This is a copy and paste of a letter I wrote to Micron, asking them for help with a DSL (?) problem that just started. I will copy and paste his reply afterwards. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but here goes... I'd appreciate any help.
<snip of my original letter to Micron>
Hello,
I upgraded from Win98 to ME about 6 weeks ago. On Nov 22nd I subscribed to DSL from SWBell. I am having serious problems with my computer crashing ever since I installed the ethernet card and SWBell's Enternet software. The tech support people at SWBell said that ME has serious bugs in it, and they had no other ideas...
I really should have contacted Micron earlier on, because there has been a memory problem, long before this DSL stuff came along. I have been forced to make sure that I am running the absolute bare minimum of programs to keep the machine running. It's probable that upgrading to ME and then running the DSL access software is pushing it over the edge.
Here is exactly what happens:
1. I start the computer
2. I log into DSL using SWBell's Enternet program
3. I open Outlook Express and check mail
4. I start IE (ver 5.50) and start browsing.
5. At any point, the whole thing just shuts off. It can be after 15
minutes, or 4 hours later. No time limits.
When I say it shuts off, I mean it literally. It's like someone pulls the plug out of the wall. The monitor goes black with NO warnings, and immediately it goes into the restart sequence, almost as if someone had clicked on "restart" from the start menu. The difference is, when you do click Restart, at least the thing takes the time to shut down properly. In this scenario, the screen and computer just dumps. Then, during restart, the scandisk pops up and says that I shut down incorrectly and scans all the disks. It's done this like 20 times now since Nov. 22nd and I'm kind of getting concerned over possibly losing some information I don't care to lose on there.
I need Help. SWBell isn't helping much. I thought it was a hardware
problem, so I changed ethernet cards to a Linksys 10/100 Lan card. No help. Another step I could take, I guess, is just to switch back to Win98. The techs at SWBell say that their program works best on it, and I'm not sold on ME anyway... so...
I'd appreciate any help you could give me on this, and also with the memory problem.
Thanks,
Chris Maccaux
<snip of reply from Micron rep>
I would say that as far as stability is concerned WindowsME is FAR more stable that Win98. The reason your system is locking up is likely that WinME was installed as an upgrade to Win98 and basically its Win98 retrofitted to work, act, and sound like WinME. I would not necessarily agree with your ISP's sentiments regarding WinME. However due to Licensing Restrictions imposed by Microsoft I can only provide support on your system in its original configuration, which means Win98.
The only proper and stable way to install any Windows OS is to install from a clean, formatted hard disk. It is not worthwhile to diagnose any of the other issues until we are certain that were using a clean and stable OS.
If I can answer any further question please dont hesitate to contact me again.
<end of snips>
Does anyone have any suggestions short of Fdisk'ing the whole thing and doing a complete installation of ME from scratch, or possibly going back to Win98? I'd appreciate any help.
The only other information I can provide up front is that the Linksys lan card is on irq 11, it's an Efficient Networks Dsl unit (with 4 working green lights), and I have all the phones in the house with the boxes they provided connected between them and the wall.
Thanks,
<snip of my original letter to Micron>
Hello,
I upgraded from Win98 to ME about 6 weeks ago. On Nov 22nd I subscribed to DSL from SWBell. I am having serious problems with my computer crashing ever since I installed the ethernet card and SWBell's Enternet software. The tech support people at SWBell said that ME has serious bugs in it, and they had no other ideas...
I really should have contacted Micron earlier on, because there has been a memory problem, long before this DSL stuff came along. I have been forced to make sure that I am running the absolute bare minimum of programs to keep the machine running. It's probable that upgrading to ME and then running the DSL access software is pushing it over the edge.
Here is exactly what happens:
1. I start the computer
2. I log into DSL using SWBell's Enternet program
3. I open Outlook Express and check mail
4. I start IE (ver 5.50) and start browsing.
5. At any point, the whole thing just shuts off. It can be after 15
minutes, or 4 hours later. No time limits.
When I say it shuts off, I mean it literally. It's like someone pulls the plug out of the wall. The monitor goes black with NO warnings, and immediately it goes into the restart sequence, almost as if someone had clicked on "restart" from the start menu. The difference is, when you do click Restart, at least the thing takes the time to shut down properly. In this scenario, the screen and computer just dumps. Then, during restart, the scandisk pops up and says that I shut down incorrectly and scans all the disks. It's done this like 20 times now since Nov. 22nd and I'm kind of getting concerned over possibly losing some information I don't care to lose on there.
I need Help. SWBell isn't helping much. I thought it was a hardware
problem, so I changed ethernet cards to a Linksys 10/100 Lan card. No help. Another step I could take, I guess, is just to switch back to Win98. The techs at SWBell say that their program works best on it, and I'm not sold on ME anyway... so...
I'd appreciate any help you could give me on this, and also with the memory problem.
Thanks,
Chris Maccaux
<snip of reply from Micron rep>
I would say that as far as stability is concerned WindowsME is FAR more stable that Win98. The reason your system is locking up is likely that WinME was installed as an upgrade to Win98 and basically its Win98 retrofitted to work, act, and sound like WinME. I would not necessarily agree with your ISP's sentiments regarding WinME. However due to Licensing Restrictions imposed by Microsoft I can only provide support on your system in its original configuration, which means Win98.
The only proper and stable way to install any Windows OS is to install from a clean, formatted hard disk. It is not worthwhile to diagnose any of the other issues until we are certain that were using a clean and stable OS.
If I can answer any further question please dont hesitate to contact me again.
<end of snips>
Does anyone have any suggestions short of Fdisk'ing the whole thing and doing a complete installation of ME from scratch, or possibly going back to Win98? I'd appreciate any help.
The only other information I can provide up front is that the Linksys lan card is on irq 11, it's an Efficient Networks Dsl unit (with 4 working green lights), and I have all the phones in the house with the boxes they provided connected between them and the wall.
Thanks,
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