The computer I am working on won't boot Windows up all the way. When I turn the computer on it boots up the background then stalls with the background displayed but no icons or anything. I am assuming that my hard drive is bad... if not could you tell me any other diagnoses?

Anyway, if my hard drive is bad, could I just buy any new hard drive to install into the computer or would I have to look for some compatibilities and buy a certain specific hard drive?

The computer is an older Dell that did run Windows ME. The other specifics are not known because I couldn't boot the computer to access other information. Thanks a lot!

The first thing to try is to boot to Safe Mode. If you can get into Safe Mode try going back to an earlier Restore Point. (See System Restoe in Windows Help). If you can't get into Safe Mode then try reinstalling Windows from your CD.

I tried booting in Safe Mode and it did the same thing. It would load the background then stall with no icons on the screen and the cursor staying as the little hourglass.

Is it F5 that gets you into the setup when you first turn the computer on? I know the newer Dells it is F12 but this one is older and I am pretty sure it is different.

The key to access your CMOS setup varies from PC to PC. It should state what the key is during Power Up.

Its still not clear whether the problem is your drive or your installation. Reinstalling should tell you.

When you get to the background with no icons, can you hit CTRL+ALT+DEL to bring up the process/task manager? If so, try closing each process one by one. Hopefully you'll close the one freezing the PC then you can remove that process from the startup or completely.

Unfortunately, I can't hit CTRL+ALT+DELETE. I can't move the cursor with my mouse or anything.

But, say I wanted to just buy a new one anyway. When I go to shop around for one, do I have to match up any compatibilities? If so, what? Or will I have to get the same kind?

Yes you need what type of drive is in your system and get something with the same capabilities. Most IDE drives will work in most machines made in the last 3 years, but older than that, you might have to be more careful.

Hello wvumountee,

First off, boot your machine into command line mode by pressing F8 after the BIOS passes control to Windows and before Windows starts loading and choosing the appropriate option from the menu. Run this command:

scanreg /restore

Choose a point in history where Windows started up successfully. If you don't have such a point, or if the idea of reverting isn't so appealing, you could try:

scanreg /fix

scanreg.exe is the preferred method of recovery, but alas, on some occasions it isn't suitable, or it just doesn't work.

In such cases, where scanreg won't fix your problem, you'll have to change your shell.

From the command line, change your working directory to your windows directory. In most cases, the Windows directory is C:\windows

cd C:\windows

If your command line has the default prompt, it should say "C:\WINDOWS>" Indicating your working directory. If you get a message about the directory not being found, you may have mistyped the command, or your windows installation may be in a different path. The command:

cd %windir%

Might get you there... If not, there's a good chance you can find it yourself by switching to the root of your drive:

cd C:\

And from there listing the directories:

dir /w /p /ad

Then you can switch to the directory you think your system is in by:

cd <dir>

Where <dir> is the name of the directory. Make sure to exclude the brackets.

Once you have found your system directory do this:

dir system.ini

If you're your system.ini file is there, you are in the right place. Make a backup of it with this command:

copy system.ini system.bak

Check to make sure that your new backup exists:

dir system.bak

Now edit your system.ini file with this command:

edit system.ini

You should get a blue edit screen. Find the line that says "shell=explorer.exe" and change that line to "shell=progman.exe". Press M-f s. (That means hold down your alt key, press f, release the alt key and press s), then press M-f x (Hold down your alt key, press f, release the alt key and press x). You should be back at your command prompt. In case you are wondering, M stands for Meta, or the Alt key. C-M-Del (Control Alt Delete) should restart your system. Let it boot normally and see what happens.

If you get a program manager window, you've done the shell swap procedure successfully. From there you could run whatever program you want, but you'd most likely want to fix explorer.exe.

Of course, if scanreg worked you would never have to go through all that trouble, but if it didn't the shell swap may have been the only way. I suppose you might be able to diagnose the problem with a boot disk as well, but I'm guessing if you had one you would have used it.

Hi,
Very good, JasonS!!
Running the scanreg /restore at the C:> prompt should do the job. But, if not, then scanreg /fix.
This sounds like a registry problem.
Best wishes,
fredg