Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Hoping for good advice from the assembled multitudes to help get my old
Compaq Presario rehabilitated:

This Presario 5000US has 2 internal HDDs, a CD player and DVD burner
onboard. I use the Compaq keyboard, a Logitech optical mouse and Dell
E173FPB flat panel monitor.

Situation: When I booted up the box, I saw the red Compaq logo and
WinME Splash Screen. Then I got a 16 color 480x640 resolution generic
Compaq background. The system booted, but there was no mouse pointer
on the screen and moving the mouse did not highlight any icons. I
switched to an old 9-pin roll ball mouse to the same result.

Using the Compaq recovery disk, I tried System Restore. I was told to
remove all diskettes and reboot. There was no change in the system.
My Emergency Boot diskette gave me an MS-DOS A prompt. No help for
me there.

I ran msconfig and saw the system was in safe mode. I was able to
switch to regular mode. No change.

By running the Logitech driver diskette, I regained mouse
functionality. I ordered a system restore via the msconfig command.
The newest restorable checkpoint was 2 months old. Upon rebooting, I
was told that the system restore was unsuccessful. Several different
restore points gave me the same message.

I have tried to change color and resolution via Control Panel Display
Settings. Due to screen resolution, I cannot get to the "OK" or
"Apply" buttons at the bottom of the settings window. I have received
a message when closing this window that changes only are effective upon
reboot, but rebooting still givens me 16 colors and low resolution. I
have checked and the right monitor driver seems to be in place.

To make a long story endless:

I realize that I have some serious onboard issues and that drivers and
preference or HKEY files have become corrupted. I am trying to get the
resolution (and color) adjusted, so that I can try to work the system
back towards operability, run Pc-Cillan and other protection software,
etc.

1111. Any clues/ideas what gremlin has take up residence on this
computer? Would hauling the old Compaq CRT monitor out of storage make
sense, for any reason?

2222. I have an OEM Windows ME Systems disk. Is it possible to
restore the system without affecting all of the data files, pictures,
etc. on the hard drives? I realize that I will likely need to reload a
ton of program software, patches, etc. and this is acceptable, if need
be.

Again, thanks in advance for any ideas or suggestions.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Your use of Compaq's misnamed 'system Restore' utility has probably already
killed your system stone dead - as it may well have done a reformat/recover
from image, and reset your system to 'factory fresh (as far as it was able
to)!!!!!

If you boot to the A: drive using the Emergency floppy - what do you see
when you type

DIR C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RESTORE\SMGR.DLL
????


--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"BrianZ" <bdz000@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1124996868.403803.39630@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hoping for good advice from the assembled multitudes to help get my old
> Compaq Presario rehabilitated:
>
> This Presario 5000US has 2 internal HDDs, a CD player and DVD burner
> onboard. I use the Compaq keyboard, a Logitech optical mouse and Dell
> E173FPB flat panel monitor.
>
> Situation: When I booted up the box, I saw the red Compaq logo and
> WinME Splash Screen. Then I got a 16 color 480x640 resolution generic
> Compaq background. The system booted, but there was no mouse pointer
> on the screen and moving the mouse did not highlight any icons. I
> switched to an old 9-pin roll ball mouse to the same result.
>
> Using the Compaq recovery disk, I tried System Restore. I was told to
> remove all diskettes and reboot. There was no change in the system.
> My Emergency Boot diskette gave me an MS-DOS A prompt. No help for
> me there.
>
> I ran msconfig and saw the system was in safe mode. I was able to
> switch to regular mode. No change.
>
> By running the Logitech driver diskette, I regained mouse
> functionality. I ordered a system restore via the msconfig command.
> The newest restorable checkpoint was 2 months old. Upon rebooting, I
> was told that the system restore was unsuccessful. Several different
> restore points gave me the same message.
>
> I have tried to change color and resolution via Control Panel Display
> Settings. Due to screen resolution, I cannot get to the "OK" or
> "Apply" buttons at the bottom of the settings window. I have received
> a message when closing this window that changes only are effective upon
> reboot, but rebooting still givens me 16 colors and low resolution. I
> have checked and the right monitor driver seems to be in place.
>
> To make a long story endless:
>
> I realize that I have some serious onboard issues and that drivers and
> preference or HKEY files have become corrupted. I am trying to get the
> resolution (and color) adjusted, so that I can try to work the system
> back towards operability, run Pc-Cillan and other protection software,
> etc.
>
> 1111. Any clues/ideas what gremlin has take up residence on this
> computer? Would hauling the old Compaq CRT monitor out of storage make
> sense, for any reason?
>
> 2222. I have an OEM Windows ME Systems disk. Is it possible to
> restore the system without affecting all of the data files, pictures,
> etc. on the hard drives? I realize that I will likely need to reload a
> ton of program software, patches, etc. and this is acceptable, if need
> be.
>
> Again, thanks in advance for any ideas or suggestions.
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Noel,

Thanks for the suggestion. I was not able to successfully get a
response from typing "DIR C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RESTORE\SMGR­.DLL" at the
A:\ Prompt. Or "\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RESTORE\SMGR­.DLL" at the C:\ Prompt.
(I get illegal instruction responses.) However, I can use Windows
Explorer on the machine, and I found smgr.dll in the
C:\\Windows\Options\CABS file.

I don't think the System Restore feature on the Compaq recovery disk
did a rewrite, to any great extent. My old wallpaper background is
still in place. All of the software previously loaded seems to work..
I was able to access the internet via my DSL line, the Trend-Micro
PC-Cillan virus scan ran O.K., etc. I ran MSWindows Ipdate with no
problem, and there was only one small MSIE file identified. I was able
to run msconfig and switch to selective startup, turning off programs I
do not use.

At this point, I would say that things are relatively operable other
than the issue with running System Restore. Plus the fact that I
cannot get my monitor out of 16-Color 480x640 mode. THAT'S the one I'd
like to solve first. I ran Control Panel Display Settings. And
tabbed (offscreen) to the place I knew the "Apply" button would be.
Sure enough, I received a Systems Setting Change notice that I would
need to reboot to see the changes. But the changes did not appear.

Again I am curious why this change is so stubborn to impart and welcome
any suggestions.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

This looks like you have either used some kind of 'disk cleaning' software,
or just been plain daft!

ALL versions of Win ME have the SMGR.DLL file in the location described -
unless the OEM (or user) has deliberately removed same... Do you have GoBack
installed???

Illegal Instruction responses from a DOS DIR command are very difficult to
achieve - and harder to diagnose.....

Try
DIR
- what does that show?
DIR C:\Windows
- does that show different?
DIR C:\Windows\System
how about that??
DIR C:\Windows\System\Restore
????


--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
"BrianZ" <bdz000@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1125078463.819820.283150@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Noel,

Thanks for the suggestion. I was not able to successfully get a
response from typing "DIR C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RESTORE\SMGR­.DLL" at the
A:\ Prompt. Or "\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RESTORE\SMGR­.DLL" at the C:\ Prompt.
(I get illegal instruction responses.) However, I can use Windows
Explorer on the machine, and I found smgr.dll in the
C:\\Windows\Options\CABS file.

I don't think the System Restore feature on the Compaq recovery disk
did a rewrite, to any great extent. My old wallpaper background is
still in place. All of the software previously loaded seems to work..
I was able to access the internet via my DSL line, the Trend-Micro
PC-Cillan virus scan ran O.K., etc. I ran MSWindows Ipdate with no
problem, and there was only one small MSIE file identified. I was able
to run msconfig and switch to selective startup, turning off programs I
do not use.

At this point, I would say that things are relatively operable other
than the issue with running System Restore. Plus the fact that I
cannot get my monitor out of 16-Color 480x640 mode. THAT'S the one I'd
like to solve first. I ran Control Panel Display Settings. And
tabbed (offscreen) to the place I knew the "Apply" button would be.
Sure enough, I received a Systems Setting Change notice that I would
need to reboot to see the changes. But the changes did not appear.

Again I am curious why this change is so stubborn to impart and welcome
any suggestions.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Daft? Very likely. Disk cleaning software? I think not.

My DOS is very rusty. (My Fortran IV even moreso!) I am getting
"invalid function" responses from DOS, probably from typing nonsense at
the prompts. I will document this in a separate message.

But I want to make sure I don't get too caught up in the intimacies of
the Boot Disk. My main problem now is that I still can cannot change
the screen resolution and color setting on the monitor. After making
adjustments in the Display Settings screen, and hitting Apply, I am
told to reboot to see the impact, but there is no change.

I suspect that some code somewhere is corrupted, but have no idea what
or where. I have hooked a couple of different monitors to the CPU, to
no effect. I am stll at 16 colors and 640x480.

The other issues which showed up at the same time as the screen
color/resolution issue are (were):
111. Mouse and cursor visibility went awol (solvedby reinstalling
driver from disk.)
222. User system login passswords disappeared (have been able to reset
them with no difficulty).
333. System Restore is kaput. I can see restore points back a couple
of months (the July caledar is missing, by the way) and do what the
system seems to process as a restore - but it has failed upon reboot.
Also, the system rejects my efforts to set a new restore point. This
happened to me a couple of years ago, and I was able to ressuect the
funtion. I will play with this once I solve the color/resolution
issue.

Other than that, the computer seems to be humming along. ANy ideas on
the resolution issue?

Thanks,
Daft Brian

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Noel:

Jere is the DOS Script:

A:\> DIR
Volume is a BOOK DISK
Volume Serial Numv=ber is !DDA-OA%&
IO SYS 116,736 6/08/00
COMMAND COM 93,040 6/08/00

A:\> DIR C: \\WINDOWS
Invalid Function

A:\> DIR C: \\WINDOWS
Invaliud Function

C:\WINDOWS\STSTEM\RESTORE > DIR
CABBIT EXE 57,616 6/08/00
RSTRLFN EXE 28,944 6/08/00
RSTRUI EXE 413,968 6/08/00
STATEMGR EXE 24,848 6/08/00
STMGR EXE 61,712 6/08/00
SRFRAME MMF 375 6/08/00
FILELIST XML 61,159 6/08/00
RSTRMAP DAT 511,186 8/25/05
RSTRS2L DA2 516 11/21/04

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Couple pointers that might help

the red Compaq screen is a CMOS boot screen (IIRC) (hmm possibly white).

you're *supposed to* get an A:\> prompt from an EBD boot; that's the point.

Take a look in DeviceManager and remove the mouse and display and
monitor entries; they should reload at next boot.

Go into the BIOS and see if you can find an entry "clear ESCI
information" this is another thing that should reload itself properly.

Rick
My F4 is even more rusty than yours.


BrianZ wrote:
> Hoping for good advice from the assembled multitudes to help get my old
> Compaq Presario rehabilitated:
>
> This Presario 5000US has 2 internal HDDs, a CD player and DVD burner
> onboard. I use the Compaq keyboard, a Logitech optical mouse and Dell
> E173FPB flat panel monitor.
>
> Situation: When I booted up the box, I saw the red Compaq logo and
> WinME Splash Screen. Then I got a 16 color 480x640 resolution generic
> Compaq background. The system booted, but there was no mouse pointer
> on the screen and moving the mouse did not highlight any icons. I
> switched to an old 9-pin roll ball mouse to the same result.
>
> Using the Compaq recovery disk, I tried System Restore. I was told to
> remove all diskettes and reboot. There was no change in the system.
> My Emergency Boot diskette gave me an MS-DOS A prompt. No help for
> me there.
>
> I ran msconfig and saw the system was in safe mode. I was able to
> switch to regular mode. No change.
>
> By running the Logitech driver diskette, I regained mouse
> functionality. I ordered a system restore via the msconfig command.
> The newest restorable checkpoint was 2 months old. Upon rebooting, I
> was told that the system restore was unsuccessful. Several different
> restore points gave me the same message.
>
> I have tried to change color and resolution via Control Panel Display
> Settings. Due to screen resolution, I cannot get to the "OK" or
> "Apply" buttons at the bottom of the settings window. I have received
> a message when closing this window that changes only are effective upon
> reboot, but rebooting still givens me 16 colors and low resolution. I
> have checked and the right monitor driver seems to be in place.
>
> To make a long story endless:
>
> I realize that I have some serious onboard issues and that drivers and
> preference or HKEY files have become corrupted. I am trying to get the
> resolution (and color) adjusted, so that I can try to work the system
> back towards operability, run Pc-Cillan and other protection software,
> etc.
>
> 1111. Any clues/ideas what gremlin has take up residence on this
> computer? Would hauling the old Compaq CRT monitor out of storage make
> sense, for any reason?
>
> 2222. I have an OEM Windows ME Systems disk. Is it possible to
> restore the system without affecting all of the data files, pictures,
> etc. on the hard drives? I realize that I will likely need to reload a
> ton of program software, patches, etc. and this is acceptable, if need
> be.
>
> Again, thanks in advance for any ideas or suggestions.
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Reboot to Safe Mode
Open Device Manager
Remove ALL Display Adapters
Remove ALL Monitors
Reboot to Normal Mode - Windows will reinstall the required drivers -
hopefully curing your problem.



--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"BrianZ" <bdz000@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1125284737.499964.239570@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Daft? Very likely. Disk cleaning software? I think not.
>
> My DOS is very rusty. (My Fortran IV even moreso!) I am getting
> "invalid function" responses from DOS, probably from typing nonsense at
> the prompts. I will document this in a separate message.
>
> But I want to make sure I don't get too caught up in the intimacies of
> the Boot Disk. My main problem now is that I still can cannot change
> the screen resolution and color setting on the monitor. After making
> adjustments in the Display Settings screen, and hitting Apply, I am
> told to reboot to see the impact, but there is no change.
>
> I suspect that some code somewhere is corrupted, but have no idea what
> or where. I have hooked a couple of different monitors to the CPU, to
> no effect. I am stll at 16 colors and 640x480.
>
> The other issues which showed up at the same time as the screen
> color/resolution issue are (were):
> 111. Mouse and cursor visibility went awol (solvedby reinstalling
> driver from disk.)
> 222. User system login passswords disappeared (have been able to reset
> them with no difficulty).
> 333. System Restore is kaput. I can see restore points back a couple
> of months (the July caledar is missing, by the way) and do what the
> system seems to process as a restore - but it has failed upon reboot.
> Also, the system rejects my efforts to set a new restore point. This
> happened to me a couple of years ago, and I was able to ressuect the
> funtion. I will play with this once I solve the color/resolution
> issue.
>
> Other than that, the computer seems to be humming along. ANy ideas on
> the resolution issue?
>
> Thanks,
> Daft Brian
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Don't put spaces where they're not supposed to be!
don't use double-backslashes (although they may be needed in scripts,
they're not needed in DOS)

<quote>
DIR
- what does that show?
DIR C:\Windows
- does that show different?
DIR C:\Windows\System
how about that??
DIR C:\Windows\System\Restore
????
</quote>

You would appear to be using a minimal bootable floppy disk - rather than
the Emergency Boot Disk or Startup Disk that I suggested you use

Try this -
DIR C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SMGR.EXE
what's returned??

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"BrianZ" <bdz000@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1125285266.950503.317250@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Noel:
>
> Jere is the DOS Script:
>
> A:\> DIR
> Volume is a BOOK DISK
> Volume Serial Numv=ber is !DDA-OA%&
> IO SYS 116,736 6/08/00
> COMMAND COM 93,040 6/08/00
>
> A:\> DIR C: \\WINDOWS
> Invalid Function
>
> A:\> DIR C: \\WINDOWS
> Invaliud Function
>
> C:\WINDOWS\STSTEM\RESTORE > DIR
> CABBIT EXE 57,616 6/08/00
> RSTRLFN EXE 28,944 6/08/00
> RSTRUI EXE 413,968 6/08/00
> STATEMGR EXE 24,848 6/08/00
> STMGR EXE 61,712 6/08/00
> SRFRAME MMF 375 6/08/00
> FILELIST XML 61,159 6/08/00
> RSTRMAP DAT 511,186 8/25/05
> RSTRS2L DA2 516 11/21/04
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Rick & Noel,

This was the advice that worked. Thanks! Removing the display entry
from Device Monitor, then rebooting, seemed to do the trick.

I am in the process of testing all peripherals and programs for
functionality, then will decide what, if anything, needs/can be done
with SystemRstore. I had a similar snafu back in 02, after installing
a slave HDD. There was a mismatch between drives C:, D: and E:, and
where the system was looking for certain things. I'm gonna find my old
notes and see if ressurrection clues are in there.

Thanks again!
Brian

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Super, glad it worked for you. For System Restore issues, turning it
off (in msconfig(?)), rebooting and turning it on might be enough to
jumpstart it.


Rick

BrianZ wrote:
> Rick & Noel,
>
> This was the advice that worked. Thanks! Removing the display entry
> from Device Monitor, then rebooting, seemed to do the trick.
>
> I am in the process of testing all peripherals and programs for
> functionality, then will decide what, if anything, needs/can be done
> with SystemRstore. I had a similar snafu back in 02, after installing
> a slave HDD. There was a mismatch between drives C:, D: and E:, and
> where the system was looking for certain things. I'm gonna find my old
> notes and see if ressurrection clues are in there.
>
> Thanks again!
> Brian
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Duh?
what advice?? - since you snipped anything from your response, we're
completely in the dark as to 'what worked'!! (let alone what it worked on!)


--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"BrianZ" <bdz000@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1125579388.496281.156930@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Rick & Noel,
>
> This was the advice that worked. Thanks! Removing the display entry
> from Device Monitor, then rebooting, seemed to do the trick.
>
> I am in the process of testing all peripherals and programs for
> functionality, then will decide what, if anything, needs/can be done
> with SystemRstore. I had a similar snafu back in 02, after installing
> a slave HDD. There was a mismatch between drives C:, D: and E:, and
> where the system was looking for certain things. I'm gonna find my old
> notes and see if ressurrection clues are in there.
>
> Thanks again!
> Brian
>