# [Resolved] WinMe won't boot!



## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

First I have a problem w/ my old comp. that has Win98, and now my newer comp. w/ WinMe. It doesn't even get to the active desktop. It just starts booting and then just goes to a black screen. After i restarted it, it went to the 4 choices to choose from, and it won't even boot in Safe Mode. I don't know what to do. I think i might be able to fix it, but i don't have any WinMe discs or anything. i'm sure i have them, i just don't know where. is there anything i can do? i have Win98 discs, and all i want are the files from it now because i'im thinking of getting a new computer anyway, so i just want some files from there. can i somehow put 98 on there and use 98 instead? or is there some way that i can get Me back? please help, and thanks in advance!


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

Only if you have the Win98 OS on CD as well. If it is getting to the menu section for Safe Mode there is an OS on there. How long are you waiting for the OS to load before giving up?


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## Guest (Jul 6, 2003)

Windows Emergency BootDiskette, EBD http://www.putergeek.com/winme_boot/startup.gif STARTUP-DISK

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win98/r1056381292 QuickCleanUpBootDisk

And ALL http://www.computerhope.com/msdos.htm DOS COMMANDS

A:\>scandisk /all /surface

A:\>scanreg /fix /opt

A:\>scanreg /restore

A:\>scanregw

etc.

Manual deletion of: TEMP folders, Temporary Internet Files, (_RESTORE & Datacoll, ME) from DOS prompt.

A:\>DELTREE C:\WINDOWS\TEMP , [ENTER] will delete the TEMP folder and sub-folders.

A:\>DELTREE C:\WINDOWS\Tempor~1 , [ENTER] will delete the Temporary Internet Files.

A:\>DELTREE C:\_RESTORE , [ENTER] will delete the _RESTORE folder AND sub-folders.

A:\>DEL C:\WINDOWS\PCHEALTH\HELPCTR\DATACOLL\*.* , will delete the useless DATACOLL files whilst you are doing this.

DISKEEPER LITE DEFRAG for 98/ME [12.5Mb] href="http://www1.execsoft.com/dklite.exe DIRECT_DOWNLOAD

http://www.mirrors.org/archived_software/www.bootdisk.com/original.htm BOOTDISK ARCHIVE

Making a SYSTEM SPECIFIC bootdisk, using a bootdisk from a ... DIFFERENT ... computer:

Type: A:\>copy C:\windows\command\ebd A:\ , then ... REMOVE ... the first bootdisk!

Insert a ... NEW ... formatted diskette, and press enter.

That way you get YOUR computers system files onto the bootdiskette so that there is no danger of doing:

A:\>sys C:

... and putting ANOTHER computer's system files on by mistake!


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

Sorry about the delay, i couldn't get on the internet because my computer wasn't working, obviously. so i finally put my Ethernet card in my old Win98 comp, so that's how i'm here now. i'm going to try the emergency boot disk.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

What do you guys think is the best way to go through w/ this? i have a emergency boot disk from Norton Utilities that i had on it before, so i scanned the disk and scanned for errors and it fixed some cross-linked files and stuff like that, and i restored the partition tables, but it still didn't boot up. and when i try to start it up in Safe Mode, it gives me an error on a blue screen and i can only restart my computer again, or click enter to continue and when i continue it halts Windows, so i HAVE to restart. so i can use a boot disk, but i don't know what i should do w/ it to make it boot up.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

And what are the _Restore and Datacoll for? i've seen them on my computer before it broke down and i didn't know what they were for. and can i do what he said w/ the boot disk by deleting them and deleting the temp. interent files using the Norton Utitilities boot disk? or do i need a new one?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Can you boot to a dos prompt?

Then at the c: prompt, type

cd windows

and hit enter, does it change directories?


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

yes, it does change directories


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

ok, once at windows, type

cd options, then enter

does it change?

If so, type

cd cabs, then enter

does it change?


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

yup, it changed for both of them. wow, i didn't know that those were directories in the Windows dir.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, this is a long shot, but type

setup

and press enter

I *think* Windows should attempt to reinstall if someone put things where they were supposed to.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

nope, nothing happened. looked through the files in it and there was no setup.exe or anything like that. if you need to know if there is a certain file in there i'll tell you. and i found a WinMe update disc if that'll help me at all. it's not the actual OS disc, it's for updating from 95 or 98 or 98SE. i dunno if it'll help or not.


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Help me out. If you're here on the Win98 system, what's wrong with it that you are trying to run setup or upgrade?

If it's the WinME system that isn't booting, you can't boot to a c:> prompt. You must use a WinME startup disk to first get to an a:> prompt. From there you might try *scanreg /restore*


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

yeah, i already booted to the a: prompt and now i'm using scandisk right now. i'll do scanreg after. i had to move the scandisk.exe from the c:\windows\command, though. is scanreg in there too?


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

i tried scanreg, but it doesn't go back far enough to a place where it'll boot up normally, it still gives me errors when i boot up at the latest place possible


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

If you used a proper WinME startup disk you should be able to run scanreg /restore from the a:> prompt.

However if you used any other, the correct path information is not loaded and you must first enter:

cd c:\windows\command

and run it from the command directory.

give *scanreg /fix*

a run.

I'd also recommend some ram diagnostics:

http://www.simmtester.com/page/products/doc/DocMemSignIn.asp


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Also, you might try starting with a different shell file than the normal explorer. If you can do this, you may be able to do a System Restore.

from the Windows directory (cd c:windows), enter:

*edit system.ini*

The system.ini file should open in the DOS editor. Look for the

*shell=explorer.exe* file under the Boot header and change the line to read:

*shell=progman.exe*

Press alt+f, then x to access the save and exit menu, save the file, exit and ctrl-alt-del to reboot.

If you get to progman, Click File>run and enter *msconfig* and launch system restore.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q279736&ID=KB;EN-US;Q279736


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

so what if there's nothing in system.ini? should i add those two things in?


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

nevermind, there is something in there, i was just looking in the wrong folder. so it's supposed to be progman.exe, not program.exe?


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

There is NOTHING in system.ini???

Are you sure you are running the edit command from

c:\windows\>

If you are not you will just see a blank file.

I can't imagine if you restored a previously working registry that it could be absent from more than one backup. System.ini is one of the files restored along with the registry.

edit:

yes it is *progman.exe*

I included the 'horses mouth' if you wish to review their instructions as well.


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

By the way, my bell's just been rung to remind me that since you are in fact on WinME, your cabinet files are probably in the location:

c:\windows\options\install

Setup can be run from there. But FIRST, you must have a ProductKey a 25 character registration code.

I can give DOS instructions for retrieving it if necessary.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

nope, that didn't work, not even in Safe Mode. Thanks for trying though, i'm glad there are helpful people out there.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

> _Originally posted by Rollin' Rog:_
> *By the way, my bell's just been rung to remind me that since you are in fact on WinME, your cabinet files are probably in the location:
> 
> c:\windows\options\install
> ...


That's even stranger as he found stuff under the cab directory 

Wonder if this is a ME upgrade overtop 98?????


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

do you think a product key from the update disc i have will work? otherwise i don't have one


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Check to see if you have cab files in the location:

c:\windows\options\install

If you do, there should be a setup.exe there. Don't run it yet.

First follow these instructions to find your WinME ProductKey:

Change to the Windows directory and enter the following commands EXACTLY:

*regedit /e regkey.txt HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

edit regkey.txt*

now the registry data should appear in the DOS editor, using your arrow key, scroll until you see ProductKey in the right hand pane. Hopefully it's there. Copy carefully the 25 character code. Double check for accuracy.

Once you have it, exit as before.

You can then enter:

*c:\windows\options\install\setup.exe*

and follow the prompts.

for clarity, I'm including ^ in this command line where spaces go:

regedit^/e^regkey.txt^HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

If the WinME version installed on this system was installed with that update disk, yes. If not, then probably not. 

But if you installed from the Update disk, you can use the update disk to reinstall.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

i tried the regedit, but it said "unable to open registry (1,016) - A:\sytem.dat"


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

You are running the command from the wrong prompt:

A:\sytem.dat"

You must be at c:\windows

from a:> enter:

*c:
cd windows*

then try.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

no, i'm in the right prompt C:\WINDOWS. i tried it over again, but it still says that


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

hmmm,,,, Do you have a Win98 startup disk you can boot with? I think that WinME startup may have buggered the path information to point to the floppy. A Win98 startup floppy won't do that.

Also, try running it from c:\windows\command>


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

k, i'm trying it w/ the 98 disk


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

now it says incorrect MS-DOS Version.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

also, the WinMe boot disk i was using was one made w/ Norton Utilities, so that might've been a reason why it wasn't working.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

What if i would try installing it and using the upgrade's product key, and it didn't accept the key. what would happen?


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

and while you're helping me out, what are the _RESTORE and Datacoll directories for? somebody said before that i should delete them. would that work?


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

_restore

are System Restore archives. there presence shouldn't be a problem.

sheesh. You might try creating a Winme OEM disk using the setup file here. Download it to the hard drive, put a clean floppy in and run the setup to copy the files.

http://bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

I think we have to make every reasonable effort to get the ProductKey off the drive if its there. Running setup may lose it permanently if the upgrade doesn't take.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

ok, now i have another problem. my floppy drive doesn't seem to work. it's like it doesn't know that a disk is in there. i put a disk in and it said it need to be formatted. i knew it was formatted already, but whatever, i'll just try it again, so i clicked ok. then it just sat there a while while i was waiting for it to format, and eventually said that there was no disk in the drive or the door was open. if i need to i'll try to fix it manually or i'll transfer a disk drive from another comp. that i have that i know works. what do you think i should do?


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

this is starting to annoy me, just a little! i bet it'd be working fine if this stupid floppy drive would just work.


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Sometimes rebooting in Safe Mode to bypass the 32 mode drivers will work when problems occur with the floppy drive.

You may need to reload BIOS setup defaults or remove and reinstall the controller from the Device Manager.

When it rains, it pours 

Also, probably more likely, the floppy disk itself is bad, try another.

And sometimes the drives just get dirty.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

all right, i'll try that. i know how to do the second two, but how do i boot up in Safe Mode? i would only guess restarting the computer before it loads Windows, but is there a better way?


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

press and hold the ctrl key as soon as the system begins booting. You should get a numbered startup menu with Safe Mode in there.

But try a new floppy first if you can; I think that's what it was the last time I encountered something similar. Just sudden death of the floppy disk for some reason.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

I've tried many a floppy disk, and none of them worked. it doesn't even read disks that have stuff on them, it says they need to be formatted.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

how late are you going to be on tonight? if not much later then will you be on tomorrow to help? i'm so thankful to you for helping me so much so far.


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

I'll be up for a couple of more hours at least, though I think I want to take a bit of a break right now  .

And I'll certainly be around tommorow. Your welcome for whatever help I can offer.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

ok, so i tried my floppy drive in Safe Mode, and i tried removing it from Device Manager and reinstalling it, but i must've did something wrong because it still doesn't work. i don't know what to do now.


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

As I understand it all these attemps to read a floppy disk have been in either normal or safe mode on this system? Have you tried booting with a startup floppy to see if it will see the disk and reach an a:> prompt? You don't necessarily need to accept CD-ROM support.

If it doesn't work that way, I don't know what to tell you except check the cables to see if they are snug. You may have to try another drive.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

ok, i got the floppy drive fixed. So, do i just drag the WinMe OEM from my hard drive to the floppy disk? or do i have to execute the thing i downloaded and that'll put something on the disk?


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

alright, i have the boot disk, but i'm going to be gone for a few hours, i have some stuff to do and i have to work, but then i'm going to try the new disk when i get back.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

I hope you didn't just drag the download to the floppy disk...it must be executed. If you only have one file on the floppy, you've done it wrong.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

ok, i made the boot disk the right way, i figured i'd have to execute it right after i posted it. so i booted up and went to the C:\WINDOWS prompt and typed regedit and the rest of the things i was supposed to, and then it said it cannot export the regkey b/c it does not exist


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

that was when i booted with minimal support. when i booted w/o CD-ROM support, it just went back to the C:\WINDOWS prompt, is that a good thing?


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Most likely you did not type it exactly correctly. One little mistake and you're going to miss it.

*regedit /e regkey.txt HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

edit regkey.txt*

Make sure you get the underscores and the spaces in the right places. There are only 3 spaces in the first line (before and after /e and after regkey.txt). Make sure you use a foreward slash here: /e and backslashes for the path. And it's possible this is Case Sensitive. I don't recall.

You have run both scanreg /restore and scanreg /fix haven't you? The registries should be there.

If necessary:

Try running scanreg /restore again and restoring a registry even if it doesn't predate the problem.

I think you should have ended up back at the a:> prompt if you used a standard OEM floppy. But I've not personally used any of the WinME ones.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

k, i found the key! now what should i do???


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Great. Now we're back to looking for those cab files. I don't remember if you found them.

Try cd c:\windows\options\install

If you end up at the install directory, just enter *setup* and follow the prompts. Have the key in your sweaty clutches 

If you get any error messages along the way, be sure to copy them out exactly. Most are researchable and have workarounds.

The other location is c:\windows\options\cabs, but you said there was no setup there. You can try it anyway though.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

ok, i'm running setup, and it's running scandisk right now, so should i write down any errors that scandisk finds?


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Yeah, if there aren't too many. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. It may create new directories with names like dir0000 something or other. These may contain old programs and windows files, but it should rebuild anything needed for startup. There's really not much you can do except let it complete. Sometimes it even takes a second run. That's a real *****, but you have to be patient.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

there was an error, it said:

SUWIN
An error occurred in your application.
If you choose Ignore, you should save your work in a new file.
If you choose Close, your application will terminate.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=224836


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

that only applies to Win 9x, i'm trying to install Me.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Update from 98 to ME??????


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

no, i had Me before, and then it wouldn't boot, so i'm trying to install it again


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

And quite frankly, I'm not convinced that the cab files you found aren't indeed 98 cab files........


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

> _Originally posted by AcaCandy:_
> *ok, once at windows, type
> 
> cd options, then enter
> ...





> _Originally posted by Enil8:_
> *yup, it changed for both of them. wow, i didn't know that those were directories in the Windows dir. *


Rog, any thoughts?


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

well i got this computer from the place i bought it from with WinMe on it, so i don't know if they upgraded from it or not.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

At what point do you get the error message? Do you make it far enough to enter the product key?


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

no, it didn't, it's at 61% through copying the files.


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Suwin errors usually have numbers associated with them. Did you see a number?

http://www.generation.net/~hleboeuf/suwin.htm

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6883/suwin.html


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

no, there were no numbers at all.


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Did you choose "ignore" and did setup continue?


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

i didn't choose anything yet. should i try ignore?


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Yes, keep boogeying on. Hopefully it's just a minor file copy error, perhaps some corruption.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

i clicked on Ignore a lot of times and it just goes back to the error.


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Ouch.

I guess we could try that "upgrade" disk. It will either run or not. You will need to boot with CD-ROM support for that. 

If your CD-ROM drive was 'd', it will be assigned 'e'.

the command will be 

e:\setup

Do you happen to have any other installation CD's? If all else fails, it's format time. You could try another OS.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

all right, i'll try the upgrade disc. and no, i don't


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

The reason I ask is you could install Win98 or even Win95 and then upgrade.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

yeah, i wish i could, but i just don't have those discs either.


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Well, not much choice then but to hope for the best with the 'upgrade' CD. I don't know whether it actually checks to see if an upgrade was previously installed so much as just verifying you have WinME.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

well, setup is working so far with the upgrade disc, but i'm still confused how this all could've occurred in the first place. i never did anything weird w/ my computer, i just tried booting it up one day and it wouldn't. it's so weird


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

That's a big relief. Hopefully you won't have any major version conflicts when it completes. I might have given you another command to reduce this possibility but I keep forgetting.

One often doesn't know what causes these problems. Can be anything from hardware to viral infections.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

ok, now this gave me an error too. it says:

SUWIN caused a General Protection Fault in module VERX.DLL at 0002:24AE

Jeeze, just can't get away from these stupid errors.


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Did you have Windows Media Player 9 on the system by any chance? Some hits for this come up with a conflict with that.

http://tinyurl.com/ghxu

Have a look at these threads. In the mean time let me see what I can gin up for you to do.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

yeah, i did! what should i do about it?


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

This is going to be tough because the folks who fixed this problem weren't locked into DOS.

They deleted the Windows Media folder and renamed a couple of files. To delete the Windows Media folder in DOS I would have to know the DOS shortname for it, and this can vary since it begins with "windows"

Let's try this. Use your startup floppy again to get to a DOS prompt. Enter the following commands:

*ren c:\windows\system\iemigrat.dll iemigrat.old*

*ren c:\windows\system\wmploc.dll wmploc.old*

Then run setup again from the beginning.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

should i try to find the WMP? i think i could find it and then should i just delete everything in it w/ deltree?


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

This seemed to have worked for this guy, so maybe what I'm suggesting should be sufficient:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=...-8&[email protected]

The first command I gave should prevent the reinstall from trying to preserve newer IE files. If things complete you will have your original version.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

it said it couldn't find the iemigrat.dll, but when i tried it for the wmploc.dll, it work, i believe. i clicked enter and it sat there a while and then went back to the A: prompt, is that's what it's supposed to do when it works properly? and i looked through the c:\windows\system directory and there isn't any iemigrat.dll


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Yeah, you'd get an error message if the command failed.

maybe the iemigrat.dll isn't present in WinME, I don't know if I've run with any WinME systems now that I think of it.

Keep your fingers crossed, maybe you'll get through this yet.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

it's working! it's working! it's really working!!!!!!!!!


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Hee, hee,,,, so we got past 61 % ?


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

haha, heck yeah we did! all it has to do is setup the hardware and finalize the settings! thank you so much!!!


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Keeping my fingers crossed....


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

YES! it fully loaded into Windows, i can't believe it! i never though it'd happen! I thank you SO much!


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Beautiful. I'll wait until you're back on the internet with it before putting a final 'resolved' on this. Let us know.

You're most welcome for the help.


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

that should be tomorrow, if i have time. i have to work all day tomorrow, but by about 10 CT, when i'm done w/ work, it should be on the interent again. but i have to go to sleep now so i can actually get up for work. Thanks again!


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)




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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

All right, this is me again. But this time i'm online w/ my other computer! i'm so happy, i have a bunch of stuff on here that i just NEED. I thank you sooo much AGAIN! i owe you one!


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Fantastic, we all love good outcomes! I'll let Rog put the solved on it though, since he worked harder


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Most happy to. Probably a good lesson in the value of patience, not to mention blind luck.

By the way, I meant to ask, how did you 'fix' the floppy disk problem, in case we run into that again/


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## Enil8 (Jul 3, 2003)

somehow, i have no clue how, it got unplugged from the motherboard. i just never took the time to look at it before.


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## Rollin' Rog (Dec 9, 2000)

Aha, that will do it


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

> _Originally posted by Enil8:_
> *somehow, i have no clue how, it got unplugged from the motherboard. i just never took the time to look at it before. *




I know I had to have asked that  

Floppy drive Gremlins


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