Computer keeps crashing

eirebhoy

My PC keeps restarting when I open programs or even before it completes the booting proccess. I am using Windows ME and when I press CAD there are a few programs listed which I don't know what they are:

Loadqm
Ncltray
Servicelayer

I downloaded a program a few days ago which is probably causing the problem, its called "my bluetooth places" and I can't delete it.

Any ideas?

Cheers.

MarkR

Try booting into safe mode, and uninstalling the software

eirebhoy

How do I uninstall it? when I right click it in the desktop it doesn't have an option to delete it and there is nothing in add/remove programs.

skipn_easy

Get rid of windows ME asap! I've heard so many similar stories from ME users.

Try searching for the software you want to get rid of and then you should be able to remove it.

eirebhoy

Originally posted by skipn_easy
Get rid of windows ME asap! I've heard so many similar stories from ME users.

I've been using ME for 2 and a half years now and this is the first time I have had this problem.

joePC

Get rid of windoze ME it stinks, as for your problem boot into safe mode and uninstall, if you can't go to the programs folder and delete the folder where the program is installed...

I hope this helps, but seriously get rid of win ME.........

Thanks joePC

eirebhoy

Originally posted by joePC
Get rid of windoze ME it stinks

and get what? I don't want to pay a load of money for XP and all I do is use the internet.

skipn_easy

use linux then?

kmb

Perphaps you can remove it in registry if you know how to use regedit?

eirebhoy

I have all the new programs deleted but it is still restarting. I want to keep ME, is it possible to resolve?

kmb

Why not do system restore to a point before you loaded software?regds kieran

eirebhoy

I was going to do System Restore but the last date allowed to restore to was in September for some reason and I don't want to go back to September. IS System restore turned off or something?

Woden

its possible it is turned off but unlikely unless you did it yourself. the other option is that you didn't change any drivers, or install any software since september which is quite possible if you only use it for the internet and as a result there was no checkpoints created?

just a guess

data

kmb

You can use System Restore to restore your computer to any restore point while in safe mode. If you cannot start the computer in standard mode, you can use System Restore to restore to a time when you could start the computer without errors.
To restore to a time when your computer started without errors, select a restore point as close to the time you remember it last started without errors.


took this from xp should be the same for wine?

kmb

WINE? I MEAN WIN ME!!!

dod

If you have the install disks for all your SW, copy your docs, spreadsheets etc. to a CD, reformat and reinstall from scratch. Sure it'll take a whole day, but at least you will know everything that you install step by step and you can avoid any dodgy 'free' download sw that might be causing whatever instability.

Unfortunately, for many, this is impractical because they don't have the original install disks for a lot of the SW on their machines.

DaemÈn

when in safe mode check your startup folder for the program u installed that u think is causing the probs

then goto run and type regedit
be careful in here ! go to the following two keys (just like folders) and delete any key the mentions the program u installed.. this will hopefully stop it from starting up the next time you boot

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

eirebhoy

Right, I was going to go into detail with all the computer problems I am having but since it will all be deleted when the computer crashes I would rather not.

I did a clean install of XP and I am still having the problem so it is not software. I am now back to ME for the time being because the computer can't handle XP as it has way more crashes. It just restarts when it feels like it but mainly when I open up too many programs.

Other problem, why does my C drive only have a capacity of 2GB when it should be an awful lot more?

As I said I can't go into detail. Thanks.

MarkR

You've formatted the drive using FAT16 instead of FAT32. When you are formatting next time (you will need to) confirm that you do want to use FAT32.

ColmOT [MSFT]

The main problem is that you are running untrusted applications from the net.

This is not recommended, as apps from the net generally dont have any guarantee that they'll work.

You will have to reformat your drive, and format it as FAT32 as MarkR has suggested.
Make sure that you see the complete drive capacity in FDISK becire you continue with setup.

After you get Win ME reinstalled (you should really upgrade your machine and move to XP or W2K...hardware is cheap these days.) the first thing to do it get an AV package and a firewall package installed.

Then reinstall your apps, and finally connect to the net after all that.

Users need to be vigilient about what they are downloading and what they click 'Yes' to when surfing the net.

Windows XP has a firewall inbuilt (and the firewall be more powerful with XP SP2 when it's released in a few months).

MarkR

www.grisoft.com Free antivirus software
www.zonealarm.com Free firewall

Mark

vibe666

jv16 powertools will most likely fix that puppy for you. if it's starting up with windows you can remove it with the tools. you can also do lots of other registry based things.

regcleaner was better, but the guy who made it integrated it into the jv16 powertools and it's all got a bit over complicated for most people's needs.

if i remember rightly you can use the msconfig command from the run box and remove it from your startup items from there.

also i seem to remember the 'my bluetooth places' app being part of a recent windows update as i found it or something very similar in my hidden startup items when i reinstalled xp on a laptop last night.

anyway, msconfig should remove it if it's crashing your system at bootup.

also when you've done that if it's still giving you problems try a quick whizz through with reglcean 4.1a and see if that helps. all this re-installing windows every 5 minutes is quite often not necessary and people give up far too easily. that said ME is a complete pig and if you've been using it for 2 years with no problems then you are one of a very lucky minority.

eirebhoy

Vibe - I deleted the whole partition and formatted the drive and then installd XP but I am still geting crashes, does that mean it has nothing to do with the registry or software, etc? I really think its actually the hardware that is f*cked, what do you think?

Cheers.

ColmOT [MSFT]

Eirebhoy, when you use the word 'crashes' do you mean blue screens, or programs just crash?

If you are getting blue screens, please post the error code that it displays here.
It'll look something like 0x0000000c (0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x000000000).

This will pinpoint the exact error that you have.

eirebhoy

oops, I don't mean crashes, I mean restarts. I had XP on the computer when i turned it on this morning and it restarted about 15 times before it actaully booted. When it eventually did boot it restarted and I then got about 2 minutes before it restarting again. It was like it was warming up and when its on for a while its OK. I am now back on ME for the moment though and it doesn't restart as much.

ColmOT [MSFT]

How old is this PC?

It could be hardware that's overheating inside.

Have you checked your CPU heatsink, and other fans inside the case?

eirebhoy

Originally posted by ColmOT [MSFT]
How old is this PC?

It could be hardware that's overheating inside.

Have you checked your CPU heatsink, and other fans inside the case?

The PC is 2 and a half years old. I haven't took it apart as I would probably wreck it and I wouldn't even know what to look for.

Woden

what about just opening it up and clearing the crap out of it with an air spray you'll be amazed at the amount of dust that can accumulate in the bastards