When i turn on the computer it seems to start loading fine, but at the second screen it stops at verifying pool data..... and there is some weird out of place letters, lines, symbols, and numbers that were never there before, and does nothing more at that point. Everything is connected correctly as far as i can tell, and the computer was running fine. I had to take out the video card but i put it back in and kabamm. I cant even turn it off without unplugging it, as soon as it shuts off i let go of the button and it restarts. note: The symbols and what not change everytime i try to boot.

Try the following: Go to another machine with the same OS as yours (win 95 I assume). Insert a bank floppy disk in the A: Go to DOS. (Start, Programs, MS DOS Prompt) Type SYS A: (enter) Type COPY C:\WINDOWS\SYS*.* A: Insert this disk in the drive of your PC before turning it on. When you turn it on, it should (hopefully) boot up off the disk. If it asks you for date or time data, just press enter. This will get you to the DOS prompt. Now type SYS C: and restart. This should work. If not, the quickest solution may be to reinstall the OS. This will (hopefully) boot from t

i already tried the boot disk. it doesnt get far enough to even use the boot disk, it doesnt seem to be a prob with the windows os. it seems like something to do with maybe the bios? and the os is 98 and i entered this post in the 98x section yet for some reason it says 95.

not to sound sexist but a woman who doesnt know that much about puters somehow magically turned it on and now it works... strange.... thanks tho

Hi Evil.. Seems to me something happened to the video card. You mentioned you took it out, and put it back in. As that is the only thing that changed, logic kinda dictates that the problem lies there. Try...reseating it.... Get your hands on another card to test with.... Pull out another clump of hair, and add it to the pile. I know that doesn't help ya...but really, I'd be looking long and hard at that video card.

My sister had a similar problem with her pc . Her specs are as follows EPOX 8kta3+ Mainboard amd athlon 1200 mhz processor Geforce 2 mx agp graphics card 128 mb pc133 ram soundblaster live soundcard I found that her problem was related to a dead processor fan . Her pc would start to boot normally then display strange characters on the screen including small happy faces. After trying just about everything I opend her case to check for loose cards and booted her pc . I found that her case fans were working but that her processor fan was not. I brought a small oscilating fan over and blew cool air on the mainboard with her case open and her pc booted normally. She ran it this way for a few days until I was able to acquire a new fan . After I installed the new fan everything worked fine. Just a thought Check your fan on the processor as some pc problems are heat related. Good luck and GOD Bless!! Matt_h