Hi, I've been having problems with my system freezing. Today I noticed that in Safe mode in the performance tab I have a message saying that Drive C is using MS-DOS compatibility mode file system. The same message also appears for Drive A. The help text suggests a problem in either config.sys or autoexec.bat. I've tried the MS site but I'm none the wiser! First question - could this be causing my random freezing problem? second question - how do I diagnose exactly what the problem is? Also I'm curious as to why this error message is in safe mode but in normal mode the performance tab says that my system is running fine? Any help very much appreciated. Andy

That message is to be expected in Safe Mode, and is only a cause for concern if it occurs during normal operation. All sorts of things can be the cause of random freezing, you will need to troubleshoot. A good place to start would be to scan your system for virus and spyware etc. - Panda has an online scan - there is also Ad-Aware & Spybot (links to these and others may be found at the top of the forum page) Resist the temptation to close your request for help with semantically-null questions like “Can anyone help me?”

Hi, Oh ok - thanks for that - saves me barking up the wrong tree! I've run several anti virus and anti spyware programs, I've run a memory test, I've defragged, I've run disk clean up and downloaded speedfan which seems to rule out overheating. Maybe I have a dying motherboard / hard drive? Back to square one! Cheers, Andy

Ok, well, I would still recommend the Panda scan, as it is pretty thorough and may find something. You may want to examine your startup programs as well - even benign programs can cause software conflicts - and try selectively disabling items with msconfig to determine a possible culprit Here are a couple of reference sites: Sysinfo Task List Also - if you haven't already - there are some ways to encourage WinME to 'behave' How to Run WinME Well Windows ME Fixes Resist the temptation to close your request for help with semantically-null questions like “Can anyone help me?”

... forgot to add - you might also try monitoring your system resources with Windows Resource Meter to see if that is an issue. Running out resources can cause crashes and lockups Resist the temptation to close your request for help with semantically-null questions like “Can anyone help me?”