My first problem:

Often, when i turn my computer on and press the "start" button on the bottom left corner of the screen , the computer freezes. I'd press the button, and no menus will appear, instead the start button just freezes. (then my whole computer freezes. This happens REALLLLY often , it's so annoying)

secondly, i often get this error message dealing with "KERNEL32"

3rdly, even after using the computer for few minutes, a message comes up saying that my computer has low or no system resource (i'm thinking memory) available,so i should close some programs when i practically have NO programs opened. Then the computer freezing happenes agaIN.

I have intel PIII 700mhz , 20 gig, 128 sd ram, etc. (do u think buying more ram will help?)

Please HELP me~~~~~~~~~~~~on any of the above questions!

When you can get the Start button to work, hit start, run, then type msconfig.
Hit the Startup tab and post back here all the checked entries.
This will tell us what programs you have running at Startup, and something might show up that is causing your low resources.

was windows ME factory installed on your computer or you did upgrade?... your computer is probably still under waranty... call computer manufacturer if it was factory installed... if you upgraded call microsoft tech support... in any case dont forget to record the phone conversation (you have to notify them that you are recording) and to get a case number
Regards Miro

fdisk and partition the hdd then format it and reinstall ME, but before installing take
out all plug in cards except the video card,
then reinstall. if me works ok, then plug the cards back in one at a time, rebooting after each one. see how you go, good luck.

maybe before reformatting, try just reload windows in a different subdirectory... if that wont resolve it, do what guru wrote
Regards Miro

these are the checked entries:

MSMSGS
Mirabilis ICQ
internat.exe
registry check
Task Monitor
PC Health
System Tray
Load Power Profile
Norton Auto Protect
Norton Crashgaurd Monitor
wiamp agent
LoadPower Profile (twice?!?)
scheudling agent
*State MGR
CSINJECT.EXE
Sym Tray - Norton System Works
Adobe Gamma LOader.exe
sysdoc
Corel CENTRAL alarms
NCS_SS
Reminder-lot40101
Office Start
Microsoft Find fast
run=

-above-

By the way, the company i bought my computer from ran out of business and therefore do not exist anymore (which means no WARRANTY~!)
Also, I borrowed my friend's WinMe CD and just installed it myself. (NOwdays this windows update menu keeps on popping out of my screen but i am not sure what to do with it)

You upgraded over incompatible Norton antivirus/utilities. If it was running at the time of the install the entire OS is most likely corrupted. Crashguard is a discontinued product that causes more crashes than it prevents. The whole Norton Suite needs to be removed from this computer in safe mode and the OS reinstalled. You may never get it to work correctly without formatting.

You may also want to go back to msconfig, take a look at the win.ini tab under the "Windows" heading. I'd love to know what run=. This is where trojan/virus writers tend to put their entries.

If you can reborrow the cd to reinstall the OS... or if your computer came with an install disk for 98, my strong suggestion here is to back up what you can and start over, either with 98 or ME.

If you have never done this before, Theoran has excellent step-by-step instructions to fdisk(partitioning), format(wiping all the data off of a hard drive), and reinstalling an OS here:

The Ramblings of Theoran: The Complete Instructions

DONT go reinstalling just yet.You may not need to(people just LOVE this option for some reason).It is probably a combonation of things.First off you need to uncheck most all of the start-up stuff.You can do this from MSCONFIG(where you found the list of programs)OR as follows:
Click on the Start button. Move the pointer to Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then click on System Information.
Click on the Tools menu, then System Configuration Utility.
Click on the Startup tab, and then uncheck boxes to remove items that are loaded when Windows is started.
Click Apply, then click OK to keep your changes.
You will need to restart your computer for changes to take effect.

Heres what to get rid of>>>>>
MSMSGS
Mirabilis ICQ
internat.exe
PC Health
Load Power Profile
Norton Auto Protect
Norton Crashgaurd Monitor
wiamp agent
LoadPower Profile (twice?!?)
scheudling agent
CSINJECT.EXE
Sym Tray - Norton System Works
Adobe Gamma LOader.exe
sysdoc
Corel CENTRAL alarms
NCS_SS
Reminder-lot40101
Office Start
Microsoft Find fast
run=

I have none of these checked and I boot to 96% w/no trouble so id say they can be eliminated.A few of them are well known to cause both the Kernel32 errors AND the hanging problem..
Now after a reboot(check system resources now,I bet there way up there).Right click "my computer",then"properties"then"performance".You SHOULD be at 85% free or better!!Next,I would do a scandisk and defrag to tidy up the drive,if you need help with this just post back.
The next thing to is either get a copy of the newest Norton anti-virus or go here>>
http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_pcc.asp
Do a system wide virus scan to be sure your clean.Also if your not running the newest Internet explorer I would go to MS site and download it(NOT THE VERSION 6 BETA!!!!!)you want the latest 5.5 version.
If you still have problems then you MAY have to re-install but im betting youll be all set.Let us know how you made out
jimi_l

"DONT go reinstalling just yet.You may not need to(people just LOVE this option for some reason)..."

You've seen my posts here jimi_1... and you know I almost *never* suggest a reinstall. Most problems can be fixed.

I have had quite a bit of experience trying to get people up and running after upgrading over Crashguard/Norton Utilities. A couple of them I *had* to help get going due to a big project/presentation. I once spent 11 hours straight on the phone "fixing" all of the errors that this caused because of this.

You're right. I can be done... kind of. This gentleman still wasn't stable and the presentation crashed trying to access a website. He called me back the next day to format and reinstall.

The problem with the Norton is it's all over the registry. I mean everywhere. It's impossible to get out. And if the Utilities were running when the upgrade occurred... ME and Norton had a big fight during the install as to where ME could write to the drive and perform *.exe tasks as Norton thought ME was a virus.

I am a firm believer that most things can be fixed. But after so many cases of this... I've pretty well concluded that this isn't one of them.

As an alternative for the original poster:
If you saved your system settings when you installed ME...
You could unisntall Windows ME.
Uninstall Norton.
Then reinstall ME.

If you can get the uninstaller to run that is... generally that can be a problem too.