re: Meltdown on ME Bootup
Sunday, March 25, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Windows Me Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by Ed
(741 messages posted)
To answer your questions:
(1) Can a diskette be re-used?
Answer: Yes, a diskette (properly called a floppy disk) can be re-used, many times,
provided the disk is not locked: follow my instructions (below) to unlock it.
(2) Do you do anything special to it when it's new?
Answer: Yes, a floppy disk may need to be formatted when new. But, having said that,
most are sold already formatted. It should say on the box "formatted", or something
similar. I have NEVER been sold one that needed formatting; but I suppose you might
have bought, in error, a box of disks formatted for use on an Apple Mac instead of
a PC.
To format a floppy disk, you can use either Windows or DOS. For example, put the
floppy disk in the floppy drive, open My Computer, and click on the icon labelled
"3 1/2 floppy A". If you get an error message, that means the floppy disk is not
yet formatted. You then right-click on the "3 1/2 floppy A" icon, select "Properties",
and use Windows to format the floppy disk.
Whatever process you use, be VERY CAREFUL not to accidentally format your hard disk,
the C: drive disk (sometimes called "Local Hard Disk" or some similar name)! If you
do, you will lose *ALL* your data, documents, and files.
(3) Could ScanDisk have messed things up?
Answer: ScanDisk, as such, did not mess things up. But turning it off prematurely
did. See below for how to proceed in the wake of an accident with ScanDisk.
(4) Can I use a System Restore or Operating System backup CD, for Win98?
Answer: No. You have a Windows ME system. You cannot use any Windows 98 CDs. If you
do, you will wreck the computer's configuration. (In that event, consider your options
for paying for professional data recovery instead). Do not use them.
(5) What is the difference between those two CDs?
Answer: Unknown. OEM CDs are not like Microsoft CDs. However, both are potentially
capable of erasing all your data, documents, and files from the hard disk. Do not
use them.
(6) What does "Not ready reading drive D" mean?
Answer: It means you made some sort of typing error with the keyboard. For example,
the command "scanreg/restore" is invalid: see below for details.
A possible solution to your problem is:-
STEP 1:
Make a Bootdisk, by going to www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm and downloading a Win ME
bootdisk program. Make sure it is for Win ME.
Then put a blank floppy disk in the A: drive (the floppy disk drive), and run the
bootdisk program. It will convert the floppy disk into a bootable floppy. Wait for
the program to stop writing to the floppy. It will erase all existing data on the
floppy.
Make sure the floppy disk is NOT "locked" (write-protected). The little slider on
the disk must be CLOSED, so that you CAN'T see through the little hole. (If it's
open, and you can see through the hole, the disk is write-protected and you can't
save data to it: move the slider, to close the hole.)
STEP 2:
Boot to DOS, using a bootable Win ME floppy (instructions above). Then run Scandisk
for DOS, in order to fix your damaged hard disk. At the C: prompt type:
SCANDISK /ALL /AUTOFIX /SURFACE
Note the space before each "/" (forward slash)!
If the ScanDisk program for DOS does not start, type:
CD \WINDOWS\COMMAND
and then press ENTER. Then type:
SCANDISK /ALL /AUTOFIX /SURFACE
and then press ENTER.
It will take many hours (potentially 6 to 12 hours, depending on the size of the
hard disk and the slow speed of the CPU). Do *not* turn the computer off; you *must*
wait until ScanDisk has finished.
(If ScanDisk crashes, however, you will have to consider your options for paying
for professional data recovery instead.)
STEP 3:
Boot to DOS, using a bootable Win ME floppy (instructions above). Then type the following
at the C: prompt -
SCANREG /RESTORE
and then follow the instructions on screen, to restore a working backup of your Windows
registry. Windows ME keeps five backups, so restore any one that is marked as "Started"
(i.e. that previously started your PC successfully).
Note that there is a *space* before the forward slash, but *no* space after it.
Best of luck.
Ed
On Thursday, March 22, 2007 at 10:29 am, Joan Hegeman wrote:
>Our Gateway (purchased in '99 or '00) was originally loaded with 98SE. About two
>years ago,many things seemed to go wrong, culminating in a replaced C drive.The
technician
>also upgraded us to ME.
>
>A week ago, we were running ScanDisk, overnight in fact, and my husband finally
turned
>it off. To get all his Tray programs going again,I
>told him to him to turn it off, then on. It came back in Safe Mode - frozen mouse,
>no tool bars, on the desktop screen.
>
>I've been poring through the net and forums, & the answer is to always do thus &
>so forth while in Safe Mode. How?! I tried letter shortcuts & anything I could think
>of. Nothing moved on the screen.
>
>Since we have no disks, I've downloaded "bootdisks" and I'm not having much sucess
>getting that to work.By the way, can a diskette be reused? Do you do anything special
>to it when it's new? Or if you want to overwrite? Maybe that's part of my problem,
>
>Oh, the nonboot message was that there was a problem with the Registry, or no Registry.
>Could the ScanDisk have messed things up?
>
>Now, I have a System Restore and an Operating System Backup CD for 98. Will these
>work or would the computer just become hopelessly messed-up? What's the difference
>between the two disks, anyway?
>
>As I say, I'm using the diskette in the A drive, and it took a number of tries before
>it would take me from A prompt to C prompt.I entered "scanreg/restore" and received
>"Not ready reading drive D" as a reply. I don't see how D figures into this.....
>
>Anyway, many thanks to anyone who can get me through this, even if it's only to
say
>scrap the 'puter - it's finally dead!
>
>Joan
- Written in response to:
- Meltdown on ME Bootup (Joan Hegeman: Thursday, March 22, 2007 at 11:29 am)
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