HELP!! ME, desktop loads but nothing works!!

[murph]

Using ME, installed 2 yrs ago with upgrade disk, prev using 98SE. Yesterday rebooted and was wanting to go into safe mode as I was having a problem with something else. Mistakenly held down F5 instead of F8 and briefly saw a message saying "bypassing startup files". Now when ME loads the desktop shows up but you can't do ANYTHING AT ALL!

If I click on any icon or try to open or explore by right clicking (even My Computer) NOTHING happens at all. Mouse moves around but that's it. If I press Cont-Alt-Del I notice that systray is not even listed? Also no volume control etc etc. And on startup I also get this message about error "PCCIOMON" failure or cannot load or something like that. I COULD click on icons etc in safe mode.

Anyway I uninstalled ME and went back to 98 (which seemed semi-OK except I can't get it to accept anything but default monitor so the display is huge and only 16 colors) and also it would just randomly shut down for no reason if I tried to do anything on the internt. I reinstalled ME using the upgrade disk and figured all would be OK. To my shock when it was all done, my display is fine again BUT the SAME BLOODY PROBLEM!! This error message re PCCIOMON and no systray, can't open anything etc etc.

PLEASE HELP!!! I am using my son's computer to type this but I have to access my own computer files for urgent business stuff including my email. Did I cause some fatal error with the F5 thing or is that just a red herring? Does anyone have any ideas here to get me up and running?

Oh system specs - Intel 1.7ghz, 40hd, 1 gig sdram, viewsonic monitor.

Last question - I am fed up with ME anyway and am just going to buy a new faster computer next week with XP already loaded. How do I move my email and all programs I use to a new harddrive with XP on it without buggering that up too?

Regardless it's going to be a week before I can get a new machine and I use my computer for business, can't afford to be down for a week, so I do need help with this ME problem. Any and all suggestions gladly accepted

Oops forgot one thing. I tried system restore and no matter what date I picked all I ever got was an error message saying system restore was unsuccessful. So I guess that's not an option.

UPDATE: I reinstalled ME yet again. Then get to the desktop and same problem again except no pcciomon error message. Just clicking on icons and nothing. If I right click on my computer and on properties, the ONLY THING listed in device manager is "computer"!

Found a suggestion elsewhere to run regedit-s\repair.exe but when I type that in the run dialog box it says can't be found. I can get into regedit but don't know what to do there.

I just rebooted in safe mode and there everything works but in my computer there are no cd drives showing (was hoping to reinstall me again in safe mode).

Also when I reinstalled me it did freeze several times when at the "updating hardware settings" stage and I had to keep restarting. Then finally it said it was done and I got to the desktop that doesn't work. Also before when I've installed me it usually gives you all sorts of updating settings, detecting hardware etc messages on first startup but this is giving me nothing at all. It seems it's not totally loading windows?????? But it does in safe mode?????

Please help someone! I've now been doing this for about 12 hrs and I am ready to totally lose it!

P.S. as a last resort I have a brand new Maxtor 80gig HD sitting here unused. How can I do a clean install on that with only the ME upgrade disk? I know it can be done but no idea how. I DON'T have ANY windows disks other than that, no 98 etc - the computer originally came with 98se preloaded.

[jamesrpm]

Have you tried to reset your bios settings back to their default values? It's just a stab in the dark but you have tried most everything else i can think of to do. I guessing bios because it seems it's something happening before Windows loads that is causing the hang.

[GaryRouth]

Sorry you've had so much trouble with your WinMe computer, and I'm a little late replying.

Was there an infection on the drive prior to the current trouble? PCCIOMON is part of the Trend Micro antivirus program PC-Cillin (it's the real-time on-access virus scanner component).

If you want to save the current hard drive, you might want to scan it for malware first [ http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=106182 ]. If that seems to go OK, you could then try an "over-the-top" for WinMe [ http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=70846 ]. . . if you're fortunate, you won't have to reinstall your programs or loose your current data. Pay close attention to details such as unplugging from networks, unplugging scanners, printers, etc. - and disabling the Bios antivirus [then re-enabling it when done].

You can use your upgrade CD for a clean install of WinMe on the new Maxtor, too. You'd need your original Win98 CD around. Just start the install with the WinMe CD on the clean drive [partition it with fdisk first, let WinMe Setup format it for you], then when prompted, put in the Win98 CD as proof for the upgrade. That's it. . . . if you go with a clean install, of course, you'll have to reinstall all your programs and data - and you'll want to scan these for viruses and other malware before restoring them.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[ktkendall]

You will have a hard time installing a clean install of WinME on that other drive because you do not have your win98 disk. You have to have the previous version already on the harddrive or have the disk of the previous windows version. I suppose I would just try to get the PC to make 1 more week till you get that new one..