Win Me Boot Issue

[studioguy]

Trying to fix my son's computer. Bottomline: Win Me will not boot and settles at a prompt looking for a CD. Of course, he has no idea where the Systemax CD is and Systemax doesn't have replacements available. Geesh.
Win Me refuses to boot in any form including Safe mode.

When I attempt to run Scandisk it freezes when attempting to scan the directories area.
Attempted to reinstall Win Me, but it immediately begans Scandisk and voila...
the old freeze up in Scandisk occurs. Help. Trying to be a hero in a hopeless situation. Any help would be appreciated.

Additional notes:
I am able to get to the prompts via a boot disk...and the files seem to be in tact on the drives. May have a virus, but most programs will not run from the prompt.

[CrowsCorner]

Ok, is it looking for a Systemax CD? (and what is Systemax exactly). Also, do you have a complete (full) version of Windows ME to install?

[studioguy]

Systemax apparently is a band name for computers marketed by Tiger Direct.
I immediately called them when I realized the issue at hand and was told that they do not have cd copies for purchase or backups of the system disks.
Taken back at that answer I immediately came over here to see if I can get some help. I do have my own registered copy of the Win Me cd, however, it is not the one originally installed on my son's computer. His came factory installed.

No matter what I do with the current Windows directory on his computer, it freezes somewhere or other. For instance, if I do a dir or dir/w it will move fine until it stops at setver.exe or something or other.

Scandisk seems useless to me. In fact, even if I try to re-install Win Me, it immediately has to scan and then proceeds to freeze at directories.

[CrowsCorner]

Ok can you tell us what disk its looking for..? Is it looking for the "Systemax" disk itself or something else. Does it just boot to blank page with C: prompt, or does it say anything above the prompt. (check and make sure theres not a floppy in drive A: before you boot)

[studioguy]

OK...here's the deal:

Without a boot disk or cd in the machine...it goes through the attempted boot process and winds up with:

Prt. master disk hdd s.m.a.r.t. capability....disabled
Prt. slave disk hdd s.m.a.r.t. capabitily....disabled

Then it gives the pci device listing...

Then it says;
verifying DMI Pool Data ...........
Boot from CD:

That's where it stops.

Now with a boot disk in, I can get to A: prompt and then to c: or whatever prompt.
(I have the Ultimate Boot Disk for Win Me and I have the Factory version Win Me Boot Disk).
I also have the Win Me Upgrade CD,
A full copy of Windows 2000 Pro and:fyi:
The Win 98 2nd Edition Updrade CD.

Problem, of course, is I have to work from the DOS prompt in a ME system that eliminated most of DOS. Geesh.

And once again, everything freezes when using Scandisk or any of its various /directives when scanning "directories",
and the Win Me System folder seems to be only partly accessible; usually stopping around the setver.exe command.

Not sure any of this is of a help. I have a bit of experience using DOS, but perhaps enough to be a danger in this situation.

[CrowsCorner]

ok.. Do you know how to get in to BIOS? (usually F1 or F2 or esc or DEL) It should tell you actually at the very top or bottom of screen at very first part of boot which key to press to enter setup (BIOS). Once there, navigate your way to boot order and make sure that IDE / hdd (your hard drive) is enabled.


It almost sounds as if the cable has coem loose from the drive itself.. I guess you have chcked that maybe?

[studioguy]

If the cable was loose on the hard drive(s), I wouldn't be able to see what is on the drives by doing a dir/w at the prompts, right?
I can see the file directories are there and have looked inside them to make sure files are in tact. The exception, of course, is that a directory command always freezes in the Win Me system directory.

I will try and get into the bios to check ide/hdd settings. I have avoided that so far, being afraid to change something inadvertently.
Thanx

[studioguy]

Checked Bios (ESC key activates it).

Found the following:

First boot device cdrom
Second boot device Floppy
Third boot device HDD-0
Bios Guardian Enabled
(Enabled to avoid virus infection to your bios)

I left it this way for the time being, unless directed otherwise.

[CrowsCorner]

well.. geesh. Anyone else watching this have any ideas before I reccomend "the last resort".


You could try fixboot /mbr, but becareful with that. Boot to prompt, type help hit enter. I think the command is as I typed but just look down through the commands that it lists and find the one that fixes MBR. Aside from that, the only other thing I can think that I would do is format BUT...thats a last resort and honestly its begining to sound more like a hardware issue than a filesystem issue. If you do decide to format, make sure... sure.... that you let windows do it for you (i.e. boot from install disk...when i asks "press any key to boot from cd... do so... etc."

[studioguy]

Fixboot/mbr and even help got no response at the c:\ prompt.

I'm a bit nervous about formatting, though it may be my only choice.

Once again, as I look in the directories, all files are there except that everything freezes in my windows/system directory.

[CrowsCorner]

DO NOT format from the command prompt ok. Windows does all this for you. Do you need to recover anything from the drive, data wise? (i.e music.. games.. files of any sort)

[studioguy]

Problem is that it will not boot from the Windows CD.
I can get to a prompt using either a boot disc or VCOM Fixit, but
when I access the CD and run SETUP.EXE, I do not get a choice. It immediately says that it will check my system before installing and voila...it trots out scandisk which freezes on me in my windows system directory.
I'm in limbo here.