System Starting in "Boot Screen" & Other Various Problems

Besides Mike's very wise advice! (Just beat me Mike - Again!!)

OK, one thing at a time! Before you worry too much about scandisk and other
IE problems :-

> Two days ago, my computer began starting up in "boot mode"

Do you mean Safe Mode?
(i.e. the screen is the wrong resolution and colours aren't quite right?)

If so, are you SURE that it is in Safe Mode?
(i.e. the words 'Safe Mode' are displayed in each corner of the screen?)

Just to confirm, try booting into Safe Mode the correct way :-

Boot into Safe Mode by holding down or 'stabbing at' the Ctrl or the F8 keys
as the PC is powering-up. This will give you a Menu option to select Safe
Mode. (You could also try holding the Shift key - as above - which should
take you directly to Safe Mode without the menu.

Come back with the results.

Mart


"Shani S." <ShaniS.RemoveThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:5A480E54-5F2A-4658-974F-2C53267BBD3D@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> Two days ago, my computer began starting up in "boot mode" and of course,
> it's driving me crazy.
>
> I run daily AdAware, Spybot Search & Destroy, as well as X-Cleaner for
> malaware and spyware; obvioualy, all these precautions don't always keep
> us
> safe.
>
> I've tried the following actions and made the following determinations
> thus
> far:
>
> 1. I did a "System Restore," which did not fix the problem.
> 2. I tried checking my "Startup" list for suspicious items but pretty
> certain there are none.
> 3. I discovered that I am UNABLE to run "ScanDisk;" even though, I
> SHUTDOWN
> Zone Alarm and DISABLE Norton prior to Scanning. Nevertheless, I continue
> to
> receive the error message: "Scan disk has attempted to run 10 times and
> cannot......." yada, yada, yada! I also noticed while the ScanDisk is
> running, the icons on my Taskbar keep REFRESHING, which I know should not
> be
> happening.
> 4. I did a Registry Check, which found no errors.
> 5. Oh, I am also having some problems with IE. From time to time the
> page(s)
> act funky like going forward by themself and the other day the Address Bar
> would not let me type a URL address. It just kept flashing dots across the
> bar with the word "search displayed.
>
> Basically, I'm at a loss for diagnosing and fixing this problem. Is it a
> System Utilty problem? Is it a Virus? What is it?
>
> PLEASE HELP!

Hi Mart,

Before I answer your question, first let me say that I cannot read Mike's
post. Only a portion of it is being displayed, unless it's my screen. In
fact, this is what I see posted from Mike:

"and DISABLE Norton

Enough said and therein lies the most likely cause of most if not all of
your problems. Norton, any version, simply isn't compatible with Win Me
and causes 20 times as many problems as any benefits or protection it
might claim to offer. As long as you have Norton installed it is unlikely
that anyone will be able to really help."
--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby.TakeThisOut@gmail.com

Okay, so as you can see, I have no idea what Mike advised me to do; however,
I am able to read your post entirely. Therefore, the answer to your
question is my computer is NOT starting in "safe mode." It is starting up to
the screen where the user can change the system configurations.

For Example: "1st Boot Device," "2nd Boot Device," etc.

The screen where I can set a "system password" or "user password." The
screen where the user can make "primary & secondary master and slave
configuration" changes.

Now that I'm fairly certain you know what I'm talking about, would you be
kind enough to post for me Mike's original message, as well as any additional
advice you may have since this problem still persists!

Thanks for your help,
Shani

That is EXACTLY all that Mike said......Norton is well known for messing
up WinME computers.....his comments are perfectly clear to any of us
with WinME computers.

So in other words.....Remove Norton!! Get a better antivirus and there
are some free ones such as AVG, etc.

Now Mart can take over.....Heather

"Shani S." <ShaniS RemoveThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B29AC66B-7415-4B99-AAA3-DA0034117346@microsoft.com...
> Hi Mart,
>
> Before I answer your question, first let me say that I cannot read
> Mike's
> post. Only a portion of it is being displayed, unless it's my screen.
> In
> fact, this is what I see posted from Mike:
>
> "and DISABLE Norton
>
> Enough said and therein lies the most likely cause of most if not all
> of
> your problems. Norton, any version, simply isn't compatible with Win
> Me
> and causes 20 times as many problems as any benefits or protection it
> might claim to offer. As long as you have Norton installed it is
> unlikely
> that anyone will be able to really help."
> --
> Mike Maltby
> mike.maltby RemoveThis @gmail.com
>
> Okay, so as you can see, I have no idea what Mike advised me to do;
> however,
> I am able to read your post entirely. Therefore, the answer to your
> question is my computer is NOT starting in "safe mode." It is starting
> up to
> the screen where the user can change the system configurations.
>
> For Example: "1st Boot Device," "2nd Boot Device," etc.
>
> The screen where I can set a "system password" or "user password." The
> screen where the user can make "primary & secondary master and slave
> configuration" changes.
>
> Now that I'm fairly certain you know what I'm talking about, would you
> be
> kind enough to post for me Mike's original message, as well as any
> additional
> advice you may have since this problem still persists!
>
> Thanks for your help,
> Shani
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Hi Shani,

You did in fact see ALL of Mike's post - I won't explain here <g> except to
say that he (and many others on the WinMe News Groups) *regularly* advise
users to disable (or better yet, completely uninstall) Norton products from
their WinMe systems. It can - and often does - cause far more problems than
it allegedly fixes.

OK, back to your issues - from your description, you *appear* to be booting
directly into your BIOS setup page(s).

If it really is your BIOS (or CMOS) setup page(s) then I'm not sure why this
is suddenly happening unless you have a sticking key (usually but not always
the Del key) or perhaps your CMOS battery is dying and needs replacing.

My *guess* is that more likely you have a "GoBack" type of utility which
appears to be offering you the BIOS setting options as you boot your PC. I
don't use these type of utilities myself as they are NOT part of WinMe, nor
can I suggest any further advice except that you look at your User Manual
to see if that sort of utility is included with your particular PC. For all
I know, it might be caused by one of the Norton 'features' included in your
setup.

Maybe someone else recognises these symptoms and can offer further help.

Just a thought, what happens if you boot your PC using the WinMe Startup
(floppy) Disk?

Do you still get the "1st Boot Device," "2nd Boot Device," etc. pages
showing on your screen?

Mart



"Shani S." <ShaniS.TakeThisOut@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B29AC66B-7415-4B99-AAA3-DA0034117346@microsoft.com...
> Hi Mart,
>
> Before I answer your question, first let me say that I cannot read Mike's
> post. Only a portion of it is being displayed, unless it's my screen. In
> fact, this is what I see posted from Mike:
>
> "and DISABLE Norton
>
> Enough said and therein lies the most likely cause of most if not all of
> your problems. Norton, any version, simply isn't compatible with Win Me
> and causes 20 times as many problems as any benefits or protection it
> might claim to offer. As long as you have Norton installed it is unlikely
> that anyone will be able to really help."
> --
> Mike Maltby
> mike.maltby.TakeThisOut@gmail.com
>
> Okay, so as you can see, I have no idea what Mike advised me to do;
> however,
> I am able to read your post entirely. Therefore, the answer to your
> question is my computer is NOT starting in "safe mode." It is starting up
> to
> the screen where the user can change the system configurations.
>
> For Example: "1st Boot Device," "2nd Boot Device," etc.
>
> The screen where I can set a "system password" or "user password." The
> screen where the user can make "primary & secondary master and slave
> configuration" changes.
>
> Now that I'm fairly certain you know what I'm talking about, would you be
> kind enough to post for me Mike's original message, as well as any
> additional
> advice you may have since this problem still persists!
>
> Thanks for your help,
> Shani
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

> I have no idea what Mike advised me to do

Perhaps you should explain what you do not understand about the statement
"Norton, any version, simply isn't compatible with Win Me"?

However your subsequent post tells us that your problem has little or
nothing to do with Norton and even less to do with Win Me as you appear to
be booting to the bios setup screen for your PC rather than to an
operating system for which Mart has made some suggestions. Can you
confirm that you are pressing no keys when booting your system, for
example the DEL key which is often the key used to enter the bios setup
although other key combinations exist? The system first reads the bios
before attempting to load an operating system and it appears you are not
even getting that far.

What do you have set as First and Second boot device? With First set as
your floppy drive are you able to boot to DOS using a Win Me startup
floppy?
--
Mike Maltby
mike.maltby DeleteThis @gmail.com


Shani S. <ShaniS DeleteThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Hi Mart,
>
> Before I answer your question, first let me say that I cannot read
> Mike's post. Only a portion of it is being displayed, unless it's my
> screen. In fact, this is what I see posted from Mike:
>
> "and DISABLE Norton
>
> Enough said and therein lies the most likely cause of most if not all
> of your problems. Norton, any version, simply isn't compatible with
> Win Me and causes 20 times as many problems as any benefits or
> protection it might claim to offer. As long as you have Norton
> installed it is unlikely that anyone will be able to really help."

LOL...Hi Guys,

Okay, where do I begin? I guess I'll start with the following:

Mike, I did not realize that your advice was simpy to "disable Norton." Your
post appeared to me as though part of the 1st sentence was missing. Also,
since I am not a frequent visitor here, I am unfamiliar with the "tech talk"
used; therefore, I apologize to all for any misunderstandings.

Nevertheless, you and Mart are both correct. My computer is indeed booting
to the "bios setup screen." When I start the computer, the first thing I see
is "User Password." I simply hit "enter" because I do not have a PC password
setup since it's not a necessity. Thereafter, the full "setup screen"
appears, so I simply hit "ctrl, alt, delete" to reboot the computer.

Sometimes after pressing "ctrl, alt, delete" the computer restart in
"Windows Mode" and sometimes it does not. If after hitting "ctrl, alt,
delete" several times my computer does not reboot to "windows," I then do a
"manual reboot," which almost always takes me into the regular "windows
startup."

Nevertheless, I am very interested in what you guys said about "sticking
keys" because I recently spilled iced coffee on my wireless keyboard and
there are keys sticking. However, the keys that are sticking are the side
panel number buttons.

Oh my goooooooooood, I just noticed the side right panel "Zero and Period"
keys are stuck in the "down" position. Oh geeeeeeeeeeeeeze, I'm almost
ashamed to say that I think you guys may have solved my problem. Oh lord, let
me unstick these keys and reboot to see what happens.

<Shani walking away with tail between her legs and head hanging to the
floor>

I will report back after rebooting!

Thanks

"Mike M" wrote:

> > I have no idea what Mike advised me to do
>
> Perhaps you should explain what you do not understand about the statement
> "Norton, any version, simply isn't compatible with Win Me"?
>
> However your subsequent post tells us that your problem has little or
> nothing to do with Norton and even less to do with Win Me as you appear to
> be booting to the bios setup screen for your PC rather than to an
> operating system for which Mart has made some suggestions. Can you
> confirm that you are pressing no keys when booting your system, for
> example the DEL key which is often the key used to enter the bios setup
> although other key combinations exist? The system first reads the bios
> before attempting to load an operating system and it appears you are not
> even getting that far.
>
> What do you have set as First and Second boot device? With First set as
> your floppy drive are you able to boot to DOS using a Win Me startup
> floppy?
> --
> Mike Maltby
> mike.maltby.DeleteThis@gmail.com
>
>
> Shani S. <ShaniS.DeleteThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi Mart,
> >
> > Before I answer your question, first let me say that I cannot read
> > Mike's post. Only a portion of it is being displayed, unless it's my
> > screen. In fact, this is what I see posted from Mike:
> >
> > "and DISABLE Norton
> >
> > Enough said and therein lies the most likely cause of most if not all
> > of your problems. Norton, any version, simply isn't compatible with
> > Win Me and causes 20 times as many problems as any benefits or
> > protection it might claim to offer. As long as you have Norton
> > installed it is unlikely that anyone will be able to really help."
>
>