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| Windows 95, 98 & ME - Windows ME laptop won't boot up! posted in the Operating Systems forums; When I turn the laptop on it starts to boot up and shows the Windows ME logo screen for about 5 seconds and then the screen goes blank with a ... |
3 Weeks Ago
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Bronze Member
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Posts: 6 PC Experience: Some Experience
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Windows ME laptop won't boot up!
When I turn the laptop on it starts to boot up and shows the Windows ME logo screen for about 5 seconds and then the screen goes blank with a cursor flashing constantly (kinda like in command prompt but cannot type any commands).
Does anyone have any ideas to what cound have caused this and how I can fix it. All suggestions will be a huge help coz I have to admit I'm lost!
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3 Weeks Ago
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Site Manager
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Posts: 5,095 PC Experience: PC Basket Ball Head! Location: South Wales
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Re: Windows ME laptop won't boot up!
Hello LazyLamb, welcome to PCHF.
Windows ME is not the most stable operating system at the best of times, in fact it's the most unstable operating system Microsoft ever made!
Your problem was most likely caused by an application or driver that was installed/uninstalled during your last session. It's also possible that your problems could be malware or virus related. Do you remember anything like this that could have happened on your last session?
Can you see if your able to access Safe Mode, by pressing F8 before the Windows logo screen?
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3 Weeks Ago
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Bronze Member
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Posts: 6 PC Experience: Some Experience
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Re: Windows ME laptop won't boot up!
Yes I am able to enter Safe Mode, its only when trying to boot in normal mode that won't work.
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3 Weeks Ago
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Site Manager
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Posts: 5,095 PC Experience: PC Basket Ball Head! Location: South Wales
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Re: Windows ME laptop won't boot up!
OK, did anything happen on your last session that you can remember? If your sure that no drivers or software have been installed/uninstalled on your last session, the first step will be to run through PCHF Prework on my signature, and post both AVG and HijackThis logs back here. We can then pass those logs to one of our security team members for analysis. Do you have some way of transporting the logs between PC's? Possibly a USB Pen or floppy disk?
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3 Weeks Ago
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Bronze Member
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Posts: 6 PC Experience: Some Experience
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Re: Windows ME laptop won't boot up!
I don't know if anything happened the last time it was used as I wasn't the one using it, and the person who was can't remember what happened, if anything. So I can't be sure drivers were not updated or software inadvertently installed. Does that make any difference to how or which logs you want me to post?
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3 Weeks Ago
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Site Manager
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Posts: 5,095 PC Experience: PC Basket Ball Head! Location: South Wales
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Re: Windows ME laptop won't boot up!
Hey lamb,
No difference. If we had an idea what happened, then it would have just made the whole process a little quicker, but it's absolutely no problem, I'm sure well get to the bottom of it.
Still the same logs though (AVG and HiJackThis).
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3 Weeks Ago
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Bronze Member
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Posts: 6 PC Experience: Some Experience
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Re: Windows ME laptop won't boot up!
I have tried to do the PCHF Prework as you suggested to get the AVG and HijackThis logs to post here, but when in safe mode my usb drive is not recognised and they are too big for a floppy disk, so I am unable to install and run either of these applications to get these logs. Is there another way or am I fighting a lost cause???
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3 Weeks Ago
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Bronze Member
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Posts: 59 PC Experience: Beginner Location: christchurch,dorset
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Re: Windows ME laptop won't boot up!
To run Scandisk:
Windows 95/98/ME
- Restart Windows in Safe Mode.
- Open My Computer by double-clicking on the My Computer icon on your desktop.
- Right click on the disk drive you want to check.
- On the drop down menu, left click Properties.
- Select the Tools tab.
- In the Error-Checking section, click the Check Now button.
- This will open the Scandisk window.
- Select Thorough and make sure there is a tick in Automatically Fix Errors. Then click on the Start button.
- this may well help
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3 Weeks Ago
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Elite Member
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Posts: 471 PC Experience: Elite PC Guru
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Re: Windows ME laptop won't boot up!
ME had system restore you could try that from safe mode
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2 Weeks Ago
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Bronze Member
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Posts: 6 PC Experience: Some Experience
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Re: Windows ME laptop won't boot up!
I tried running scandisk in safe mode, it just keeps restarting over and over when select the through option but I was able to run a standard scan. No error were found but it did say that there are some bad sectors.
I have also tried the system restore before but it does not load you only get a white window and nothing more no matter how long you leave it.
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2 Weeks Ago
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Site Manager
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Posts: 5,095 PC Experience: PC Basket Ball Head! Location: South Wales
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Re: Windows ME laptop won't boot up!
errr, Lamb, did it actually fix the bad sectors? Bad sectors are the most serious type of disk error Lamb and is often the sign of a failing HDD. Because a bad sector is a physical problem, scandisk will mark a sector as bad, so that it is not written to again. Any data that resides in that bad area of the disk is normally lost (in that case, most likely your Windows system files as your unable to start Windows). You need to backup your data immediately as this problem is likely to deteriorate further at this point.
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