Computer won't come all the way on, doing a LOOP thing....

oh come ON you guys. NO ONE knows what this could be????????????

Onxyelle- I'd help you if I could. Hey, it's early in the morning. Give the tecchies in the crowd time to wake up!

you're right Phoenix....it just saddens me so.

I know Onyx...............computers can be VERY frustrating. I did not want to say anything at first, but when my old computer started banging out error messages all the time, I just knew that I had to reformat the hard drive. I hope that is not your situation. (Keeping fingers crossed).

Turn th PC back on again and as soon as you get the Windows splash screen hit the "F8" key and bring it up in safe mode.

After it comes up in safe mode once shut it down and restart it in normal mode again and see if it's fixed itself.

fishin, i did that twice already :-( <--huge sad face

phoenix, i hope not....i called the comp' that built it for me - he says that may indeed be the case, but I'm hoping not.

1. What version of Win9x are you using? Or maybe WinME?
2. You've said you've tried starting in Safe Mode twice, but what specifically happened? Did everything work hunky dory in Safe Mode?
3. Have you added any new software / hardware recently?
4. Do you have any suspicions about what caused this problem or what might have contributed to this problem?
5. What was done right before the first time this problem occurred?
6. Does the error message prevent you from using any programs on the PC at all?

1. Win 98
2. started it safe mode once. netscape wouldn't hook up w/ the internet (and I'm running RR). Restarted machine regular mode same thing happened again.
3. No
4. No :-(
5. I shut the pc down and went to bed.
6. yes it does. I click 'close' and the error msg pops right back up again.

First, do you have a Windows 98 setup CD handy?

Second, what is the exact error message you're getting (click the Details button)?
For example... "EXPLORER caused an exception 6d007eH in module EXPLORER.EXE at 0167:0040a067"

those details are very important since no other info is available.

Hard to give an exact solution since, as Monger mentions, the exact error message is unknown but.. Take a look at this from Microsoft:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=296211

If that does not apply to your situation then the instructions on that page likely will not fix the problem. Without being able to look at the PC, we'll need the error message verbatim, Ony.

I will do what I can to get it to you. check back in about 6 hours.

Arrrrgh ... wish I'd seen this earlier. Whatchya got is the Blaster Worm or one of its later variants.

If you're using Windows and you get a shutdown notification, shut down the machine then re-start normally then immediately Click Start > Run.
In the open box(clear it first if anything is already there), type "Shutdown -A" ... without the quotes, of course.
Don't forget to place the dash (-) in front of "A"
Click OK. Then go to one of these free removal tools:

My personal favorite "First Try at a fix": STINGER from Network Associates (the MacAfee folks).

Some others:


http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.blaster.worm.removal.tool.html

http://www.webroot.com/services/msblastaudit.htm?rc=257&ac=552

http://kb.trendmicro.com/solutions/solutionDetail.asp?solutionID=15932 (which refers you to
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ )

Whichever one you use, print out the instructions, make sure you understand them, and follow them to the letter. Some of what you will have to do must be done while your machine is offline.


For further information about the blaster worm, please visit:

http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=description&virus_k=100547
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.blaster.worm.html
http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/msblast.shtml
http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/blast_faq.asp

That is not the case.


The mention of an "illegal operation" means it is a Windows 9x/Me program crash, and Blaster does not affect those versions of Windows.

I think Ony brought her computer in to a repair shop though, so I hope all is well..

Yeah, I think you're riht, Monger. The shutdown loop is what got my attention, I didn't even think about the "Illegal Operation" thing. Hard to be right when you don't consider all the info

Anywho ... the problem and its resolution, whatever that turns out to be, are great adverts for making your own emergency boot disks.

You sure you don't have a disc in one of your drives?

C.I... the workings of a computer are totally not my area of expertise, lol but i know enough to check my drives before i start wailing :-) btw, i never told you my husband loved the stevie pic.

Monger/Timb - i did indeed take it in. My harddrive was reformatted, both of then. ... i also got a cd burner (go me, go me go me)...

Can anyone recommend a good burning program? Right now I've got Nero...i think it's what came w/ the burner....

Glad to hear it - on both counts.

Glad to hear you're back in business. I wouldn't worry too much about going out and buying a CD Burning app other than the one that came with the burner untill you've got that one figured out. I wouldn't even bother to upgrade it to the "Deluxe" or "Full Featured" version, as it no doubt asks you to do when you start the app. The "Comes With" versions pretty much do all a beginner is going to want to do. If after you're comfortable with the basics, you find the restrictions limiting, or preventing you from doing something you want to do, then go ahead and upgrade or migrate to a different app. Nero is good, richly featured, well supported, and is fine for just about a helluva lot more than most folks will ever find to do with it without upgrading. I like Roxio stuff; I've been using and upgrading it for years and I'm pretty comfortable with it, but I wouldn't say its better than Nero, just slightly different. Heck, you'll prolly find no need to upgrade from the original packaged version, really. As I said, it'll do everything that most folks want to do right the way it came out of the box. Advanced features don't make much sense if they don't do anything for you.

Oh, and invest in a few CD-RWs to practice with before you start turning CD-Rs into coasters and frisbies. A mistake on a RW is just a mistake. Erase the disk and try again. A mistake on a Write-Once disk is a wasted disk.