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#1
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ME system freezing
ME will only boot in safe mode. Lost mouse capabilities but when screen
hasn't frozen i can use keystrokes. Looked thru previous posts, downloaded exe from bootdisk.com & was able to do a system restore [only had choice of going back to a restore point from back in Dec 04.] Booted normal first time but system hung and now back in safe mode only and getting frequent freezing when trying to restart now. Trying again tonight but thought someone might have some tips esp with the mouse issue. Thanks for your time |
#2
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If you really have used system restore to roll back to Dec 2004 I suspect
you've now managed to thoroughly trash your system. The reason being that I doubt that your hard disk is big enough to record and archive all the changes that you have made to your system in the last nine months. So having a checkpoint nine months old suggests that either system restore has been broken for many months or alternatively that you have rarely used or switched on your PC in those nine months. However I'm just a little intrigued though as to how you managed to use system restore from a boot floppy? Did you perhaps use scanreg /restore instead? If the latter there is just a chance that you can fix your problems by booting to Safe Mode and using system restore. If however you really did use system restore I think that this is a time when I would get out my backup and restore my system to the latest backup. You do backup your system regularly I hope? -- Mike Maltby luvbuffalo wrote: ME will only boot in safe mode. Lost mouse capabilities but when screen hasn't frozen i can use keystrokes. Looked thru previous posts, downloaded exe from bootdisk.com & was able to do a system restore [only had choice of going back to a restore point from back in Dec 04.] Booted normal first time but system hung and now back in safe mode only and getting frequent freezing when trying to restart now. Trying again tonight but thought someone might have some tips esp with the mouse issue. Thanks for your time |
#3
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Thanks for your feedback. I've read a lot of your posts in other sections
which have been helpful. Hardly any changes to this mildly used PC: HD is 20G only 7G used. I summarized events in my original post. I used floppy for startup then exited the help screen and used scanreg/ restore at c:\ which is where there were two Dec 2004 dates listed there. Should there have been dates for each time i turned on the PC? Same steps last night except when scanreg/restore I also had options for Sept 26 date which is when i was initially having ME problems. But I selected this date and received a message the " you have restored a good registry" then PC restarted and I got the blue screen with VxD dynamic link call: VSDATA95(01)+0002FC36 to "0028", service 800A message. Clicked to Continue Y and then Y again. System ran scandisk but then appeared to start in safe mode [didn't say so onscreen], mouse, internet & other programs weren't working. Able to start/run/msconfig and tried deselecting load VxD but when restarted same problems as before. At some point i also got a message that environment variables were found in the legacy files autoexec.bat and/or config.sys and the variables were moved to windows registry. I just can't rememer where in the sequence this came up. Then ran start/run/msconfig and deselected sys.ini, selected win.ini and load VxD and system restarted - appeared to be safe mode but mouse is working, internet is accessible but sluggish, and i was able to burn some cds with data files. However the system still is like molasses and i suspect is operating in an unstable condition. You're probably sick of hearing this but even though i have data files backed up, i do not have a system image or system backup from when windows ME was working fine [a week ago]. The info on entire system backups for novice users can be confusing and I don't even know which utilities I could have used which would have backed up a system that is 7G of prgrams and files when I only have a cd burner. I've been reading posts on the discussion groups and microsoft support pages to get me to this point so far. I need to figure out what's wrong with the sys.ini files or it looks like i might have to do a reinstall? "Mike M" wrote: If you really have used system restore to roll back to Dec 2004 I suspect you've now managed to thoroughly trash your system. The reason being that I doubt that your hard disk is big enough to record and archive all the changes that you have made to your system in the last nine months. So having a checkpoint nine months old suggests that either system restore has been broken for many months or alternatively that you have rarely used or switched on your PC in those nine months. However I'm just a little intrigued though as to how you managed to use system restore from a boot floppy? Did you perhaps use scanreg /restore instead? If the latter there is just a chance that you can fix your problems by booting to Safe Mode and using system restore. If however you really did use system restore I think that this is a time when I would get out my backup and restore my system to the latest backup. You do backup your system regularly I hope? -- Mike Maltby luvbuffalo wrote: ME will only boot in safe mode. Lost mouse capabilities but when screen hasn't frozen i can use keystrokes. Looked thru previous posts, downloaded exe from bootdisk.com & was able to do a system restore [only had choice of going back to a restore point from back in Dec 04.] Booted normal first time but system hung and now back in safe mode only and getting frequent freezing when trying to restart now. Trying again tonight but thought someone might have some tips esp with the mouse issue. Thanks for your time |
#5
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Sorry about my confusion system restore vs. scanreg/restore.
I'll do as you're suggesting for booting in safe mode and look for a restore point. It seems I can manually create a system restore point but this is not happening automatically. How would I go about diagnosing this problem? Zone Alarm was downloaded only a month ago, no system restore point shows this though. As far as the registry backup, I didn't disable anything (not intentionally anyway). Where should I check why the regular creation of a registry backup the first time switch on your PC each day isn't occuring. If I get my system working properly I want to make sure I fix this and the system restore. Yes I meant system.ini - I was reading my shorthand notes from last night as I was typing the post. Thanks a bunch. You're an invaluable resource for us. "Mike M" wrote: So you did use scanreg /restore. Your original post said you used system restore, something which is impossible from a DOS prompt unlike scanreg /restore and is a totally different beast from scanreg /restore.. Hence my confusion, comments and questions. Regardless of however rarely used restoring a nine month old registry is invariably going to cause problems even if not major as it will contain no details of any changes made to your system or software installed or upgraded in the last nine months. That you have no later backed up version of the registry is itself worrying unless you have, unwisely in my opinion, chosen to disable the regular creation of a registry backup the first time you switch on your PC each day. Your VSDATA95 error. This is a Zone Alarm error. Try booting to Safe Mode and uninstalling Zone Alarm however I don't know what is going to happen if you have made any changes to ZA in the last nine months. I think at this stage however I should repeat part of my original post. That is to boot to Safe Mode and use system restore and pick a checkpoint created around the time the problem started and not one from nine months ago. If, in fact, you have a nine month old system restore checkpoint then this would suggest that system restore is also broken just like the separate mechanism used to create the backup copies of the registry used by scanreg. I need to figure out what's wrong with the sys.ini Sadly I haven't a clue as to what you are referring to here. I feel system.ini (not sys.ini) is unlikely to be a factor in the problems you are having. Zone Alarm seems to me to be much more likely a cause of the problem. Best of luck, -- Mike Maltby luvbuffalo wrote: Thanks for your feedback. I've read a lot of your posts in other sections which have been helpful. Hardly any changes to this mildly used PC: HD is 20G only 7G used. I summarized events in my original post. I used floppy for startup then exited the help screen and used scanreg/ restore at c:\ which is where there were two Dec 2004 dates listed there. Should there have been dates for each time i turned on the PC? Same steps last night except when scanreg/restore I also had options for Sept 26 date which is when i was initially having ME problems. But I selected this date and received a message the " you have restored a good registry" then PC restarted and I got the blue screen with VxD dynamic link call: VSDATA95(01)+0002FC36 to "0028", service 800A message. Clicked to Continue Y and then Y again. System ran scandisk but then appeared to start in safe mode [didn't say so onscreen], mouse, internet & other programs weren't working. Able to start/run/msconfig and tried deselecting load VxD but when restarted same problems as before. At some point i also got a message that environment variables were found in the legacy files autoexec.bat and/or config.sys and the variables were moved to windows registry. I just can't rememer where in the sequence this came up. Then ran start/run/msconfig and deselected sys.ini, selected win.ini and load VxD and system restarted - appeared to be safe mode but mouse is working, internet is accessible but sluggish, and i was able to burn some cds with data files. However the system still is like molasses and i suspect is operating in an unstable condition. You're probably sick of hearing this but even though i have data files backed up, i do not have a system image or system backup from when windows ME was working fine [a week ago]. The info on entire system backups for novice users can be confusing and I don't even know which utilities I could have used which would have backed up a system that is 7G of prgrams and files when I only have a cd burner. I've been reading posts on the discussion groups and microsoft support pages to get me to this point so far. I need to figure out what's wrong with the sys.ini files or it looks like i might have to do a reinstall? |
#6
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How would I go about diagnosing this problem?
Let's deal with one thing at a time. If your system won't boot you have more important problems to resolve first. I'll do as you're suggesting for booting in safe mode and look for a restore point. It seems I can manually create a system restore point but this is not happening automatically. So if you can create a manual checkpoint (presumably in Safe Mode) when was the last checkpoint created? Unless no more than a week perhaps at the most two weeks ago I think you can forget about system restore solving your problems in the same way you can forget about scanreg /restore. With luck you might be able to get your system running OK, or at least good enough to boot into Normal Mode after which we can deal with any other problems you might have. As far as the registry backup, I didn't disable anything (not intentionally anyway). Where should I check why the regular creation of a registry backup the first time switch on your PC each day isn't occuring. As I've already mentioned, let's deal with one thing at a time. So my suggestions would be to: a) Boot to Safe Mode, remove ZA. Can you now boot into Normal Mode? If not, what errors do you see? Next b) Boot To Safe Mode and use system restore Can you now boot into Normal Mode? If not what errors do you see? Best of luck, -- Mike Maltby luvbuffalo wrote: Sorry about my confusion system restore vs. scanreg/restore. I'll do as you're suggesting for booting in safe mode and look for a restore point. It seems I can manually create a system restore point but this is not happening automatically. How would I go about diagnosing this problem? Zone Alarm was downloaded only a month ago, no system restore point shows this though. As far as the registry backup, I didn't disable anything (not intentionally anyway). Where should I check why the regular creation of a registry backup the first time switch on your PC each day isn't occuring. If I get my system working properly I want to make sure I fix this and the system restore. Yes I meant system.ini - I was reading my shorthand notes from last night as I was typing the post. Thanks a bunch. You're an invaluable resource for us. |
#7
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No luck so far.
a) Boot to Safe Mode, remove ZA. Can you now boot into Normal Mode? If not, what errors do you see? Booted to Safe Mode, removed ZA then clicked start/run/msconfig & checked the normal startup button & rebooted: Display still looks like it does when it is in safe mode Error message Problem w/ shortcut "mount safe & sound volumes.lnk" clicked ok Error message "Freedom has caused an error in kernel32.dll" (Freedom is Adelphia's antivirus/antispyware program) clicked ok No mouse capabilities I used tab button to get to start/run/msconfig and chose selective start and selected win.ini & load static VxD rebooted back to safe mode, uninstalled Freedom, then rebooted, can't get it working with normal startup b) Boot To Safe Mode and use system restore Can you now boot into Normal Mode? If not what errors do you see? I have no system restore points to select other than from this past week which are all problem points. Cannot boot to normal Looks like I might have to try to do a clean re-install "Mike M" wrote: How would I go about diagnosing this problem? Let's deal with one thing at a time. If your system won't boot you have more important problems to resolve first. I'll do as you're suggesting for booting in safe mode and look for a restore point. It seems I can manually create a system restore point but this is not happening automatically. So if you can create a manual checkpoint (presumably in Safe Mode) when was the last checkpoint created? Unless no more than a week perhaps at the most two weeks ago I think you can forget about system restore solving your problems in the same way you can forget about scanreg /restore. With luck you might be able to get your system running OK, or at least good enough to boot into Normal Mode after which we can deal with any other problems you might have. As far as the registry backup, I didn't disable anything (not intentionally anyway). Where should I check why the regular creation of a registry backup the first time switch on your PC each day isn't occuring. As I've already mentioned, let's deal with one thing at a time. So my suggestions would be to: a) Boot to Safe Mode, remove ZA. Can you now boot into Normal Mode? If not, what errors do you see? Next b) Boot To Safe Mode and use system restore Can you now boot into Normal Mode? If not what errors do you see? Best of luck, -- Mike Maltby luvbuffalo wrote: Sorry about my confusion system restore vs. scanreg/restore. I'll do as you're suggesting for booting in safe mode and look for a restore point. It seems I can manually create a system restore point but this is not happening automatically. How would I go about diagnosing this problem? Zone Alarm was downloaded only a month ago, no system restore point shows this though. As far as the registry backup, I didn't disable anything (not intentionally anyway). Where should I check why the regular creation of a registry backup the first time switch on your PC each day isn't occuring. If I get my system working properly I want to make sure I fix this and the system restore. Yes I meant system.ini - I was reading my shorthand notes from last night as I was typing the post. Thanks a bunch. You're an invaluable resource for us. |
#8
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luvbuffalo wrote:
No luck so far. Booted to Safe Mode, removed ZA Good then clicked start/run/msconfig & checked the normal startup button & rebooted: Why? What did you have that was checked and why? It is quite normal to have Selective startup checked with "Load startup group items" checked but greyed. This simply indicates that the user has an unchecked entry in MSConfig | Startup however the system still boots in Normal Mode but just doesn't load the unchecked entry. For example many users including myself have the PCHealth entry unchecked (this relates to the PCHealth Scheduler for data collection and has nothing to do with System Restore). How do you usually boot to Normal Mode? To do so shouldn't require any editing of MSConfig. Display still looks like it does when it is in safe mode Are you saying that it has Safe Mode written in each corner of the desktop? If not then the problem is down to your probably needing to reinstall your video drivers. Error message Problem w/ shortcut "mount safe & sound volumes.lnk" Probably a result of running with a nine month old copy of the registry and that in the last nine months or so you have deleted the target for this shortcut which is probably located in the windows\start menu\programs\startup folder. A trivial problem that can be easily resolved by removing the non functioning shortcut or unchecking the entry in MSConfig | Startup clicked ok Error message "Freedom has caused an error in kernel32.dll" (Freedom is Adelphia's antivirus/antispyware program) clicked ok Again probably the result of running a nine month old copy of the registry. No mouse capabilities Is this in Safe Mode or Normal Mode? Is this a USB mouse? If so this won't normally work in Safe Mode unless you have selected legacy usb support in the system bios. I used tab button to get to start/run/msconfig and chose selective start Which, of course has nothing to do with running Safe Mode. and selected win.ini & load static VxD rebooted back to safe mode How? uninstalled Freedom, then rebooted, can't get it working with normal startup As I have repeatedly said with a nine month old copy of the registry I'm not surprised you system does not work. I have no system restore points to select other than from this past week which are all problem points. Cannot boot to normal Odd, I thought a few lines above you were saying that you could boot to Normal Mode. Looks like I might have to try to do a clean re-install. Indeed. -- Mike Maltby |
#9
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I was so concerned after you told me I have may have trashed my system for
using a nine-month old registry that I restored back to a registry from Sept 26. At that date I was only having the Zone Alarm VxD dynamic link problem but at least the registry was current. Ahhhh! Clearing I’m misunderstanding what normal mode is. I was thinking that normal mode would mean not “safe mode� and that I would get back the blue standard background and the 800x 600 pixels used for my screen area. But also, that having “normal startup� selected in the system configuration utility [with all items checked] would get the system to load installed drivers & configuration details that existed when the system was built. [to hopefully correct my display and mouse (not a USB mouse) problems] If I want to be able to use the mouse, I have to change system configuration utility to selective startup and deselect system.ini but other all other options can be selected [win.ini, load static VxD etc.] So now I power on with the selective startup with win.ini and load statice VXD selected and the screen does not say safe mode in the corners [although it gives the same appearance as it did when I did boot in safe mode]. So it looks like the system is operating in normal mode but I might only need to reinstall the video drivers. It is quite normal to have Selective startup checked with "Load startup group items" checked but greyed. This simply indicates that the user has an unchecked entry in MSConfig | Startup however the system still boots in Normal Mode but just doesn't load the unchecked entry. Thanks for the info, I wondered about this! Your patience & knowledge has really been appreciated "Mike M" wrote: luvbuffalo wrote: No luck so far. Booted to Safe Mode, removed ZA Good then clicked start/run/msconfig & checked the normal startup button & rebooted: Why? What did you have that was checked and why? It is quite normal to have Selective startup checked with "Load startup group items" checked but greyed. This simply indicates that the user has an unchecked entry in MSConfig | Startup however the system still boots in Normal Mode but just doesn't load the unchecked entry. For example many users including myself have the PCHealth entry unchecked (this relates to the PCHealth Scheduler for data collection and has nothing to do with System Restore). How do you usually boot to Normal Mode? To do so shouldn't require any editing of MSConfig. Display still looks like it does when it is in safe mode Are you saying that it has Safe Mode written in each corner of the desktop? If not then the problem is down to your probably needing to reinstall your video drivers. Error message Problem w/ shortcut "mount safe & sound volumes.lnk" Probably a result of running with a nine month old copy of the registry and that in the last nine months or so you have deleted the target for this shortcut which is probably located in the windows\start menu\programs\startup folder. A trivial problem that can be easily resolved by removing the non functioning shortcut or unchecking the entry in MSConfig | Startup clicked ok Error message "Freedom has caused an error in kernel32.dll" (Freedom is Adelphia's antivirus/antispyware program) clicked ok Again probably the result of running a nine month old copy of the registry. No mouse capabilities Is this in Safe Mode or Normal Mode? Is this a USB mouse? If so this won't normally work in Safe Mode unless you have selected legacy usb support in the system bios. I used tab button to get to start/run/msconfig and chose selective start Which, of course has nothing to do with running Safe Mode. and selected win.ini & load static VxD rebooted back to safe mode How? uninstalled Freedom, then rebooted, can't get it working with normal startup As I have repeatedly said with a nine month old copy of the registry I'm not surprised you system does not work. I have no system restore points to select other than from this past week which are all problem points. Cannot boot to normal Odd, I thought a few lines above you were saying that you could boot to Normal Mode. Looks like I might have to try to do a clean re-install. Indeed. -- Mike Maltby |
#10
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luvbuffalo wrote:
I was so concerned after you told me I have may have trashed my system for using a nine-month old registry that I restored back to a registry from Sept 26. At that date I was only having the Zone Alarm VxD dynamic link problem but at least the registry was current. Good. In all honesty I should have suggested this myself rather than leaving you to work out that this was a reasonable option. Ahhhh! Clearing I’m misunderstanding what normal mode is. I was thinking that normal mode would mean not “safe mode� Normal Mode means booting into Win Me directly on switching on and loading all the various drivers, etc. that are required to run your system. Safe Mode means booting with a very restricted set of drivers and is usually done by tapping the F8 key as Win Me starts up and then selecting Safe Mode from the menu that is presented. and that I would get back the blue standard background and the 800x 600 pixels used for my screen area. In normal mode the resolution and colour of your desktop are dependent on your graphics card and its drivers and your monitor and how you have configured them. In safe mode minimal graphics drivers are installed with low resolution and colour depth - just sufficient for you to be able to read the screen whilst carrying out maintenance. But also, that having “normal startup� selected in the system configuration utility [with all items checked] would get the system to load installed drivers & configuration details that existed when the system was built. [to hopefully correct my display and mouse (not a USB mouse) problems] If I want to be able to use the mouse, I have to change system configuration utility to selective startup and deselect system.ini but other all other options can be selected [win.ini, load static VxD etc.] Good. So you have now localised where the cause of your mouse problem appears to lie. The contents of system.ini. By default the entries relating to your mouse in system.ini should be something like [boot.description] .... mouse.drv=Microsoft Mouse [See note a)] .... [386Enh] .... mouse=*vmouse, msmouse.vxd .... Note a) Text after = sign may differ depending on what if any mouse software you may have installed. For example a system here running Win Me with Microsoft Intellipoint installed reads mouse.drv=Microsoft IntelliPoint No doubt installing Logitech mouse drivers would make a reference here to Logitech. So now I power on with the selective startup with win.ini and load statice VXD selected and the screen does not say safe mode in the corners [although it gives the same appearance as it did when I did boot in safe mode]. So it looks like the system is operating in normal mode but I might only need to reinstall the video drivers. Again good. Before you do that you might want to try the following. Boot to Safe Mode, open the Device Manager (Control Panel | System | Device Manager) and delete the entry for your video card in the Display Adapters section. Now boot back into Normal Mode and Win Me should redetect your graphics card and reinstall your driver. This may or may not work depending on the cause of the problem but if it does you won't need to download and install a new set of Win Me drivers from the manufacturer's web site. It is quite normal to have Selective startup checked with "Load startup group items" checked but greyed. This simply indicates that the user has an unchecked entry in MSConfig | Startup however the system still boots in Normal Mode but just doesn't load the unchecked entry. Thanks for the info, I wondered about this! I can't help but wonder if the lack of backed up copies of the registry predating your problem (there will however only ever be 5 copies at any one time) is due to the ScanRegistry (scanregw) entry having been unchecked in MSConfig | Startup. Your patience & knowledge has really been appreciated It seems to me that your "To Do" agenda now should be: a) Resolve your video display problems, hopefully this will be fixed by reinstalling your current drivers but if not by downloading and installing a new set. b) Resolve your mouse problems by checking system.ini for errors. c) Reinstalling your antispyware/antivirus application d) Reinstalling your firewall But before c and d I would suggest checking out that system restore is functioning correctly. Please post back after you have tried to fix a), your display problems, and we can try and sort out the system.ini problem and then check out system restore. Cheers, -- Mike Maltby |
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