ME won't complete boot up

[mikec5]

A friend has a 2 year old Dell Dimension with the original Windows ME OS and just recently ran into a boot up problem. It tries to boot up in safe mode but never finishes - the wall paper comes up and the safe mode indicators are there but no start button or any other icons. I tried to start it and press F8 to get into normal mode but the same thing happens. Any ideas? Should I try starting it with the emergency boot up floppy? :confused:

[GretaP]

Hi mikec5,
The first thing I'd try would be to do a System Restore to a date prior to your friend experiencing the bootup problem.

Since Windows doesn't seem to function even in Safe Mode, follow the instructions in this MSKB article (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=279736) to run System Restore from a Command Prompt. If you do not have a Windows ME startup floppy disk (not certain if the Emergency boot floppy you mention is the same thing), you can d/load the file to create one from here (http://bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm) . Click on the link for Windows ME OEM, and d/load it to hard drive (do NOT d/load it directly to floppy, as this does NOT create the startup floppy disk). Once the file is d/loaded, put a formatted floppy disk in the drive and then double-click on the d/loaded file in order to create the startup floppy disk.

[mikec5]

Thanks Greta - it worked!;)

[GretaP]

You're very welcome, mikec5........so glad that it worked!! :D