windows me fails to start

i experianced a power cut when the power came back on the pc rebooted but me would not start the me screen has come up on ly rarely and i have tried to startin safe mode to no avail all i get is a black screen with a flashing curser in the top left hand corner (no command prompt0 can anyone help?

Power cuts can be fatal and power surges / fluctuations which often happen just before a power cut can be even worse ... frying bits inside your PC by overloading them with voltage.

My first impression of this problem is that it sounds like your hard disk has suffered during the power cut. I assume that your PC was switched on when the power died?

Try starting up from a floppy disk (e.g. Windows ME Startup Disk), get to a command prompt and run Scandisk /all

Does it report any errors or bad sectors?

If it reports errors but no bad sectors, run it again and again until it says it found nothing wrong. Then switch off the PC, boot off of the floppy disk again and do the same thing, just to be sure that there's still no errors!

Let us know what happens as there will probably be more advice to give once that's been done

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DJNafey
http://www.FutureSystems-Sussex.Co.UK
Future Systems (Sussex) - IT services to homes and small businesses

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If you don't have a Startup Disk, see if you can get one from www.bootdisk.com.

__________________
DJNafey
http://www.FutureSystems-Sussex.Co.UK
Future Systems (Sussex) - IT services to homes and small businesses

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Hi thanks for your response
yes the system was on when the powe went i have used the scandisk facility a couple of times and it is saying

csandisk did not find any problems on drive a

thanks

Drive a: is just your floppy drive. You'll need to use the command

scandisk /all

or

scandisk c:

in order to check your hard disk.

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DJNafey
http://www.FutureSystems-Sussex.Co.UK
Future Systems (Sussex) - IT services to homes and small businesses

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hi
I now get the message scandisk cannot examine drive c

Oh dear, that's not good

Your PC must, at least sometimes, know that your hard disk is there and that it should use it because you said that it sometimes does display the Windows ME logo screen. That means it's found the hard disk, read a couple of files from it and decided that it's supposed to try loading Windows.

However, you might find that the IDE cable that goes from the motherboard to the hard disk is loose. It might have just been a coincidence that you had a power cut - 'red herrings' are common when trying to diagnose PC problems!

Unplug the PC from the mains, remove the system case and find the flat grey cable that goes into the back of your hard disk. Check that it is securely fitted at both ends (one end in the hard disk, one end onto the motherboard).

Other than that, it sounds pretty terminal

Do you know what hard disk you've got fitted (make and model number)? There may be a manufacturer's diagnostics program that you could get. If you don't know what hard disk you've got, look at the label on the top of it while you've got the system case off (you might need to unscrew the hard disk and pull it out to see the label).

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DJNafey
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DJNaffey
thanks very much for your help with this problem i have checked all the leads etc but i think the hard drive has been damaged, i will look into the prospect of a manufacturers diagnostic program for the drive before i finally declare the drive dead.

OK Barney - thanks for the update. Let us know if you can't find what you need

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DJNafey
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Hey Barney and DJNafey.
Was recently performing a search on google and this post came up. Hope you haven't thrown out that drive!
Most disk diagnostic programs assume that the hard drive is properly setup in the BIOS/CMOS. The results they record cannot be trusted if the hard drive is not setup in the BIOS/CMOS or setup incorrectly.

I don't think there is anything wrong with that drive.
If you have an Integrated Device Electronics hard drive which uses a 40 pin connector, the following message can be reported when the BIOS/CMOS Setup settings for the hard drive are disabled:

"ScanDisk cannot examine drive C."

You should be able to resolve this problem by entering the BIOS/CMOS Setup program and Auto-Detecting the hard disk drive.
Sometimes the setting is called Auto-Configure or Auto.
Just be sure the BIOS/CMOS setting for the IDE hard drive is not "Disabled or "Not installed" or similar.

Changing the hard drive setting in the BIOS/CMOS setup to "Auto" or "Auto Configure" or finding the option to Auto-Detect your particular hard drive will not harm any existing data on the drive and is the first step needed to get you going again.

How do you enter the BIOS/CMOS Setup program? The BIOS/CMOS setup program is usually entered by pressing a particular key or keys on the keyboard soon after powering on the computer.

Different computers use different methods for entering the BIOS/CMOS Setup program. Here are some of the methods used by different computer brands.
Press Delete during boot = AMI, Award
Press Esc during boot = Toshiba
Press F1 during boot = Toshiba; Phoenix; Late model PS/1 Value Point and 330s
Press F10 when square in top RH corner of screen = Compaq
Press F2 during boot = NEC
Press Insert during boot = IBM PS/2 with reference partition
Press Tab during boot = Emachine
Press reset button twice = some Dells
Ctrl Alt + = Misc computers
Ctrl Alt ? = Some PS/2s, such as 75 and 90
Ctrl Alt Enter = Dell
Ctrl Alt Esc = AST Advantage, Award, Tandon
Ctrl Alt Ins = Zenith, Phoenix
Ctrl Alt S = Phoenix
Ctrl Alt Shift + Num Pad Del = Olivetti PC Pro
Ctrl Esc = Misc computers
Ctrl Ins = some PS/2s when pointer at top right of screen
Ctrl S = Phoenix
Ctrl Shift Esc = Tandon 386
Note: SCSI drives (Small Computer System Interface) may require a different method to enter their setup program and configure them. If you do not have a SCSI drive, don't worry about it.

Here are some other error messages caused by incorrect BIOS/CMOS drive settings:

"ScanDisk cannot examine drive D."
"ScanDisk cannot examine drive E."
"ScanDisk cannot examine drive F."

"Invalid drive specification"
You booted from floppy but the hard drive is set as "NOT INSTALLED" or DISABLED in BIOS/CMOS. When trying the following, you get the invalid drive specification message:
c: <ENTER>


"A disk read error occured"
or
"A disk read error occurred
Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart"
The hard drive is not setup using the BIOS/CMOS or translation is not enabled for the drive, or the drive size is not supported by the BIOS.

"Primary master drive fails" The CMOS settings for the primary master drive are not set up correctly for a Primary Master hard drive. Award BIOS message.


D: drive failure
Press <F1> to RESUME

Here's another one:

C: drive failure
D: drive failure
RUN SETUP UTILITY
Press <F1> to RESUME

and some more:

"No hard drive found." This message is output from the unformat command when the hard drive is not set up in CMOS.

"Windows setup was unable to update your system" Problem: The computer may have Anti-Virus CMOS settings for protecting the boot sector in place. In that case, enter the BIOS setup to disable, run windows setup again. 2. Virus protection softwaremay be loading from statements in startup files. Overlay or partitioning or compression or SCSI adapter drivers not in place before the install.

"Disk error in drive C: Cause: Read error Stop Retry" CD-ROM drivers loaded from floppy and the msav program was run from floppy. CDROM grabs letter C because CMOS setting for hard drive is "not installed". There is not a CDROM in drive C. When no CDROM is in the message appears. Enter BIOS to autodetect the hard drive or correct CMOS setting for hard drive.


"Invalid media type reading drive C" The problem is the BIOS/CMOS hard drive settings may be wrong for the hard drive. For example: type 47 and the head count has been increased. Usually, a message appears like the following or something similar:

"WAIT......"
and nothing else


or
"WAIT......"
(you wait for about a minute)
"C: drive failure
RUN SETUP UTILITY
Press <F1> to RESUME."
The computer then tries to boot off a diskette in the floppy drive. If a DOS system diskette or other bootable diskette is inserted, the computer boots.
After this, at the A> prompt if c:<enter> is typed the computer responds with C>
Then, if dir <enter> is typed, the "invalid media type reading drive c" error appears! Any other DOS commands also produce the "invalid" error such as format c: fdisk or sys c: Very frustrating!
(the fdisk command works if it is on the floppy and you are at the A prompt.) To fix it: Enter the BIOS/CMOS setup utility with the correct key(s) for your type of machine after powering on. Set the Heads to the correct number manually. Or, use the "auto-detect" feature to automatically set up correctly for the installed disk drive.
My machine produced this error when the head count was changed to 24 by me. For my machine, the correct number of heads is 12. For your disk, the number may be different. My disk drive is a little over 200 Megabytes. On some machines you can enter the BIOSCMOS with the del key when it starts to boot. On others the key needed is something different. Once in the BIOS CMOS utility, follow the directions and be careful not to change anything else, find the option for saving and exit. The computer should work fine after this.

"c: drive error press F1 to resume" Problem: The BIOS/CMOS settings are not matching the actual drive installed. Drive Type 47 and number of heads set to 16 will produce this error on my machine. Correct on my machine are 1024 cyl and 12 heads. Decreasing the heads to 8 (type 47) produces "Missing Operating System"

"Insert bootable media in the appropriate drive" BIOS/CMOS setting is listed as "disabled" for the hard drive.

"Disk boot failure
Insert system disk and press enter."
Award BIOS message when no hard drive is setup in BIOS/CMOS setup. For example the drive is set as "not installed".

"Error trying to start MSD" The MSD program was tried while in the DOS
directory but the "Sector not found reading drive C Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?" error was received and then the F for fail choice was chosen. The problem is the BIOS/CMOS settings for the hard drive are wrong. In this casethe BIOS/CMOS settings were set to drive type 1.


"Sector not found reading drive C
Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail" This is usually also a BIOS/CMOS setup problem. The settings for the hard disk in the BIOS/CMOS Setup utility are not correct for this hard drive installed. The system was booted from a floppy disk and the FDISK.EXE command was tried. Format produces this same error when run. The sys c: command may appear to work under these conditions if the sys.com file is on the diskette. If the sys c: command was already executed, re-execute this command after the BIOS setting for the hard drive is corrected.

"No fixed disk(s) present" can be reported when using the FDISK program when the hard drive is not setup in the BIOS/CMOS setup.

"A:\ is not accessible The device is not ready
Retry Cancel" This message may appear in Windows 95 if a disk is in the floppy drive when the BIOS/CMOS floppy drive setting is set to "Not Installed"

"Cannot SYS a network drive"
Reason 1: The sys d: command was executed and d is a CDROM drive designation.
Reason 2: The BIOS/CMOS settings for the hard drive are set to not installed and sys c: command was given after booting from a floppy, MSCDEX.EXE program and the CDROM driver have loaded.

"Cannot format a network drive"
Reason 1: The format d: command was executed by mistake, and d is a CDROM drive.
Reason 2: The BIOS/CMOS settings for the (local) internal hard drive are set to not installed, and the format c: command was executed after booting from a floppy disk. A CDROM driver from the diskette grabs the letter C, and CDROMS aren't writable, therefore unable to be formatted with format command.

"Disk error in drive C: Cause: Read error Stop Retry" CD-ROM drivers loaded from floppy and the Microsoft MSAV program was run from floppy. CDROM grabs letter C because the BIOS/CMOS setting for hard drive is "not installed". There is not a CDROM in drive C. When no CDROM is inserted, the message appears. Enter BIOS to autodetect the hard drive or correct CMOS setting for hard drive.

"Not ready reading drive A, abort retry fail?" The diskette is not inserted and "a:<enter> was tried. Or, the "a" drive is set to "not installed" in BIOS/CMOS settings.


"Device I/O error Press any key to continue" The edit a:\filename command was executed, and the BIOS/CMOS settings for the floppy drive are incorrect, they may be set to 360KB or 720KB and the drive and diskette in it are 1.44MB.

"Invalid drive specification
invalid media type
Instead of using CHKDSK, try using SCANDISK. Scandisk can reliably detect and fix a much wider range of disk problems. For more information type HELP SCANDISK from the command prompt."
Problem: The machine was booted from a floppy drive, the CMOS settings for the IDE drive were set to "not installed" , the CDROM drivers were probably not loaded and the chkdsk c: command was given. (The chkdsk command had been copied to the floppy or was on the floppy before this.) Fix: Enter the correct BIOS/CMOS settings (it may be type 47 for a modern IDE drive if it has already been correctly detected previously.) Otherwise, auto detect the drive.

"Error reading disk, system halted" Example: The F1 key for resume was used after the "d: drive failure press F1 to resume" message was displayed. Problem: The BIOS/CMOS setting for CDROM was set for a specific hard drive type.The correct setting for CDROM drives in the BIOS/CMOS settings is "Not Installed" on my computer.

"Pri Master Hdd Error Press F1 to resume"
Then "drive not ready insert boot disk in A Press any key when ready."
BIOS/CMOS settings for the primary drive set as master are incorrect.

"Fixed disk configuration error" A BIOS/CMOS related problem.

"Invalid sub-directory entry" chkdsk c: command entered after booting
from the floppy disk. This is part of the output the command
produces. CMOS is set for wrong amount of heads.

"General failure reading drive A abort retry fail"
Reason: The CMOS settings are set to a lesser capacity than the diskette.


During a boot off a floppy you get:
"CDR101: Not ready reading drive C Abort, Retry, Fail"
There are 3 conditions working together that cause this error with an AMI BIOS.
Condition 1: The hard drive is set to "not installed" in CMOS" and the
CDROM drive is set up correctly, usually "not installed" also.
Condition 2: The CDROM drivers are loaded correctly.
Condition 3: The CDROM disc is upside down in the drive or it is not inserted.


With BIOS/CMOS for a floppy drive set at 1.2 Megabytes and a bootable disk of 1.44 Megabytes inserted in the 1.44 Megabyte drive, you get a beep, trundle, beep, freeze up with flashing cursor and no prompt.

"No boot device available -
strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility"
Check the BIOS/CMOS and enable or autodetect the hard drive.

"No boot sector on fixed disk -
strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility" A Phoenix BIOS reports this when a byte in the MBR of the hard drive is wrong. Check CMOS.

"Microsoft MS-DOS 6.2 Setup
Setup cannot install MS-DOS 6.2 on your computer. Your computer does not have a hard disk, your hard disk is not functioning correctly, or your hard disk requires a special driver. Contact your computer vendor for assistance. To install MS-DOS on floppy disk, press ENTER. To exit setup press F3." The DOS 6.2 setup program failed because the CMOS setting for the hard drive is set to not installed. Enter the BIOS/CMOS setup program to change the CMOS setting for the hard drive if needed.

"MS-DOS is not completely installed. If you exit setup now, you will need to run the setup program again. To exit, make sure setup disk 1 is in drive A, then press F3. To return to the previous screen press ESC" This message appears after pressing F3 on the message above this one. The problem is that the CMOS setting for the hard drive is set to not installed or is incorrect.

"Diskette boot failure insert boot disk in A Press any key when ready"
The CMOS settings are set up for a floppy type that doesn't match your diskette and drive.