Need Help

[Guns]

:confused: Can any one tell me how to format my pc. I have ME on it and want to put XP on it people after telling me i should install it over ME and others tell me to take everything off frist. But i dont know how to do this. if any one can tell me how to or where i can find out somewhere please do.

[Abbadon]

Welcome to The PC Guide!

Put in the winxp cd in your cd-drive and boot the machine from the cd, there you will have the possibility to format your hard drive before installing xp.

I believe it is best to format first and then install, rather than just installing "over" winme. Starting with a clean slate and all that...

Be sure to backup any important info on you c:\-drive before formatting!

Good luck! Any more questions: just ask.

Greetz,

Abbadon

[LadyGrey]

Hi Guns and Welcome
I think the first thing you will need to do is to post alot more information on the computer you have. The Guru's are gonna need all the info you can give them in order to be able to help you. See my signature down below, that's some of what they need to know. First of all you need to be sure that your computer is able to run XP it takes quite a bit of RAM to run as I understand it so that would be one of the first things the Guru's will ask about. Hang in there the people around here are the most helpful and smartest you will find on the internet. LG;)

[Guns]

So if i put in the Xp cd and pick formatt will that take everything thats on it now off and just put on whats on the Xp cd or will everything still be there?

[Abbadon]

If you do that, everything will be gone, lost forever, vanished never to appear again. Hence the importance of backing up important data!

After the formatting WinXp will be installed.



However: Ladygrey is right: giving us more info will allow us to help you better. What we definitly have to know to ascertain if you pc can if fact run winxp is:

amount of ram (& what kind it is if possible)
processorspeed & make
available hdd-space

What might also be interesting is: why do you want to use xp? maybe there are better / easier alternatives to a full format & reinstall.
(example: formatting just to get rid of adware is a bit over the top)


Provide the info if at all possible, it would be bummer to format & reinstall just to discover you machine can't work it.

[Guns]

Here is what i know

intel pentium 4 cpu 1.60 ghz 1600 mhz
256.0 mb ram
file system 32-bit
virtual memory 32-bit
mainboard i845-ITE8712

Drives

GENERIC NEC FLOPPY DISK
GENERIC IDE DISK TYPE47
LG DVD-ROM DRD8160B
LITE-ON LTR-16102B

video card - NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model 64

can i do the same with the Me cd because if i can i'll put Me back on. i want to fomat because my pc keeps frezing up and most of my progams wont work and sometimes i cant restart or shut down it and a blue screen keeps coming up

[Abbadon]

That system wil certainly run xp without too much troubles.

If you have a winme cd you could probably use it in the same way as the xp disk, but I'm not sure, never used me myself.

[LadyGrey]

Abbadon is sooo right about a reformat. It will take everything off your HDD just like erasing a chalk board. I think your system would run XP too, the only thing I would be a little worried about is the amount of RAM, 256mb I think is the bare minimum for running XP.
The problems you are describing seem to be universal with ME. That blue screen is a Fatal Error screen or Blue Screen of Death. It means the computer has crashed. Have you tried to update ME from the Microsoft Windows update site?? That might be something you could try before going to the extreme of a reformat. I've never used ME either but it should work the same way as the XP disk but it will still be a reinstall and will most likely wipe your HDD. I know the Guru's will have more info for you so just hang in there. LG;)

[cyber_surfer]

I'm certainly no Guru but I can offer the following insight.

TechTV, PCMagazine and lots more like them recommend XP and claim it is the best OS Microsoft has offered the public. Stable, capable and their latest and greatest for at least another 2 years. I run it on 5 machines and have had no problems at all.

It is subjected to many attacks from the net, e-mail, etc. so you have to keep your Microsoft updates current, your antivirus updated and run a good firewall. It wouldn't hurt to put a router between you and the outside world.

I suggest you do the full reformat and not the quick version. You must change the boot sequence in your BIOS to make the CD drive first in order to do the clean install.

There is a program available from the Microsoft site (Windows XP area) that will run and tell you what to expect with regards to software and hardware that won't work with XP. You should have little impact in that area.

Well worth converting, especially since you are one of the people having problems with Win ME. I converted one of machines from ME to XP and learned a lot in the process of doing it. The rest came with XP installed.

Enjoy your new Operating System.

[mjc]

i want to fomat because my pc keeps frezing up and most of my progams wont work and sometimes i cant restart or shut down it and a blue screen keeps coming up

Well, there is the little problem of why is it doing all that. A little checking/diagnostics before hand could save you some grief later.

I would like to see a HijackThis (http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/) log before you wipe things out. The way you describe your problems can be caused by both software and hardware. Let's see if it is just software, because if there is a hardware problem then installing XP will not fix anything!

[Guns]

Here is the highjack log. I dont now what to delete or keep

Logfile of HijackThis v1.97.3
Scan saved at 6:08:31 PM, on 23/10/2003
Platform: Windows ME (Win9x 4.90.3000)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSGSRV32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SPOOL32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPREXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\STIMON.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSTASK.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\LEXBCES.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RPCSS.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\LEXPPS.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\mmtask.tsk
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RESTORE\STMGR.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\TASKMON.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SYSTRAY.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\LXSUPMON.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WMIEXE.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NORTON ANTIVIRUS\NAVAPW32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\HIDSERV.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NASDAK\OMNIMOUSE DRIVER\2.1.23\MOUSE32A.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NETROPA\MULTIMEDIA KEYBOARD\MMKEYBD.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\WINDOWS MEDIA COMPONENTS\ENCODER\WMENCAGT.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NETROPA\MULTIMEDIA KEYBOARD\TRAYMON.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NETROPA\ONSCREEN DISPLAY\OSD.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NETROPA\INETKB\INETKB.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DDHELP.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WBEM\WINMGMT.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP\MY DOWNLOADS\HIJACKTHIS\HIJACKTHIS.EXE

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer,SearchURL = http://approvedlinks.com/main/sp.htm
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant = http://approvedlinks.com/main/sp.htm
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = c:\windows\system32\blank.htm
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
R3 - URLSearchHook: (no name) - {8952A998-1E7E-4716-B23D-3DBE03910972} - (no file)
O1 - Hosts: 216.177.73.139 auto.search.msn.com
O1 - Hosts: 216.177.73.139 auto.search.msn.com
O1 - Hosts: 216.177.73.139 search.netscape.com
O1 - Hosts: 216.177.73.139 ieautosearch
O2 - BHO: NAV Helper - {BDF3E430-B101-42AD-A544-FADC6B084872} - C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\ADOBE\ACROBAT 5.0\READER\ACTIVEX\ACROIEHELPER.OCX
O3 - Toolbar: Norton AntiVirus - {42CDD1BF-3FFB-4238-8AD1-7859DF00B1D6} - C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSDXM.OCX
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ScanRegistry] C:\WINDOWS\scanregw.exe /autorun
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TaskMonitor] C:\WINDOWS\taskmon.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SystemTray] SysTray.Exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AHQInit] C:\Program Files\Creative\SBLive\Program\AHQInit.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LexStart] LexStart.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LXSUPMON] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\LXSUPMON.EXE RUN
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickFinder Scheduler] "C:\Program Files\WordPerfect Office 11\Programs\QFSCHD110.EXE"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Bsx3] RunDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\BS3.DLL,DllRun
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NAV Agent] C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\NAVAPW32.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Hidserv] Hidserv.exe run
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LWBMOUSE] C:\Program Files\NASDAK\OmniMouse Driver\2.1.23\MOUSE32A.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MULTIMEDIA KEYBOARD] C:\Program Files\Netropa\Multimedia Keyboard\MMKeybd.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [devldr16.exe] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\devldr16.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [StillImageMonitor] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\STIMON.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [SchedulingAgent] mstask.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [*StateMgr] C:\WINDOWS\System\Restore\StateMgr.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [ScriptBlocking] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\Script Blocking\SBServ.exe" -reg
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [iedll] C:\PROGRAM FILES\WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER\iedll.exe
O4 - Startup: Encoder Agent.lnk = C:\Program Files\Windows Media Components\Encoder\WMENCAGT.EXE
O6 - HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel present
O9 - Extra button: Messenger (HKLM)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: MSN Messenger Service (HKLM)
O12 - Plugin for .spop: C:\PROGRA~1\INTERN~1\Plugins\NPDocBox.dll
O16 - DPF: {9F1C11AA-197B-4942-BA54-47A8489BB47F} (Update Class) - http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/CAB/x86/ansi/iuctl.CAB?37874.4999537037
O16 - DPF: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (Shockwave Flash Object) - http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab
O16 - DPF: {AD7FAFB0-16D6-40C3-AF27-585D6E6453FD} - http://dload.ipbill.com/del/loader.cab
O16 - DPF: {94118C19-B178-4E43-BBE8-0EFDBB391BDB} (SysWebTelecom Class) - http://www.sponsoradulto.com/SysWebTelecom.cab
O16 - DPF: {166B1BCA-3F9C-11CF-8075-444553540000} (Shockwave ActiveX Control) - http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/director/swdir.cab
O16 - DPF: {A7798D6C-C6B5-4F26-9363-F7CDBBFFA607} (download Class) - http://www.gigex.com/ActiveX/vxpspeeddelivery.dll
O16 - DPF: {27527D31-447B-11D5-A46E-0001023B4289} (CoGSManager Class) - http://gamingzone.ubisoft.com/dev/packages/GSManager.cab

[mjc]

Close all browser windows, then in HijackThis check off the boxes next to the following and then the Fix button....

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer,SearchURL = hxxp://approvedlinks.com/main/sp.htm
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant = hxxp://approvedlinks.com/main/sp.htm
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = c:\windows\system32\blank.htm
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =

R3 - URLSearchHook: (no name) - {8952A998-1E7E-4716-B23D-3DBE03910972} - (no file)

O1 - Hosts: 216.177.73.139 auto.search.msn.com
O1 - Hosts: 216.177.73.139 auto.search.msn.com
O1 - Hosts: 216.177.73.139 search.netscape.com
O1 - Hosts: 216.177.73.139 ieautosearch

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Bsx3] RunDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\BS3.DLL,DllRun
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [iedll] C:\PROGRAM FILES\WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER\iedll.exe

O16 - DPF: {AD7FAFB0-16D6-40C3-AF27-585D6E6453FD} - hxxp://dload.ipbill.com/del/loader.cab <==dialer
O16 - DPF: {94118C19-B178-4E43-BBE8-0EFDBB391BDB} (SysWebTelecom Class) - hxxp://www.sponsoradulto.com/SysWebTelecom.cab <==dialer



Then reboot and delete the following.....

(files)
C:\WINDOWS\BS3.DLL\
C:\PROGRAM FILES\WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER\iedll.exe


And there is a bunch of other stuff that is soaking up your resources and slowing down you machine.....

All of these are really otional.

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AHQInit] C:\Program Files\Creative\SBLive\Program\AHQInit.exe
Part of AudioHQ for the Soundblaster Live!. Appears as though it makes the AudioHW toolbar drop down from the top of the desktop and isn't required

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LexStart] LexStart.EXE
Lexmark printer software may add Lexstart.exe in the startup folder to handle print commands that you send to the printer. Sometimes required for the printer to work correctly - not in the case of a Lexmark Z42 for instance

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LXSUPMON] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\LXSUPMON.EXE RUN
Lexmark Printer. The printer should work fine without it

O4 - Startup: Encoder Agent.lnk = C:\Program Files\Windows Media Components\Encoder\WMENCAGT.EXE
MS Windows Media Encoder, which already has a shortcut in the Start Menu if installed

[mitchshrader]

*IF* you are going to upgrade to XP no matter what, buy another 256 (or 512) RAM chip, same brand and specs, (if at all possible) and upgrade your ram. 512 total is enough. Less is iffy, for XP.
*IF* you aren't going to upgrade your ram, then consider windows 2000, as it it slightly less ram intensive. I run it on 4 computers.. works a treat.
*IF* you upgrade to either Win2k or XP, reformat as NTFS (not FAT32) ..
*IF* you reformat you lose EVERYTHING, so back up to CD or another computer any data you wish to save, FIRST.
*IF* all your hardware isn't compatible with win2k or XP, and you have formatted and it hangs on install, you will be forced to RE-install 98 or winME.. plan on the possiblity. Before you TRY to install either one, run a diagnostic program, get any drivers required for Printer, Scanner, Webcam, PCI cards, Video card, etc.. and burn em to CD. have em handy..
WHEN you have reformatted, and are online, IMMEDIATELY do a full windows update, for security, including all service packs, hotfixes, browser updates, and associated windows software updates...(Office,etc)..
WHEN you have gotten (2k/XP) updated, CLEAN your computer of all files (temp) and DEFRAG and reboot.. (again) .. before you install any NON-Windows software (drivers, 3rd party utilities)
then reboot again..
Good Luck. If you wish to install XP or 2k, 512 RAM (that all matches) is what you need to be comfortable and stable. More isn't wrong, less is risky. Put it in, test it, FIRST. (24 hour stability test recommended)..

[Guns]

i did what you said but i cant find

C:\WINDOWS\BS3.DLL i looked but the only one there was BS2.DLL
the same was for C:\PROGRAM FILES\WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER\Iedll.exe
i looked in all the files but its not there

[Guns]

I think i will upgrade my ram first then give Xp a try
thanks for telling me about that

[Budfred]

You can also clean up WinME and do a dual boot system. You leave the WinME install and create a new partition with the WinXP CD and then install WinXP in it. This way you can run either program and/or go back later and delete the WinME if you decide you don't want both. WinME has to be installed first, so if you decide to do it as a clean install, you need to reinstall before the WinXP. You have to use a boot disk to do the format for WinME since the CD doesn't do that in WinME.

If you use either WinME or WinXP, it is a good idea to clean up the background dreck since both come with too much....