WinME - won't boot up

[chele5]

Help!  I know I have an old operating system - it's on the old computer that we have for the kids.  That being said, last week I downloaded updates from Microsoft for ME, a few days ago the computer would not shut down.  Today, it would not boot up.  You can hear the computer running, it will get to the point were the background is displayed, but nothing else.  No Start menu, no icons.
I have put in the system restoration disc, but nothing happened.

I run virus scans and have anti virus programs with regular updates.  

The other thing that has happened with this computer, when I run the virus scan, it finds 3 programs that "possible problems" - it won't let me delete, quarentine or fix them.  Since that occured (Christmas) - when we run a defrag it goes so far and then it says that 'something is writing to the disc' and starts over.  Then it goes further than it did before on the disc, but gets stopped and starts over again.  This continues until the defrag is complete.


I am at a loss with what to do.  I didn't find much help on the Microsoft website.  Anyone have any ideas?

thank you...... :-?

[GX1_Man]

What if you boot to safe mode and try a system restore?

It sounds like in the end the best route would be to format and reinstall WIndows after saving any important data, especially if this hasn't been done in a while.

If it is a hardware problem Windows cannot fix it, but you need to make sure the system is clean if you do not want to reinstall at this time, once it gets running.

[chele5]

Thank you for the response!

I've booted from safe mode and still the same response.  While in safe-mode - I put the restore disc in and it did nothing.  The screen stayed with the words 'safe-mode' in each corner and nothing else.

Is there any hope?
Thanks again for the response!

[GX1_Man]

Do you have a real ME disk to reinstall with or just a restore CD? What is the manufacturer make/model? Do you have important data there to back up for safety?

[chele5]

It is a Gateway computer, model ATXSTF Performance 866 and it did not come with the original ME disc - just 3 marked 'restoration disc'.  

We bought this computer in 2000, so it's fairly old and has seen it's share of stuff.  

I'd like to keep it just a while longer - but I may have to go buy a new one.

Thanks again for your help.

[GX1_Man]

If you have a virus scanner operational during defrag it can cause problems with starting over repeatedly.

If you want to restore it, you just boot with the appropriate CD in the drive. Try all 3 one at a time and see what happens.