windows me booting issues

[washswimma13]

alright, im new to the site but im looking for some help if you will. this is the deal, for about a week now ive been having some issues with my laptop. every time i would start up scandisk would run but it would never get through its process. i would have to close out of it but no big deal. then, once windows loaded i wasnt able to do anything, it would load but i could use any programs-almost like it was frozen or something. so i would try to reboot it or shut it down to see if that my help (since it usually does) but it wouldnt shut down on its own. windows would close out but the background would stay up so i would have to cut the power to get it to go off. this same thing happened repeatedly so i finally decided to get out the recovery cd and just start all over so i used the feature to restore factory settings. the problem is now when i startup i get a message saying 'operating system not found.' and thats just about it. i have no idea what to do so if anyone can help me out id appreciate it, thanks.

 

[Addis]

I've used Windows ME before and it was pretty unstable. If it now says that the OS isn't found then you're probably going to have to reinstall an OS. Whats your system specs? If its worth it then you might be better off getting XP because I've upgraded my old PC from ME to XP and its fixed countless problems. If your vendor supplied you with a full CD copy of windows ME then you can get the XP upgrade version of home or pro. if theyve given you just a restore disc then your going to have to buy the clean install version. You can always just borrow a windows 98 or later disc from someone and put that in during the XP installation if you get the upgrade version.

 

[Anti-Trend]

Hmmm, since Windows XP requires more than 256mb RAM and a 500MHz CPU in order to function properly, if you have older hardware I would not recommend it. Windows 2000 Pro is basically the same operating system, and you can buy it in the full retail box version for around $60 now. 2000 Pro only requires a Pentium1 or better, and at least 64mb of RAM, and so should run better on older hardware (or newer hardware, for that matter). Plus it's much more stable than XP, so there's no real downside.

 

[washswimma13]

Thanks for your help so far guys. I decided to get XP Home edition and it was nice to see some life in my computer again. By the way, its a Compaq Presario 1800 1.0 Ghz, 20 G hard drive, and 192 MB RAM. So I started installing it and it seemed everything was going well until the setup was at 65% of formating the partition. No more progress was made-it was at 65% for over 15 minutes-and it sounded like something was clicking (the hard drive perhaps?). So I shut down and tried again and the same thing happened. I don't know if this was supposed to happen but I didn't think so, so I shut down. Can you guys give me any more advice from here?

 

[Anti-Trend]

...No more progress was made-it was at 65% for over 15 minutes-and it sounded like something was clicking (the hard drive perhaps?). So I shut down and tried again and the same thing happened. I don't know if this was supposed to happen but I didn't think so, so I shut down. Can you guys give me any more advice from here?

Definately test the RAM. Also make sure your CDROM is clean; you may want to use an air duster to blow it out. Make sure the installation CD is also clean and undamaged. Finally, your CDROM itself may be bad. This can happen over time -- optical drives with plastic lenses can become warped and have trouble reading discs.

 

[washswimma13]

I'd like to say thank you to you guys from my good old computer. It's nice to have it back; everything is working well and faster than ever. I guess during the install I needed to do the 'quick' version to format the disk and not the regular. Oh well, it works now. The worst problem I have now is trying to figure out how to get the mouse to stop clicking on things when I accidentally tap it while I type. Thank you very much anti-trend and addis.