Need Computer Help!

[Woody]

Howdy folks! For the last couple of weeks my computer has been screwed. I was on the internet, it froze up, so I shut it off at the power source. When I tried to reboot it was not successful, either in safe mode. I tried reloading in windows from disk and that wouldn't work, it wouldn't allow me to. I was wondering if anyone might know why? My computer is 4 yrs old, with Windows ME. I am not a computer expert, so if you have any suggestions please keep that in mind when offering any advice. I am going into MOH withdrawal

[Sir_Shootsalot]

Hey Woody sorry to hear that.I am not too familair with ME but I know in xp there is something called system restore i would try to restore your system to a point before the problem.If that does not work I think that if it where me I would reformat the hard drive and reinstall your operating system .That should clear up all existing problems.Also might make it run better besides.Woody hope to see you playing soon.

Sir Shootsalot

[feliks]

Windows ME is so flawed that upgrading to XP is a wise choice. But if you can't boot, your hard drive may have crashed...trouble. Do you hear the hard drive spinning? If your computer fires but no words come accross the screen, your bios may be wiped out. Could be as simple as replacing the battery on your motherboard. Elaborate more if you can. Some nasty virus's out there on both questionable as well as legitimate sites. I'm no expert either but I'll help if I can. But to tell you the truth, ME is probably your problem.

[WidowMaker]

OMG, I feel for ya !!! BigDaddy has a friend that this happened to. It was a virus. The only difference is that when he rebooted his screen was blue.
Hope you get it fixed soon we miss playing with ya!!

[Marauder(CDN)]

Windows unfortunately is a self corrupting OS...I am just going through some difficulty myself and am reloading everything from scratch. When the computer first boots...does it see your harddrive??..I would assume it does..but what you are describing is exactly what happened to me when I got home last nite. A format and reload might be the only choice (sorry)..My problem is I got a virus immediately with a fresh format and am trying to work around it..man Linux sounds sweet right now...but am not sure about the gaming aspect. I am leaving again tonight so will not be able to help you for a few days...if I can even help myself...(swears uncontrollably)

[Woody]

Thanks for the info...to elaborate more...when I turn on my computer the windows logo comes up on the screen, it is then supposed to go right to my desktop, however nothing happens and the screen then goes all black with a flashing cursor displayed (but not able to type anything at the cursor)...When I tried to reload windows, a message equivalent to unable to boot is displayed...from the replies that you have posted, it sounds like my hard drive might be shot? Is there anyway to confirm that? If so, what would be my best course of action (new hard drive, new computer, ummmm buy a mac)? Oh, and how do I re-format my hard drive? I feel a bit silly, but I have no idea how to do that?

GRRRRRR!

[RedRock]

Can anyone guess what I'm thinking? ;D

[Lamron]

Check to see if the drive is spinning. You might need to take the case off to be able to tell because the drive is usually much quieter than the fan. If its not, check the cables to it, then smack it (I've had an old drive get "stuck" before. If it is stuck and you get it going, immediately copy anything important off the drive, because you might not get it going again.