Help!!! with Windows ME reinstall

Sam87 · External Since: Aug 16, 2004 Posts: 115

When I purchased my PC, I had Windows ME. Later I upgraded it to Windows XP
professional 2002 (Service pack 2). A couple of days ago, my PC crashed. So I
thought of using the recovery CD's that came with the PC when I bought it. It
seems that I have successfully re-installed Windows ME and after I took out
the recovery CD from the CD ROM drive, it rebooted (as it had instructed me).
After rebooting, it is stuck on the very first screen (black screen) where it
shows the PCI device listing....
I had thought that once ME is reinstalled and the PC reboos, I'll upgrade it
to XP professional (since I only have the upgrade CD of XP professional)
Can someone please help....
Sam

Ian Shef · External Since: Jan 08, 2007 Posts: 5

=?Utf-8?B?U2Ft?= <Sam.RemoveThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
news:93B39E46-AB0F-41DE-8147-2DBD6595A2D7@microsoft.com:

> When I purchased my PC, I had Windows ME. Later I upgraded it to Windows
> XP professional 2002 (Service pack 2). A couple of days ago, my PC
> crashed. So I thought of using the recovery CD's that came with the PC
> when I bought it. It seems that I have successfully re-installed Windows
> ME and after I took out the recovery CD from the CD ROM drive, it
> rebooted (as it had instructed me). After rebooting, it is stuck on the
> very first screen (black screen) where it shows the PCI device
> listing.... I had thought that once ME is reinstalled and the PC reboos,
> I'll upgrade it to XP professional (since I only have the upgrade CD of
> XP professional) Can someone please help....
> Sam
>

Why reinstall ME ? I don't think that you need to do this.

You should be able to use your XP Pro upgrade CD (as long as you can boot
from a CD). Just have your ME CD available to provide evidence of an upgrade
when the installation program asks for it.

But...
.... what do you mean by "crashed"? Could this have anything to do with the
problems that you are having now?

An OS crash does not usually involve reinstalling the OS. If your hardware
died, then no amount of installs is going to fix it. What really happened?

--
Ian Shef 805/F6 * These are my personal opinions
Raytheon Company * and not those of my employer.
PO Box 11337 *
Tucson, AZ 85734-1337 *

Sam87 · External Since: Aug 16, 2004 Posts: 115

well, the problem was that the PC kept on rebooting and wouldn't boot in safe
mode either. So I thouht of reinstalling the OS. Finally, last night I was
able to reinstall ME after having reloaded and reformatted atleast 5-6 times,
everything went well and I was able to upgade the PC to XP Pro as well. Then
I downloaded an oaded yahoo msgr, netscape & MSN msgr was also loaded and
then when I loaded skype, it started to reboot continuously and wouldn't
allow me to log in the safe mode either... then I thought of going through
the whole process again (loading ME with the recovery CDs and then upgrading
to XP with the upgrade CD), but then thrice I tried to load ME and everytime,
when both recovery CD's are loaded, it gives a terminating error and shuts
down the PC. If the PC is just switched on, it says that it doesn't have any
OS. So don't know what to do....

Please help......

"Ian Shef" wrote:

> =?Utf-8?B?U2Ft?= <Sam.DeleteThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> news:93B39E46-AB0F-41DE-8147-2DBD6595A2D7@microsoft.com:
>
> > When I purchased my PC, I had Windows ME. Later I upgraded it to Windows
> > XP professional 2002 (Service pack 2). A couple of days ago, my PC
> > crashed. So I thought of using the recovery CD's that came with the PC
> > when I bought it. It seems that I have successfully re-installed Windows
> > ME and after I took out the recovery CD from the CD ROM drive, it
> > rebooted (as it had instructed me). After rebooting, it is stuck on the
> > very first screen (black screen) where it shows the PCI device
> > listing.... I had thought that once ME is reinstalled and the PC reboos,
> > I'll upgrade it to XP professional (since I only have the upgrade CD of
> > XP professional) Can someone please help....
> > Sam
> >
>
> Why reinstall ME ? I don't think that you need to do this.
>
> You should be able to use your XP Pro upgrade CD (as long as you can boot
> from a CD). Just have your ME CD available to provide evidence of an upgrade
> when the installation program asks for it.
>
> But...
> .... what do you mean by "crashed"? Could this have anything to do with the
> problems that you are having now?
>
> An OS crash does not usually involve reinstalling the OS. If your hardware
> died, then no amount of installs is going to fix it. What really happened?
>
>
>
> --
> Ian Shef 805/F6 * These are my personal opinions
> Raytheon Company * and not those of my employer.
> PO Box 11337 *
> Tucson, AZ 85734-1337 *
>

Ian Shef · External Since: Jan 08, 2007 Posts: 5

=?Utf-8?B?U2Ft?= <Sam DeleteThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
news:50586E62-68F6-4588-90E7-2CC96C3DF29E@microsoft.com:

> well, the problem was that the PC kept on rebooting and wouldn't boot in
> safe mode either. So I thouht of reinstalling the OS. Finally, last
> night I was able to reinstall ME after having reloaded and reformatted
> atleast 5-6 times, everything went well and I was able to upgade the PC
> to XP Pro as well. Then I downloaded an oaded yahoo msgr, netscape & MSN
> msgr was also loaded and then when I loaded skype, it started to reboot
> continuously and wouldn't allow me to log in the safe mode either...
> then I thought of going through the whole process again (loading ME with
> the recovery CDs and then upgrading to XP with the upgrade CD), but then
> thrice I tried to load ME and everytime, when both recovery CD's are
> loaded, it gives a terminating error and shuts down the PC. If the PC is
> just switched on, it says that it doesn't have any OS. So don't know
> what to do....
>
> Please help......
>

It sounds to me like you have a hardware problem. It could be minor, it
could be expensive. What you do at this point depends upon whether:

1) Your existing computer is under warranty. Seeing as how you had Windows
ME on it, this is unlikely.
2) You have the knowledge and aptitude for digging into the hardware, and
like a challenge.
3) You have another PC or other hardware that is available.

If it was me, I would unplug everything (memory, cables, add-on cards,
etc.) and plug it back in on the chance that something had just gotten
loose. This requires tools, care, and attention to ESD procedures.

If this failed, then it is necessary to start by elimination. For example,
does the disk drive (and controller if not on the motherboard) work in
another PC? Does the memory work elsewhere? If there are two or more
memory sticks, what happens if you remove one or the other?

What is the temperature of the CPU when the failures occur? Are all of the
fans blowing well?

It could be a power supply that is dying. Do you have another one that you
could substitute?

I have seen disk drive cables go bad, slowly. Do you have others that you
could substitute?

Etc. etc. etc.

As you can see, there are many paths depending upon what hardware is in
your PC and what other hardware you have available. It also depends upon
your knowledge and patience and budget and how much time you have
available. (If budget is no object, then just by a new PC!). There are
also risks here, since a beginner is likely to break something or make
mistakes in the process. Even pros slip up from time to time.

It would also be a good idea to think about what you have done to your PC
lately. Has it been moved around? Has it been transported to LAN parties?
Are there other things that you have done to the PC lately? What has
changed in its environment?

The above description is necessarily sketchy as I don't know the details of
your hardware - and sorry, but I don't want to know. I am not going to
attempt to lead someone through troubleshooting via Usenet News. I don;t
mean to be unfriendly, I want to help but it would overburden me.

Perhaps someone else (preferably a friend of yours who lives nearby and has
knowledge, tools and lots of time) can help. Perhaps there is a computer
shop nearby that can troubleshoot this for you, such as (in the USA) Data
Doctors or the Best Buy Geek squad.

Good Luck!

--
Ian Shef 805/F6 * These are my personal opinions
Raytheon Company * and not those of my employer.
PO Box 11337 *
Tucson, AZ 85734-1337 *