Dammit I just wrote this huge thing explaining my situation and it didn't submit! Well, I'm just going to sum it up.

about a half hour ago when I came home someone tried to restart my computer and left the black screen with the blinking _ there. It always does this. But to fix it I restart the computer then go into safe mode then properly shut down from there and than it works fine. But today when I shutthe computer off and tried to go in safe mode i got a blue screen error that said something about the windows protection so i shut it off a few more times and every time i get an error and now there is no way for me to get my computer back on because of this error. Some one help me please!!! thanks. Im just gunna sit here and hit refresh...

Are you useing Norton anitvirus 2000?

No. I use some free thing I downloaded from mccaffe. activeshield? or something like that...

OK, sounds like you have a conflict somewhere. Have you tried system restore? Do you have and used any other programs like regclean, tweakui? When have you scandisc, defraged?
On scandisc, I have found to use a standard with autofix, display summary, replace log, delete cross-linked files, free lost file fragraments, check files for: ( all checked )
works very good for me (I mean me personally)
Try these first. It could be a simple solution, hopefully!
HAL8000

Well, I scandisk everytime I restart my computer. I defraged mabye a month ago. I do use those settings on scandisk. How could I use system restore? I'm not to sure what that is. But again the problem is that I cannot get my computer started back up AT ALL. This is nuts!

Is this a NEW computer? Sometimes the NEW instalation of ME does not work well and needs to be reinstalled. I had to do that.(alot of us have )
It worried me, because I thought I would loose all of the "stuff" I had put on it. I did'nt. ME will not erase every thing like WIN.98 does. It takes about 20-30 minutes.
HAL8000

no its not that new. I think it's about 3 years old. but since windows wont even load up i dont know how to reinstall it... can i reinstall without have to load windows and keep all my 'stuff' that ive put on my computer? how?

Three years old and ME? I've had mine for about a year as ME. Did you up grade to ME? I have reinstalled ME twice since I have had it, once because it did'nt work right, out of the box, and second because I made a boo boo playing with things. I did not loose a thing! I might have to do it again because of a program I loaded destoyed some thumbnails in my ani.cursor's.
You must of upgraded to ME from 98? I'm not sure that you wont loose "stuff" to reinstall. Somehow, I don't think you will, but I could not say for sure. Was it a clean install, by that, I mean, did you reformate before you upgraded?
HAL8000

yeah the computer was upgraded from 98. but i dont know how well it was when it was installed because it was my dads computer and hes letting me use it because he bought himself a new one.

OK, I will tell you up front, I am no computer GURU, ok? But it really sounds to me that you are going to have to reinstall ME. I could and can be wrong here, and I'm not sure you would keep all of your "stuff" if you did reformat. It all depends on how the upgrade was done. Do you have a way to save your imortant data? via, cdr? if so, then save anything that is important to you first, even if it takes a couple of disc's. Win.ME will not loose your"stuff", but an upgrade, I'm not sure, as I have no experience there, as I have not done that.
HAL8000

Well, I just got it to start by going to bootlog or something like that... its the second option under normal and it worked and ran scandisk and that finished and then i connected to the internet and then the computer just shut off by it self!

whats up with that? could it be a virus of some sort???

im quite scared. my computer dies, i die.

jimi,

So, what you are saying is that you can't even get into safe mode and a nother thing do you have a start up disk made from this computer. If you do. You could use it to reinstall the basics if that is the problem as to why its not starting. Start the computer with the disk you should have different choices at this point do the help so you hopefully will see something that would help you to get your computer started again. As HAL8000 stated I hve not delt with upgrade either but what I said should still work though.
STAR

nevermind your last post wasn't there when I checked

Naw, your computer dies, it dies, not you! They are pieces of mechanic's, no soul, know what I mean. Relax!
Don't try to connect to the internet right off the bat. You need to do some preventative maintenance before connecting. That usualy takes some time. Remember, the computer is screwed, not you!
If scandisc and defrag don't work for you, the need for other cleanup tools may be needed, But with a three year old system, remember that even in dog years, it is OLD!
You are more than likely going to have to reinstall. Bummer, yes, but could give new life to the OLD system too. Don't despair, OK?
HAL8000

First of all, don't stop trying to get the PC to start - sometimes the 20th attempt will start for no reason you will ever know!

Second, if you don't have a boot disk, you can use someone else's PC (i.e. the one you're using now) to get one at
http://www.startdisk.com/Web2/ubd/ubd.htm
or
www.bootdisk.com

Third, to reinstal you will get all the advice you need at
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/

Fourth, when you have reinstalled, you should definitely not be getting the type of shutdown you are getting. Look at
http://www.computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/13240.html
especially at
http://www.viatech.com/jsp/en/dr/driver.jsp

Clean up your whole system and if you're still getting shutdown problems use the MS suggestions for shutdown troubleshooting by searching the MS site.

Often, problems in the startup group cause these shutdown issues. Run msconfig, go to startup tab and get rid of the rubbish. See
http://www2.whidbey.net/djdenham/Uncheck.htm and http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm

Mail or post how you get on

Ok, I went to bootdisk.com and downloaded the file to a floppy and put it in the drive and turned on the computer and then it said "bad command or missing interpreter" or somethingvery similiar. What does that mean?

There is no need for all those downloads,your problem is that you are not turning off active shield before you turn off your pc,when you turn off your pc the light blinks because it cannot shut down because Active Shield is blocking it ,take my word turn of active shield then watch it shut down normaly and boot up like always !

Snookie, what is active shield, how does it work and how do you turn it off - cos I have the same problem.

Hi everyone...keep it up so I may beinformed.

ITs a virus shield ,it once messed up my friends pc to ,its ok to use but if you dont turn it off before shuting down it will mess you up.

If your computer is so messed up as it seems to be.I would just format the whole thing wipe everything clean and start with a new clean enviroment and install a new operating system