I appreciate the "seem knowledgeable" comment, but I'm just
about at the end of my rope, without having the machine in
my hands to experiment on fixes.
If the six year old is or has been clicking away, there are
many things that could well have been done to a W98 [any
Windows machine] if the person at the keyboard has
administrative rights. XP can lock a user out of the
administrator group but every W98 user has the power to
alter the registry, delete programs or otherwise screw up
the computer.
An old W98 machine is not worth more than 1/2 the cost of a
service call, professional help is not a viable solution for
that reason.
If I remember correctly, W98 Windows Explorer in either
TOOLS or Help has a "repair" button. It will do a repair
and if the needed files are in the memory, it might fix your
problem. If the computer does have a network card, you
might be able to use a second working computer to fix the
computer.
Find out if the 6 year old knows how to get into the BIOS,
if so, [or anyway] open the BIOS [you must press the correct
key before Windows boots, might be F1 or F2 or Esc, see you
manual] and reset the BIOS to default.
When you can, find a newer computer running XP and setup a
limited account for the child, so they can't alter the
settings. Be sure to use a secure password for your
account.
It is just a guess but those games may have locked up the
system, I know they often alter video properties, was the
child running any particular game when the problem started?
That's about all I can suggest, except swapping parts...
first reset the BIOS and disconnect the hard drive., try
another hard drive.
Boot the computer with a W98 emergency floppy.
See if it will boot from the CD [BIOS setting boot order].
Boot the W98 CD and reinstall Windows after connecting the
hard drive.
If there is some setting the child changed, it is recorded
on the hard drive, if the hard drive is by-passed before
Windows boots and the CD or floppy don't work, it is a
motherboard/BIOS issue. If the BIOS is set back to default
and the drives don't wok, cleaning them might fix it. Swap
floppy and CD drives with a computer that works, the child
may have inserted a playing card or some other trash, look
and you might see something.
Good luck, BTW a New Dell is cheap and they can be found
used.
message
| Jim:
|
| Sorry for butting in on thus thread, but you seem
knowledgeable on this, but
| the other strange problem with this newsgroup is I find on
some PC's I use, I
| have trouble STARTING a new thread even LOOGED IN, though
I can reply to
| existing threads. It's frustrating. When I click for a new
thread, i get a
| round red circle with a line acrss it meaning I guess "not
allowed"
|
| Here's the problem.
|
| All of a sudden the CD cannot read data. But checking
under system
| tools->device driver, it reports things are working
normal. Clicking "eject"
| works, the drive opens. Even get readback when clicking
"properties", telling
| me it's a CD ROM with a FAT system. Putting a disk in, the
light comes on,
| and stays lit on for a while, then goes dead. Clicking
explore gives me "D:\
| is not accessible"
|
| This PC is for games for my 6 year old, not hooked up to
the interent, and
| we haven't installed any software, though my girl keeps
clicking away at
| things. So I don't beleive its a virus, new insatllation
issues etc.
|
| Do you think I should get a "CD disk cleaning kit" since
this is an old PC,
| and as far as I know, the CD had never been cleaned in
half a dozen years. In
| fact, I have 6 PC's in operations, and NEVER before
cleaned a CD or DVD
| reader, though I cleaned the "mouse".
|
| Its an Windows 98 machine, but I don't think it's an OS
issue, and I don't
| beleive I'll get much feedback from Windows 98 group.
|
| Thanks
|
| Frank Chin
|
|
|
|
|
|
| "Jim Macklin" wrote:
|
| > Did you check the settings in the BIOS? Have you
scanned
| > for a virus? Have you open the case and checked to see
that
| > all the power and ribbon cables are connected?
| >
| > Have you checked the Device Manager? Does anybody
besides
| > yourself have physical access to the machine?
| >
| >
| > Do you have friend who is close enough to examine the
| > computer and has the skill to troubleshoot for you?
| >
| > Have you used the Device Manager to remove the floppy
and
| > CD-RW drive and then rebooted. The system should
identify
| > the drives as "new hardware" and reinstall them with the
| > proper drivers.
| >
| >
| >
| > "dukiesma1001" <
[email protected]>
| > wrote in message
| >
| > | Both my CD and Floppy Drives aren't working. I doubt
it's
| > because they've
| > | gone out, for I replaced my original CD-ROM with a
CD-RW
| > less than a year
| > | ago. Also, they both went out at the same time. With
the
| > Floppy, I get an
| > | ID Address message & with my CD-RW, everytime I insert
a
| > disk, it freezes up
| > | my system. Maybe they did both go out, but them both
| > going out at the same
| > | time seems like more than a coincidence to me.
Anyways,
| > the only 2 ways I
| > | have of installing any kind of programs from an
outside
| > source, since I also
| > | don't have internet access either, these 2 probs make
it
| > impossible for me to
| > | do anything. Please help me. Any time or effort or
| > advice anyone can give
| > | me would be greatly appreciated. And Thank You!
| > | Tanya F.
| > | --
| > | Catch Ya On The Flip Side !!!
| >
| >
| >
