Computer: Compaq Presario circa 2001 Operating system: Windows ME How Problem Began: I was waiting for a .wav to process in Cakewalk Home Studio 2 when I decided to stop the whole thing by just pressing the power button (big mistake!). The computer now comes up in either Safe, Diagnostic or Selective mode, but if I set it to Normal mode it reverts to Selective on restart. When it comes back on in Selective mode it only displays pictures in 16-bit color (extremely grainy, semi-large fonts). Initially it would only display the mouse in Diagnostic mode but finally the mouse shows after some of the steps below. Things I've Done: Scan Disk, Defrag successful. Tried using the Presario Recovery CD-ROM but because I added a second hard drive and made the new one the main one over a year ago this Presario disc doesn't want anything to do with it. System Restore was off due to Norton Antivirus. Microsoft said they don't support ME anymore, call Compaq for $35. I got a Windows ME boot disk from bootdisk.com and managed to do delete c:\windows\386win.swp (big swap file) at the behest of a IT buddy. I also created a new startup.ini file by copying the old one and modifying a frigged up area of that file per advice I got on a forum. This last move got the mouse to work in Selective mode, but it still ignores my directions to go to Normal mode overall. I've reset all the Desktop/appearance settings to no avail. It looks like everything is there and working, it's just in 16-bit color with big fonts and stays in Select mode no matter what! Close to being fixed but...what?
Oh damn. You may have a big problem on your hands. I seen this many times before, and all resulted in re-installing windows. It's like that because the computer was doing something and you pressed the "Power Off" button without shutting it down correctly. I'll look around.
If you do a re-install make sure to back up your files. I will also look to see if I can find another way. I hate to say it but ME is the worst OS Microsoft ever came out with. You might be better off formatting and putting on another OS like Windows 2000, or 98 SE. I wouldn't upgrade to XP until you get a faster machine. And if you wait a few months a new OS will be out called Vista.
A thousand thank-yous for the input! Finally I figured out I was trying to set it to 256 color when the 24-bit True Color setting was just underneath. Then I reset the resolution to 800x600. Back in action! The other stuff I found in this forum got the mouse back on the screen and the CPU connecting to the Internet again. It still insists on "selective mode" but what the heck, it works! WHAT A RELIEF! Thanks again!
