Millennium slow & freezing.

[odidio]

I've been trying to get a friends old WinME cleaned up a bit but there is still an annoyance.
The machine has always been slow to start but also once it has reached the desktop screen the cursor and programs will freeze up for short periods of time. This freezing will happen on and off for the first 4 or 5 minutes after the PC is fully started.

There is no spyware, adware or viruses. There was a virus about 5 yrs ago and the local techs pretty much gutted the system leaving just the basics.
Check disk and defragmenting have been done several times and ccleaner was installed to take out the garbage.

For start up, there's the usual ME stuff plus Logitech ( optical mouse ) and MSN Messenger. I did notice two MS updates there, KB 918547 and 891711.

I noticed also an old WinTV card that is still connected but the software is no longer installed.

Yea it's WinME, but any good tips ?

:?:

[xpgeek]

Uh, if its been a really long time then a reformat could help alot.

Other then that, uh, yea its WinME.

[odidio]

Would a sfc /scannow do any good ?

Or this (http://www.crashfixpc.com/reinME.htm) ?

[odidio]

Ok, I guess sfc doesn't work with WinME.

System-file protection is called System File Protection (SFP) on Windows Millennium Edition.

[xpgeek]

Couldn't hurt to try.

I haven't used WinME in, a longgg time myself, and I remember it as a painful experience. lol.

[odidio]

Yes it is a terrible OS.

I took out the WinTV card ( no more big question mark in Devmgr ) and shut off MSN Messenger from the startup, so it's a bit faster.

The cursor and things still freeze up for a short time once you get to the desktop though.

I took a look in the sfplog.txt and there are probably more than a dozen or two files marked as 'critical', for example,

CRITICAL: [04/30/2005 19:40:47:070] SFP cannot restore file C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\INSENG.DLL back. Original file has invalid version 6.0.2800.1469

Time to upgrade, lol.

[xpgeek]

Yes, unfortunately it is, as Windows ME has reached its end of product life cycle as well. Its a dead OS in Microsoft's eyes, no more support, no more security updates.

[FisionChips]

Hi Odido


WinME cleaned up a bit but there is still an annoyance.

Win ME is the annoyance.... :wink:

I know this isn't the advice you would most like to hear but... for all the reasons Xpgeek has given I would seriously trash that OS and try to install XP.

How old is the machine? What's the specification?

[odidio]

Except for the minor freezing until the system gets fully warmed up it's working ok.
I'll have to get back to you on the specs.

[wawadave]

i would run through the things in this link
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.burzurq.com%2Fforum%2Ftrevtwe ak.html&ei=NMbpRdD6FqeQigHw9f2aBw&usg=__rHpR5oh5aYAjVNlvmyOdSWGtL-Q=&sig2=HNypMLxmItImUHXSNYxrhw

[odidio]

It seems to be just a memory thing as it starts. It's like it's not releasing the memory that it uses at initial startup quickly enough.
It freezes when you go to start something right after the desktop and everything is up. It only lasts for the first couple of minutes.

Minor annoyance.

[wawadave]

run through the list in link i gave will help its over all functioning !!

allso this link can come in handy for m.e-98
http://www.castlecops.com/t151017-WHAT_TO_DO_WHEN_WINDOWS_9x_OR_M_E_WILL_NOT_BOOT.ht ml

[rdburke]

If you have the original WinME disk, put it in the drive and then use an ME boot floppy to boot to a command prompt then type the word Setup. That should start the Windows Installer. You don't have to worry, I have done this many times and it only overwrites and re-installs Windows. None of the other programs or files on the computer will be changed. It takes only a few minutes to do this and you may find that the PC is faster when you are finished. You can also go to http://www.putergeek.com/performance_me/ to try on some of the speed tweaks listed there. Hope that helps but it is about time for an upgrade.

[odidio]

Thanks for all the links. Short of reinstalling (the person that owns the system doesn't want that done yet) I've tried many of the ideas on the linked pages and the old WinME is much faster and starting up fine.

One weird thing though, some of the 'hanging' problem has shifted.

Now everything works fine until I open IE and then close it. As soon as IE is closed which ever button I click on next whether it's a program or just the start button the system hangs there for about a minute, and then proceeds normally. Everything works fine again after that until I open and close IE again.

I didn't put the IE version number up there because I tried many things including rolling back to IE 5.5 (same problem happened) and then installing IE 6 SP 1 again.

Looking into something I heard about VXD (dll) files missing from the Windows/System area.....................don't know if that will do it.

Well it starts good now, :lol:

[odidio]

Installed Firefox, problem solved.

Everything works pretty good now, thanks for the help.

:up:

[FisionChips]

er --- congratulations - you lot persevered when I would have long since given up in disgust! :oops:

[odidio]

Lol, it was fun to have a close look at instead of just reformatting.