HELP!!! please I'm desperate

[johntyboy]

My computer will not start!!! ???? I was playing Zoo Tycoon (for the hundreth time) and after a long session and exiting the game, things were on a real go slow, so I thought I would do a restart as I think the memory gets all clogged up, so I restarted (as I have done a many a time cause of the same prob) But when it restarted I got as far as the 'windows plash screen' stayed there for about 10 secs then the screen goes black for about 10 secs, then the computer just dies! shuts itself down as though you pulled the plug on it ?????
I thought it could be a overheating prob? so left it for a good hour ...... same again.
Tried a different power outlet ... still the same???, can't even get into safe mode.
So I'm desperate guys .... any Ideas, only otherthing I did was uninstall a couple of apps/progs though their uninstal.exe

My system is
OP - Win98 SE
850 P3, 256mb Ram, 32mb Graphics card, 56k modem, cr rom drive and cd writer. Firewire card and thats about it.

Any,........ any help very much appreciated

Thanx
Dave

 

[BPM]

Try booting with a start up disk. Do you have one? If so, try to get into Safe Mode from there.

 

[johntyboy]

I'm at the c prompt now though a start up disk, but am lost as what to do now??

Thanx
Dave

 

[BPM]

Do you have access to all your directories on C:?

 

[johntyboy]

did a DIR on C and they all seem to be there, thanx BMP, were do we go from here?

Dave

 

[BPM]

Try typing WIN at the promt and press enter.

 

[deanas]

Have you tried booting in safe mode?
Keep pressing the ctrl key as the computer
is booting. Choose safe mode.

 

[johntyboy]

have just started scandisk though the c prompt, will let ya know.

Thanx
Dave

 

[deanas]

Sorry PBM, didn't mean to stomp on your toes.

 

[BPM]

not a problem

 

[johntyboy]

tried that, was able to get the menu options but fails to load in Safe mode as well :-(

Thanx anyways
Dave

 

[Rollin' Rog]

Do the ctrl key thing again to get to the startup menu. This time choose the "command prompt" option. At the c:\> prompt enter:

scanreg /restore

use the arrow keys to select a prior started registry.

 

[johntyboy]

I'll give that a whirl as well, just waiting for scan disk to finish (deep scan) 25% done after 15 mins, I'll get back to ya's

BTW, thanx guys for ya help ......
Some other replies I've had from other boards .... something to think about.

"Fix your clock."

"If you can at least get to the startup menu, select dos only. Post
>the contents of Config.sys and Autoexec.bat. Then wait for a
>response."

"Start by pulling all the cards except the video and
try to reboot. If it still won't reboot, pull the
CDRom ribbon cable and try again.
If still no reboot. You may have a failed video card,
hard drive, motherboard or power suppy.
Got another machine to plug you hard drive into, make it
the slave and see if the drive is usuable.
Got another power supply, swap it and see it that fixes it.
Narrow down the possibles and go from there."

"it's likely that either winninit.exe or vmm32.vxd are corrupt. if it's the former, replacing the file should solve the problem. if it's the latter, the easiest way to fix it is to do an over the top install of windows. "

"Try reinstalling windows from dos. Use a boot disk with cd rom support. That should solve the problem."

" if the PC is turning on then shutting down after a short period of time, then the most likely cause is thermal damage to the processor and possibly motherboard. If it simply wont turn on at all, then it may just be the power supply unit, but if this has failed then potentially all three could have blown. If you're not happy opening your machine to replace parts, buy a book you'll save yourself a fortune"

" Before you reinstall, if you feel comfortable opening up the computer, open it up and make sure all the cards are in tight. I find this to be a problem from time to time on some computers I have worked on. "

Dave

 

[Rollin' Rog]

Most of the other advice is good. The only way to replace vmm32.vxd is to do an overinstall. Rename the present one first.

Wininit.exe is a real possiblity and it can be replaced

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q141898.