i upgraded windows98 to windowsME on my PC and didn't know it was a beta. it expired, and didn't get to update it. when i turn on my pc, it won't boot up. is there anything i can do to downgrade back to windows98, or just update the windowsME without losing my important datas? is there a way to make this pc boot up? Please Help...

if you saved your system settings... there is a way to get back into 98. after you get back there, i strongly suggest you back everything up you need... then format and reinstall the OS of your choice. when you uninstall, not everything gets put back the way it was... i think it was just meant as a troubleshooting tool. to uninstall(if you saved your system settings when the installer asked): (*)boot with a boot disk choose without cd rom support from the a:\> prompt type each of these commands and then press enter after each one: c: cd windows cd command uninstal.exe (yes, there is only one 'L') the uninstaller will run scandisk, check directories, find deleted files, find modified files, and then reestablish the 98 registry... it should take 20-30 minutes(although i've seen them take over 24 hours.. but this is very unusual). when you get the data you need out of 98... follow the guides at nospin.com to fdisk, format, and reinstall the OS you want. (*)any bootdisk will do... you just need to get into DOS... if you don't have one, you can download one from bootdisk.com

sam? how's it going today? did the uninstall finally finish?

Hey "newgrl", The uninstall finally finished but it's still not booting up. So I reinstalled Windows98 and finally started booting up, but a new problem arised. I can't get into the windows. It's telling me that I'm missing files: "vpowerd.vxd, vxdmon.vxd, and msmouse.vxd". I already found "vxpowerd.vxd" but still going crazy looking for the other 2 files. Pls. help...Thanx.

let's try booting into safe mode and turning everything off and see what we get from there... to boot into safe mode: as the computer is booting up, hold down the left control key. before the splash screen appears you should get a boot menu. choose #3 safe mode. if you don't get the menu, try this: reboot. as the computer is booting up, after it goes *beep*, start hitting the F8 key(about once every second or so). you should get the menu then. once you're in safe mode: go to start>>run>>msconfig choose 'selective startup' and take the check out of everything underneath. click apply>>ok>>and reboot. yes... it's ugly. but can you get into normal mode? if you can, backup everything you need to back up, then follow the rest of the instructions in the answer above. if you can't, my email address is here now... write me and we'll work on it.

To resikve the issue. 1. insert the window me disk & restart your computer 2. On the state-up Menu choose start computer w/CD-ROM support 3. insert your windows me CD ROM in the rom drice 4type the following commands(pressing enter after each command, where windows is the name of your windows folder): C: cdwindows\system ren user 32.dll user 32.dlx ren winmm.dll winmm.dlx a: ext.exe 5. when you are prompted please enter path to the windows cab files," type cd-rom:\win9x where cd rom is the drive letter for your cd-rom drive. then press enter. note: this letter may be different when you are using a start-up disk. 6 when you are prompted enter the neme(s) of the files you want to extract. type user32.dll gdi32.dll win mm.dll and then press enter. 7 when you are prompted please enter the path to exttract to," type drive:\windows\system, where drive:\windows is the drive folder in which windows is installed and then press enter. 8. review the information that is displayed, if it is correct, press Y, and then enter 9. type the following commands, where windows is the name of your windows folder pressing enter at each command c: cd\windows ren cmapieng.vxd cmapieng.vxx note if the cmapieng.vxdfiles does not exist in the c:\windows folder check for the existance of this file in the c:\program files\cybermedia folder after you restart windows and then re name the file or use the system configuration utility tool to prevent the cmapieng.vxd file from loading 10 re-start your computer 11. defragment the harddisk again hope this was what you was looking for and the information will help.

To resolve the issue. 1. insert the window me disk & restart your computer 2. On the state-up Menu choose start computer w/CD-ROM support 3. insert your windows me CD ROM in the rom drive 4.type the following commands(pressing enter after each command, where windows is the name of your windows folder): C: cdwindows\system ren user 32.dll user 32.dlx ren winmm.dll winmm.dlx a: ext.exe 5. when you are prompted please enter path to the windows cab files," type cd-rom:\win9x where cd rom is the drive letter for your cd-rom drive. then press enter. note: this letter may be different when you are using a start-up disk. 6. when you are prompted enter the neme(s) of the files you want to extract. type user32.dll gdi32.dll win mm.dll and then press enter. 7. when you are prompted please enter the path to exttract to," type drive:\windows\system, where drive:\windows is the drive folder in which windows is installed and then press enter. 8. review the information that is displayed, if it is correct, press Y, and then enter 9. type the following commands, where windows is the name of your windows folder pressing enter at each command c: cd\windows ren cmapieng.vxd cmapieng.vxx note if the cmapieng.vxdfiles does not exist in the c:\windows folder check for the existance of this file in the c:\program files\cybermedia folder after you restart windows and then re name the file or use the system configuration utility tool to prevent the cmapieng.vxd file from loading 10 re-start your computer 11. defragment the harddisk again hope this was what you was looking for and the information will help. this is a reprint of my original message due to some typing errors. sorry......