This laptop used to have win2k. Last week it stopped booting. So Thought of trying to re-install OS. I only have win ME disk, so tried installing that. After the point when the windows setup runs blue scandisk screen, I get the following message: "Standard mode: Fault outside of MS-DOS extender. EC=0000 CS=03AF IP=74D0 AX=0000 BX-03AF CS=FFB1 DX=03AF SI=2ABA DI=721D BP=0FB0 DS=03B7 ES=0A7 SS=027F SP=0494 Please remove any floppy disks from your drives and press Enter to restart your system." Also, I am not being able to get into the BIOS. Please help. Thank You.

So... two (out of two) Operating systems won't work on this machine? Bad RAM is a possibility - more at M$ ('please help' notwithstanding) Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie!'... till you can find a rock

I have also tried knoppix based linux ditros' live CD (feather & DSL) to see if I can boot...but it won't work either...it is possible that RAM might be bad...the laptop has 2 128 MB chips...is it possible that both went bad the same time?!

If it is bad ram, it's not necessary for both sticks to be bad to get that message. Try using one stick at a time and see if it works.

Sure. The process of elimination should be telling you it's a hardware issue, since 3 very different Operating Systems fail to function RAM is pretty crucial to any system Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie!'... till you can find a rock

Hi, I really doubt that ME can be loaded over Win2000. You may have to clean the drive and start over from scratch. Maybe some one else knows for sure and will help out. Luck, Jim

Yep one can not install ME over W2K, two differing sub systems below the GUI! You will need to fdsik etcetc the hard drive..... http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...