Nothing works.. Please Help!

[shadow82]

A couple days ago, I got an error stating that I was missing a DLL file everytime I tried to start a program (not always the same DLL file). I don't know much about computers, so I tried to reinstall Windows ME. When the Windows files were being copied from the CD, I left the room to do something else because it was going to take about 20 minutes. I came back about 30 minutes later and the screen was blue with the message "Windows protection error. System halted. You must restart your computer." From that point on, that message would come up everytime i restarted my computer. I tried starting windows in safe mode, and that didn't work either. At that point, I called Dell tech support, and we tried configuring the BIOS so that it loaded from CD, and did something called "zztop" that was supposed to return my computer to exactly the same as it was when it came from the factory. This appeared to work fine, until i restarted my computer and got the same error. I was then told that my only option would be to format and reinstall Windows. Sooo.. I followed her instructions and formatted my hard drive. I then installed Windows. I was pissed off that I had to lose everything on my hard drive, but relieved that my copmuter would be fixed.... That is, until I was prompted to restart my computer and yet again I got the same error message. "Windows protection error. System halted. You must restart your computer." Needless to say, I am pissed off and I have no idea what to do. If anyone has any tips or suggestions, I would greatly appreciate them. Thanks
BTW, my computer is a Dell Inspiron 8000 Laptop, if that helps

 

[corkyg]

Get a RMA. After all that, it almost has to be a hardware problem. Does it do it on A/C with the battery removed? On battery w/o A/C? That behavior is vaguely reminiscent of a power supply problem I once had.

 

[AreEss64]

I'm with corky. WPE usually indicates hardware. I'm presuming you don't have any PCMCIA devices plugged in or any USB devices plugged in during installation - if so, bad, naughty, do it again without them and see if it still happens. (Sad to say, it probably will, but try it anyways.) Probably time for an RMA, though.

 

[ddeder]

Are you loading Windows ME from a Restore CD provided by Dell or do you have a genuine Microsoft Windows ME CD? If the former, I would try the later...

Just for kicks, if you have any other operating systems on CD, try to load one of those and see if you have problems. Heck, load DOS on the computer and see if everything seems to work properly.

If you don't have the OS CD's, you will probably be stuck with dealing with Dell or taking your computer to your local PC tech/shop to have them solve the problem.

A windows protection error does not normally point to hardware failure.

I believe I have run into Windows Protection Errors in the past during OS installs where I have simply reinstalled AGAIN and everything worked fine the second time. I have no idea why it worked the second time and not the first time. You might try loading the OS again, just make sure you format the harddrive before doing so.

 

[Slikkster]

First, do this. I assume you have an emergency disk (startup diskette) that you can boot from? Do that, and go to your c:\ folder. Rename the file "bootlog.txt" to "boot.txt" ("ren bootlog.txt boot.txt" without quotes). Now, reboot without the diskette. Hold the CTRL key down while booting...then go into Safe Mode while booting up.

If you successfully boot into Safe Mode, use Windows Explorer and doubleclick on the "boot.txt" file. Take a look at the last entry in the text file. That's probably the last thing to try to run/initialize before your dreaded Windows Protection error pops up. Let us know here. If you can boot into safe mode, it's a good start, by the way.