"Must reinstall WindowsME?!"

DarkFaith · 05-28-2006, 09:14 AM

Well I screwed my dad's computer last night. He has an old P3 with WinME on it and I tried to network it to a newer computer (P4 WinXP Pro).
All I did was change the network from MSHome to Workgroup. It told me to restart the computer which I did. Then it brings up the message:
"Error loading explorer.exe - You must reinstall windows."
Uh-oh...same thing in Safe Mode too. I can't get back into the thing! We wanted to copy things over the network from the old WinME computer to the new WinXP computer.
Does anyone know how to deal with this? I don't understand what went wrong.

3 of 7 · 05-28-2006, 09:38 AM

I'd pull the hard drive and hook it up as a slave to the new computer and copy all the data off of it.....
If he's keeping the old computer then spend the money on a copy of XP home .....ME is a pretty bad OS ..

DarkFaith · 05-28-2006, 11:26 AM

Excellent idea but...if I set the ME drive up as a slave could it confuse XP. You see the ME drive has windows installed on it. I don't know if that might cause a problem or not?

3 of 7 · 05-28-2006, 11:51 AM

It shouldn't be a problem, Your XP disk should still show up in the bios as HD(0)
You could also take the cable with the old HD and just unplug the cable to the optical disks on the new computer and plug it in there so your on a seperate IDE channel, that way you don't have to worry about the jumpers on the HD in the new computer.

DarkFaith · 05-29-2006, 07:58 AM

Some excellent suggestions, I will definately give it a try.
Thanks for your help 3 of 7

flex22 · 05-29-2006, 10:00 AM

How about using the restore opition in ME to see if that will put it back were is was and then try again to network them.

Rickwell · 05-29-2006, 10:46 AM

You can also use a floppy disk and use the scanreg /restore.Insert floppy and at the A:\ promp type C:\ and hit enter.Then at the C:\promp type scanreg /restore Then choose one of five entry dates before the change and hit enter.

DarkFaith · 05-29-2006, 01:38 PM

Excellent thanks for the suggestions. I'll try this restore idea and if that doesn't work I'll have to try the hard drive as a slave idea instead.
Thanks all for the help.

Cogar · 05-30-2006, 04:24 PM

I find it very hard to believe that changing the network damaged the OS. As a guess, you may be experiencing a hardware problem. For a "disappearing OS," the first place I would look is at the power supply. It may be failing.

DarkFaith · 05-30-2006, 05:43 PM

^ You and I both find it hard to believe. I've done this a million times in XP and never had a problem. I wish MS would pick either MSHOME or WORKGROUP as the default for all their OS and just leave it alone.

I did try the scanreg suggestion...no luck. So I tried reinstalling ME over top of the existing install...no luck. So I deleted the Windows folder and installed XP...worked first time. Now I can get the data off the drive

Thanks again to everyone!

05-28-2006, 09:14 AM	#1
DarkFaith Call me DF Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 123	"Must reinstall WindowsME?!" Well I screwed my dad's computer last night. He has an old P3 with WinME on it and I tried to network it to a newer computer (P4 WinXP Pro). All I did was change the network from MSHome to Workgroup. It told me to restart the computer which I did. Then it brings up the message: "Error loading explorer.exe - You must reinstall windows." Uh-oh...same thing in Safe Mode too. I can't get back into the thing! We wanted to copy things over the network from the old WinME computer to the new WinXP computer. Does anyone know how to deal with this? I don't understand what went wrong.
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05-28-2006, 09:38 AM	#2
3 of 7 You can run..... Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 4,660	I'd pull the hard drive and hook it up as a slave to the new computer and copy all the data off of it..... If he's keeping the old computer then spend the money on a copy of XP home .....ME is a pretty bad OS .. __________________
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05-28-2006, 11:26 AM	#3
DarkFaith Call me DF Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 123	Excellent idea but...if I set the ME drive up as a slave could it confuse XP. You see the ME drive has windows installed on it. I don't know if that might cause a problem or not?
(Offline)

05-28-2006, 11:51 AM	#4
3 of 7 You can run..... Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 4,660	It shouldn't be a problem, Your XP disk should still show up in the bios as HD(0) You could also take the cable with the old HD and just unplug the cable to the optical disks on the new computer and plug it in there so your on a seperate IDE channel, that way you don't have to worry about the jumpers on the HD in the new computer. __________________
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05-29-2006, 07:58 AM	#5
DarkFaith Call me DF Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 123	Some excellent suggestions, I will definately give it a try. Thanks for your help 3 of 7
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05-29-2006, 10:00 AM	#6
flex22 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,139	How about using the restore opition in ME to see if that will put it back were is was and then try again to network them. __________________ Motherboard ASUS P4P800 Deluxe 1016 Bios Processor 2.8 E Prescott Memory 2x512 xms corsair PC3200 samsung 80GB wd120JB l o/s XP PRO l X-Dreamer-case PC2 P4 1.8 o/s Win2K l 2x512 PC2700 l
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05-29-2006, 10:46 AM	#7
Rickwell Last user turn off lights Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 1,567	You can also use a floppy disk and use the scanreg /restore.Insert floppy and at the A:\ promp type C:\ and hit enter.Then at the C:\promp type scanreg /restore Then choose one of five entry dates before the change and hit enter. __________________ Water Cooling-DangerDen Cooled Core 2 Extreme qx9650 3.00 Ghz Asus X48 DDR2 Rampage Formula XFX 280 GTX 1.0GB Video Card 4GB Corsair Twin 2X4096-8500C5DF 2 x 74 GB Raptors Matrix Raid 0/0 Corsair CMPSU-1000HX PSU Corsair 4GB Voyager GT (Ready Boost) Dell 2405 LCD Flat Panel Monitor WinXP x64 sp2 / WinV x64 sp1 Last edited by Rickwell : 05-29-2006 at 09:28 PM.
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05-29-2006, 01:38 PM	#8
DarkFaith Call me DF Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 123	Excellent thanks for the suggestions. I'll try this restore idea and if that doesn't work I'll have to try the hard drive as a slave idea instead. Thanks all for the help.
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05-30-2006, 04:24 PM	#9
Cogar Level 15, lawful good Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: It varies, but usually within 100 yards of a keyboard. Posts: 7,222	I find it very hard to believe that changing the network damaged the OS. As a guess, you may be experiencing a hardware problem. For a "disappearing OS," the first place I would look is at the power supply. It may be failing.
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05-30-2006, 05:43 PM	#10
DarkFaith Call me DF Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 123	^ You and I both find it hard to believe. I've done this a million times in XP and never had a problem. I wish MS would pick either MSHOME or WORKGROUP as the default for all their OS and just leave it alone. I did try the scanreg suggestion...no luck. So I tried reinstalling ME over top of the existing install...no luck. So I deleted the Windows folder and installed XP...worked first time. Now I can get the data off the drive Thanks again to everyone!
(Offline)

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