[benedicuk]

Hi
My slightly ageing Toshiba Tecra 8000 laptop runs ME and was working fine until I recently installed a Sony picture viewer package following purchase of a digital camera and printer for my wife for christmas. Since installing it I cant open windows. The machine repeatedly produces a message box saying "Error loading Explorer.exe. You must reinstall Windows" When I click the OK button the machine restarts and I get caught in the same loop. I can F8 it into safe mode, but F10 and delete buttons have no effect on the start up so I cant change the boot order.I read a post on here with a similar problem which suggested pressing delete at start up to get into Bios This had no effect at all. I have the ME cd but cant get the machine to read the cd drive at start up. I can get it to run in Dos by inserting a MS Dos start up floppy and Ive considered trying a windows start disk from an earlier version of windows or installing a much earlier versions of windows from floppy and then running the ME cd once Ive got a version of windows back.But I hope theres a better way than that .

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Many thanks

Roger

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Hello benedicuk...

This sounds like a software compatability issue.

Try running System Restore from Safe Mode. Restore to a time before you installed the Sony software.

OR...Uninstall the Sony software from Safe Mode.

Check the Sony software for the system requirements before trying to install it again. It may be a good idea to check Sony's website to see if there are any known issues running your software under Windows ME.

wannabe1

[wannabe1]

Hello benedicuk...

This sounds like a software compatability issue.

Try running System Restore from Safe Mode. Restore to a time before you installed the Sony software.

OR...Uninstall the Sony software from Safe Mode.

Check the Sony software for the system requirements before trying to install it again. It may be a good idea to check Sony's website to see if there are any known issues running your software under Windows ME.

wannabe1

[benedicuk]

Hi
Please accept my apologies for not explaining things more clearly, but its exactly the same when I try and run it in safe mode, the same message instantly pops up and I have no way of getting out of it. So I need a way to get past this message.

Roger

[wannabe1]

Is your installation CD a retail version or is it a recovery CD provided by Toshiba?

Will you be able to utilize a floppy drive on both your machines?

Edited by wannabe1, 09 January 2006 - 12:49 PM.

[benedicuk]

Hi

Its a retail version (I think) well anyway its not a Toshiba. And unfortunately my other laptop does not have a floppy, but I can maybe get access to one at work.

Roger

[wannabe1]

benedicuk...

Does the problem machine have both a floppy drive and a cd-rom that can be used at the same time? Sounds like a silly question, but I have run into machines that use the same bay for both drives...this configuration would prevent us from taking the steps I'm going to propose.

You will need a Win 98 SE OEM startup disk (floppy) which you can obtain by download HERE. Download the file to your desktop, double click on it, and insert a floppy disk when prompted. This will create the startup disk.

Power on the Toshiba and tap the Esc key during the boot sequence to enter BIOS Setup. Make sure the boot priority is set so the floppy is the first boot device...save the settings and exit BIOS. Put the ME installation CD into the cd-rom drive and the startup diskette in the floppy drive and press Ctrl + Alt + Delete twice or three times to restart the machine.

From the Options Screen, choose the option to start with CD-ROM Support and run Windows Setup. ME can usually be installed over itself without loosing your data. We may have to reinstall drivers and some of your installed software may not work (changes to the registry), but those can be reinstalled, as well.

Let me know if you have any questions...

wannabe1

[benedicuk]

Hi
First of all apologies for the delay in replying , but work went really crazy in the last couple of days and I had some difficulty creating the boot disk. However Ive now done that and changed the BIOS bit. Ive tried to do all that you sugested and the Toshiba looked like it was going to get there but has now , running the floppy drive first , produced a message in Dos that says


"The diagnostic tools were succesfully loaded to drive D
Your CD rom drive is Drive E
To view Help, type Help and press enter
A:/ "

What do I do next?. Sorry if Im being totally helpless but Im trying to obey rule 1 about when in doubt


Thanks

Roger

[wannabe1]

Hi...

As long as you are at command prompt, let's try a couple things first.

Type C: and press "Enter"

At the C:\ prompt, type windows\scanreg /restore, and press "Enter". (Note the space before /restore). You will be offered five files to restore to...choose the second one down and press "Enter". (remove the startup disk when you reboot)

After this completes, try to boot normally and let me know if this worked. (This procedure will attempt to restore an earlier configuration.)

If no joy with that, post back for reinstall instructions...

wannabe1

Edited by wannabe1, 14 January 2006 - 09:43 AM.

[benedicuk]

Hi
have done that and it said windows had successfully fixed the registry

Roger

[wannabe1]

Whooooops...you must have caught me editing the post...

No worries. Does the machine boot into Windows? If not, refer to my previous post for the instructions to restore the configuration.

wannabe1

[benedicuk]

Still does just the same "Error loading explorer "etc

[wannabe1]

Ok...let's go ahead and reinstall ME.

Boot to a command prompt with the Startup Diskette. (Shift + F5 at the options screen).

At the A:\ prompt, type C: and press "Enter".

Put the Win ME installation cd into the cd-rom drive.

At the C:\ prompt, type windows\setup and press "Enter".

This will start Windows Setup. When asked to choose which directory to install to, choose the current or default directory. (C:WINDOWS)

Let me know how this goes...

wannabe1

[benedicuk]

More problems

Now I cant get the \ key to work so I can get to windows but can't type \setup

[wannabe1]

No problem...

Which prompt are you at?

If at C:\, type D: and press "Enter"

At the D:\ prompt, type setup.exe and press "Enter"

If this fails to find the setup files, At the prompt, type E: and press "Enter"

At the E:\ prompt, type setup.exe and press "Enter"

[benedicuk]

Both D: and E: produce the message "Invalid drive specification"