OT:Help!!Calling computer experts

The nerd in me wanted to come to your rescue.

I really wish I could help you, I am running Windows 98 (yuck), and I am about to upgrade to XP.

I want to say first, that I am NOT assuming that you know nothing about computers.

Now........

Before you left, did you add a program, or delete one?

I know that when a person deletes a program, it will ask if you are sure you want to delete certain files, and if you press yes, it will delete them, and sometimes these are critical system files.

When your computer was doing it's startup sequence, did you notice if it said 'updating files', or something like that?

Zonealarm Pro is what I run and it is so slow when it is loading up.
I know if you press buttons before Zonealarm loads, it will make your computer act funny.

The new Zonealarm has certain filtering properties, is this and Norton conflicting?

I run Mcafee VirusScan 6.0. (I heard Norton is buggy), but ha ha, so is Mcafee...........

Again, I wish I could help you, but I hope the little information I did give you helped.

 

Can you run Windows in safe mode?

 

First off it sounds like you know what you are doing and thats a good start.

Sounds like something killed your boot sector. A virus can do this and some everyday misfortune can too.

Windows ME probably came with some type of restore disk so do the type of restore that doesn't format the drive.

Windows should work after the restore. Then I'd get all your files on FLoppy or CDRW and then proceed to do another restore, this time the one that reformats the drive.

I'm not sure if you said you had antivirus software but if you dont then go to Ebay. Buy Nortons's systems Works worth about $60 from the many auctions on there selling it for around $10-15. (There selling legit OEM copies. Well the Software is legit, selling OEM's on Ebay might not be.)

 

Now that I typed all of this below...I see you checked all of what I saying MSDOS.SYS and reloading windows...well try the FDISK /MBR option below.....

----------------------
Hurricane,
You can run FDISK with the option /MBR (which stands for Master Boot Record. It trys to fix the boot loader and will not overwrite anything) "FDISK /MBR"

After that I would go to the floppy and type SYS C: (which attempts to write the system boot files to the hard drive again would not overwrite anything)

And finally I would get to the CD drive (you will need the DOS drivers and MSCDEX.EXE to read the CD from DOS) and re-install windows...this will also NOT overwrite anything like personal files or settings but will relay all of windows boot files down.

All of the above files (except the DOS drivers for your CD) are in C:\Windows\Command.


Before you try this, you could also, check if you have a hidden system file in the boot drive root called MSDOS.SYS...it is readable with EDIT.EXE from DOS and should say something like:

[Paths]
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C

[Options]
BootMulti=0
BootGUI=1
;
;The following lines are required for compatibility with other programs.
;Do not remove them (MSDOS.SYS needs to be >1024 bytes).
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxa
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxb
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxc
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxd
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxe
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxf
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxg
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxh
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxi
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxj
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxk
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxl
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxm
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxn
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxo
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxp
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxq
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxr
;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxs
AutoScan=1
WinVer=4.90.3000


-Peace, Dave

 

Wow! Some great answers here. I've seen this before. We know the big problem for 1 is Windows ME. I've had so many trouble calls and repairs out in the field with this O/S. The operating system wasn't suppose to come out anyway, they duped Micro$oft in releasing it any way when you get it fixed. DUMP IT, upgrade to win2k or XP. Looking at my good ole trusty Technet CD's here's what you do below. Also a good forum when i get stuck on something and can't quite get it is www.pcnineoneone.com Excellent forum, and between Technet and pcnineoneone you can't go wrong. I'm sure fellow techies will agree.

SYMPTOMS
When you restart your computer, you may receive one of the following error messages:




The following file is missing or corrupted: C:\Windows\Ifshlp.sys

The following file is missing or corrupted: C:\Windows\System\Vmm32.vxd
Type the name of the Windows loader (e.g., C:\Windows\System\Vmm32.vxd

While initializing device IFSMGR
The Microsoft Installable File System Manager cannot find the helper driver.
Please ensure that IFSHLP.SYS has been installed. System halted.

The following file is missing or corrupted: C:\Windows\System\Imagehlp.dll
When you receive any of these error messages, you must reboot your computer.



CAUSE
These error messages can occur for the following reasons:

An incorrect WinBootDir entry in the Msdos.sys file.


A missing or corrupted Ifshlp.sys file.


A missing or corrupted Vmm32.vxd file.


A missing or corrupted Imagehlp.dll file.





RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, restart the computer with a Windows Millennium Edition Startup disk, and then perform each step until the problem is resolved:

Modify the WinBootDir entry in the Msdos.sys file to point to the correct location of the Windows folder.


Extract a new copy of the Ifshlp.sys file to the Windows folder and extract a new copy of the Imagehlp.dll file to the Windows\System folder.

For additional information about extracting files, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q129605 How to Extract Original Compressed Windows Files
If you determine that the Vmm32.vxd file is missing or corrupt, you must rename the file to Vmm32.old in the C:\Windows\System folder, and then reinstall Windows Millennium Edition to re-create this file.

 

I know this doesn't address your particular problem (I think this has been done very well by other posters here), I would highly recommend upgrading to Windows XP.

XP is the best operating system to come from Microsoft. I am a computer systems engineer, and I prefer UNIX flavors of operating systems, but when I have to use Windows, I love XP.

I haven't really had any problems with it, and it has a lot of very nice built in multimedia features.

I would run away from Windows ME like the plague, it was a stop gap between Windows 98 and Windows 2000.

Just my two cents...

 

Jdog0411 Well Said, well said.....

 

Might sound drastic, but have you tried simply reinstalling Windows ME. I run Win 98 SE and have had several instances over the years like this. I always try troubleshooting first as you have. With 98 when I reinstall, I have never lost anything that I had added after the original install, it simply restored the windows files that had been deleted by accident and of course reinstalled all the other windows files. Afterward you may need to do a bit of tweaking but it is worth a try.


Of course, the usual techie question - Did you have a backup?

 

Hal makes a good point, you can choose to repair your windows setup. I'd forgot about that one... Also go to the microsoft ME Forum and see if anyone has had that problem or post your situation. The above suggestions should've solved your problem but i guess not... The XP device and drivers that aren't compatible are they Crucial for you to not have at the moment? If not upgrade and get them later. ME is not the way to go, also i've had many of times i've got the alerts installing XP about compatible issues, went ahead and upgraded and the damn device drivers updated themselve, or there were drivers available. I guess the HCL wasn't updated : )

http://support.microsoft.com/newsgr...ndowsme.new-user&SLCID=US&scrollnews=m1s9s6s9

 

Here is the article about what happened to your computer. Easy fix.

http://support.microsoft.com/search/preview.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q258471

Let me know if you need more help with this.

ZoMBiE

 

Zombie, fixed your link:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q258471

-Peace, Dave

 

hurricane5, and get rid of that ME....

 

How did you get the darned virus, if you're running Norton and ZA???
You're scaring me