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Mon 18 Aug, 2003 05:06 am
A few weeks ago, I started getting some nasty messages from my computer. In addition to the ever popular "illegal action" screen, I got a new one that I had not seen before.........ever. It advised me that some kernel in my system had been corrupted, and that I should reinstall Windows. I would reboot, and go through the dreaded blue screen of death, but eventually the computer would work perfectly.
I have reinstalled Windows 2 1/2 times in my life. The first two times went pretty smoothly, but I got stuck the third time with a driver that refused to drive, and was obliged to call in a professional.
Anyhow, to me, reinstalling Windows is my third least favorite thing to do, after root canal, and standing in line at the motor vehicle bureau. Just thinking about it will cause an anxiety attack.
Not to digress. A couple of weeks ago, I turned on the computer. I had just gone past the DOS screen, and the initial Dell screen (Windows had not come into the picture yet), when there was a thunderous crash. Not to worry, it wasn't from my computer. It was thunder from a storm that had come up quickly. I immediately shut down my computer.
Some hours later, when the skies cleared, I turned my computer on again, fully expecting to go through the corrupted kernel, illegal action, reinstall Windows, blue screen rigamarole. It booted up perfectly!
Since then I have been turning on my computer this way. Turn on the juice, wait for the Dell screen. Shut it off. Turn it on again. I have had NO problems, and I am chicken to try to boot it up the usual way.
Any explanation or comments?
First question is which version of Windows are we talking about.
Second question is have you run scan disk?
Third question is are your operating system and anti-virus files current with the latest updates available?
Butrflynet- I use Windows 98SE.
Nope, I have not run Scan Disc recently.
I have Norton Anti-Virus, with automatic updates.
Run scan disk and see if that locates and repairs problems. If it does, you may get a reprieve and not have to reinstall Windows for awhile longer.
Windows 98 is notoriously famous for these types of problems. I've experienced the blue screen of death more times then I care to mention. The soonest you can afford to upgrade to Windows XP or similar version, the better off your PC will be.
When you previously reinstalled Windows, had you also reformatted the hard disk at that time or just did the reinstall?
Do you have backups of your important data?
Butrflynet- I reformatted the whole hard drive when I reinstalled.
Actually, if the truth be known, I really want a new computer, and have been wrangling with my husband about it for awhile. My machine is too old to change to XP- (Pentium II- 450 mhz.). Funny thing, when it works well, it does everything that I want it to do,
Yeppers, Windows 98 can usually go for about a year before the symptoms and blue screens get so bad the only thing left to do is reformat and reinstall. It used to drive me crazy.
Let me know how scan disk goes. If it finds and corrects errors, try letting your PC reboot normally and let me know what happens. If problems still persist we'll keep working on it.
By the way, tell your hubby that now is the time to upgrade the computer if you're going to do it. Between upcoming holiday sales and the tech industry starting to show signs of life again, you won't find any better bargains.
It could be his early Christmas present to you. If he too uses the computer, you might even make a project out of it and build a new one yourselves. It is pretty easy to do and you don't have to compromise between what YOU want and what the pre-packaged PC supplier wants you to have.
Phoenix32890 wrote:Butrflynet- I reformatted the whole hard drive when I reinstalled.
Actually, if the truth be known, I really want a new computer, and have been wrangling with my husband about it for awhile. My machine is too old to change to XP- (Pentium II- 450 mhz.). Funny thing, when it works well, it does everything that I want it to do,
You might want to look into to running Windows 2000 Pro. It should work on your machine and is much better then any windows 9* stuff.
* = wildcard </linux dork>
I don't use Windows so all of the above could be false.
Peace,
Ryan
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