I need to download updates from the web.
So, after I "factory reinstall" WinME, everything seems fine. After that I
need to install the two network cards, and that seems to be OK also. Then I
start installing the updates, and at some point I get an error message from
the "Registry Checker", that some of my registry entries cannot be read. The
registry checker then says that it will "fix" the errors and restart Windows.
When Windows comes back, it inevitably has reverted to a point where none of
the updates are installed and the system cannot find one of the network
cards. So, it is back to square one: Install the network card drivers, start
updating the software until the Registry checker comes up again. Etc., etc.
I did a full hard disk check to find out if something is wrong with the
disk, but it came back "0 bytes in bad sectors".
Any help? Do I need to apply the updates (there are 21 critical updates) in
a particular order? If so, how do I find out which order to use?

mikebo

It sounds as though you are installing the updates in several batches,
and are rebooting the computer between each batch.

What you need to do is to create a registry backup immediately after
each reboot, prior to commencing the next update sequence.

To do this use Start - Run and enter the following command:

SCANREGW /BACKUP

That way if Windows has to restore the registry after the next reboot
it will have a more recent backup to restore from. Normally registry
backups are only made once a day.

It might also be helpful if you kept a written list of the specific
updates you installed each time. That way if a problem occurs we can
possibly help you to isolate the specific update that is causing the
problem.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."