hi

i have a really serious problem with my pc. when i insert a disc or a usb flash memory drive into the computer my pc just freezes or doesn't detect it and i really need my important A-level course works that are on the pc, so i really need somthing that can make sure those files are saved on a seprate disk or flash memory. my internet connection is also not working as it unistalled by it self and i cant install it with out a disc it is boardband. i really need a fast solution to this please help!!!

Hi bigb, welcome to SAF

Are the devices listed in your BIOS and in Windows device manager ? CD or disk drives may be dead, unpowered or flat cables not properly connected.

USB host controllers and CD drives must be listed in your device manager without any conflicts.

Try booting in safe mode to see if it's still freezing. Run a scandisk from there.

Have you also tried to set your BIOS to boot directly from a floppy disk or CD ?

Chris

my usb and disc's all worked before but don't work any more and how do i load the computer in safe mode because it always loads up normally. there is a error message in the start that says outpostupdate error or something like that and i have end task it. when i go to device manager there is a ? on a couple of components and when i try to install the driver it requires me to inster windows 98 cd into the cd - drive but it doesn't read it so its all going in circles.
please help me out
thnks

mmmm... tricky issue.

To boot in safe mode, you may hit F8 during post (before Windows screen loads).

If some devices are with "?" yellow warning, you can try two things:

1 - try changing address/interrupts on device properties;
2 - try installing a generic driver compatible from Windows.

If this does not works, you'll need to create a boot floppy disk (even in another computer if you can't do it from yours), and boot from the floppy disk with CD support. Then, you'll need to reinstall Windows on top of itself.

Chris

i started my computer in safe mode and noticed that in device manager it said all drivers are working fine and even my usb memory stick driver was there and all the ones with a yellow? were working fine my floppy drive is workin, so can u suggest any place i can get a floppy disk that has a memory of around 20mb? that way i will be able to back up my coursework and then reboot the system
thnks alot for ur help

thnks

QUOTE

can u suggest any place i can get a floppy disk that has a memory of around 20mb?

Sorry, only "floppies" that can handle up to 100 MB are zipdisks (Zipdrives)...

Have you ran a scandisk from safe mode as I suggested before ? In some cases, it will repair some things...

If you boots from a floppy with cd support, you may be able to save your critical files on a CD. If you reinstall Windows98 on top of yours, you will not lost anything at all, and this may repair some corrupted files.

Chris

how do i reinstall windows 98 on it self if in safe mode you cant use the D drive ( cd's) a and in normal functions my cd's aren't detected so its a big delimma. help me out

I think you are confusing things bigb...

I asked you if you ran Scandisk in safe mode. This may solve some problems.

If it does not solve the issue, you must create a boot floppy disk, using your computer or any other one.

When you boot from this floppy, select the "boot with CD support" option.
you will be on a DOS session, with a prompt A:\>
Insert your Windows CD (it will probably be named F:, as Windows bootdisk normally creates ramdisks on D: and E:), so, type F: <Enter> then, type dir <enter> to be sure you are on the CD drive.
from there just type install <enter>

When asked on where to install Windows, select the normal option (assuming your Win98 is installed on c:\windows, select it and proceed)
This will reinstall Windows 98 on top of itself.

Chris