HELP!! I "broke" 2 computers at work using Windows Update - (edit: fixed now, sort of ... thanks!)

[udonoogen]

okay so i thought i'd be nice and update three of the older Windows ME machines at work (theyre Dell Dimension 4100's ... piii's with 128mb ram) . so i ran windows update and there were like 19 critical updates for each. i installed and downloaded them all. i rebooted and that's when all the trouble started. two of the computers would not load up for about 10 minutes. when they finally loaded up and i logged in, the taskbar would show up for a split second and disappear. the desktop would not load. no error messages just a blank pale blue desktop with no programs running (in ctrl-alt-delete). i ran Windows ME in safe mode and the SAME THING happened. what can i do? i dont want to lose my job. this is so lame ... im never updating their computers again. Help please. thank you in advance.

Don

edit: check my post below .... thanks for all your help guys!

 

[lobadobadingdong]

sorry for your bad luck, all I know about windows ME is that is flaky, unstable, and I won't work or recomend systems with it loaded. Hope you get it worked out, we don't need to add the unemployment numbers anymore.

 

[Escalade]

Doesn't Win-ME has some sort of "system restore" function built-in - might be worth pursuing this avenue first.

 

[LiLithTecH]

Yes. Windows ME has a SYSTEM RESTORE feature.

To restore your system to an earlier time/date:
select Start \ Programs \ Accessories \ System Tools \ System Restore.
A "System Restore" window will open
Make sure "Restore my computer to an earlier time is checked", than click Next.
Next choose your Restore Point. A calendar showing you the current month,
with some days highlighted in bold. Day's highlighted in bold contain
System Restore Points.

Selecting one of these will show a short description in the window next to
the calendar.

Chose your Restore Point, click Next.

A warning and some additional information, to continue with the System Restore, press Next.
When the process is complete, System Restore will reboot your system.

 

[Thor86]

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong
sorry for your bad luck, all I know about windows ME is that is flaky, unstable, and I won't work or recomend systems with it loaded. Hope you get it worked out, we don't need to add the unemployment numbers anymore.

I second that. Nothing but problems with ME. Worst Win32 OS Ever!

For future reference, only update one workstation at a time just in case something like this happens, or better yet, test first if you can on a test machine, or a workstation that isn't so important. That way if it buggers, you won't have users screaming at you to get their computer up and running.

 

[KGB]

If the desktop doesn't load, how can he get System Restore to run.
Is it possible to boot from a Win98 floppy and run scanreg?

 

[udonoogen]

Originally posted by: KGBMAN
If the desktop doesn't load, how can he get System Restore to run.
Is it possible to boot from a Win98 floppy and run scanreg?

did that didn't work. i called dell tech support in the morning for an hour and a half and although they tried, they were pretty much useless. they suggested taking out the drive, backing up, and reformatting (which i'm sure is the default answer for they dont know what the heck went wrong).

i called microsoft and spent a good 4-5 hours with the tech support guy who was very patient. a good deal of that time was just spent waiting while the bad sectored hard drives took their time installing windows ME (10 minutes per 1% at one point). i've never liked microsoft especially but i've got to say that they pay their tech support people well enough to help users for hours on end. he even called me back after my cell phone got horrible reception. kudos to microsoft on this one.

what happened basically was that norton antivirus 2003 screwed us over. ive always been told it's been buggy but i never realized just how much until the other day. internet explorer 6, norton antivirus 2003, and windows ME do NOT mix well. it appears the OS is too old to handle the two newer programs ... or the symantec or microsoft people didn't take into account people still run windows ME.

called the guy and we replaced the shell with progman.exe, uninstalled or restore previous versions of the offending programs, and reinstalled the OS. one computer works fine now but the one with the faulty hard drive is having major difficulties installing the OS. ran scandisk but it's still pretty horrid. it went from 90% to 91% in almost the span of a day (from about 7pm to 1pm).

anyhow thanks for all your guyses help. much appreciated.

Don