Win.ME shows blank desktop after startup on partitioned HD (XP64 primary drive)

[Dia]

Hi all; I'm Dia and a new member in these forums.  My problem is that before my husband died (about 2& 1/2 yrs. ago) he partitioned the HD on this (formerly his) PC into XP64 (main) and Windows ME.  I've been using XP64 for my online stuff and ME for all my gaming.
 
Something went wrong several days ago on the ME partition but I don't know what.  I had just saved a game I was playing and when I went to return to the game the whole screen went blank; the same color as the Display background (so it wasn't the 'Blue Screen of Death').  Now when I choose ME at startup (the PC will default to XP64 after 30 seconds), everything seems to start just fine (I get the ME initial screen), but after a brief message box opens stating that ME is updating its whatever, the screen just shows blank.  No Desktop icons or task/menu bar or anything.  I can't bring anything up by right clicking and the only thing I'm allowed to do is ctrl-alt-del out of there to restart.
 
I can open the ME files from XP64 in the Win Explorer but I have no idea how to get ME to start normally.  I've tried hitting F8 at startup to start ME in another mode, but nothing works.  I've done a checkdisk, a scandisk, and defrag; still nothing.  How can I access ME so that I can use the original ME disk to repair that drive?
 
Do I need to reformat ME?  I know it gives me the option to 'Format' in 'My Computer' when I right-click on ME, but will that affect my XP64 drive in any way?  And once I format ME, how do I access it to run the ME disk?  I have backed up the ME drive (after the fact) from the Win Expl. on XP64 on my portable HD, but am concerned that whatever went wrong is still in those files.
 
Please, can somebody help me?  My late husband was the 'serious tech-guy' and I've no idea what I'm supposed to do now.
 
Thanks in advance.
 
Dia

[truenorth]

Dia, Welcome to the CH forums. Actually your description of the problem and some of the vocabulary you have used to try some of your own efforts bespeaks a knowledge of more than you are seemingly giving yourself credit for. Now that the valentines flowers are dealt with. My wife is one of those rare users that is still using Win ME. I asked her what the possible solution for your current fix is and she advised the following.
Go to "start" and select "help and support" then the created page will have an option for "system restore" and that is what you should click on. If you can start in "safe mode" (and here is the link on how to do that you will then be able to carry out the "system restore". You will see that more than one way to get into safe mode is stated. http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chsafe.htm goodluck and keep us posted. truenorth

[Dia]

Thank you truenorth and Mrs. truenorth, for taking the time to read my issue and suggest solutions.  The problem is though, that once ME has booted up I just get a blank screen; no taskbar (so I can't go to 'Start' to do a system recovery) and no desktop icons.  The only thing that works at that point is hitting ctrl-alt-del twice in order to reboot (at which point I give up & just go back to the XP64 OS).  Also: the Task Mgr. doesn't show any programs actively running, so I can't 'end program' in an attempt to fix whatever's hanging up ME's successful bootup.

I've already tried selecting 'Start in Safe Mode' after hitting F8 during the ME bootup, but nothing happens.  It doesn't matter which option I enter, I end up just getting the blank screen in ME (the color of the desktop background - so at least it's not the 'blue screen of death'!).

I guess I'm wondering if I should just go to 'My Computer' on the XP64 OS and right click on ME and then click on format, which I know will erase everything on that drive.  My problem is that I don't know if I'll be able to physically access ME from bootup (i.e.: will the computer still give me the option of both OS selections once that's done and do I then just insert the original ME installation disk in order to reload ME?  (That's where I get stupid.      )  I'm really afraid to try the 'Format' option from XP64 because I'm concerned that 'Formatting' ME from the XP64 OS might have a negative effect on XP64.  (Another one of my 'stupid' areas.       )

Thanks anyway though.  I truly appreciate all the advice & help I can get at this point.

[truenorth]

Dia, Did you actually go to the web link i provided that informs on the way(S) to enter into safe mode? Even though you do not have ME displayed for long--you do for a short duration. So you need to read those instructions and try them as there are more than one method described. For example i don't know what your "hitting" of the F8 key means but the instruction for the F8 key as one of the solutions is more precise than "hitting". please advise. truenorth