[april_t_05]

OK, I have just put in a new hard drive on my other computer. And then I installed Windows 98 on it. It was working fine but I wanted to upgrade to Windows ME. So when I started the installation it had a big screen that came up and it had five (5) categories on the left side to show it's progress. The five (5) categories were:
1. Preparing to run Windows setup
2. Collecting information about your computer.
3. Copying windows files to your computer.
4. Restarting your computer.
5. Setting up hardware and finalizing settings.

Everything was going fine until it got to number five (5). Then it started doing that same step over and over again but it won't go all the way through the step. It will say something like installing the drivers and then it will restart itself. Then when it comes back on it will say something about checking for plug and play devices on your computer. Then it will restart itself and do that all over again. I have no idea what to do now. Please help me to fix this. Thank you for your help.

[Advertisements]

ME is not as stable as 98 so you may want to fix whatever problems you were having with 98 instead of battling to install ME

[Retired Tech]

ME is not as stable as 98 so you may want to fix whatever problems you were having with 98 instead of battling to install ME

[april_t_05]

There was nothing wrong with Windows 98 when I installed it. It was working fine. I didn't want to use Windows 98 so that is why I was trying to upgrade to Windows ME.

[april_t_05]

I could still use some help with this if anyone knows what to do!

Edited by april_t_05, 22 June 2006 - 09:52 AM.

[Retired Tech]

Run this to check 98 is all in place then retry ME

This will rebuild the registry and also replace missing or corrupt system files

Boot the PC and keep tapping F8 right after the beep until you get options, select command prompt only, give it a minute to arrive at the prompt with a flashing cursor then type scanreg.exe /fix then press enter, it will run through a few screens then say registry repaired. Press enter then press ctrl + alt + delete keys together to reboot.

When Windows has loaded, click start, all programmes, accessories, system tools, system information, tools then run system file checker and replace any files it asks for from the 98 CD then reboot.

When it has loaded to the desktop, click start, programmes accessories, system tools to run disc clean up, then run disc defragmenter from system tools

This part is optional

Download, install and run Tune Up 2006 Trial

Run Tune Up disc clean up

Run Tune Up registry clean up

Click Optimize and Improve to run Reg Defrag, the screen will lose colour during the process which can take a few minutes and then needs a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to optimize the computer, select computer with an internet connection from the drop down menu, this also requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to accelerate downloads, select the speed just above your actual connection speed, this requires a reboot.

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to run system advisor

[shard92]

A couple of thoughts....

it sounds like you may have hardware that me doesnt' like. You more than likely will not be able to resolve that as ME never got much support and 98 drivers don't always work in ME....

Also from experience, Me seems to like it much better if the harddrive is partitioned and formated by ME and not some other software ( including win98 ). You would also probably be better off doing a clean install of ME anyway.... upgrades are notorious for messing up. What you do is use a ME boot disk to fdisk and format the hardrive. then you start the me install ( by running the setup from the win9x directory on the cd ) then when it says you need to varify that you are eligible for an upgrade you put your 98 disk in so It can see you have a previous version...

or as was stated earlier.. stick with the more stable ( assuming you have 98 second edition ) windows 98.

[april_t_05]

I tried to boot up and press F8 but it didn't do anything. I can press F10 for setup. It doesn't have anything about "command prompt only". Any other ideas? I would be happy just to get back to Windows 98. Thank you for trying to help me.

[Retired Tech]

Did you keep tapping the F8 key as soon as the PC started to boot, another one to try is F5, but tapping is key

[Neil Jones]

I tried to boot up and press F8 but it didn't do anything. I can press F10 for setup. It doesn't have anything about "command prompt only".

It won't, this was removed in Windows ME.

If you saved the upgrade files during Windows ME upgrade, then just go to Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs and opt to remove ME from there. If the option isn't there, you'll have to wipe the drive again to go back to 98.

Edited by Neil Jones, 26 June 2006 - 04:32 PM.

[Retired Tech]

ME didn't complete the install did it?