Hello -
We have a Gateway Essential,that had 98SE installed. (Purchased '99 or '00)
After running ScanDisk over many hours, my husband cancelled and closed it. Since I had turned off everything that could be turned off, including the screensaver, I told him to turn it off then on, & they'd be back (except the screensaver)
It came back in Safe Mode - bad desktop picture and a frozen mouse. I've been searching the Net since Saturday for answers, and I think when you're in Safe Mode you're supposed to be able to DO something! No mouse, no toolbars, no "Start."
The problem has something to do with the Registry, which is the message I get.
To complicate things, about 2 years ago we had a major computer meltdown - and it was along the same lines, but with a broken C drive thrown in. The tech who repaired it did a good job, and "upgraded" us to ME, but I have no backups for it.
I have an Operating System Backup CD and a System Restoration CD (What is the difference bewteen them?) for 98SE. Can I use them, and what would the effect be, mixing Window editions?
I've tried downloading a boot disk on a diskette on my computer and it didn't work on his. I tried burning a CD of the same thing and neither did that work.
His machine will do nothing, just sit there and look big and bulky! GoBack says there's nothing to go back to, and I can get into the black screen area at the beginning but I wouldn't know what to change. That's where I got the Scanreg message.
Does anyone have a suggestion? Or is 7 years the useful life of a computer?
Many thanks!
