my pc wont boot to windows. it started happening a few days ago and it would take two or three attempts to start properly. the rest of the time it would just hang with a moveable mouse pointer. now it wont go any further unless i start in safe mode. everything looks ok but there's a couple of errors in bootlog.txt. i'm getting loadfail on most fonts but mskb says not to worry about it and [00117B8E] DEVICEINITFAILED = VPD which i can't find anything about. anyone know what this is? could it be stopping windows from starting properly? i'm not using system restore and i have data which i don't want to risk losing. i cant back it up to cd or transfer it over the network because i can only run safe mode. i ran scandisk and it fixed an error but it still wont work. i ran it again and everything is fine. anyone?

I doubt this will be of much help, but this Microsoft database article might interest you: Q127970. Loadfail errors. I believe the DEVICEINIFAILED is a virtual printer driver that is failing to load. I believe VPD stands for virtual printer driver. I doubt very much that would cause your system such grief, though--but who knows? The font failures are typical and not the problem. You might want to start resigning yourself to the inevitable Reformat. But wait if you still have hope, someone might have the answer. Good luck.

I am not very familiar with ME, but can you reinstall the operating system? Can you access the cdrom? So long as you reinstall the OS in the same directory you shouldn't lose your data and it might restore your system if the problem is a corrupt boot file (confirm this, that you won't lose your data from a reinstall, with someone else before you do it). I heard ME did away with DOS, so I don't know what it uses in place of a regular DOS bootdisk.

Read the posting instructions. System specs, what led to problem, programs being used, have you downloaded anything unusual etc. Apart from that, try replacing the peripheral cables one by one, a cracked cable shorting out can cause a similar error in loading. Don't waste your whole life trying to fix it - format the hard disk and reinstall, then go to http://www.computing.net/windowsme/wwwboard/forum/14062.html For help in reinstalling Microsoft have an article on the Windows CDs on how to do this and also on their website. On the ME CD you'll find the excellent article in \addons\document\guide and it's called mqsg (believe it or not). The information you want starts about page 31. On the website, go to http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q255/8/67.asp and http://support.microsoft.com/support/windows/topics/winme/setup/setupht.asp http://www.windowsreinstall.com/ is also useful Be very careful you have all your drivers and original disks for all your components and peripherals, or download latest versions before you start.

Been thinking about your problem. Does ME have msconfig? There's a procedure called clean-boot troubleshooting that might be able to isolate exaclty which file and even which line is causing your startup problems (assuming this is not a hardware problem), but the procedure is rather involved. You do it through msconfig. We know that your PC seems to work fine in safemode (this makes me think it is software related). In Run type msconfig. Under the general tab, you'll see a button for selective startup. you'll see some folders with checkmarks beside them. Uncheck half of them. Reboot your computer. If problem went away, you know the problem file is in one of the folders you unchecked. If problem did not go away, you'll want to uncheck the remaining folders one by one, rebooting each time. Hopefully, you'll uncheck one and the problem will go away, then you'll know which folder the problem file is in. You repeat the process of "restoring by halves" in the subdirectories WIN.Ini and System-ini (again I'm assume ME and 9x are the same in this respect), in whatever folder you've isolated as the problem one, rebooting each time you check or uncheck a folder/file. It's bascially the process of elimination. Each time you're eliminating half the possibilities by unchecking them. When you know the problem must be in one of the unchecked files, you check half of them, reboot, and see if the problem returns. If so, you know the problem is somewhere in one of the checked files. See how it works? Microsoft has articles on this procedure ("clean boot troubleshooting"). Hopefully the same procedure can be done in ME. But Reformating seems like child's play compared to this.

I still think that if you can reinstall the OS that may be a simple solution. I'd try that first before I format and lose all data.