Problem starting Windows ME

apir · #1 January 13th, 2003, 12:04 PM

Help! I loaded a new video game for my kids and now Windows is stuck in the Windows startup screen. I hit escape and it says "Please wait while setup updates your configuration files. This may take a few minutes". Then I get a message saying, "Windows could ont upgrade the file %1 from %2 %1: %2". This message repeats itself over and over.

I have tried going into setup and there is an event log message saying "Pre-boot error: keyboard ... (don't know exact wording).

I have held down the CTRL key and chosen the option to boot up in Safe Mode, but the same problem occurs.

I have used a start-up disk and been able to load a previous registry, but when I try booting with the error-free registry I get the same problem.

I have gotten access to the CD-Rom drive and put the Windows ME CD-Rom in there. This has enabled me to run scan disk, which found some problems that it corrected. I then tried to run set-up off the CR-Rom, but unfortunately I can not locate my Windows key code so I can not proceed! I'm not sure if I want to do that anyway, because I don't want to lose my data on the C-drive.

Even after the scan disk and surface disk checks, I am still stuck with the same problem. Don't know if all this has anything to do with the keyboard error message. Is there some setting in Bios I can change?

Another idea I have would be to uninstall Windows ME and load a new version of Windows, such as Windows XP, but I don't know if this will destroy all the data on my C: drive.

Anyone know any way out of this mess?

Thanks for your help.

tb525 · #2 January 13th, 2003, 12:44 PM

First, Try unplugging your keyboard and see if it boots. If it doesn't, use your boot disk to boot into DOS. Then type the following and hit enter after each line:

cd windows
ren wininit.ini wininit.old

Remove the floppy disk and hit <ctrl> <alt> <del> to reboot.

apir · #3 January 13th, 2003, 03:04 PM

The keyboard trick did not work, but the renaming wininit worked like a dream. Thank you very much for your help. This is a great forum.

tb525 · #4 January 13th, 2003, 03:07 PM

Your Welcome!

apir · #5 January 23rd, 2004, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tb525

Your Welcome!

I had some problems starting Windows ME last year. My problem was solved by using a startup disk and renaming wininit.ini. I have been tweaking my PC and am worried that it may not restart again when I reboot. I looked in DOS and the file wininit.ini is no longer there. Only wininit.exe, wininit.err, wininit~1.old and wininit.bak.

Is this normal and what should I do if I can not start my PC the next time I reboot?