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Topic: registry problems |
DennyFast
From:
Springfield, Tn. USA
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Posted 26 Oct 2005 8:30 am |
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| I'm using Windows ME and for some reason my registry got messed up! I've alredy Restored it to a earlier time and it helped some But, there are still problems. Windows will not let me reinstall over it and I don't know how to do it in Dos mode. How can I get my registry back to working order? |
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Dave Potter
From:
Texas
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Posted 26 Oct 2005 10:34 am
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Faced with your situation, I'd pick the most recent of the three weekly mirror images of my C: drive I make using True Image 8.0 and store on a different hard drive, and simply restore my C: drive from that image.
Since you probably can't do that, my fallback would be to use the Windows install disk to "install" the OS, and use the "Repair" option when prompted. That's with WinXP, I'm not certain if WinME has that option available. Someone more knowledgeable can probably answer that.
I really don't want to open tha can of worms again, but Registry Mechanic and RegistryFix are two utilities I also use regularly to maintain registry hygiene. I cannot speak for nor recommend other similar utilities, although there are others. You will likely see varied opinions of the efficacy of registry-cleaning utilities here on the forum. They work for me. I wouldn't venture a guess as to whether you could salvage an already-bolluxed registry with one of those utilities, however.
Edit:
After I posted this, I had another thought. MS is nearly ready to release the next OS. WinXP has had time to get the worst of the bugs worked out of it - now might be a prime opportunity to upgrade to XP from ME. My impression is that it's a more robust and stable OS all the way around. Just a thought.[This message was edited by Dave Potter on 26 October 2005 at 11:38 AM.] |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 26 Oct 2005 1:43 pm
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Make sure you create a "rescue" diskette from Windows ME (It's in the control panel and I think under add/remove software). That CD should have the DOS CD drivers on it so you can access the CD drive in the DOS mode. From there you should be able to reload Windows ME from your installation CD.
You can try to just reinstall over the exisitng installation but ultimately it will probably take a full "clean" install (reformat the hard drive and then reinstall everything).
XP is a good option, if the PC hardware can run XP and your software and peripherals (e.g. printer/scanner) are XP compatible. Some older software, especially DOS based software and games, will not run under XP. Some printers and scanners are not XP compatible. Finally, the hardware compatibility and with Windows XP you need bare minimum of 256Mb of memory and more is better. Now, with all the warnings, XP is a better OS. |
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DennyFast
From:
Springfield, Tn. USA
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Posted 26 Oct 2005 1:43 pm
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| Thanks Dave for the info, I really can't install XP or anything else because I'm right in the middle of recording an album. I need to reinstall Windows ME but Windows won't let me, not even in DOS MODE. It won't recognize my CD-Rom drive, I'm just outta luck! Thanks anyway. Denny |
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winston
From:
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
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Posted 26 Oct 2005 6:33 pm
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| You can go to www.bootdisk.com and download a boot disk for ME with CDROM support, this will let you use your CDROM in DOS to reinstall ME. If you format the hard drive then all your work will be gone. Try the add and remove programs and try to install ME there. This will keep you from losing all your data. Winston May |
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Dave Potter
From:
Texas
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Posted 27 Oct 2005 1:55 pm
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| Quote: |
| I really can't install XP or anything else because I'm right in the middle of recording an album. I need to reinstall Windows ME but Windows won't let me |
"Recording an album" can have more than one meaning, but, regardless, unless there's something prohibitive about your software application or your hardware, it would seem to me to be a non-issue.
Jack made good points about XP's hardware and RAM requirements - I'm running 1Gig myself. But without more specific limiting information on your situation, I still recommend upgrading your OS. XP is much more capable of doing multi-media kinds of things, and that seems to be what your objective is. Other things being equal, you should be able to upgrade your OS and your "album recording" project wouldn't be affected in any way, except that you'd be able to proceed with it, when you apparently cannot, at present.
The point of my upgrade recommendation is that not only will the upgrade resolve your existing registry issues, but you'll wind up with an OS designed for multimedia, which is what you're doing now. The fact that you might be only partially finished with something in a software application is not an issue, unless there are XP-related software or hardware limitations (meaning you'll have to upgrade them as well). |
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winston
From:
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
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Posted 27 Oct 2005 4:56 pm
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| Seems to me Denny has a project in the computer now that he does not want to lose. If he installs XP the hard drive will be formatted and he will lose everything. Trying to reinstall ME overtop ME is probably the only way he can save the data. After retriving the data then he can install XP. BTW I have a PC studio running 98SE and I am having no problems. I agree with everyone that XP is the better os. Winston May |
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Dave Potter
From:
Texas
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Posted 28 Oct 2005 2:20 am
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| Quote: |
| Denny has a project in the computer now that he does not want to lose. If he installs XP the hard drive will be formatted and he will lose everything. |
In his case, I personally would not format the drive. If there's truly irreplaceable data there, I might be inclined to simply put the WinXP disc into the player and let it run the upgrade. OTOH, saving important things to other media like CDs (or a different HD) is often done prior to upgrading one's OS.
I'm out of altitude and airspeed on this one.[This message was edited by Dave Potter on 28 October 2005 at 03:26 AM.] |
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DennyFast
From:
Springfield, Tn. USA
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Posted 28 Oct 2005 6:43 am
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Thanks to all of you for the great help, I finally got it fixed yesterday by a tech friend of mine. He got wimme to reinstall over the old copy so I'm back in the running. You sure had some good advice on the problem of the registry and updating to WINXP. I never thought I could upgrade to XP without losing my audio files but
now I know! Thank you all for the help!!! Denny |
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