HELP NEEDED! Can't access windows!

Hi, i am a 1st time user of this site and i'm in need of some much appreciated help!

I have Windows Me edition,that when i switch it on it goes onto the login screen and i can get no further. messages come up saying:

'Error starting program

A required DLL file, C:\WINDS\SYSTEM\COMCTL32.DLL, was not found'

and

'Error loading explorer exe.
You must reinstall windows'

My family had our computer built up, gradually having new stuff installed, which means we don't have a recovery program or anything. i don't understand computer lingo very well and would appreciate it if any of you readers had any suggestions of what needs to be done with the computer or whether it needs throwing in the bin.

Oh and btw, we have tried to install windows 2000 as we couldnt locate a ME disc, will this be of any use to us at all?

Or does anyone know where i can get a system restore disc???


thanks
frankie
x

 

Hi and welcome. Did you just start receiving that message AFTER you tried to install windows 2000?

 

no we only tried to install windows 2000 AFTER the computer told us to re install windows. When we put windows 2000 disc in, the computer doesnt even notice it's there.

 

Per chance, can you get into safe mode by tapping the F 8 key when the computer is starting up, you should get a menu to choose from.

 

I pressed f8 and this is what comes up:

Microsoft Windows Millenium Start up menu

1.Normal
2.Logged (/bootlog.txt)
3.Safe Mode
4.Step-by-step confirmation

Enter a choice:

When 3.Safe Mode is selected it says:
Windows is bypassing your system files

and then the messages...'Error starting program

A required DLL file, C:\WINDS\SYSTEM\COMCTL32.DLL, was not found'

and

'Error loading explorer exe.
You must reinstall windows'
Come back up once again

 

can anyone else out there help us???????????????

 

Looks like you are going to have to install reinstall Windows. Per chance can you boot with a ME boot disk in order to get to an a: prompt? Then we can take a look to see if per chance you have the ME .cab files on the hard drive and attempt to reinstall Windows that way, or extract that file off the cd.

If the cab files are not there, you'll need to locate your Windows ME install cd.

You may be able to download that one file and put it into the correct directory, if that is the only problem with the operating system.

 

Note 3: Version 5.80 of Comctl32.dll and version 5.0 of Shlwapi.dll are distributed with Internet Explorer 5. They will be found on all systems on which Internet Explorer 5 is installed, except Windows 2000. Internet Explorer 5 does not update the Shell, so version 5.0 of Shell32.dll will not be found on Windows NT, Windows 95, or Windows 98 systems. Version 5.0 of Shell32.dll will be distributed with Windows 2000 and Windows Me, along with version 5.0 of Shlwapi.dll, and version 5.81 of Comctl32.dll.

http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?comctl32

You might try that download.

 

i dnt not have a me disk but i have a windows 2000 disk which i would like to install can i boot it form the start when i start up my pc??

 

i dnt not have a me disk but i have a windows 2000 disk which i would like to install can i boot it form the start when i start up my pc??because i dnt have a boot ups disk. is there any other way of botting up the disk

 

Try these instructions to start the WinME System Restore utility from a command prompt:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q279736&ID=KB;EN-US;Q279736

If you do not have a WinME boot disk, you can obtain one here:

http://bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

Download the WinME OEM bootdisk setup file to the computer you are on; put a clean floppy disk in the drive and run the setup program.

Then you can use the boot disk to follow the Microsoft instructions.

 

Frankie and andy, are you both related and have multiple threads going for this same problem????

 

yeh

 

am i doing some think, rong???

 

Other than having folks chase their tails in more than one thread?

Obviously you KNOW we can't assist with the 2K cd per the thread that was closed earlier, so let's just forget about that ok?

Try to see if you can follow Rog's instructions above and I'll go see if I can't clean up some of the mess with your other threads.